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Tributary Whitewater Tours LLC
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7 reviews for Tributary Whitewater Tours LLC
I had my first experience whitewater rafting this labor day weekend and it was incredible!
Tributary had a special for the holiday and since we had a group with 17 people, totaling 3 full boats we got a nice group discount. We received emails with documents on what we should expect, what to bring, what was provided and the safety forms we had to sign.
They showed up to the meeting point on time and ready to take everyone up to the beginning of our one day rafting experience. For such narrow mountain roads the lady driving that school bus has some serious skills!
Upon arriving to the starting point, you have some time to use the latrines (yuck but better now than later!), grab all the equipment and receive the safety briefing. The safety instructions were short and to the point. Good for that one person with ADD in the group.
At this point you bring your boat down to the starting point and start your trip down the first class 1-3 rapids. Sadly we had a man overboard but quickly following the instructions of our leader we rescued him shortly thereafter and in one piece. He decided to soldier on, awesome!
Then you do your first class 4 last-chance followed by tunnel chute and it is all excitement from there on until you get closer to the lunch area where things slow down. You stroll along, park your boats and have lunch (provided by Tributary) and dry off under the sun. Nothing fancy but covers all the bases for meat eater and vegetarians alike (deli spread, humus, fruit, vegetables, water and juice).
We jumped some waterfalls (8ft nothing too scary after you've done it hahah) and hit some rocks and spun around and laugh and had fun! When the day comes to an end you jump on the vans and are taken back to the parking lot.
We will definitely be doing this trip again next year. Highly recommended if you are adventurous! This means a lot coming from a scary cat like me!
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I had my first whitewater rafting experience with Tributary, and it was absolutely fantastic. The brief safety lesson at the beginning was a little unsettling as you pile into the boat still unsure of what you're supposed to do, but once you're out on the water and learning the basic strokes (there are only about 5 things you have to remember!), you get the hang of it pretty quickly.
We did the express half-day trip on the South Fork of the American, which was a bit tamer than what we were expecting, but our guide definitely made it exciting by having our boat try some cool tricks out on the river. Our guide's name was Jimbo, and he was super chill and a ton of fun. He shared his knowledge of some random facts about the river and put up really well with my group's rowdy behavior.
Overall, it was the perfect summertime experience: swimming in clear freshwater, water fights with water gun-toting rafters, laughing at the less-experienced boats who get stuck on rocks, and of course, splashing through the rapids (and maybe even falling out once or twice).
I'd highly recommend rafting with Tributary. Apparently they are one of the best and safest companies around, as they "overtrain their guides." I also suggest picking up a disposable waterproof camera at Longs or Walmart beforehand, so that you don't have to shell out a ton of money for the professional pictures.
Competitive prices. Most importantly, the guides are experienced and cool and will show you as much fun as you're willing to try to have.
I'm on a camping kick these days. Car-camping or boat-camping to be specific, mostly. So I was highly looking forward to our midsummer river-rafting-camping trip.
We did the Middle Fork of the American River trip with Tributary, which very conveniently starts around Auburn, a not-too-stressful two-hour drive from SF. You pile all your gear into the supplies raft, pile yourself into a human raft, and then careen down white rater ravines holding onto your hats. Just to arrive at the end of the day at a campsite with beer and wine chilling and food cooking.
And while we're talking about food, I'm on a wheat-free, red-meat-free, amongst-other-things-free diet ... tho thankfully not wine free! I'm not sure why, maybe because it's the one thing I can still control in life. Or I get a sick pleasure out of being difficult. Either way, typical.
I thought I'd have to be a little more lenient on my diet since the guides double as camp chefs, but armed with corn tortillas and two big ol' bottles of wine, I was able to find plenty to eat. Plenty of delicious to eat that at that!
Aside from their culinary talents, the guides' laid back attitudes definitely made the weekend the exact relaxing weekend getaway I was hoping for. If I do the raft-camping trip again, I would definitely check out the Yuba with Tributary for a weekend.
