2009 Motherlode Guide School

Motherlode just completed a week long guide school with 14 participants!

Motherlode Guide school fully encompasses every detail on water and off water that a professional and competent River Guide needs to know.

For on Water, the students got to spend 5 consecutive days on the river. Day 1 & 2 consisted of learning the basics on the individual Lower Gorge and then Chili Bar sections of the river. On day 3 our trainees got to experience the the difference between a class III and IV river as they set off on the Middlefork of the American. And day 5 & 6 the participants were put to the test with 2 days of full rivers (Both Chili Bar and Lower Gorge in one day) taking turns guiding the raft with little to no help at all from the experienced guides that had been training them all week.

On the water, techniques such as reading water, boat handling, on water safety, and attentiveness to guests needs were highly emphasized.

Off water is where a good amount of learning takes place as well. Off the water, our guides in training learn all about Preparation! Trip preparation, safety preparation, and meal preparation. They were all soon to find out that the majority of work being a professional riverguide takes place off of the water.

After 5 days with the Motherlode staff, The trainees were turned over to Sierra Rescue to complete a 2 day Swift water Rescue course where they were able to learn and practice various river rescue techniques and further recognize the safety needs associated with being on moving water. For more information on future guide schools with Motherlode, Click Here.

California Acadamy of Sciences

Motherlode staff recently visited the new Exhibit about Climate change in California and building green at the California Academy of Sciences.

Motherlode River Center currently is in the process of integrating a new curriculum on Sustainability Practices. This trip to the museum was a perfect way for our staff to get better insight and more learning tools.

The Exhibit featured:
-Calculating your own carbon footprint (from what you eat to how you live your day to day life)
-The furue effects of the change in climate on California (from carbon emisions)
-Examples of building green
-Techniques to harness green energy
-And too much more for myself to explain, Go see it yourself!

The California Acadamy of Sciences also included a full aquarium, IMAX style Solarium, And Eco bubble that replicated Borneo and Madagascar rainforst zones, and the Living Green Rooftop!

2009 Gold Rushers!

Our Gold Rush History program has been quite an exciting one so far this summer! Schools visiting Motherlode not only get to enjoy a tour of the Coloma Gold Rush History Park, but also some fun and challenging adventures here at the Motherlode River Center.

While at the Coloma State Park, we get to experience the past come to life! Our knowledgeable staff takes you on a tour from the native Nissinan Indians homes and grinding sites to the Gold Rush, visiting Sutter's Mill and sites like the original Chinese store! While touring around the park, we are also able to experience and learn in an actual working Blacksmiths shop, and are joined by park volunteers telling stories and reenacting the era!

Back at camp, we have had authentic activities such as shelter building, dutch oven cooking, and gold panning! We also get to experience acorn grinding on site at Motherlode's very own authentic Grinding Rocks, created by the Nissinan thousands of years ago.

A Beautiful Day on the North Fork American River

"This is my crew. Take ten steps back." --Beck

If you haven't heard that song, you're missing out on what was running through my head on the drive to the put-in.

Nina, Tony, Paul, Olivia, and Michael at Iowa Hill Bridge, the put in for the North Fork American's "Chamberlin Falls" class 4 run.






Lindsey and Katie's crew styling the maneuver at "Slaughter's Sluice", the first class 4 rapid. Nice paddling Anna, Willis, Carolina, and Daniel!



















Greg's crew avoids the notorious toaster slot and sails over the last drop at "Bogus Thunder," one of the biggest rapids on the run.














Splashing around on Indian Creek, a tributary to the North Fork. The slippery hike up to the waterfall was definitely worth it. A little whiff of lemon balm anyone?
































Feel the power of Indian Falls! Here I demonstrate the joy of getting flushed down and then out of a hydraulic. We call it helmet surfing.

















Greg's crew inspires a new rapid to be named: "Inverter Wall." How was the full whitewater experience, gentleman?










Thanks so much for a great day on the river, everyone. Hope to see you all back up here soon.
Flip cup rematch? Horse races? (winks from Lindsey and Scotty)

First trip on the North Fork!

Spring is here! Time to get back on the water! Mother Lode staff just took one of their first trips of the season down the North Fork of the American River.

We were blessed with a beautiful sunny day and the new addition of our guide Lindsey's head camera. To experience the rafting the North Fork from Lindsey's view you can check out the video of our trip down the river he put together himself HERE.



The North Fork only runs for a few months! So if you and your family are looking for one of the most scenic river runs and some fun on a challenging IV+ River, be sure to call and book a trip with us soon!!

2009 Rafting Flows Confirmed!

Rafting Stimulus Package: Recent Storms Guarantee Great 2009 Rafting!

