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Salt River Rafting in 31 Days!

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:31:08 +0000

The Mild to Wild office is busy again with phone calls and questions on Salt River Rafting. We hope you are as excited as we are for the 2012 season to kick off! Our first day of rafting will be Saturday, March 3rd. Snow pack is good now, but we’re hoping for at least one more substantial snow storm to hit the White Mountains in February. We’ll always take more! This means we need you to keep doing the snow dance so we can raft all spring! We hope you’ll join us in the Salt River Canyon this Spring and get a taste of some great white water. Here are a few photos from past years to encourage you:

A Rafting Comic for your Monday

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:28:28 +0000

1/2 Day Rafting Trip with Mild to Wild

admin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:18:45 +0000

We were in Durango for a week long family reunion and some of us decided to go white water rafting. We found Mild to Wild online and made reservations back in February. We had no idea what to expect and there were 8 of us ranging from ages 9-64. The people of Mild to Wild from the owner, Molly, down to the guides were awesome. They helped us every step of the way and we LOVED our guide, Taylor, who made our group adventure even more fun with his crazy antics! If we ever make it back to Durango we will definitely do this again. My kids said that this was the best part of the entire week – it even trumped the train from Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and that is hard to do. Thank you Mild to Wild for making our family reunion a memorable one!!

-Dana Stump/Cooper Family Reunion

7/26/11

Unforgettable day on Colorado jeep tour and train ride!

admin — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:48:46 +0000

My family comes down to Durango, Colorado every year to go on a white water rafting trip but this was our first time on the Durango/Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. It was the perfect day combining our ride on the train with a Colorado Jeep Tour. After the scenic shuttle up to Silverton, we took the Jeep Tour in the morning and visited a ghost town! The views were awesome and our guide was very knowledgeable about the history of the area. After the Jeep Tour, we ate lunch in historic Silverton. A quaint, old mining town! Lastly, we took the train one-way back to Durango through the beautiful Animas River canyon! Thanks for the great day and a trip we won’t soon forget!

-Andrea Lenz

4/10/11

Fun three times over with Mild to Wild

admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:54:59 +0000

This was our third trip with Mild to Wild Rafting and Jeep Trail Tours this summer and second trip with our guide, Jesse, on the Lower Animus. Great Family Adventures – Jesse is very skilled, very funny and very personable. The trip was great. The other trip we did earlier this summer on the San Miguel near Telluride – where Jesse’s brother, Myles, was our guide [equally skilled and humorous!] – was wonderful, too. All in all, a great summer with three Mild to Wild trips and two great brothers as our guides! Thanks Mild To Wild for nice summer memories. See you next year!
-Betul Ozmat Handmaker
8/13/11

When is the best time to raft?

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:34:27 +0000

As you are looking to the New Year, and planning your fun and adventures, it is helpful to know that the intensity of a river adventure can very throughout the season. Two factors affect water levels: how hot it is, and how much moisture there is (rain, or snow melt). Generally speaking, rivers, that are non damn released (meaning that their flow is not steady but depends on the amount of snow melt) are more adventurous in the early season, when the snow is melting. Arizona’s Upper Salt generally experiences high water late March to early April. The rivers in Southwest Colorado experience their high water mid May to mid June, depending on the height of the surrounding mountains. Lower mountains melt off sooner, and have an earlier high water. Higher water levels generally make the rapids bigger, and bring out some of the smaller rapids, but sometimes they wash out the rapids.

Those wanting warmer trips and medium water levels should come a week or so after peak water flow for that river. Those wanting the trip to be milder and much warmer should consider late season.

This being said, a mild trip can become intermediate during its high water run off period. Conversely, a wild trip becomes less intense generally as the water level drops. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, and at certain levels, depending on the river, the river can become more violent as the water level drops because the drops in the river become more defined.

The best part of changing water levels is that rivers are a different adventure every time you raft. At lower water levels, rivers are generally much more technically challenging. Drops can also be more dramatic. At high water the rapids can be flushed out, and smaller rapids can become bigger.

For the Salt River, below is listed the general periods of high water, medium and low water levels. Of course, it can vary depending on how hot it gets, and how much snow we get. So far, it is looking like the 2012 river season is going to be a great one!

