Guest Letters & Trip Feedback

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

After her recent day trip on the American Katie wrote to us,

Hello AO Family,
It’s the famous river story teller back again for 2010! Since starting to raft with AO late in the season last year I’ve become addicted to the AO Family and white water river action. I recently recruited four new river rafters and my entire office crew of six have now rafted with All Outdoors and I wouldn’t have it any other way. So I wanted to share my recent trip on the Middle Fork of the American River that my new recruits took part in on June 13th, 2010. I call it our “WOOOO NELLY KELLY” trip. It goes a little something like this….

It was my first trip this season without wet suits and boy did my pasty white legs reflect the beautiful sun rays! Kelly had us all sign our forms as we grabbed our helmets and life vest for our river adventure. My good and faithful buddy Dane was there who so magnificently guided us down the Middle Fork just last season. On the
bus ride down I leaned over to Kelly and said “My girlfriend has to stay in the boat or she’ll never go rafting again!” Kelly said I’m taking you guys and I’ll do my best Katie! For almost a week prior to our trip I sat on the couch and in the car showing my girlfriend how to paddle, what the commands were and what happens if you don’t do what you’re told. (Yep I scared her to death!) There was no way I was going to let anything happen to her. So back to the story… We headed down the river and Kelly prepared us before each rapid she explained the history behind the rapid and how the name came about. As we approached “Last Chance and Tunnel Chute” we pulled over and scouted it. I asked my team if they were good with going down…”YEA! We are ready!” I went up and bumped
helmets with Kelly… You feelin good about this Hun?” Yea we’re good she said. We were the second boat the first boat started toward Last Chance and the water turned the boat in an awkward angle causing them to
have to pull over quickly to the left. We took off down last chance next and got caught up in the same awkward position… we quickly corrected the position and forward paddled towards Tunnel Chute when Kelly yelled
“GET DOWN!” (I’m laughing to tears right now!) Poor Kelly played bull rider all the way down Tunnel Chute! LOL (I have attached pictures!!!) We made it but I broke a nail and whined about for a good minute! Kelly was great and her personality fit our tea to the tee! Please let Kelly know I’ll take her raft anytime!!!

Love You Guys,
Katie Evans (AO’s favorite Frequent Floater!)-hehe!!!

Tinsley from L.A. writes,

Hi Lenka,

Things went great on Friday! Everyone had a really good time, even the couple of girls that were a little hesitant at first. The guides were all really nice and informative – I know my boat liked hearing about the history of places we passed by along the river from our guide Joe. Plus, the description and instructions ahead of time about the different rapids helped make everyone feel comfortable and confident going into them. Lunch was amazing! Such a nice spread of goodies for the sandwiches. All in all, you guys seem to have things down pretty well – the trip was well organized and a lot of fun.

Thanks again for all your help! The trip was definitely a success!

-Tinsley

After organizing a bachelor party float Ritesh from Vancouver, WA wrote,

“Hey Roxanne!

The trip was amazing! We all had a blast and want to do it again. Everything went smoothly and as planned.

We had two rafts and the guides were great. The raft I was on his name was Horse or at least that’s what they called him had a really good knowledge base on the history of the area and that made it a lot of fun. The river was great, the flow was fun.

Overall the experience for me and the rest of the party was great!

Thank you so much for your time and effort with all of this, it made planning everything a lot easier, I will definitely recommend AO to anyone else.

Thanks again!

Ritesh”

Feedback from a group that just can’t seem to get enough. Fours trips in so far and talk of another in the works.

On September 19th and 20th my team and I enjoyed our third and fourth whitewater trip with AO in the past 3 months! We started this new adventure with AO late in the season but could not get enough. Having rafted the South and Middle Fork twice we can’t wait for the big guns next Spring. The craving for more came after our first trip down the South Fork with Lynsey, an amazing woman with an infectious personality and sweet disposition. The very next day I was on the internet booking our next trip down the Middle Fork. The next thing we knew we were splashing around with Dane, our playful thrill seeking guide along the 16 mile stretch of river! Read more…

A couples trip on the Middle Fork American River.

Jeff

First off, I just want to say that working with Ian in reservations to set up our trip was easy and he made the planning of the trip very convenient. Kind of one stop shopping… He told me what was available, what was
the most economical trip for our group, what camp sites were available and full and what hotels were the best…

Second, when we got there, our guides Dayne and Kelly were friendly and well informed. They gave us some great last minute suggestions and helped us get ready for our adventure. The trip was amazing. I have included our photos from Tunnel Chute. Our small group felt like we had a ‘personalized trip’. Dayne and Kelly
made sure to stop so we could scout the bigger rapids but also took time on our two day trip to let us “see the sights”. We took several hikes, saw waterfalls, lunched in leisure and overall learned the history of the
great “Gold Rush” and how this part of California played such a huge part in the history of America.

