Fall Rafting and End of Summer

We've had an amazing rafting season of California rivers that included the Rafting Triple Crown, all kinds of guide and rafting parties, Music, P.O.W. event, and river travel!

All the rafting activity wraps up now as we head into deep Autumn and Winter. Fall rafting will continue on the American River white water. Here's some pictures of rivers I took during some current rafting trips this past week.

Fall photos

We've had our first rain and a dusting of snow on top off the Sierra's as the rivers calm down and the preparations begin for the 2009 rafting season and a season of snowboarding and travel. 2009 is expected to be even better than ever with some new additions to the W.E.T. River Trips menu of trip itineraries and activities and the prognosticators are predicting an above-normal winter of rain and snow ...nice!

Some of the W.E.T. crew are headed out to new adventures with Mac going to Brazil, Chris Z. to Panama, Booty & Justin to Chile after a stop in Costa Rica, D-Rex (Ryan) will be ice-climbing and back-country skiing in Colorado, K-Dawg is expected to make the patrol roster at Sierra at Tahoe, Nate is remaining King of Patrol at Kirkwood, Jon is headed to the Caribbean after finishing up college in Maine and Utah, Kyle is getting married, Maggie is surfing a desk while stalking Mt. Rose daily, Greg D. is headed to the Canyon, Country Mike is having a baby, Saul is becoming an urban (Newport) farmer by establishing sustainable agriculture on his patio, Wolf and A2 are headed to Mexico after prepping for the GRE, Alex is finishing up at UC Berkeley, Jason is deep into fatherhood, Jonny is plotting a come-back, Meg is missing Cali, Mike S. and Mogli are honing their respective Ninja skills, Big Job Rob will be patrolling Sierra at Tahoe, Andrew will be blazing new trails in the entertainment media, Bird flew to Ashland, and Heffe is in love!

Fall brings changes and challenges...the rivers, the mountains, the oceans, and the guides of W.E.T. River Trips are out there soaking it up and prepping for the next big season of California Rafting beginning in just 4 short months.

It's beautiful outside... enjoy and think of that sweet cold, clear spring run-off and all that it brings to the rivers!

Burning Man or "I Got the Golden Ticket"

I haven't written anything for California Whitewater Rafting blog in a long time. Why? Well, the business of white water rafting and outdoor adventures is one that keeps me... well, rather busy. We are networking with so many new partners and ventures that just keeping up with it is more than anyone can handle. So, I don't write much anymore, and leave that to the younger blogging team and Big Poppa ... their writing is much more interesting and more timely than my musings or rants.

Several events are happening around American River trips. There was the P.O.W. show. I heard that the company did the first Punks on Water shows waaaaay back in the 80's. Big Poppa is an unusual boss. He is an old guy with a very young heart... and all of us that work for this company know it is a special relationship between employer and employee. He ain't like a regular boss... but I guess you all figured that out already.

Big Poppa and one of the senior crew members, Mizz Maggie hopped on the Burner's Psy bus and headed to the great vast Black Rock Desert for music, performance art and the party event of the year! Burning Man was calling and Big Poppa answered the call enthusiastically. Check his personal blog for a blow by blow pre-party contest and how Mizz Maggie won her "Golden Ticket".

He promised to write part 2 of the Burning Man episode to fill in the rest of the story... I want to see the video and the pictures, peeps... I heard Kev was there hanging out along with several other Burners that we all know and love... hahaha... you know who you are. Oh, yeah... and Mack sent this video to the office from the last group rafting trip on the South Fork American... Big Poppa sure talks up rafting and food!



More party events are happening this weekend with the American River Festival, several day hikes around the rivers and even a kayak sale brought to you by The River Store in the Lotus Coloma Valley. Summer is gone, but WET trips continue for Fall rafting and Winter boating.

One thing Big Poppa said when he got back to the office... he said, "For 50K people that were there, it sure was calm... no riots, no fighting... just love and more love..." And that is what makes the world go round and round and round and round... PEACE OUT!

PUNKS ON WATER ... P.O.W.

W.E.T. River Trips has had an alter-ego for the past 27 of our 30 years in business as a whitewater outfitter....
P.O.W. Punks on Water!

P.O.W. re-emerges this coming weekend on Sunday August 3rd to host a benefit for the American River Conservancy with a concert/party on the banks of the South Fork of the American River at the Nugget Campground.

