Big Water Rafting on the Merced River

Find an Outfitter, Plan a Merced River Trip

Unlike many of the technical rivers in the Sierra Nevada, the Merced is much like a big whitewater slide flowing swiftly through a canyon covered in a colorful spring wildflower bloom.

In the spring snow melt, high water levels create huge hydraulics and enormous wave trains capable of capsizing a boat. Holes must be averted and wave trains must be plowed through in classic Class IV rapids like "Ned's Gulch" and "Corner Pocket."

At lower water levels in June, the Merced River is still a challenging Class III+ run and clearly deserving of its status as a Wild and Scenic River.

Featured California Whitewater Rafting Outfitter

Offering Quality California Whitewater Rafting Trips

In 1978, a couple of school teachers in the Sacramento, California area, produced an idea for creating a rafting program for at-risk high school students. The first few trips proved so successful that the two partners opened their doors to the general, local population. From that day, W.E.T. River Trips was born.