{"id":2106,"date":"2011-09-04T23:03:40","date_gmt":"2011-09-05T06:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/?p=2106"},"modified":"2020-07-20T09:33:43","modified_gmt":"2020-07-20T16:33:43","slug":"labor-day-weekend-rafting-the-south-fork-of-the-american-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/?p=2106","title":{"rendered":"Labor Day Weekend &#8211; Rafting The South Fork Of The American River"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s been a high surf advisory for practically this entire weekend &#8211; so, it was time for me to fill a spot on Instructor John&#8217;s annual river rafting trip up to the American River.<\/p>\n<p>We all met Saturday morning at an undisclosed location, in the South Bay area, and started the day drive to the Sacramento area&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/fire6667755.jpg\" alt=\"Fire on the 5.\"><\/p>\n<p>We passed by an apparent recently started fire just off the freeway &#8211; it was probably started by some really stoned teenagers who flicked a marijuana joint out the window.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/farmerscatfishhouse.jpg\" alt=\"Farmer\u2019s Catfish House\"><\/p>\n<p>As tradition warrants, we had to stop by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yelp.com\/biz\/farmers-catfish-house-modesto\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Farmer&#8217;s Catfish House<\/a> in Modesto, California for what might be someone&#8217;s last meal&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/groupshot555654.jpg\" alt=\"The rafting group.\"><\/p>\n<p>From left to right, Darnell, Rebecca (Indispensable shuttle driver), Instructor John, Macho Me, Jeff W., and Jaime.<\/p>\n<p>Since I knew I faced possible death by river, I decided to try a dish that I never had tried before.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/gatoryuv8gv.jpg\" alt=\"Gator on  the menu.\"><\/p>\n<p>Yep, Gator &#8211; I believe it was Alligator, but the menu just stated &#8220;Gator.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Fried with spices, I have to say, I really don&#8217;t know what Gator tastes like &#8211; sort of like Frog Legs, is the best I can tell.<\/p>\n<p>The Farmer&#8217;s Catfish House is an old converted gas station&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/catfishgasstation7766.jpg\" alt=\"Farmers Catfish House Catfish back in the day.\"><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;and  a Modesto, &#8220;locals'&#8221; gem, if you like Cajun style seafood.<\/p>\n<p>The other customers looked at us like, &#8220;Who the hell are these people?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>After another few hours of driving and a night at a local Sacramento area Hotel, we were ready to do the entire 22 mile South Fork of the American River &#8211; something that the commercial rafting companies always divide into a two day trip.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/inflating7788889.jpg\" alt=\"Inflating The Raft.\"><\/p>\n<p>While we were inflating the raft, a Ranger came around and checked to see if we knew what we were doing.<\/p>\n<p>And we do, unlike a lot of the other rafters that we would meet later in the day.<\/p>\n<p>Around 10:30 AM &#8211; we set off.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/frontofboat777785895405.jpg\" alt=\"The front of the raft - the power paddlers - Jaime and Me.\"><\/p>\n<p>The front of the raft &#8211; the power paddlers &#8211; Jaime and Me.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/backofboatnnmnt8y0.jpg\" alt=\"The back - Jeff W., Instructor John as the Guide and Darnell.\"><\/p>\n<p>The back of the raft &#8211; Jeff W., Instructor John as the Guide and Darnell.<\/p>\n<p>We went through our first rapid &#8211; Meat Grinder.<\/p>\n<p>The raft was front heavy and when we hit a rock, Instructor John was catapulted forward.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, he couldn&#8217;t get his feet out of the holds and ended up going over the left side.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone in the raft was trying get him in &#8211; we hit another boulder and almost flipped.<\/p>\n<p>Jeff W. yelled to the front to pay attention, and that the others would get him in.<\/p>\n<p>They did.<\/p>\n<p>John thought that he broke his leg &#8211; apparently, it really fucking hurt&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/injuredshin667y.jpg\" alt=\"John thought that he broke his leg - apparently, it really fucking hurt\u2026\"><\/p>\n<p>After a 20 minute break in an eddy, it was apparent that John&#8217;s leg was just bruised and probably will be swollen later.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, we were in no place to quit, so after we redistributed the weight in the raft, we continued down the riiver.<\/p>\n<p>A lot of the old Gold Mining trails from the California Gold Rush still remain on the river&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/goldtrail66ggnb7.jpg\" alt=\"A lot of the old Gold Mining trails from the California Gold Rush still remained on the river.\"><\/p>\n<p>We rode a few class ones and twos with no further problems.<\/p>\n<p>When you see in the distance an umbrella with a photographer underneath it, and about 100 spectators around him&#8230; and as the sound of intense running water increases, you know that you are now up for a challenge&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Trouble Maker Rapids<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/09-04-2011_sfa_tm_pvt-gry_i00020006a.jpg\" alt=\"Entering Trouble Maker\"><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Trouble Maker&#8221; is a 20 foot drop in the river, on a bend, with a big ass fucking boulder in the middle&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/09-04-2011_sfa_tm_pvt-gry_i00020013a.jpg\" alt=\"Trouble Maker Rapids\"><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Forward! Forward! Dig! Dig!&#8221; John yelled.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/09-04-2011_sfa_tm_pvt-gry_i00020015a.jpg\" alt=\"Trouble Maker Rapids\"><\/p>\n<p>We had made it around the boulder in previous years, but the water was flowing too fast today.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/09-04-2011_sfa_tm_pvt-gry_i00020016a.jpg\" alt=\"Trouble Maker Rapids\"><\/p>\n<p>Fuck! Fuck! We are going over the boulder!<\/p>\n<p>John yelled, &#8220;High Side! High Side!