River Otter Adventures

What a stellar time! We did the Half Day Upper Section from Chili Bar down past Trouble Maker Rapids and were expecting to pull out right there but the guides decided to float further down river for some relaxing fun. Bonus time was definitely something unexpected.
Mick, our guide, gave us great little tidbits of history along the float and entertained us with a few jokes along the way. Everyone one else we dealt with was personable, friendly, and made for a wonderful afternoon.
You can deal with the mega «Corporate» rafting companies who treat you like a number or you can use River Otters and have a blast, feeling almost like family after just a few minutes.

For South Fork American River companies, This is the one to go rafting with. I’ve guided for several companies around Coloma, and this one is definitely the coolest!
Most rafting companies around Coloma are big, which means you could be going down the river on a trip that could possibly have hundreds of people — most of which, you probably don’t know. Now, rafting with large groups can be a lot of fun — the water fights can be enormous at times. But, The Brockman’s offer a small company that focuses on personalizing a trip to the guests of the day. On weekends, group sizes might reach 30 – 60 people, but if you go during the week, your group could be the only one rafting at River Otter.
The River Otter camp overlooks the South Fork American River and is located just about 20 meters from the famous Troublemaker Rapid, which puts it in the running for one of the best camp locations in Coloma as well.
River Otter offers a variety of trips:
Full day Whole River trips:
–Start out just below Chli Bar Dam and travel 21.7(?) miles downstream to Salmon Falls, in Lake Folsom. Lunch is taken in the raft and served along the river. You’ll start out the day surfing the frigid Chili Bar Hole, then travel downstream to rapids such as meatgrinder, troublemaker, satans cesspool, bouncing rock, and hospital bar.
Full Day Lower Sections Trips:
Start out just below Troublemaker Rapid and travel downstream to Folsom Lake. — this is about a 15 mile trip.
Half Day Upper Section:
As a guide, this is probably my favorite trip on the South Fork American River. It’s a 7(?) mile trip starting at Chili Bar Dam and ending with Troublemaker Rapid right at the River Otter Camp. You exit the boat, walk up a little hill and you’ll find Mick at the BBQ and Linda finishing the lunch preparations. Everybody hangs out and has a BBQ lunch of Burgers, Dogs, Hotlinks, Baked Beans etc.
River Otter also offers a two day trip where you run the lower section the first day, eating lunch on the river. They barbecue tri tip for dinner, and serve it with garlic bread, salad, and a cooler full of beer. Breakfast is served at camp the next morning, then you leave for Chili Bar where you will run the upper section of the river and end at Troublemaker and then up the hill for burgers and dogs for lunch.
You can go to a big rafting company and get herded down the river like cattle, or you can go rafting with a small company and have a really personal rafting trip that you’ll remember for ages.
Remember To Tip Your Guide

This is a fantastic family-​run company of experts who know and love the American River. They can suggest easy beginner tubing trips for families with small kids, or whitewater excitement for teens and adults. They took a last-​minute reservation for us on a weekend, and we felt so lucky not to be part of the larger outfits with dozens of rafts going down at the same time.
Safety is the number one priority with FUN as a close second; Justin had a couple of surprises for us as we got familiar with riding the rapids and working together as a unit (to paddle). And his recommendations for photos and places to eat were right on target.
We will definitely plan another trip with friends – it’s only a 2+ hour drive up from the Bay Area but we felt as though we were really away on vacation.