Tributary Whitewater Tours — Attraction in California

Looooooong overdue review! I’ve been out with Tributary multiple times. Easy half day, more technical full day and most recently a four day trip through Hells Canyon on the Snake River. I think it’s safe for me to say that Tributary Whitewater is the bees knees!

Starting with Jessica in reservations, to Jeremiah the owner who I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with a few times, right down to the amazing guides Chris, Megan, Joe, Matt, Noah, Nate, & Gregor just to name a few, these guys are truly top notch.

The day trips are fun and exciting and I’ve always felt safe and supported but this multi day trip was next level luxury. Relaxing and fun days on the water, fresh lunch prepped riverside each day, guided hikes to ancient petroglyphs and old homesteads, showing up to camp already set up, tents pitched, and a gourmet meal being put together by chef Megan. What more could you ask for? Lemme tell you. When we had a sudden shift in temperature, guide and boss man Chris pulled out quite literally every piece of clothing he had with him to keep us warm. Sweet Joesph ushered us up some slippery volcanic rock for some fun rock jumping and when I was too much of a weenie to jump alone he held my hand and jumped with me. Matt spent an entire night going over pointers for all the things I still want to learn and different online resources he used when he was in training and even a volunteer program he knew of where I could get some more river hours in. And when I got some gnar blisties, Chef Megan didn’t just grab the regular first aid kit, she went and grabbed a special honey salve that her brother gave her from her own personal gear. Special little touches that show that they didn’t just care about getting us from Point A to Point B in one piece, but making sure we enjoyed the ride along the way.

These guys are also great land stewards and all major LNT principals were followed perfectly, which is not as common as you’d think in river guiding. In chatting with Chris about training guidelines, it’s clear they cultivate a company culture of not just enjoying the land and rivers they work on, but respecting and caring for them, too, which is super cool.

10/10 have and would recommend to a friend and if Tributary is on a river that I want to run there is no reason I would go with...

Where's the sixth star? **

Top notch experience. Took my college aged son, we wanted to go on a camping and rafting trip before classes started up. He had never been rafting, I've been a dozen times. By far, Raft California is a very pro outfit and with the friendliest staff, from the reservationist I spoke with on the phone, to the hostess who greeted us at the campsite, to the incredibly friendly and professional, experienced guides and van drivers. Highly recommend them.

We stayed at their private campground which has some of the most amazing and updated facilities I've ever experienced at any campground. All updated bathrooms that are well stocked and maintained, and get this...hot showers!

We opted to upgrade to one of their ten canvas tents rather than pitching our own on the ground. The canvas tent was superb with a very spacious interior on a raised platform, a private deck that offered a table to dine/play games on, comfortable seating, and solar powered bistro lights that you can turn on at night. A big bonus is their property goes right up to the riverbank so you can easily go fishing, as well as enjoy the sound of the river around the clock.

For the rafting we were on the Class 4 Middle Fork of the American River. Our driver Larry is an amazing pro as he navigated the van safely and effortlessly up the windy narrow mountain road to our put-in site. And the gems of the trip were the three incredibly engaging, very knowledgeable and fun guides, Sarah, Josh and Gabe. The confidence they exude is exactly what you want when hitting those class 4's. You can immediately tell they enjoy what they're doing and they thoroughly enjoy working together. They made it so much fun! Our guide, Sarah, truly knows her stuff, not only guiding us safely but she shared so much wonderful knowledge about the surrounding area and its rich history. She was engaging with us the entire time which made our rafting experience that much more enjoyable. Thank you, Sarah, and the entire Raft California crew! You guys rock and made our...

Let me start by saying, I ain't skinny, but I am so glad I didn't let that stop me. Our tour guide was Ben and he was a fountain of knowledge and very entertaining. I really can't say enough great things about him. The other guides were also awesome though I can't remember all their names...probably from all the water I snorted up my nose laughing. The group of guides also worked well together. When someone from another boat fell out in a rapid and could not swim, our guide Ben tossed him the rope and we hauled him into ours until we could get him back to his. I loved the pre-rafting instructions as this was my first time. I got tossed out of the boat on the first rapid and instantly remembered everything they said about what to do if you ended up under the boat. The next thing I knew, they were hauling my butt out of the water. We camped the night before and the night of our trip and it was perfect. The views of the river from our site, sitting by the campfire making s'mores, and watching the shooting stars made for an epic time. I am already planning my next trip back and I will definitely ask for Ben. BEN, BEN, BEN. Thanks for making my first rafting trip the first of MANY! Keep an eye out for the signs about photos. There are two different companies out there that take pictures. Tributary gives you information about the one, but we preferred the pictures by Sierra Nevada. We ended up buying all of them, but the Sierra Nevada photos were the most detailed and you could see my feet go up in the air as I slid under the water. Awesome!...