Middle Fork American > Feedback

A bit of feedback from Mike C of San Francisco on his Middle Fork American River rafting trip…

Hi,

I would like to start by saying thank you Lenka and to everyone at All Outdoors. I would love to post a comment about our trip.

To start off I’d like to mention that All Outdoors is the most professional, exciting and helpful company I have ever dealt with. My experience with All Outdoors started off with very little notice. I decided I wanted to go rafting less than 24 hours before my trip. Lenka was handling my booking, she was very informative and quick to accommodate my request. We booked our trip with no problems and immediately tried to rent a car (a simple task, or so I thought). All car rental companies within 20 miles were booked out and everyone I new that could lend us a car happened to be out of town. AHH WHAT NOW? There is no refund for our trip on such short notice. I call Enka and explain my situation. We ask if we can change it to the following Monday. Within 20 minutes Lenka has us booked in and to my surprise (because of our specific situation) we are not charged for the change. Well All Outdoors you had me at hello. This alone would have been enough to bring me back time and time again to this fantastic adventure sports company.

So now for the trip itself, I print off the directions and have no problem finding the meeting location. As soon as I exit my car there is a friendly hello and a firm handshake combined with fresh mountain air beautiful scenery and an air of excitement around me as the rafts are prepared, and so begins our trip.

After a short ride down the mountain and a brief humorous introduction about safety we reach the river. The boats are loaded and my roommate and I have an idea who we like to be our guide (Louis) and of course this request is met (another point scored for A.O.). We get a little briefing and hit the river. We happen to be in the front, our guide is leading the pack SWEEEEET. Louis is going over the basics and explaining that the first big rapid a class 4 Tunnel Chute. A few tweaks here and there to our rowing and we blast down the river. The whole trip is brilliant, Tunnel Chute definitely being my favorite rapid. We get a nice break with some level 2s’ and 3s’ before lunch, during which Louis tells us all about the river during the gold mining days and how to read the water, mixed with some surfing (something I highly recommend if given the opportunity) we finally dock.

After lunch and a short swim we blast down the remainder of the river before docking and returning to the bus. I have rafted the American River once before and can say that Louis was the best guide we could have hoped for. He managed to combine a feeling of being safe with the all the excitement one would expect from the river and a knowledge of the area that left me feeling enriched by my trip.

Whenever I raft in California I will only raft with All Outdoors and will always request the same guide. If you are looking to experience the great outdoors and want to throw in some excitement try the Middle Fork of the American River and more importantly book your trip with All Outdoors. You would be a fool not to.

Once again thank you to the whole team and hopefully I will see you guys in about 10 days.

Sincerely Mike

Marie G of Carmel Valley, CA joined us for 2 rafting trips this month and had this to say of her experiences / adventures.

Hi Eric & Howard,

Wanted you both to know what a great time we had on both of our trips with AO. First on the Middle Fork with Matt Henry as our guide. Matt did a fantastic job of keeping us safe, focused & learning. Most of all Matt inspired us to book another trip immediately following that day on the Middle Fork.

On our next trip we had the pleasure of learning even more skills & gaining greater confidence with Noah on the Tuolumne. We were lucky to get paired with another adventure seeking group, they too hope to run Cherry Creek next year. Talking with Noah about Cherry Creek & preparedness was so helpful. He worked further with us on stroke quality, specifically the back paddle (we got bruises on the hip–we got it right!) & the importance of reading the river. We even saw a bald eagle, a very good omen!

All in all, AO has been fabulous to work with. Your staff is highly professional, prompt & attentive to every detail. We know we are in good hands as we aim for next year’s ultimate goal, thank you & extra thanks to both Matt & Noah!

Marie Gibb
Essentially M Design

Some feedback haling from the Midwest.. this Michigan resident embarked on his first ever rafting trip on the Middle Fork American and said…

Howard,

We had such a great time! Our guide, Dylan, was more than willing to answer questions, was extremely knowledgeable about how to guide and navigate the river, and I felt safe throughout the whole trip. The lunch was amazing, and we certainly have tons of great memories for our first whitewater rafting trip. We are even thinking about going in the spring next year on the river 1 hr outside of LA that is Class IV and V.

You and your staff made our trip so easy to plan and in our case add on a few extras, not to mention letting us all pay separately over the phone makes things much simpler when you are 3000 miles from home.

Thanks so much and hope to see you (or your guides) in the spring!

- Matt Sornig

Lisa from San Carlos, CA recently rafted with us on the Middle Fork American River and had this to say about her adventure.