A wise old river rafter once told me that the snow pack in the Sierras is largely built by three major storms each season. One storm more or less often determines whether a particular season is normal, below normal, or wet in nature. Attempting to predict the outcome is therefore a risky business. It is wiser to relax and just see what happens. It isn’t over ‘till it’s over.

Once again this observation has proven true. While just a few weeks ago the concern was about critical drought conditions, now, one big storm later, the snow pack that feeds the American River is at 101% of normal. Once quiescent, all three Forks of the American River are swollen bright red with runoff. In fact, the North Fork briefly peaked at 11,000cfs. That’s three times safe boating flows.

Bottom line: It is going to be another great season for rafting on the American River! It is time to get out your river gear, Spring boating has arrived.

American River rafting trip options

This is another example of why drought conditions in California as a whole do not prevent rafting on dam-controlled rivers such as the South and Middle Forks of the American River. The South Fork, for example, has multiple reservoirs upstream of Chili Bar that are controlled by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) and are collectively referred to as the Upper American River Project (UARP). Because of the FERC re-licensing process that ended in 2007 with the acceptance of the Alternative Proposal, the South Fork was guaranteed to have good rafting flows this season, even before this recent storm. In fact, this agreement now provides for predictable recreational flows for rafting for the next 50 years.

Now here is the truly great news, while climate change may diminish snow pack levels in the future, and population increases will undoubtedly increase demand on dwindling water supplies, even in “super dry” years there are 5 days of guaranteed water flow for boating on the South Fork. That means Thursday through Monday, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, we can count on good flows that begin and end at specific times of the day, even in the worst drought years ever recorded! Furthermore, 90% of boaters would choose the period in which the flows are guaranteed anyway. That means that even in the worst of times, boating is great on the South Fork of the American. This river has the most reliable water flows of any Class III whitewater river in the West!

One more remarkable fact: The total volume of water that flows down the river is not affected by rafting. No one will go thirsty as a result of your boating the river. The only effect of this agreement was to alter the timing of the release of a relatively small amount of this water, approximately 2% of the total, with the result that a huge amount of recreation results from a relatively small change in the release regimen. This is a win, win situation that benefits recreation, fish, wildlife and also SMUD itself by building a reservoir of valuable community support. Thank you SMUD! We all hope for a similarly favorable outcome on the re-licensing of the Middle Fork of the American, which is currently under way with PG&E.

See you on all three Forks of the American River this season,

Scott the River Doc and the MaLode Crew

Firsts on Cherry Creek

On these rainy days in the office on the American River, we (the few who spend the winter here) often start to think about the adventures of the past seasons. And while we had many spanning through the spring, summer and fall, the peak of adrenaline and challenge was (for myself and several others) undoubtedly achieved on the Upper Tuolumne River, also known as Cherry Creek. This 8.6 miles class V run is considered by most as the most difficult commercially run stretch of river in the country. With an average elevation drop of 105 feet per mile include the "miracle mile," which drops 200 feet, it's easy to see why.

The leader of our group was Aaron Root, a solid class V boater with fantastically wild lampchop sideburns that would easily win the blue ribbon in any county (if there were such a category at the fair; I wish there were). In his boat were three of the Malode ladies; there was Sarah Shakal (aka, The Shock) who had only been on the run once before; Colleen Hardiman and Mary Maliff, who had never been on the run. Kayaking along with us was Suzie Jaques, and it was also her first time kayaking Cherry Creek. In my boat were a few of the Malode dudes: Lindsey Gulyas and Kyle Gordon (The Texan), as well as Angelo Munoz Rios (a Chilean guide newly arrived in California), all of whom had never been on the run. Oh yeah, I had only been on it once before too, and had never guided it.

The first time I rafted Cherry Creek few years before, our boat ended up flipping twice and flat-wrapping once so badly that we had to bust on the ropes and pulleys, so I already had a little anxiety going into the trip. When we woke up the morning of the trip at Meral's Pool and our other guide still hadn't shown up, my stomach shrank as I realized I'd have to guide it. As we began the routine of rigging though, I began to feel less nervous and actually started anticipating the opportunity. Then I got nervous again as we rigged the flip lines. Then calm again. Then scared. Then Excited...ad infintum, until we slid the boats down to the river's edge. Then it was time to, as the battle-cry of the summer went, "Fire it up!"

The first few miles of Cherry Creek are sort of a warm-up, with some decent class IV drops and boulder gardens. Aaron would look over his shoulder and holler directions if he felt it necessary, and then we'd plunge into the rapid. We all felt good and for the most part in sync with one another so far; woots and paddle high fives galore were happening everywhere, as well as more personalized celebrations. Angelo made a habit of sticking his tongue out really far and then shaking his head from side to side so fast that his tongue jiggled, all this while still excitedly wooting. Lindsey's celebration was to rock in his seat like a psych patient and beat on his knees with his fists still white knuckled and gripping the paddle blade. Kyle, recently having become obsessed with the movie Into the Wild shouted, "I'm Alexander Supertramp!" twenty-seven times that day.

