Amazing Stanislaus River rafting video clips from 1974
This 16 minute video is an edited set of clips from June 1974 (approximate date), during a high water period on the Stanislaus River. The video has 11 segments. The first two last approximately seven minutes and are of the Camp Nine area – a duckie at the Check Dam and a long section of mostly private raft runs at Cadillac Charlie Rapid. At approximately 6:50 in the video, runs at Devil’s Staircase and then Bailey Falls and Widowmaker are shown (these include private rafters in duckies and inflatable kayaks), as well as some ARTA and Sierra Mac commercial rafts. At 13 minutes, there is a scene of playing in a duckie raft, then a short clip of Pipeline Rapid (at Duck Bar), then Chinese Dogleg and Chicken Falls. There are intermediate titles at each of the changes of place in the video.
The original film was shot by (Sierra Mac) guide Chris Condon, who had originally entitled this “Wet Shorts”. Chris used the 8mm camera that he inherited from his dad, who died tragically kayaking on the South Fork American in 1973 – and clearly made good use of that precious piece of machinery!
CONTENTS: :10 – Check dam duckie; 1:27 – Cadillac Charlie (many clips); 6:50 – Devil’s Staircase; 9:12 – Bailey Falls/private duckies; 11:01 – Bailey Falls/ARTA and Sierra Mac; 12:02 – Widowmaker; 13:04 Duckie play (Rose Creek confluence?); 13:52 Pipeline; 14:21 Chinese Dogleg; 15:24 – Chicken Falls
Date uploaded: Feb 2, 2025
Date last modified: Feb 4, 2025