Mother Lode River Center

We booked a rafting trip with Mother Lode River Center in June of 2024. None of us had ever done much more than easy trips on calm water, so it was a pretty new experience for us. Our guides were Erin and Lauren. We had an absolute blast; it was the most fun I've had in years. My sister-in-law was visiting from the UK and she said it was the highlight of her trip.

Yes, the rapids are fast and wild and yes, there's a possibility you might fall out of the boat. If you're not a big adrenaline junkie or you're older and this worries you, don't let that keep you from doing this. I'm also not a big adrenaline junkie. Three of us on the raft were over 50. We all had a fantastic time. I never felt like I was in danger and I was never scared. The guides are great at showing you what to do, easing your fears, keeping you safe, and making sure you have a good time. Highly recommended experience, especially if you have a visitor and you want them to experience the best of Northern CA recreation!

Our family had a great time rafting with Mother Lode and our guide Mike on the South Fork of the American River during a busy July 4th weekend. We found a deal on Groupon for a trip for 3 and doubled that up for our group of 6. The South Gorge is pretty mellow for the most part. There are some really fun rapids where our entire crew got soaked. We did the half day trip since it was peaking around 105 on our day. Mike was great to chat with and helped pull some of us back in the boat when we wanted to swim and float along at the calm spots on the river. Jim picked us up in the van, provided a few cold drinks for us at the end of the trip and drove us back to our vehicle.

Mother Lode feels more like "Mom and Pop shop" kinda place compared to the bigger companies on the river with younger guides. We felt safe, no one fell out and I wasn't worried about our youngest in the boat that is 10 yrs old. There are cool spots to camp out at this place as well and they offer Upper Gorge and Middle Fork trips as well. Highly recommend Mother Lode!

My 18 year-old son and his five other friends went rafting for the first time and they had a blast! They ALL loved their guide, Mike. That speaks volume coming from a bunch of teenagers. They had so much laughs. When I did the booking over the phone, I requested for an experienced guide who is patient with loud teenagers and they surely provided a good match. Booking was so easy and I really appreciated the good communication both on the phone and over emails. I emailed Greg and inquired a bunch of questions at night time and woke up receiving an email with all the answers to my questions! I loved the fact that a real person actually answered the phone every time I called! I didn't have to press 1 or 2 or go through a bunch of hoops to an answering machine. My son couldn't find the meeting place. He called Greg, got the directions and found it right the way. I asked my son if he would go back again and he said, "For sure!" It was my son's 18th birthday today. Thank you, Mike, for giving my son a memorable day and taking good care of the boys!

Daniella took care of us all weekend long. Made sure we had what we needed in camp and took us on two awesome trips down the river. She was exceptional!! We absolutely loved out time there.

We had a lovely girls weekend at Mother Lode celebrating a 50th birthday this past weekend! We had two perfect days on the river, a lovely, experienced and informative guide Daniela, and great food and camping. We spent the warm afternoons relaxing in the river and watching the other boats go by. Thanks Mother Lode for a wonderful weekend!

I was a manager for Mother Lode back in the early days when Ken Brunges was the owner. Is this the same operation ?
I managed both the Stanislaus and the South Fork of the American. Lots of wonderful memories.

We loved our rafting trip with mother lode. Daniella is an excellent guide and lots of fun!!

I came here on 4th of July with my friends and had a wonderful time!

Although no longer available, this is the groupon deal we purchased (https://www.groupon.com/deals/mother-lode-river-center-7-san-francisco). With an additional discount courtesy of groupon, we ended up paying [$58 +$9 river fee = $67] per person, which is really good!

We ventured on the 11-mile Gorge (South Fork of the American River) rafting trip, which includes of mostly Class II rapids and a bit of Class III rapids. Check in is at 12pm,start time is at 1pm, and then the day ends by 5pm. Our group of 8 + our tour guide was perfect for one raft. I don't remember our tour guide's name but it's not because he wasn't awesome; it's just been 6 months since then. He is the dude with the dreads though!

WIthin 3.5-4 hours, we rowed, cliff jumped, swam, cheered, and partied in the river. During one of the rapids, one of our friends completely fell out, but another friend managed to grab a hold of his foot. So crazy! If you want to get a visual of what you'll get to experience, check out the video I made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wO3c2jCIfM

If you've never been white water rafting before, do yourself a favor and try it out! It's the best!!!

Brandon is absolutely the greatest rafting guide we could have asked for. We actually were rafting with another company where Brandon was lending a hand for the day. We were having such an amazing time with good laughs and great instruction, when about an hour into the trip, my epileptic friend had a seizure.. In a moment where many would panic or freeze; Brandon not only was extremely aware,but knew EXACTLY how protect my friend, manage the circumstance, and guide us to safety. It was so impressive on how Brandon controlled the situation. Brandon, thank you so much.

I'd also like to credit Sierra Whitewater Rafting, whose staff and team all assisted and were well prepared on how to handle an emergency situation. We can not thank everyone involved enough.

With great thanks,
Kevin, Lizzie, and Danielle

Love this place!! We did the Ropes course in the morning and white water rafting after lunch. Devon, our guide was amazing!

Wall/Rock climbing, CatWalk, Pipe Dreams, Zip lining and Leap of Faith (my favorite!)

Lunch was perfect with "make your own sandwich" bar.

The rafting was pretty wild with several stops in between. Had a chance to jump off a rock but did not have the guts after I almost got swept away by the strong current and drowned at one stop before the rock jump. Needless to say I survived and had fun overall. Devon took us "surfing" on one of the class 3 rapids. He also took our raft up a rock and slid back down. One fun part was holding our paddle upright between our legs and sitting in the middle of the raft while we went through another class 3 rapids.

After that we had a nice chicken burrito for dinner, warm shower and off to our nice tent with the sleeping pads provided. There was a group of college kids at camp with us but they were not too close to our area.

Breakfast this morning was scrambled eggs, pancakes, ground sausage, potatoes and chunks of pineapple.

Overall an excellent experience. Thanks to our Ropes Course guides - Heather, Elsa and Brina (not sure about her name). Devon and Cody, our rafting guides.

Will have to start planning our Class 4 rafting trip for next time.