Near mile 2, we came to our first class V rapid, Guillotine, which we stomped through fairly easily. Up next, was corkscrew, which has a huge undercut rock near the exit on the left. Now, guiding in a raft full of raft guides is great in a lot of respects, don't get me wrong. But there are some downsides. All guides want to be in control; in fact, it's sort of their auto-pilot mode. So having to listen and then actually carry out the commands coming from another person, even if it's someone they know and trust, is sort of, well, impossible. What I'm getting at is, Angelo was starting to freelance, to throw in his own strokes that I wasn't calling out. It ended up helping us on this rapid, and we cleared the undercut with no problems, so no one said anything. But up next was Jawbone, a more technical boulder garden with some decent drops. We were all still juiced and made the moves we needed to make, but it was a fight. Then we pulled over to scout one of the most difficult rapids, Mushroom.

Getting a good vantage point we watched Aaron take his boat through, but not easily, bumping along the guard rocks at the top and just barely making the move far right before ferrying as hard as possible back to the left toward a huge upstream pillow coming off the mushroom rock, which they ended up riding up on, tipping the boat like a bath toy, but not flipping it, and all of them were able to stay in the boat. By this time, two other boats who had been running with us entered the rapid, one of which got swept to the far left and pinned in the guard rocks. After a lot of shifting bodies around and tugging, they got it free and made it over the pillow, their guide getting launched all the way into the front seats and landing on the back of one of his paddlers. We ended up going through last. We decided after we watched the third boat to back-paddle through the move to the right so we'd be facing the left hand shore and wouldn't have to spin the boat to make that move. It ended up working beautifully, and we got all the way across to the far left of the mushroom rock. We were nearly dancing in our boat after we exited the final drop smoothly.


Almost immediately after Mushroom, is another big class V rapid, Toadstool. Aaron was yelling the directions to us but it was getting hard to hear him because he was actually losing his voice. We decided to just follow them as best we could. After sliding through the first hydraulic though we saw to our horror that they'd been sucked into a strong eddy just above a big drop into a huge muncher of a hole. It might have been a bit easier to get out of that eddy if there was only one boat in there, but with us following Aaron in, there was hardly room to maneuver, every time we tried to exit the upstream end we be pushed into his boat stubbornly. Finally on the fourth try we made just far enough back into the current so as not to be sucked back into the eddy. The problem was we rode up the boulder on the left side of the drop sideways. All of us leaped to the high side. The boat stood completely vertical on its right tube. We felt it wobble in it's precarious balance, like a child learning to ride a bicycle, as it slid down into the hole. It happened too fast for me to think about if we were actually going to swim and what the swim in that monster hole would be like; all we really know is that we landed right side up. We looked up and heard cheers and holy expletives. I could hardly believe it.

We rode our triumphant wave through the next big rapid, Catapult, and then found ourselves quickly heading into the "Miracle Mile". Aaron's voice was almost completely gone by now, and all he was able to say was, "keep it up, it's read and run for the next mile." Everyone paddled their hearts and lungs out through Gar's Lunch, Blind Faith and Coffin Rock. I cursed the bluest streak imaginable trying to steer our boat through some of the boulder gardens; all my friends on the raft agreed that I must have temporarily summoned some ill-fortuned sailor from beyond the grave. By the time we reached the next eddy above Sky King we were exhausted but happy and swigged as much water as we could in preparation for the next set of rapids. Sky King went much better than the last time (this was where our first flip happened on my first visit to Cherry Creek), and we headed into the next set, where one boat wrapped badly in the first boulder garden, and our boat nearly ran over a friend who was kayaking at Christmas Tree Hole.


The next big rapids were Airplane Turn, where just after the drop, another of the boats running with us wrapped. Lewis' Leap, which has a huge drop in the center of the rapid that you have to ferry hard left while passing around a set of shallow wrap rocks. We made the move and made the drop, which I thought felt like the biggest drop on the run. By this point I was so tired that I wanted to trade out guiding, having finished the hardest rapids, but everyone wanted me to keep going; Angelo said it best, "todo o nada."

We completed the portages of Flat Rock Falls and Lumsden, the latter of which Aaron made much easier by solo-paddling all four boats down, only one of which flipped; what a beast!

We bumped and grinded down the remaining class IV section, to the end of our run at Meral's Pool, where camp and a well deserved rest awaited us. We gave one more exhausted cheer as we pulled into the eddy. As we lay in the boat after changing out of our sweaty dry tops and thermals, we were already talking about coming back to run Cherry Creek again.