Guest Letters & Trip Feedback

Here’s a heart warming little story from a 2-Day Trip on the Tuolumne River.

Ian,

Don’t think I am always this easy to impress: I’m not. As a matter of fact the term “high maintenance” is not uncommonly used when friends describe me.

My husband and I had an absolutely fantastic time! Few things are better than being in nature, the Tuolumne is beautiful, and I hear all the Outfitters are great up there but it would not have been the same epic excursion without: Mason, Dan, Horse, Owen, Linsday and the cute guy who didn’t say much but was always working.

Tim traveled with you 2 or 3 years ago and had a great time. Years before that he had been asking for a rafting trip for his birthday I diverted him with the grandest of birthday gifts thinking he’d forget about something (between you and me) I was a little frightened by.

Masons knowledge of the river and his succinct and expert commands dispelled my fears the second we made it through Rock Garden. Lindsay’s sense of humor was quirky in a perfect way. The trip was too short to get the full opportunity of Horse knowledge. Owen was a great first impression for us * multi tasking (a rare thing to find with those Y chromosome people) effortlessly and being calm while keeping everything together. If Mason weren’t the bomb, I would have wished to have been in Dan’s boat.

One day I was looking for something and “the cute gear boat guy who was always busy” turned up
out of nowhere with exactly the thing I needed * awesome. Take care of these guys, I would follow them wherever they went.

The food was healthier than expected and very tasty * we are gluten free but didn’t mention it before hand and there was plenty of options to keep our belly’s happily full. Sorry, I don’t have anything that I would suggest you do better. YES call/email us again next year.

Thank you for a great vacation
Janet Kane

www.kanetherapy.com
“Natural forces within us are the true healers…..”
hippocrates

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 from a group of 13 friends out of San Francisco on the Tuolumne River.

Hi Lenka-

We had such an amazing time and I wanted to thank everyone for making our trip so much fun. Wish I could say that we didn’t have people go overboard, but it wasn’t me and since everyone made it out safely, it actually gave us that many more stories to tell! The food was delicious. As you may have heard, we are all city folk, and I think had pretty low expectations in regards to the camping bit! But, we were so pleasantly surprised by the comforts that were provided. Oscar won over quite a few people! It was so nice to have the camp set up, food prepared, and cleanup done. We felt completely pampered, and I almost forgot we were actually in the woods! I definately want to take a minute to personally thank all of the guides that really did make this trip for us. Collin, Diesel, Mason, Lindsay, The wizard and Ryan were so much fun and I can’t imagine we would have felt so safe or laughed as hard had it been anyone else. They were friendly, wonderful people and we were sad to say good bye. Collin had so much knowledge about the river and surrounding area (or was a pretty good at making it up), he was so patient with our pathetic paddling, he got us out of some sticky situations, and he was a beautiful soul to share time with. Diesel made the girls laugh and sing out loud, and pulled them safely out of the rapids each and every time they fell in! Tell Lindsay she can have her rematch anytime, but just so she knows, I surprised myself with those quick leg wrestling moves! So from the “stuck-a-lots” and the “flippers” we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. It was a summer trip we will never forget…

-Jen Lohman

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

Feedback from a first-time rafter from a South Fork Lower Express rafting Trip

Hi Roxanne,

I would be pleased to tell you about our experience! As a business professional all to often we hear too much negative and not enough positive… not that way in this case. Lynsey was AMAZING what a great adventure with a simply terrific person! My staff worked together, I gained the confidence in myself to overcome my fears, and all due to the guidance of your knowledgeable staff. As a matter of fact because of this great experience we are planning to do the Middle Fork trip in about TWO WEEKS on August 30th!!! We would love to have the same guide because she gained our confidence from the very beginning! FUN FUN FUN… LETS GO AGAIN!

I want to thank you all so much for everything. We are pumped for our next thrilling adventure with AO!

Feedback from a long-time guest and friend of AO on his most recent Cherry Creek rafting adventure.

Roxanne, that day was over the top with excitement, thrills and non-stop action. I was scared, confident, breathless, and astonished at every rapid. It was like each rapid built on the last and was more and more intense. It seemed as though the last 9 or so years rafting with AO was rolled into one stretch of river and made memorable by the unintentional surfing at “unknown soldier” and skilled guidance by Danny Walker…the man!