In the interest of creating opportunities for meaningful cultural exchanges and in the spirit of celebrating diversity.... P.O.W. is importing bands from Davis, Sacramento and the surrounding area with DJ zAc from HexLove maintaining the groove!

Buffoonery, Hijinks, and swell times will be had by all.....

And in the interest of fostering diversity and cultural exchanges... Hippies are now very welcome at all P.O.W. events!!!!

$5 cover 6:00pm - 9:30pm on 8.3.8

When's the next event?

Note from W.E.T. River Trips::: for more info on California whitewater rafting see the C-W-R.com website peeps!

SPEEDO SUNDAY and P.O.W. Event!

This season W.E.T. River Trips has been joined by a new seasoned rafting guide from Colorado: Ky. Ky is a high school math teacher and head varsity swim coach in Northern California ... oh, sure he sounds good; however, there is a very dark side to Mr. Ky. Before delving into Ky's deviate and shocking behavior, I'm compelled to mention that Heffe is simultaneously an instigator and cohort to Mr. Ky's debauchery (we need to also note now that Heffe is also a swimmer).

As soon as Ky arrived, there was an strong bond between the two swimmers. There was certainly an easy conversational rapport between Heffe and Ky. Again ... they are both swimmers, and Heffe formerly swam at the high school where Ky is now head coach. Ky and Heffe simply became fast friends and although Ky and Heffe certainly got along with our other guides as well ... there was (and is) most clearly a palpable "bond" between them.

Two Sundays ago (yes, on a sabbath), Ky and Heffe conspired to create SPEEDO SUNDAY on the formerly pristine and unmolested Middle Fork American River that at one time was known primarily for great Class 4 rapids and the legendary Tunnel Chute rapid that drops over 15 vertical feet, and sends whitewater rafters through a tunnel in the side of a rocky ridge deep in a pristine canyon filled with cool, clear water .... at least until SPEEDO SUNDAY.

Everything has changed since Ky and Heffe tugged on their tiny garments of Lycra and sashayed their way down a defenseless river filled with other adventurers and innocent woodland creatures. No longer do the deer stare blankly as rafts slide quietly by. Now, they furtively glance and skittishly shift their tiny hooves back and forth not knowing to look or to simply look away for fear of the sight of Ky and Heffe in the bold projections of their alleged manhood coyly disguised in their tiny speedo suits. Even the local population of Rainbow and German Brown trout appear to be very agitated and nervous.

Other river clients and guides have been seen shielding their eyes at the take-out below Rucka-Chucky Falls at Greenwood Bridge and some brazen guys and gals were heard to crudely project cat-calls in mocked enjoyment (or was it disgust?) of "Speedo Sunday". (Note from W.E.T. River Trips: now, now peeps; the Europeans, Brasilians, etc wear speedos, so what's the big deal... ahh these crazy Americans!)

Sadly, last Sunday ... charismatic Ky enlisted a young and impressionable J Tsunami into his conspiracy to corrupt OUR river environment even further! Yes, J Tsunami donned a tiny black Speedo along with Mr. Ky for another "Speedo Sunday" participant!

I have now received photos of the "official" SPEEDO SUNDAY suits (Purple with chartreuse flowers and a bold raftwet.com emblazoned across the rump of each tiny suit ... who's next?

Sorry to report that the debauchery has now expanded to Saturdays. Mizz Maggie declared last Saturday SHIRTLESS SATURDAY as she guided the entire river and traveled back to our meeting spot behind Raley's in Auburn without a shirt or undergarment ... instead she simply wore her PFD (lifejacket) the entire time. No slips or mishaps were reported; however, the truth is surely out there. All will be revealed (and hopefully not on SPEEDO SUNDAY or SHIRTLESS SATURDAY). I can only cringe as to what Wolf has up his sleeve to "enhance" the whitewater rafting trips on other days and on other rivers such as the South Fork American River. Whitewater river trips are changed forever...

Note from W.E.T. River Trips: we do not condone this hella behavior! For a more ... ahem... dressed affair, our first event for the late summer season is coming this Sunday on August 3, 2008 ::: Returning after 30 years, Punks on Water reigns supreme again! P.O.W. comes back with a vengeance at the Nugget on the South Fork American River... be there or be very square or not be at all... but you will be missing out on the party of year! Check Big Poppa's post on his personal W.E.T. River Trips events calendar! ... and, oh yeah, hippies are welcome!