We had driven in from Utah the night before the trip so although we offered to assist with dinner prep and clean up, our guides knew we were tired and we were given time to relax and play while dinner and desert were being prepared by them. Chicken, potatoes, salad – better food than I make at home.

Sleeping on the bank of the river was awesome. Beautiful stars and the moon shining overhead. The rush of the water not far from our beds allowed all of us to sleep like baby’s after a nice first day on the river.

Breakfast was a delicious mix of fruit, Kelly’s famous eggs and other goodies to carry us over for the day and we loved the initially slow meander down river to be followed by several exhilarating Class 3′s and 4′s to
finish the day in grand style.

We will absolutely be back next year. In fact, we are already working on some other couples to trek out and come with us on the three day – Tuolumne next spring.

All Outdoors lives up to every award ever given. It’s no wonder you have been voted TOPS in the rafting industry.

Can’t wait to get out on the river again soon.

Kelli and Dave Charlton
Shawna and Derek Applegate

Feedback from a Middle Fork American 1-day Trip on August 22, 2009.

Roxanne,

It was beyond my family’s expectations. We loved every minute of it, even during the slow parts of the rafting. We had an excellent guide named Cameron and he was fun to talk to during the trip. He took us on an interesting hike with a beautiful waterfall that looked like we were in another country (some exotic island) and we took a great picture with him.

We would love to plan another trip, I’ve already sent out photos of our adventure and I’m hoping to recruit more people to AO. AO were very friendly and professional, and I was impressed with the healthy lunch they prepared for such a large group of people.

My two sons are looking forward to booking their next trip on the Cherry Creek experience. I think they’re hooked.

Thank you for your great customer service.

Rosa Estorga

Feedback from a Valley Medical company trip on the Middle Fork American.

Hi Lenka,

Just wanted to reply and say that we all had an amazing trip. It was definately a great bonding experience for the 17 of us. We had a few people new to whitewater rafting, a few new to California ( and our hospital staff ) ,a few new to ALL OUTDOORS, as well as returning faithfuls. This will continue to expand as the word travels around the hospital about what a great time we all had. It was nice to see Brandon and Max from our previous trip, which made it seem that much more familiar. All the guides were, and have been, excellent. The food…has anyone really ever complained ? How can you go wrong. The food was great and it was a perfect opportunity to catch up and make fun of the other teams of rafts. In short…as always, it was a perfect trip, and one that all of the staff here at Valley Medical Center will remember and look forward to for years to come. Thanks to all of your staff who helped !

Chris

Some fun feedback from a 1-Day rafting trip down the Middle Fork American River.

Dear Lenka -

All Outdoors has 3 huge new fans! We had such an incredible time – we can’t stop talking about it and sharing our experience with friends and family. I was extremely impressed with our guide Elliot, aka “SWAN”. He entertained us with stories and history of the river and his obvious experience made us all feel safe and secure through even the craziest rapids. His love of the river was a joy to share. We have told everyone who will listen to give it a try and we want to return for the two day trip soon.

Thank you for this extraordinary experience. We are all grateful for the adventure.

Newest White Water Fan (Who started the day quite timid!!!)

Jill Wolfson

PS: Tell Elliot we took his advice on dinner, found Ikeddas (SP?) and loved the gourmet burgers. It was the perfect finish to a perfect day!

Feedback a 2-Day rafting trip on the Middle Fork American

Our experience with All Outdoors was fabulous. I couldn’t have asked for a better trip. This was my first time rafting and All Outdoors made it simple and easy. We did the 2 day Middle Fork trip and I didn’t even feel like a beginner by the end of the trip. Our guides, Cameron, Lewis, and Kelly were awesome. Cameron was our guide for our boat and he did a phenomenal job. I really enjoyed how Cameron and the guides took the time to show us the river, such as coasting to gather blackberries and surfing the rapids. The mini-side hikes were also a nice change of scenery. The food on the trip was surprisingly good. I was very impressed with what they could do with the food, given the supplies we had, since everything we needed was carried on the raft. Overall, the rafting trip was really enjoyable; too bad no one fell in (few close calls). Some folks on our raft did happen to bend their kayak on a rock so that was a sight to see. The guides came to their rescue and it was amazing to watch. The guides really know their stuff! I would definitely return to All Outdoors for my future rafting trips and would recommend All Outdoors to all my friends. Thank you All Outdoors for an amazing vacation.

-Sarah Wong