River flows on time and 1200cfs as planned..CC was kind to me that day.. I was only beckoned to swim with her once..but I kept Adam’s rule #1: “I stayed in the boat”.

I have begun a series of Haiku that I will share with you soon which hopefully will put some fabric to my experience on CC compliments of AO…what an organization!

All the best to you and your future endeavors on the rivers.

Richard

Feedback from a mother – son rafting trip on a Middle Fork American 2-Day Trip

Hi Lenka!

We had a WONDERFUL time! I don’t know where to start!

Louis was our guide. He was great! He drew the 6 strangers in the boat into a group very well. He did a great job describing each upcoming rapid, how to handle it, and what to do if we flipped out. (Literally) He was fun too! I will request him when we come back next year!

The food was very good. It was the attention to details that made simple food so good, such as the sliced avocado and hummus spread for the turkey sandwiches, the fresh fruit – unbruised by the trip, and fresh cilantro for the burritos! There was plenty of food. And the guides never seemed put out to prepare it for us.

You were right about the river selection. We would have been bored on a lower rated river.

My son and I will be back next year with the idea that this will be an annual trip for the two of us. We may try another river. Then my daughter saw the pictures and wants to try it out, so I foresee another trip that includes her

Thanks so much!!

Kaye

Feedback from a family rafting trip on the South Fork American river.

Hi Jeff -

Thanks for the email. We had a GREAT time ! Our 4 boys (19,15,12,12) LOVED the trip and probably wished we had booked a 2nd day and stepped it up to 3s & 4s! Our oldest even posted a picture from the trip as his Facebook profile picture within 1 day of the trip!

Jeff, we very much enjoyed the trip. From the moment we arrived on site in Lotus, the staff was terrific. We were greeted at our car by Ryan and he was great, got us oriented, started the check-in process, etc. We then signed in and Erin was great as well. The overview discussion and demo were very thorough and well presented. From the moment we hopped in the boat, Joe was fantastic. Not only was he great to talk with and listen too, he had excellent instructions, his demeanor was perfect, and he had control over the raft. Joe was great! The food was perfect. We watched the guides prepare portions of the lunch, and to think that they not only guided us, they made lunch too ! Excellent choices on the spread, variety, and volume. Well planned!

We decided after the experience, and seeing the photos of how much fun we had just had on the trip, that we definitely will come up again and move up to more 3s and 4s. And please, definitely consider contacting us – I know we’ll be interested in another excursion. In fact, we told folks at the office on Monday, and they want the details and my head up there soon!

Congrats on a well organized and well-run crew – top-notch. Please thank the team for making our trip so memorable and enjoyable – you went the extra mile in customer service and we experienced it first hand.

Sincerely,

Steve Richards

Feedback from a vacationing family who joined us on the South Fork American river for our Tom Sawyer Family Float trip.

Jeremy,

One word that would summarize our trip with AO would be AWESOME! Everything was awesome. Dan was so good with our kids and was very knowledgable about the river and the surrounding areas. The food was fabulous. We had an absolute blast. We are all in agreement that, among all of the stuff we did on our 10 day vacation, the river rafting was our favorite! We probably wont make it back up to the river next year, but next time we are in the area, we will definitely give you guys a call to do it all again. We can’t wait for our baby to be old enough to go with us and our other kids to be old enough to do the higher class rapids! Thanks for a wonderful trip. You should know you have a real gem in Dan.

Thanks again,
Sarie

Feedback from a South Fork American 1-Day, Lower Gorge run.

Jeff

My family and I had a wonderful time, they all want to go again as soon as possible. From seeing our group and the groups of other tours it was very easy to see that we had selected the most professional and organized company. From the clean well kept put in at Lotus to the wonderful spread at lunch to the trip back, All Outdoors was top notch. We had Hillary as our guide, and she was spectacular, her knowledge of the river was amazing. My 8 year old sat in the middle of the raft up until lunch and then paddled with everyone else for the 2nd half, she loved it, Hillary kept her involved and entertained.

We will be going again (this weekend if my family had its way) and we will be going with All Outdoors. Everyone is leaning towards the 2 day trip on the South Fork as Hillary sure made dinner and camping sound like fun. We did not sign up for the frequent rafter program as it was very hectic as we were leaving, can you please sign us up for that.

Thanks
Bert