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Whitewater Voyages
- Good for Kids:
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3 reviews for Whitewater Voyages
Just booked another company trip with Whitewater Voyages. This will make it year 3 down the South Fork.
+ free camping, including tents, sleeping mats and sleeping bags.
+ hot breakfast in the morning made by the guides (now up to $10/person). beats waking up at the buttcrack of dawn after a long night out, hungover, and trying to cook. the guides who were out with you partying the night before is cooking your breakfast, not hungover. how do they do it?!
+ guides with all different types of personalities. who will usually go along with however wild your group happens to be.
+ brochure chock full of useful information.
I can't wait!
From booking to drop-off at the meeting point, we had a fabulous, first-class experience with this company. They recite their terms and conditions with you over the phone, and they make the payment deadlines very clear. You can pay a deposit by 10 days after you reserve, and then pay the balance by a later date. One person can make the reservation for the group, and then everyone can call in individually to pay over the phone and ask any other questions. Everyone gets sent a packet of information in advance.
We went on the Tuolomne River trip (class IV+). All of us had gone rafting previously, with different companies and on different rivers. We met up in Groveland and boarded what appeared to be a rickety school bus. The bus driver was obviously very experienced and never lost his cool on the 45 minute trip down the super skinny, windy, one-lane gravel road, no matter how many SUV drivers we met along the way who got over not far enough and then clutched their steering wheels, eyes huge in absolute panic as we safely squeezed past.
Once we got there, there was time for everyone to use the pit toilet and then gather for an extensive safety and how-to talk. We got geared up with stylin' helmets, lifejackets (they come around and pull the straps till the jackets are as tight as corsets) and paddles, and loaded up. All the rafts came with a set of wooden oars controlled by the guides so there are times when you are just floating along, taking in the scenery. Each raft also has a cinched mesh bag where everyone can stash their water bottles and sunscreen.
First they had each raft do some practice moves together, and then we were off! Our guide, Liz, was awesome. She has been rafting this river for a couple years and was absolutely professional, friendly, knowledgeable, in control of our raft and aware of the others (she was in charge of the 4-raft brigade).
This river is beautiful - lots of trees and bushes, dramatic canyone walls, great little beaches and rocky areas to pull over for lunch or whatever. There are a lot of rapids spaced between some calmer sections. There's also a few opportunities to jump out of the raft and float down the river. When we got to the one class V rapid, they had everyone pull over, get out and look at it, discuss, and then navigate. I must say, our raft was awesome - we had no injuries and no inadvertent swimmers the entire time!
When lunchtime rolled around, they had an extensive sandwich, fruit, cookies and water lunch for us. Plenty of good fresh fixin's for everyone to have seconds. At the end of the trip, they had a cooler full of cold drinks for everyone, which was awesome.
My advice to make your trip excellent:
1. Go with people who aren't fraidy-cats (and can swim)
2. Eat a good breakfast - we didn't and were hungry well before lunch
3. Bring waterproof, dry sunscreen and reapply at lunch. DO NOT put sunscreen on your forehead! It will run into your eyes and sting like mad when you sweat.
4. Listen to everything your guide says to do
5. Don't drink so much the night before and get a good night's sleep
6. Wear good, rugged water shoes and quick-drying clothing over your bathing suit - ditch the cotton t-shirts!
Keep an eye out on the latter half of the trip for the old powerhouse, bridge pylons, and smashed and rusted cars.
We did a whitewater rafting trip down the Tuolumne river with Whitewater Voyages. This river is typically classified as a class IV+ but the day that we went, it was roaring over 10,000 cfs. Other outfitters had cancelled trips for the day, but Voyages decided to go ahead and run their trips. The river was particularly expansive with trees and boulders underwater. At certain points, if you fell out, you could get swept along for a mile or so. At other points, you could get sucked and held under while you were churned like in a washing machine.
That said, they had a very professional approach to the whole trip especially with the high flows. We were given an extremely vivid and explicit safety talk that really instilled the fear god in me. They also made us all pass a class V swim test before we were even allowed on the river due to the extreme conditions of the river that day.
There was good reason behind all of the safety precautions however. People fell out. People did get bruised and bloodied. Scary as it all was, the trip was exhilarating to say the least. It was one of my most thrilling and memorable experiences. Whitewater Voyages did an amazing job of getting us through it.
A lot of the credit goes to the head guide, Lane, who defies the backcountry stereotype. He's tall, blond, and hunky. Most importantly though, he emphasizes safety. He will not hesitate to reprimand anyone if he sees them doing anything wrong or slacking. He'll also gauge the ability of the raft, and if he thinks you're up to it, he'll challenge you with big water rapids and drops. This guy has a passion for what he does which you can see it in the glint of his eye out on the river. He has a passion for the sport. Ask for him and you'll be in good hands.
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