Merced River 2-Day Trips
Class 3-4 — Intermediate
26 miles of exciting whitewater with one nights camping on the river.
- Meet at 9:00 on Day 1, back by 5:00 on Day 2
- From $260 to $325
- Trip starts in May 1 through June 30
- Minimum age 12
- Groups only: We require a minimum of 12 people per reservation to run a two-day trip.
Trip and Price Includes:
- All government user fees
- Wetsuits/paddle jackets for spring trips
- All river gear including helmets and life jackets
- 4 meals starting with lunch on Day 1 ending lunch Day 2
- Beverages at trips end
- Parking and round trip bus shuttle to and from river
Trip Itinerary:
2-day overnight trips: These trips cover about 26 miles, with 2 full days of rafting, 4 meals starting with lunch on day 1, and ending with lunch on day 2, and camping right along the river. We are able to truck in all overnight gear and food (including your personal overnight gear) to our camp, so we do not need to carry gear on the rafts during the day. This allows us to run all paddle rafts, and no one has to ride in a gear raft. During high water, we run what we call our "double-upper", and repeat part of the first day trip again. We do this because at higher water flows, the lower section of the river, including a waterfall (which we portage at lower flows), is too dangerous to run.
On day 2 of our double upper, we normally put in about 3 miles upriver at Redbud, giving you on the second day a new, exciting Class 4 section of whitewater that you did not see on day 1. We then continue downstream and overlap part of the best whitewater of day 1, and end the trip at Briceburg around 4:00 p.m. During lower flows (mid to late June on) we run our 2-day trips through Quarter mile rapid and down to Lake McClure, with a power boat meeting the trip and pulling us the last one mile of flat water to our take out.
Note: We require a minimum group size of 12 people to run our 2-day trips.
If you are comparing prices with other outfitters, we feel it is important to emphasize that our trip prices include all government use fees, and wetsuit rental fees. Most other outfitters will charge you from 3% to 8% over and above their published prices for government fees, and you will be charged additionally for wet suit rentals.