Upper Salt River

High Water Medium Water Lower Water

Late March-Early April Mid April- End of April May

Family & The Great Outdoors

admin — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 20:36:57 +0000

In today’s busy world, few people find time to feel at one with nature and reap the rewards. With the luxuries that have worked their ways into our lives it is no wonder people are not at home in the great outdoors, without their cell phones, televisions, computers, etc. Stress levels can significantly decrease in nature, without all the worries and complications of everyday life; it allows you to clear your mind. Or maybe you don’t want to think while outdoors, with a clear mind and a cleansed spirit you can tackle those situations when you return, knowing you are renewed and can give it your all.

There can be numerous advantages of camping for children. Camping can help children learn to be aware of their surroundings and what is taking place around them. It can teach them basic survival skills, enabling them to better handle a problem if one should arise. Camping can help children understand nature and the earth, its importance, and how to take care of it. It also gives children something to connect to and tasks that even small children can perform, increasing their self-esteem.

Camping can have profound effects on adolescents. It can help prepare them for adulthood by teaching them life skills and how to take care of themselves. Camping can allow for wonderful bonding moments, giving young adults the opportunity to speak more freely of their feelings and concerns that they would otherwise not feel comfortable talking about. It makes them realize that the world is bigger than some of the menial aspects of life, thus making things like peer pressure or a bad grade seem less daunting.

Whitewater rafting can be a great sport for the whole family to get outside and have fun together. The shared, communal experience is also one of my favorite benefits of whitewater rafting. Whether you are having a fun afternoon with the family or a hardcore week-long adventure with buddies, it’s always a fun experience. Rafting also requires teamwork, so you are more than traveling together, you are all working together to move that boat where you want it to go and in some cases, just survive.

Statistics show that in a typical week parents spend only three minutes in meaningful conversations with their child. Whitewater rafting trips are an excellent way to spend quality time together as a family. You paddle as a team through foaming whitewater, sit back and admire the quiet scene, stroll along mountain trails, skip rocks, and just chat without any distractions or sense of urgency. Parents relax as guides take over the day-to-day responsibilities of food, shelter, and safety. Children explore and have fun with things that aren’t electronic in nature. And families reconnect as parents and children appreciate each other in a new light.

By Katie, Office Staff since 2009

Sources:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/66395/the_benefits_of_nature_and_camping.html?cat=16

http://www.roguecanyon.com/rafting-family-fun.html

Preserving Our Rivers

admin — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:57:46 +0000

Rafting in my opinion can be either one of the most exhilarating or relaxing things you can do on a moving body of water. Most of these bodies of water are located in beautiful national forests and varied wilderness areas.

In order to preserve these scenic wild areas for future generations, it is important for the rafting community to limit their impact on these areas by following this simple statement: take only pictures, leave only foot prints. Rafting itself already has enough impact on the rivers we use, so we must take it upon ourselves to make sure these areas stay pristine so our children can experience the beauty and adventure that we already have. To quote Laura Pritchett, “Of all the water that exists on Earth—326,000,000 cubic mile—less than 3 percent is fresh and most of it is locked up in icecaps and glaciers. The Cache la Poudre is a vessel that carries a tiny amount of fresh, and my body is a vessel that carries a smaller part of this river’s waters. But how big we can seem, from this small perspective”.

By Zach Butler, River Guide since 2009

Get Ready for Adventure in 2012

admin — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:29:21 +0000

Although it seems summer has just ended, it is never to soon to plan your next Adventure Package and River Expedition. There are so many great Durango Vacations, you may have to come back year after year to see it all. Even then you will find there is always something new to explore, a new trail up La Plata Canyon or a First Class Car on the Narrow Gauge Railroad.

This past summer we were able to share Durango with customers that have taken trips with us away from our main office. One family had enjoyed many Moab Adventures and Colorado River Rafting, but had never visited the great state of Colorado. They were amazed by the views on our Mini Ghost Town Tour near Silverton and loved the splashing rapids on the San Miguel River near Telluride. They said “We’ll definitely be back next year” and many people do.

We also had a school group that has rafted with us year after year in the Salt River Canyon. Salt River Rafting is convenient to Phoenix and in a beautiful setting. This year they were able to enjoy white water rafting in Arizona as well as visit us in Durango to experience a new Group Adventure. Group Rafting can be a daunting task to plan, but with our helpful staff we were able to set up the perfect trip for this school group.

We hope you have a great winter season, whether that be on the beach or on the slopes! Mild to Wild Rafting is here to help you plan your next Family Adventure, up in the mountains or out on the river!

21 Awesome Whitewater Photos

admin — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 21:05:42 +0000