Mariah Wilderness Expeditions

Had a great time with the Mariah crew rafting down the American south fork river down to Folsom lake. We were 15 and we got 3 rafts lead by Carl, Travis and Mark. They are not only funny, but also know to make you have fun. You can't go wrong with any of them. They know how to tailor the trip according to the group. Make sure to show your appreciation !

We had an amazing adventure down the middle fork. Corey kept us safe and sound! And wet :)
He was a really great guide. I enjoyed our trip so much.
This was my second trip down the middle fork with Mariah. The first time was amazing too, our guide was Irish- he was also a great guide.

Our family wanted to end our vacation with an exciting rafting trip down the American River before heading back down to SoCal. We were not disappointed. We picked the full day South Fork trip and were privileged to get Irish as our guide. He is amazing and very experienced. He will keep you laughing and on your toes when you need to be and he is also very knowledgeable! Ask him about his life and you won't be disappointed in what he has to say. Our family of four (2 teens) felt very safe with him and we look forward to coming back and taking a more challenging trip in the future with Irish as our guide.

The trip included the morning trip where we met at 8am, donned our PFD's and helmets and loaded the bus to the drop off. The water was cool but very refreshing with the 95 degree heat. There are some great opportunities to float down river and I would recommend you all do it at least once, as it cools you off and is crazy relaxing. Make sure you keep your PFD tight though as that is what is used to get you back into the raft, unless you are young and strong..LOL.

The lunch was good with burgers, chips, fresh fruit, chips, cookies and water and lemonade. They make plenty which was good since we have a 16 year old boy with a hollow leg to fill at each meal, LOL.

After lunch, we set off from camp back down the river. This was IMHO the most exciting rapids with Hospital Bar being the best this one. We all managed to stay in the raft, even Irish! lol

Anyway, I would highly recommend this outfit! I have to say I am a little confused about who to book through, since they are 3 companies in one as Raft California or Adventure Connection...not really sure...but who cares what they call themselves, it was an amazing trip and Irish added to our enjoyment! We will certainly be going again!

Went on the 2nd rafting trip in two weeks with Mariah.

The 1st time was organized through work. It was an amazing group offsite event - all the rafts in our HUGE group were able to interact with each other and really enjoy our time as a group. John our raft guide was great! He is a highly skilled and seasoned veteran, helping our group work together to get the best out of our time on the water. Really professional and fun.

My 2nd time with Mariah was today, returning with some friends ending our girls weekend together. Today we had Kiwi Chris, such a brilliant raft guide. Although we were grouped together with another family, Chris really led our group to have such an enjoyable experience. We did a bunch of things to get the best out of each rapid - surfing, spins, raft manoeuvres, different riding positions etc.

Mariah was amazing and will try to ride with them every time we book a trip on the American River.
1. They have awesome guides. It's clear Mariah really treat them well. They are always so happy, make sure we have a great time, super professional and highly skilled. They knew exactly how to navigate each rapid perfectly, of course gauging the skill and interests of each group - making it an all around great day out.
2. Booking was really easy. Melinda guided me perfectly for the experience that would work best for our group on the day. Really helpful and friendly.
3. The American River. Did the South Fork (Gorge and Chili Bar) fabulous class II and III rapids
Can't wait to get try out the Middle Fork next time!

I just came back from this AMAZING trip with 7 other friends. We bought the living social deal (http://www.livingsocial.com/deals/277208-one-night-whitewater-rafting-and-wine-tasting-trip?show_missed=true) and it ended up being $124.5 per person because if one person buys a voucher and 3 people buy from their link, then the first person gets it for free. We did this twice and then split the costs amongst ourselves.

This trip consisted of 2 days of river rafting (levels 2 and 3), camping overnight, 4 meals, and some wine tasting during 1 of the meals. The first meal (first day) was sandwiches for lunch. The second meal (first day) was mashed potatoes, chicken, steak, and salad for dinner. The third meal (second day) was super delicious pancakes and sausages for breakfast. The fourth meal (second day) was burgers and hot dogs.

As for river rafting, you get paired up with a guide who is there with you on the boat both days, telling you when to paddle. We got the main guide, Michelle, and she is absolutely wonderful. Request her as your guide if you go! She is the best!

After dinner, we started playing hacky sack in a circle. A few groups of people joined in and we all shared some life stories. Then we started playing an intense game of volleyball.

During rafting, Kate, the phototographer, kayaks ahead of us the whole time and takes lots of pictures of everyone. At the end of the trip, you can purchase a cd with all the pictures for $125, so that was $17 per person for my friends & I, which isn't too bad :)

Make sure you make reservations way ahead of time, because spots fill up really quickly. I called about 2 weeks ahead of time, and they were already booked for the whole month!

