Sometimes at All-Outdoors we work sort of late. And we get hungry. Scrounging through the fridge turns up left-over cheese and bread, maybe even some mustard. Soon cheese melts land with a thwack on desks. Other times someone plans ahead and tastier options appear. And then there are Cafe Mahjaic nights. Oh [...]

 Here we are, August winding down into September, and my my my, where has the season gone?  Somehow after all these trips and so much sunshine, I still done forgot to get me a tan.  If you forgot too, there’s still time to wow your co-workers with a fresh summer glow aquired on an American river [...]

I recently did a two-day trip on the Tuolumne River, and as Lynsey and I greeted guests in the morning I realized all four groups on our trips were families–we had brother-in-laws, moms, dads, and kids ranging from 12 to 21. I chatted with one dad before dinner the first night about his kids [...]

Upstream dams mean that flows on the Tuolumne River and Cherry Creek have been very consistant in 2008.  Lower water levels actually meant that Cherry Creek had a better than average season this year and we’ve been running a record number of trips on this extremely challenging run as a result.  But, the situation is [...]

Kayaking California’s Class V rivers would be the ultimate adrenaline rush for most people. For kayaker and All-Outdoors videographer, Ben Zupo, the Class V rapids in the Sierra Nevada are simply the perfect training ground for the “second most deadliest job in the world,” working as camera crew on the hit TV show, The Deadliest [...]

As you float down the South Fork, you notice the whitewater, the rocks, the sunbathers on the beach…but hopefully you also notice the broader beauty of the canyon.  The families of wild ducks, tawny deer, soaring vultures, chattering chickadees.  The hillsides of the Coloma-Lotus Valley rise low and wide above the South Fork, dotted with [...]

Some people are just content with what comes their way, happy to sit and let life float past them, instinct urging them to take the path most travelled.  Take Jordan for instance. We all have to study a language in college right?  He chose Arabic–for the easy A.  Obviously.  Or after the rafting season last fall, Jordan [...]

Here’s another cool opportunity for an affordable, fun weekend that will get you outside and enjoying both California rafting and hiking.  The American River Conservancy is hosting a free, guided hike on the Rubicon River August 2nd.  It’s a moderate, eight mile hike, so even if you aren’t a power-lifter or tri-athlete, it should be fun, not a [...]

It’s a small miracle that I can sit here and type today.  I had thought that after the gauntlet was thrown down, the challenge risen to, the doubters forever silenced, I would be forced to creep off into a dark corner somewhere, down a bottle of Advil, and eat bon bons for a week and [...]

If you haven’t made plans for the weekend yet, or if you’re already coming up to raft the South or Middle Fork, don’t forget that there’s an awesome concert at one of our local winerys this weekend, July 25th.  David Girard Winery is hosting Sean Hayes, a popular singer-songwriter touring the West Coast this summer.  [...]

We are in the midst of one of the best Cherry Creek seasons we’ve ever had.  One of the silver linings of the lower than usual reservoirs this summer is that the water on Cherry Creek came down enough for us to raft earlier than it usually does.  The class V whitewater on the Creek is [...]

I recently escaped the four walls of my office, shut down the computer, locked the door and headed to the river: Girls trip to the Tuolumne! The car was brimming with bottles of sunscreen, sleeping bags escaping their stuff sacks, wrinkled shorts, salty snacks passed around, and anticipation mixed with fear–some of the girls got confused [...]

I was just talking to a friend about the idea of “volunteer vacations,” whereby you go on vacation but do something good too–like help rebuild an area affected by a natural disaster or do conservation work and the like.  Then I came across a cool concert being held at one of our local wineries and [...]

Who doesn’t love to see their name in print?  We got our chance this summer when we were part of an article in Southwest Airline’s Spirit Magazine about experts in various fields.  We showed up on their radar for rafting trips on the American River.  Check it out at: http://spiritmag.com/2008_07/best/index.php . Maybe People Magazine is next…. [...]

Awhile back I mentioned that folks who participate in the American River music and rafting package might get serenaded on the river bank and……. It’s true!  I just found out that Joe Craven will do a jam session on the river!  A few weekends back I happened to get a double dose of Joe Craven’s music–he played at a local [...]

With the skies beginning to clear and California Wildfires hopefully begining to abate, it seems summer is finally unfolding as it should, with hot temperatures, cold water, and fierce rapids all there for the taking. The spring snowmelt is officially kaput, which has a major impact on whitewater rafting in California. For one [...]

Well kids, it’s time to pack up your sleeping bag, brush the cookie crumbs out of your tent, and head on home–the Merced River is officially out of commission until next spring when its rolling waves trains will reverberate with the happy hollering of soaked-to-the-bone whitewater rafters once more.  Until then, if you need a fix of [...]

It takes all kinds: some of us are dyed-in-the-wool adventurers, undaunted by blazing sun, blood-sucking insects, raging waters and the blackest mud, others have mastered instead the class V art of crab forks, fine-art appreciation, and Wagner’s Ring Cycle.  Myself, I’m somewhere in between–give me a long day in the wilderness but toss that dehydrated beef [...]

With a voice as big as All-Outdoors, Beth makes her presence known.  Whether she’s rockin’ the dance floor, leading a river trip, or hanging out with friends, her good humor and love of life is impossible to miss.  On the more serious side, she is equally at home in a labcoat, studying the mysteries of [...]

The Mighty Mer is a fickle river, with a character as inconstant as the moon depending on flows.  Until recently, we’ve had flows of around 2200-2000 cfs.  This amount of water creates the huge rolling wave trains that make the Merced such a fun whitewater river, but it also makes it inappropriate to run the lower section [...]