Now that Father’s Day weekend is upon us.. so is the end of the spring rafting season.  From here on out California will have some great rafting & kayaking ahead with typical summer flows on the South & Middle Forks of the American, The Tuolumne & Cherry Creek and Lower Kern.

The big question everyone is asking is… how’s the water going to be. The good news is, after a slow start California is near 100% of normal. So we’re looking at an average California rafting season.  That means fun days on the Merced, Kaweah, the Forks & Upper Kern and a whole lot more.

AS for the California Mountain biking scene, I would assume most trails are open upto 3000 – 4000 feet. No word on trail conditions at this time.

The Middle Fork American River will run until September 27, 2008.. so this is your last chance to catch some great Class III-IV whitewater. The South Fork American (Class III) will run through October.

Want to go rafting with a commerical outfitter? We recommend All-Outdoors California Rafting. For More info on rafting this fall on the American Rivers… visit the AO Blog.

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

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.

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.

Hello Recreationists -

Between the cooler weather and melt out of the snowpack in the Eleanor basin, the spill at Eleanor that has been helping to support recreation for the last 10 days is coming to an end. There will be normal releases for fisheries below HHWP facilities after Saturday. The Middle and South Forks have also decreased, and inflows there are probably about 100 cfs.

As scheduled on the recreational release calendar, daily releases will be produced by Holm PH from today (Friday) through Monday that will create flows of 1100 cfs or more at Lumsden from 9 am to 1
pm.

On Tuesday, May 27, an ecological pulse flow will begin at Hetch Hetchy, and the release from O’Shaughnessy Dam will ramp up to 200 cfs by the end of the day. On Wednesday, the release will go from about 1800 cfs to about 3600 cfs at 8 am, and then up to 6200 cfs from 1 pm to 5 pm. The release will then ramp back down, reaching the normal release of 80+ cfs by noon on Thursday the 29th.

These higher releases take about 6 hours to reach Lumsden, so the 3600 cfs flow will reach Lumsden between 1 and 3 pm. Please use caution and boat safely if you plan to launch during these higher
flows on Wednesday. If you are camping downriver Wednesday night, remember to pull your craft way up the bank and do rope it down so it is still there Thursday morning. The highest flow could arrive, depending on where you are, after dark.

Best holiday wishes to all.

According to a recent report posted on the AO Blog, The DWR is now measuring in run off instead of water content. Probably a much better way to look at it.

Forecasted Run Off

• American: 83%
• Merced: 85%
• Tuolumne: 89%
• Kaweah: 101%
• Stanislaus: 91%
• Cal Salmon: 95%
• Kern River: 90%
• Kings River: 90%
• Trinity River: 99%

Reservoirs across the state are ready to catch this years run-off after being depleted in 2007. Spring rivers which have no dams or water releases will have an average length season as long as it doesn’t warm up to fast. Some are already running… like the North Fork American. Dam controlled rivers are expected to have a consistent flows April – September on most rivers.

The Line Up:

• Saturday, 4/19 – Raft Races, Slalom practice, Poker Run, Brush Creek Race (pending FS permit approval).
• Sunday, 4/20 – Wildwater race, T.J. Citizen Slalom race (Junior Olympic qualifier).

Events:
Events include the Wildwater races, Raft races, Brush Creek Race (pending FS permit approval), Powerhouse Poker Run, and the TJ Classic Slalom race. The Slalom, and Wildwater events are being held at Riverside Park in mid-town Kernville. The raft races will take place upstream of the bridge in Kernville, above the Park. The Poker Run will be on the Powerhouse (Lickety-Split) Run. All events have easy access for boaters and spectators.

For complete details visit http://www.kernfestival.org/