I highly recommend this rafting company, because I had one of the best weekends of my life :)

So today my first time white water rafting EVER!!!! My cousin in law goes around this time every year with her family and invited me and our other cousin this time around! I was already excited as this seems like a whole bunch of fun and something exciting, new and different!

We woke up at butt crack morning (aka 4am) to make sure we got there on time and did not miss our ride! We got there on time and was able to get some Peet's coffee inside the Raley's!(Where we are instructed to park our own personal vehicle!)

So we got our safety instructions, went down this beautiful yet scary road to get to the beginning of where the fun begins! We put on bodysuits and other gear...pick teams...get real time instructions and then put up the raft and get going!

So, we have the pleasure of going to the middle fork which have grade 3 and 4 tidal waves and has been said to be intense and I'm like really?!! Lmao! For my first time, I'm going into the deep end! Welp! Let's go!

If it was not for Chris, I'm not sure how enjoyable it would have been! Super nice guy! He made it easy! He made it fun! Since we had some down time, we have a lot of time to converse! He is just awesome! He explain everything to us in a nice, calm voice! He reassure us that we are doing good and if we just listen to him, we will not capsize! And we did not! My crew had a nice momentum going and it was super fun at every corner!!

I did not have ANY exceptions because I never have gone but I expected to be fun and Chris gave that to me! This is SUPER dope experience and I will be doing it again and I will refer ANYONE to Mariah if need be! We had fun, we seen beautiful scenery, we had an AWESOME guide in Chris and a few people who almost died(just kidding...but let them tell it...that is how they felt! LoL) and we fucked it up!!!! All in the name of fun!!! I wish I could give more stars to explain how much fun I had and how juiced to go there again! Mariah...you will be getting my money from now til it ends!! Thank you soooo much for this wonderfully fun experience! I will see you guys again!!!

We spend a great day with this company and our guide Lory (she was super cool, politely and sweet)
Everything was perfect from first second when I just start working with this company. I'm totally recommend this one for spend time on a river
Thanks so much guys and good luck

I normally raft with Adventure Connection. AC just merged with Mariah and offers overnight camping. The camping was awesome. Our guide friendly. Overall we had a good time but not without issues. The food was not great. For $25 a person we were served two slices of bacon and an egg mixture. I'm allergic to eggs. For the size of our group we would of had a better breakfast for half the price if we went into town. All the way to lunch we were promised a hot lunch of hamburgers. Nope just cold cuts sandwiches and they kept running out of stuff. My next trip I will make sure my trip down river and lunch is with Adventure Connection.
Our guide didn't point out the landmarks like the lollipop tree, the X, etc. But we took this trip enough that we were able to narrate the trip!
Thanks Mariah, but Adventure Connection is preferred.

Just returned from a 3-day trip to Mariah. We stayed overnight on Tuesday, rafted 21 miles down the South Fork American River - Chili Bar and Gorge run on Wednesday, stayed overnight and left today. I did not want to leave, that's how much I fell in love with this campsite and rafting experience. It was a perfect off the grid time away for us.

It was our first time white water rafting and the guides at Mariah Wilderness Expeditions were professional but extremely FUN! Our guide, Travis, made our 21 mile trip down Class I to III rapids enjoyable, safe, and memorable. We had a lot of fun with our team and the other Mariah team rafters out on the river with us. We learned alot about the history of the river and surroundings. It was absolutely gorgeous out there on the river. Each Class III rapid coming up was explained to us so we knew what to expect going into it and our team did well - no one fell out, thanks to Travis for guiding us through it. It was such an amazing time on the river.

The campsite was impecable and clean. Running water, showers and toilets were a bonus. The campsite itself was perfectly laid out with 3 swimming holes and lots of shady spots. Tents were amazing! I wish we could stay longer but we are definitely planning to return again before the season ends.

If you want to go white water rafting, Mariah's is definitely number one in my book. We didn't just float down the river and go through rapids, we had a literal tour of the surroundings, learned a lot about the history of the area, and felt secure in the knowledge and expertise of our fun and amazing guide, Travis. Thanks Travis, you made this experience the best! :) Can't wait to come back again. Hope you get a beer! ;-) You deserve it!

P.S. Don't forget to tip your guides! They work really really hard to keep you safe and ensure you have an amazing time so a tip is a great way to thank them for their physically demanding labor. :)

AWESOME! first time rafting and had the best time ever! Our tour guide IRISH! is the man, he is so knowledgeable. He also makes you feel 100 percent safe and makes sure you are having fun the whole time. He not only had us laughing the whole time, he let us do different things to make the rapid more challenging! It was such a great experience and would love to do it again!

Him and all of the tour guides seemed to really know their stuff and were so open to talking about all the amazing experiences they have had rafting. It makes you feel extremely safe to be with people who are so experienced and knowledgeable.

This company is so great and you can tell they take the safety of their customers extremely seriously.