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Rafting, where have you been all my life? This was of the best weekend getaways I've had in a long time. We started early, early Saturday morning and drove about 2 hours to a grocery store parking lot where we met our guides. Don't be alarmed by their, um, casual attitude and unkempt appearance - these are some quality dudes. And be nice to them because pretty much, they do all the real work.
After a brief safely lesson (and if you are on the 2 day trip, a long wait for the 1 day people to leave), you hit the water in your helmet and lifejacket. We were on the Middle Fork American and on that river, things get pretty rad pretty quickly. You do some casual floating then hit the Tunnel Shoot rapids, which is definitely a highlight.
The rest of the first day was mostly calm but punctuated with some good rapids. It's really a very leisurely trip. Your guide tells your to paddle a few strokes occasionally, but most of the time you just float and enjoy the scenery.
Then there is the food. Holy crap, was the food good. I know that everyone tastes better outside, but the spread was truly spectacular: sandwich buffet, roasted garlic, fresh fruit, bacon, scrambled eggs, fajitas, beans and rice, bagels, chicken salad and beer and wine after dinner on Saturday night. You definitely don't need to worry about being hungry.
The one thing you do need to worry about, though, is the sun. I forget sometimes how hot California is when you are inland. I'd say the temp was around 90, but worse is that you are getting the full force of the sun all day for two days. So, lots of sunscreen and a good hat are musts.
All in all, the setting was beautiful, the guides were great, the camping was easy, and the cost was reasonable. It's a great weekend getaway, and I'd definitely recommend it for those who are not ready for hardcore camping, but enjoy some good outdoor time.
And don't forget to tip your guides!
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Just back from my third successful trip with the Tributary folks. The pros and cons were consistent with past trips. On the plus side: shockingly good food at every meal with a wide range of choices for even the pickiest of eaters, nice guides, good value for the money. My only minor complaint is that we had yet another late start, which just isn't cool when you're telling people to show up at 8am when they're driving up from San Francisco (but is still generally understandable since they're dealing with so many people).
Good trip again. Highly recommended...
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1 Previous Review: Show all »
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5/19/2008 First to Review
I've gone on two trips with Tributary Whitewater Tours. The first was a 2 day trip on the Middle… Read more »
I went on the 1 day trip Middle Fork American tour and it was an experience memorable in many ways, both good and bad.
The ride from Raley's to the put-in point was a gentle one with some great background of the river inserted here and there. Typically the wetsuits cost $10 to rent but it was a pretty chilly day so TWT team let us have them for free. Perhaps not the best decision since we were left with more than a photo for a souvenir (more details below).
Overall the Middle Fork one day trip was the best choice if you're in it for the rapids action. The second day would have been a lot of unecessary paddling through still water. The best part of that leg of the river was the Last Chance chute and covered on the first day, so it didn't make much sense to be tired and sore the second day only to get more exercise pushing through tame water.
The quality of the food was good. A platter of fruit accompanied with chips and salsa, to be followed by a healthy cold cut sandwich with every possible condiment. Popping a squat in the camp area might cross your mind at this time, but be careful of the poison oak everywhere. Our tour guide Evelyn was a saint and spent a lot of her time really digging in to help with the paddling and giving us the freedom to go into certain rapids backwards as we wished. Her friendliness makes me feel a little guilty to mention the following but I must...
So the extra souvenirs we received were rashes covering our entire body. A few were well distributed and others looked much like chickenpox. I didn't want to press blame on TWT since it could have been parasites in the water; however, the lone member in our party who brought her own wetsuit escaped without any rashes at all, while the rest of us were left itching the following day. They weren't heat rashes either since the irritation covered our abdomen and other areas that were not exposed to the sun. I'm still baffled at what it could have been, which concerns me. Nevertheless it's pretty clear that they don't wash down the wetsuits and dry them appropriately. It was pretty clear when one team member scolded me for getting a little dirt on the suit as I took it off.
If you can't afford a wetsuit or the climate is cold, I'd pass on the offer.
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