Hi Jeremy,

Our trip was fantastic!  Our guides, Randy, Sierra, and Tom were so friendly and fun, the food was delicious and plentiful, the rafting was exciting, and the hiking was beautiful.  This was our second All-Outdoors trip, and I’m sure we’ll be back again.  Thanks for a wonderful weekend!

Lisa

This was a surprise birthday party trip on the Middle Fork American…

Lenka – It was an outstanding trip from beginning to end – a real adventure, with just the right amount of danger, great food (we all completely appreciated the emphasis on fresh fruits and vegetables, completely a surprise considering the wilderness journey we were on), wonderful guides (Anita and Joe) who took care of so well that All Outdoors has us hooked for life.  We will be back for either the Tuolumne or Merced trip within the next year.  And we will ask for Anita and Joe again.

As soon as we get our pictures back, I will be happy to post about our adventure on Facebook!

Debbie

The Venture Scouts of Galt, CA rafted with us on a Middle Fork American 2-Day trip and had this to say about their experience.

Diana,

We all absolutely loved it. Our guides were great, and were very attentive to the boys. The food was amazing, too. If we do this again we will certainly come back to AO! I’ve told so many people about our experience, and referred them specifically to AO.

Todd

Another satisfied group of friends out of Livermore, CA. Here is what they had to say about their adventure on the Middle Fork American.

Good Morning Adam,

Just wanted to say once again I was very impressed by the experience I had with All Outdoors Rafting. My whole party (3 others guests) had a wonderful time as well. The trip yesterday was amazing.

Our tour guide’s name was Tom (not sure of his last name)….I’m wondering is there anyway I can send him a gift/tip saying thank you? How would I go about that? Send it to the Walnut Creek location? Would your staff be able to get this to Tom?

Thanks again,
Chris

The Robbins Family of four had this to say about their recent Middle Fork American 2-Day Trip…

Hello,

we had a wonderful trip.  Since it was just my family of four and guides, the trip was very peaceful and private.  That was just what we wanted.  The trip itself and the meals were very nicely run and managed.

The food was good.  It was almost too much so we had a lot of leftovers.  It was nice that there was a variety of things to eat.  My kids were very happy with the choices and they can sometimes be picky.

Our guides were good because they were not too chatty.  There were quite stretches of the river where none of us talked at all and that was just fine.  They gave commands when needed but not excessively.  They didn’t seem stressed if we weren’t doing things perfectly.

The office camp advice was a little off.  I was doing some preplanning with Linka and I asked about mosquitos.  I remember her saying there were not much of a problem since the water was cold and fast running.  That was not quite true.  At the overnight camp there were plenty of mosquitos.  (we had repellant so we were okay)  Also she had reservations about the queen size inflatable mattress pad we wanted to bring.  It turns out it would have fit on the supply raft fine.  We ended up bringing foam pads which were not as comfortable.

We would definately go on another trip with your company maybe next year.

Sincerely,
Karen Robbins

The Thacker family from Brentwood, CA wrote to about their Middle Fork American 2-Day Trips.

First of all.we’re hooked!!  We’re going to be frequent rafters!!!

We had a super great rafting trip.  Our guide was Beth and we just can’t say enough good things about her.  Very friendly and personable, confident in her abilities and taught us how to raft properly.  Very knowledgeable about the area and had so many wonderful topics of conversation to interject. Lewis was on the equipment boat and was also a great addition to the”team”..  Lewis, Kate and Beth all worked together nicely and got our meals and campsite all set up and really did an excellent job of making our trip a great success.  I couldn’t imagine a better group!

Thankyou!!  We had a wonderful family vacation to remember and we hope to go again sometime!!

Sincerely,
Susan, Rick, Kevin, Kyle and Casey Thacker

Lindsey from Santa Ana, CA rafted the Middle Fork and said:

Hi!

My group of six had a great time! I was the only rafter with previous experience, so the group was primarily made up of beginners. The river was perfect for their first time rafting and still exciting enough to keep me on the edge of my seat. Our guide Jerry was very good at his job and fun to raft with. He kept us in a constant easy forward motion through the dead water and safely guided us through the rapids. We all had a fun time chatting it up with him and things were always lively on our boat. The food was great and some of my co-rafters commented that they thought the sandwiches were the best they had ever had. Their reasoning could have been based off of their hunger built up from such a strenuous activity, the burst of adrenaline, relief of anxiety, and much more, but I believe they were genuinely impressed with the incredible sandwich goodies selection. Overall, we all really enjoyed the trip and will definitely be coming back to raft again!

Cheers,
Lindsey