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/09-04-2011_sfa_tm_pvt-gry_i00020018a.jpg\" alt=\"Trouble Maker Rapids\"><\/p>\n<p>I leaned towards the high side, stopped paddling and grabbed onto the vertical side &#8211; I pictured everyone dumping out of the raft &#8211; I took a breathe, getting ready for a swim&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/09-04-2011_sfa_tm_pvt-gry_i00020022a.jpg\" alt=\"Trouble Maker Rapids\"><\/p>\n<p>Instead of the raft going over my head, it landed flat.<\/p>\n<p>Holy shit!<\/p>\n<p>I wondered how many were still in the raft?<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/09-04-2011_sfa_tm_pvt-gry_i00020025a.jpg\" alt=\"Trouble Maker Rapids\"><\/p>\n<p>Holy crap!<\/p>\n<p>I looked around, and everyone was still in!<\/p>\n<p>The audience applauded &#8211; &#8220;Yeah! That&#8217;s the way to do it!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Upon later analysis, there were two things that kept us from flipping:<\/p>\n<p>1. Shear luck.<\/p>\n<p>2. Nobody panicked or froze, and everyone at least tried to take the high side.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/onbreak66yhhf.jpg\" alt=\"On break at Coloma.\"><\/p>\n<p>We took the rest of the stretch with no problems before ending up in Coloma for lunch &#8211; tacos at Gringo&#8217;s Tacos.<\/p>\n<p>We were back on the river at 2 PM&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/thedoldrumstru7gk.jpg\" alt=\"The Doldrums.\"><\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s a part after Coloma that is just plain flat&#8230; we paddled and floated for two hours, maybe hitting a couple of class two rapids.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, we came upon&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Satan&#8217;s Cesspool<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/09-04-2011_sfa_sc_pvt-gry_i00160003a.jpg\" alt=\"Satan\u2019s Cesspool\"><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/09-04-2011_sfa_sc_pvt-gry_i00160008a.jpg\" alt=\"Satan\u2019s Cesspool\"><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/09-04-2011_sfa_sc_pvt-gry_i00160014a.jpg\" alt=\"Satan\u2019s Cesspool\"><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/09-04-2011_sfa_sc_pvt-gry_i00160016a.jpg\" alt=\"Satan\u2019s Cesspool\"><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/09-04-2011_sfa_sc_pvt-gry_i00160019a.jpg\" alt=\"Satan\u2019s Cesspool\"><\/p>\n<p>A perfect run &#8211; except for stalling in an eddy at the bottom, and being hit by some asshole that was following us too close because he, &#8220;Didn&#8217;t know the rapids and wanted to follow us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Yeah, he was some douche bag, with a cheap &#8220;bail boat&#8221; who wore a bucket on his head.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/wrapped1ffyvhg.jpg\" alt=\"A wrapped river raft.\"><\/p>\n<p>We passed by a group that had wrapped their raft around  a rock.<\/p>\n<p>Low budget rafting&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/kmartraft778900.jpg\" alt=\"Kmart raft.\"><\/p>\n<p>&#8230; a $45 Kmart pool raft that is losing air.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/standuprafters0jh.jpg\" alt=\"Stand up rafters.\"><\/p>\n<p>How some people try and take these rapids is amazing.<\/p>\n<p>We approached the &#8220;Hospital Bar&#8221; rapids&#8230; this is where we flipped a few years ago on my last trip.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hospital Bar<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/09-04-2011_sfa_hb_pvt-gry_i00120005a.jpg\" alt=\"Hospital Bar Rapids\"><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Back Paddle! Back Paddle!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/09-04-2011_sfa_hb_pvt-gry_i00120007a.jpg\" alt=\"Hospital Bar Rapids\"><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/09-04-2011_sfa_hb_pvt-gry_i00120010a.jpg\" alt=\"Hospital Bar Rapids\"><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/09-04-2011_sfa_hb_pvt-gry_i00120016a.jpg\" alt=\"Hospital Bar Rapids\"><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/09-04-2011_sfa_hb_pvt-gry_i00120026a.jpg\" alt=\"Hospital Bar Rapids\"><\/p>\n<p>A perfect run this time.<\/p>\n<p>After Hospital Bar, it&#8217;s about a mile or so to the end of the South Fork of the American River, which dumps into Lake Folsom.<\/p>\n<p>When we started to see large lake boats, we knew our journey was near the end.<\/p>\n<p>We paid a jet skier $10 for a tow to the take out point &#8211; a service that has been greatly appreciated for the last few years.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/towedback99890kl.jpg\" alt=\"We made it!\"><\/p>\n<p>We made it!<\/p>\n<p>Twenty-two miles in just under seven hours.<\/p>\n<p>I made a quick slide show from all the professional photographs.<\/p>\n<p>It may look like I&#8217;m making funny faces&#8230; OK, I am, but that&#8217;s how I either hold my breathe or gasp for air &#8211; or yell, &#8220;Oh shit!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LkNmSqUYkiw\" allowfullscreen=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"330\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>To view this video on YouTube, <a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/LkNmSqUYkiw\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> click here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The next day, we heard the tragic news that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.modbee.com\/2011\/09\/06\/1846844\/davis-woman-dies-in-american-river.html\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> a woman had died in a Kayak accident on the same day.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>We drove back to Los Angeles the next morning, hitting spotty Labor Day traffic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s been a high surf advisory for practically this entire weekend &#8211; so, it was time for me to fill a spot on Instructor John&#8217;s annual river rafting trip up to the American River. We all met Saturday morning at an undisclosed location, in the South Bay area, and started the day drive to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,20,9,10,63],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2106"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5326,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106\/revisions\/5326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}