Klamath River and Salmon

I've been watching and reading the missives from Friends of the River in California about the bus company up in Oregon that refused to run an ad for the Klamath Salmon. Yeh, the fish. The bus company refused to post the ad on the bus. Why? Because of the political nature of the ad; not because it was pornographic or violent or subject to any strange interpretations. The ad simply says, "Salmon shouldn't run up your electric bill... They should run up the Klamath River."

Whoa... that's quite risque, isn't it? The picture shows three salmon fish swimming towards a barrier of electrical outlets. The bottom of the ad has a website address for the Salmon for Savings program. WOW. This ad could definitely offend... maybe a politician.

So Friends of the River sued their ass and the ACLU and the Karuk Tribe are happier than heck that Judge Henry Breithaupt wrote in his opinion that Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon "TriMet" has violated both the Oregon Constitution and the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Judge Breithaupt stated that the "decision was made on the basis of the nature of this message rather than any risks or limitations expressed in its standards."

An appeal is expected. The Portland area residents that are getting their electricity from the Klamath dams deserve to know that dam removal can save them money on their utility bills. FOR's Hydropower Policy Advocate Kelly Catlett said today, "“We are pleased that the judge upheld the rights of Pacific Power’s customers to hear that dam removal can save them a significant amount of money.”

Friends of the River has been working to remove obsolete dams on the Klamath River. In my opinion, the lawsuit they brought is a significant one. At least the Klamath community will now have the right to decide for themselves. And those who mute or censor the information will now think twice.

Thanks to Friends of the River for this information! ...and F.O.R.... give 'em hell!

NEW YORK CITY and TOURISTS

Connections and relationships are what this world is all about right? So, when my one of my sisters best friends took care of us upon moving to NYC, we were stoked. She had been in NYC for 5 years; had come to go to Columbia University and then had worked for a year after school to figure out what the next step in her life would be. The time finally came for her to leave and in doing so, she gave us a sweet present.

The gift was an extremely thoughtful one and will give us an opportunity to record our thoughts, organize them and have a pocket size reference handbook to New York City. So she gave us this pocket size organizer-extensive New York maps-subway guide-fill in your NYC experience book. Inside, she included her personal guide to New York complete with restaurants, coffee shops, museums and random "must do" things; like spinning the Astor Place cube. Anyway, good connections and good people are the best. Probably part of the reason that I am so happy to be staying in touch with the W.E.T. River Trips crew.

Thai is some of our favorite food to go eat consistently. Last Friday night, Maria and I decided to meet at Columbus Circle and walk to one of the recommended Thai Restaurants. The restaurant is called Pam Real Thai and is on what I understand to be the Hell's Kitchen District of New York City, close to midtown on 49th Street in between 9th and 10th Avenue.

We went to the place and realized it was cash only; no problem for us at the time considering I had cash on me. We had heard that is was a "hole in the wall" type of place and semi-small and comfortable. Maria and I enter and are seated and get used to the place.

I'll skip to the point here, we ordered three dishes, all recommended by local media and mentioned that they are recommendations on the menu. The dishes included one red curry, one green curry and one deep fried duck dish. Here we are at this hole in the wall, low key, small Thai place and we taste the food; best Thai I have ever had hands down!!!

It was awesome. The two curries were $6.95 each and the duck dish was $9.95. This being said, we frequented Thai Basil and Amarin Thai Cuisine in Sacramento and tried as many Thai places as we could in Northern California. All in all, we left smiling, having eaten excellent food and will be going back consistently. Just so everyone knows, the name of this place is Pam Real Thai.

Fast forward to Tuesday evening and the good vibes that Maria and I felt from Thai on Friday are still around and we want to do a repeat. All day Tuesday, the only thing I can think of is that duck dish that I had last Friday and eating it again.

We decide to again meet at Columbus Circle and walk to the restaurant. Upon meeting, the entire feel of the evening is different. Maria's hinting that maybe we should just go home and not walk the distance or that perhaps we should just eat at a place closer to 59th Street (Columbus Circle). It's hard for me though, to get the thought of the duck out of my head and so I push to make the hike.

One issue that comes up is the need for cash in order to eat at Pam Real Thai. I have none and Maria has none and all we have is our card, therefore we need to see our bank on the walk in order to get cash. It's a twelve block walk, 10 streets and two avenues; avenue to avenue being longer than street to street. On that trek, we see many banks, however, none of them are ours.

