The Tuolumne River and Cherry Creek rafting runs have about a week left to their season. The final day for whitewater rafting flows on these two incredible runs is Monday, September 1 (Labor Day).

If you feel yourself getting a little green with envy as you think of everyone else hiking up Clavey Falls and swimming away the afternoon, rafting the Tuolumne’s class IV rapids, or jumping in for swim practice before an epic day on Cherry Creek, there is an antidote to your pain.

The Tuolumne River is by far my favorite river in California. The sheer beauty of the land scape and magnitude of the rapids.. just stunning. There’s no question why the Tuolumne is a California classic.

Happy Rafting

Today is June 20th.. the day of the Summer Soltice in the North Hemisphere. It is officially summer and temperatures are beginning to heat up. With that said many spring rivers will be petering out in the coming weeks.

According to the All-Outdoors Blog.. this will be the last weekend for rafting and kayaking on the Kaweah River near Three Rivers, CA. We also got word that the Merced River is still holding on and is expected to flow until July 4th. It also appears the Upper Kern and the Kings River will be around for another couple of weeks.

Once our beloved California Spring rafting rivers run out it will be time to move onto the reliable dam controlled rivers like the South Fork and Middle Fork American Rivers as well as the Tuolumne, Cherry Creek and Lower Kern.

And remember even though Schwarzenegger declared a state wide drought.. California Rivers have plenty of water for rafting in 2008.

Well its the first week of June and there are plenty of great spring rivers still running. Especially if you look to Southern California which ended the winter with a snowpack of 130% of normal compared to the Northern California who was nearly a perfect average at 95%.

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I just got word this morning that Cherry Creek (The Upper Tuolumne River) will begin to have flows low enough for rafting and kayaking in June.

Cherry Creek usually doesn’t begin to run until mid-July because the flows are too high from spring run-off. Runnable flows range from 1000 cfs to 2000 cfs.

Cherry Creek is Class V. It’s considered the most difficult commercial whitewater rafting run in California. This river is best experienced with a commercial rafting company.

A message from Hetch Hetchy Water and Power regarding flows on the Tuolumne and Cherry Creek from May 23 – May 29.

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Talk about some weird weather here in California.. first the high winds and now precipitation.. so much for summer temperatures!

The forecast is rain and even some snow at the high elevations this Memorial Day Weekend. If you planning on heading to the mountains this weekend, be sure to check the local forecast and pack appropriately no matter what your outdoor activity might be.

Mammoth Mountain received 2-3 inches over the last 24 hours and may even get a couple more over the weekend. This will be the last weekend for skiing and snowboarding at Mammoth until the 2008-2009 season.

If you are planning on hitting the river this weekend for some rafting then make sure to pack the wetsuit if you own one… if you don’t rent one.. you’ll be glad you did.

As of current reports its snowing in the mountains and there are rivers flowing down in the foothills.

A system rolled into the Sierras early this morning and is expected to hang out for the next few days. There are no predictions as how much snow is expected.. just stated as 60% chance of snow.

Meanwhile, the North and South Forks of the American River have been flowing well the last few days for both rafts and kayaks.

The Merced is also rising… as of last check.. 1400 CFS at Briceburg.

It’s springtime folks… rafting and kayak season is upon us.

Oh.. and don’t forget.. This weekend is the California Rivers Festival in Fair Oaks.

January and early February were outstanding months for precipitation here in California. I recall driving over Donner pass in early December in route to the America Outdoors Conference in Reno… the snowpack was 0%. I mean the ground was brown.

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When it’s snowing in the mountains, it usually means it’s raining in the foothills and lower elevations. Just popped onto DreamFlows for a few minutes to see if river conditions were starting to match the winter mountain conditions.

So far the Northern California Coast is perking up nicely. The North Fork of the Smith is pushing above 3000 cfs and while the Middle Fork is hanging around 1500cfs.

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