Springtime on the Tuolumne
April and May offer exciting and beautiful one to three day trips
Rafting the Tuolumne River during the spring months is among the best river adventures in the world. At this time, the Tuolumne has the perfect combination of challenging whitewater, amazing flora, solitude, and cool weather.
The
river typically flows between 2,000 and 5,000 cfs (cubic feet per second)
during the months of April and May which makes it exciting, but not
scary. At the higher flows, the rapids are a great combination of technical
and big water moves that involve getting very wet. These flows are also
ideal for what guides call 'surfing.' This involves paddling your
boat back into hydraulics where the boat becomes 'stuck'
and the paddle crew is in for a whitewater rodeo. Above 4,000 cfs most
guides consider Ram's Head and Clavey Falls as stout
Class V rapids. We will run the Tuolumne as high as 8,000 cfs.
The
Tuolumne canyon is full of amazing flora this time of year and the hillsides
tend to be bright green. In April the canyon walls are purple due to the
Lupens that carpet the walls. The purple gives way to orange when the
California Poppy takes over in May. You can also hope to see the majestic
Dogwood blooms and the rare Harlequin Lupen among many other unique species.
One of the highlights of the spring months is the amazing solitude that the river has to offer. Far fewer people are running the river in the spring because students are still in school and many people avoid the higher water as soon as the word 'wetsuit' is uttered. We provide clean and comfortable wetsuits for every guest when we require them.
The
spring months have variable weather in California. You can expect anything
from cold, rainy weather to hot and balmy. We've seen it all. We bring
the right equipment for your trip to be comfortable in any weather. You
can expect the high temperatures to be in the 60's in April and the 70's
in May. Sunny and cool is typical weather.
We run one day trips in the spring and occasionally two and three day trips during this time exciting time. The higher water in the spring allows us time to explore some of the more exotic locations on the Tuolumne as well as some of our favorite waterfalls. The longer trips also allow us more time on the water for swimming and surfing!