Finally, we are at the corner of 9th Avenue and 49th Street and we see a Duane Reade, a popular New York Drug Store. Our thought is that we can get cash back. We bought the right gum and Maria picks out her candy and we pull out are card and hear the sad words that say, no we do not give cash back. Thai will have to wait!

What are we going to do now! Well, we're both cold, we're tired of being on our feet, we have to use the restroom and we would like to sit down and enjoy a meal. Fortunately, there are other restaurants around. We pop our head into a Japanese place on 9th Avenue; they only take cash.

Okay no problem we think, there is a nice looking Mexican restaurant across the street. We walk in, and see the decals on the window that say they take cards. Good thing, we make eye contact and I ask just to make sure if indeed they take credit; they do and we are in business.

Now this blog is meant to contrast these two restaurants literally across the street from one another. While the Thai place across the way had been a hole in the wall, this place was very nice. There was an obvious bar scene, trendy electronic beats created a sound that potentially could draw a crowd. It was somewhat bust and we sat down immediately.

Maria and I, having just moved to New York City and just started new positions after traveling in Costa Rica are on a budget and when we looked at the menu, we realized we may be blowing the budget. The prices were a little high for us, something like $15.00 was the least expensive Burrito.

Coming from California and being used to a plentiful taqueria scene with amazing Mexican cuisine at our fingertips, for a good cost, we were a bit saddened. I chose to go for the Chimichanga and Maria went for a salad with chicken. The Chimichanga was $15 and the salad was $13. We made sure to drink water and stick to only one basket of chips, as each additional was $2.50. Certainly, the prices were high, but the restaurants intention was to have the trendy vibe make up for that. My hope was that the portions would be good sized. The service was efficient and the food did not take too long.

Unfortunately, there was more disappointment to be had in realizing that the portions were tiny. Literally, if I had wanted to, my Chimichanga, cut in half and plated in a creative way, could have been eaten in four bites. It was sad and so was I. Maria was equally disappointed in receiving her salad, a small and interesting spin on a salad, Mexican style. We left disappointed and will not go back. The name of the place did not stay in our memories long enough to make it to this blog. Just know that it is on the East side of 9th Avenue near 49th Street.

Two Hell's Kitchen restaurants, 100 feet from one another, and they couldn't be any different. Always remember to carry cash in New York City.

Thank you Theo for the blow by blow... the warning has been noted! Ok, all you travelers this summer... bring some cash when you are in New York City... then come on out and do a whitewater rafting trip with us in California! We feed you on the house!

W.E.T. Secret's Out! Rafting Triple Crown

Shhhhh... oh yeah, I forgot to leak this news. W.E.T. River Trips and the W.E.T. crew came up with a funny idea a few weeks ago... well, actually, Big Poppa thought it up.



It's not usual to be able to do all three forks of the American River at any time of the year. River flows depend on so many variables that usually only two of the forks are running. Every spring, though, there are a few weeks where it is possible for W.E.T. to have a triple crew working on all three American River whitewater trips in one day.

Big Poppa thought, "Hey, why not try and do all three whitewater rivers in one day with one crew?"

Aieeee! Carumba! Yeah... a very good idea, indeed.

Kudos to the Sacramento Bee writer, Gina Kim and river photographer, Randy Pench for their awesome participation on this project. Even more thanks goes to W.E.T. River Trips' own staff member Ryan MacPherson, professional documentary filmmaker for creating the video for the Sacramento Bee. Ryan and his Blood Good Productions company lent us a hand in creating the media for this three rivers in one day project. Thanks bro!

But the crew with the most, W.E.T. River Trips... gawd, you guys rawk so hard I can't even begin to tell you guys what you really accomplished. From the North Fork American start at 7ish in the morning with a take-out at 8am, put-in on the Middle Fork American at 9ish, take-out at 12ish and finally a put-in at the South Fork American around 2ish and take-out at Salmon Falls around 5ish... dudes... you could have done this in waaaaay less time than 12 hours... you guys were moving that fast!

Ok... so definitely, the W.E.T. team is honed and ready to roll for the 2008 whitewater rafting season. Look out peeps... 'cause W.E.T. is on a rampage!

SACRAMENTO BEE: http://www.sacbee.com/107/story/921289.html (story)
GOOD BLOOD PRODUCTIONS: http://goodbloodproductions.com (Ryan MacPherson videos)
TRADING MARKETS: http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1520075/ (story)