An absolutely wonderful day! The high, cold flows of this year had me a little nervous, buy I figured I’d put myself in the hands of pros and it’d be fine. And it was. I have usually run rivers self supported with a kayak and an inflatable kayak, but this was a rafting trip with four of us paddling and the guide on oars.
The crew that we met at the takeout were organized and ready to outfit and brief us all. A bus ride up to the put in, taking the boats down to the river and we’re ready to go. The water was cold but the wetsuits kept us comfortable. The rapids were fun and the scenery gorgeous. The guides were great and I thought ours, Trey, was fantastic. He was incredibly competent, explaining what we should expect, what the route was, setting up for the rapids, and getting us through the, just fine. He was a lot of fun to share a boat with.
This company has been on this river for a few decades and has it down. I’ll be going with them again.
5 Stars, the staff, food, trip and rapids all were excellent. I would go again.
A great trip. I've been using All -Outdoors for 25 years now. It is always a great experience. This was my first time on the NF Stanislaus. A great ride! Rapids were big and scenery was beautiful.
I try to raft as often as possible. This was my third trip this year and by far the BEST trip I have taken yet. To start the Guides were phenomenal. They were well versed in the river and made all the rafters feel comfortable no matter their level of experience. They all worked well together and it showed. They had to portage the boats for a time and they did a wonderful job. At one point one of the guides broke an oar on another boat instead of raising it up and potentially hitting a rafter (me) used her abs to keep control (yeah i mean you abs of steel). The guide (manager of the run) took control of the situation and took the spare oar they carried, directed the other boats and transferred the new oar to the boat. We continued on like without a hitch. GREAT TEAM WORK and COMMUNICATION. The river was running and was very challenging making the trip exhilarating. The boat i was in (only three of us) got into a rhythm and was able to aggressively hit the rapids. It was AWESOME. Best run over.
The staff was extremely on point since the river was high and a bit tricky. Safety and group cohesion was a priority and the day went off without a hitch. Very experienced guides. Always a pleasure with this company!
Everything was phenomenal from the customer service to the lunch to the amazing guides and omg were the rapids great! An experience to remember for sure. I already can't wait to go back!
The North Stan is, quite simply, the BEST single-day commercial class IV rafting trip in California. It is VERY technical with constant twisting, turning, and boulder-dodging. And it is in a beautiful place, just outside of Calaveras Big Trees State Park at nearly 5000 feet elevation, unusually high for a raft-able river in California. And the river itself is gorgeous. The only problem is that it is a natural (undammed above the rafted section) river with a relatively small and low-elevation watershed, and it therefore usually has a very short runnable season in April and/or May, and many years it never gets high enough to raft at all. Fortunately with this season (2017) a very wet one, this should be one of the BEST North Stan years in a long time for rafting!! Yay!
The North Fork of the Stanislaus was the first of two trips I did with AO this summer. The second was on Cherry Creek. Both trips were memorable. The highlights included the best guides, ever and spectacular scenery. Looking forward to more adventures with AO.
I bring a group of 6-10 co-workers rafting every year and this was my third time rafting with AO. As always, they have their act together before, during, and after the rafting. The guides are super chill. The sandwich bar at lunch is AMAZING, as it has a variety of peppers, pesto, multiple types of bread, meat, and cheese, hummus, avocados, and the list goes on. As for the river itself, I love how it is action-packed the entire time and requires the boat to work together to escape a few nasty patches. I'd highly recommened this river to someone who wants to be engaged in a thrill seeking activity. If you want to sit back and eat KFC, go do the [@]. Thanks again for a stellar outing.
Had a GREAT time. Loved the river. Very fast and exciting. Lots of paddling but very little flat water. Beautiful scenery. Would definitely go again but want to do Cherry Creek next! It felt like it took quite a while to get everything organized and on the water - but worth the wait!