The History of Rock-N-Water

Follow the progression of Rock-N-Water since it's founding in 1989

1989 - Rock-N-Water was founded by two Christian couples with a passion to help youth experience God through adventures in the outdoors.

1990 - The first year of trips begin with offerings of Backpacking, Rock Climbing, and Whitewater Rafting.

1991 - Overnight Gold Rush living history field trips are introduced for California 4th Grade students, with the introduction of 49er Fun.

1997 - January flood waters reach ~100,000 cfs, flooding the lower sections of camp. Sediment from the flood waters deposited tons of new sand, leveling and increasing the usable area of camp. The kitchen is relocated to its current location.

1999 - Lady Bug Canyon becomes our first Explore-A-Canyon location - enabling expanded creek hiking opportunities that immerse groups in the middle of God's beautiful creation.
Our first website is born.

2000 - Introduction of our full day team building adventure - Team Challenge.

2001 - With the closure of a neighboring rafting company we almost double the size of our usable camp space. Electricity is brought into camp enabling the addition of a walk in refrigerator by the end of the summer, lighting in the kitchen, and dial-up internet access from the camp office (at a blazing 28 kbps).
Prior to 2001 - The in-camp office operated a laptop off of a solar charged car battery, and required a 10 minute drive down the road when needing to print documents. The Kitchen ran off of a propane powered refrigerator combined with twice a day ice runs, and daily shopping trips.
California power problems combine with low snowpack to create water storage problems that resulted in only 5 days of boat-able weekday flows. The addition of a fleet of inflatable kayaks (funyaks) enables Rock-N-Water to continue providing whitewater trips in spite of the very low water flows, and add the opportunity for Yakity Yak inflatable kayaking trips at regular flows. Groups embrace the non-rafting adventures as they get to experience Rock Climbing, Explore-A-Canyon, and Team Challenge trips in place of doing multiple days of rafting.

2002 - We switch over to our very own water well - no more sharing water from a single well with 4-5 rafting companies. Sometimes the water pressure used to drop to a trickle or even completely disappear as everyone started afternoon dinner preparations.
Our website gets some small updates.

2006 - While our primary focus remains on groups, we begin offering trips designed for individuals that don't have a youth group to come up with.

2007 - Superman Canyon and Bear Canyon are added to our Explore-A-Canyon locations enabling groups to experience two or three days of Canyoneering, or to experience a different canyon each year.
We roll out an improved website.

2008 - After 18 years of offering only a one night 49er Fun program, we begin offering a two night 49er Fun trip (The Double Jack) to rave reviews from kids, parents, and teachers that were always super sad to leave after only 26 hours.
Walk on Water winter snow shoe retreats begin offering groups the ability to experience Rock-N-Water adventures in the snow covered Sierra Nevada mountains.
The camp office finally gets "high speed" internet. It took nearly a year of phone calls, emails, and failed attempts with 8 separate companies and products, before we finally found one that was able to deliver. So how do we get our internet? We get it from a tree.

2009 - Introduction of 3rd Grade California Native American living history field trips with Maidu Discovery in the Fall and Spring months.
Brand new bathrooms and a new second septic system open up at the start of summer of 2009, making waiting in line a thing of the past.

2010 - Eagle Canyon becomes our 4th Explore-A-Canyon location, further expanding canyoneering opportunities, and spreading out groups to further improve the quality and capacity for Explore-A-Canyon trips.
With California State Park budgets stretched to the breaking point, James Marshall State Historic Park reduces capacities necessitating a 49er Fun trip that does not visit the State Park. What started as a back-up plan quickly evolves into such a powerful trip layout that many teachers request The Prospector as their preferred option over the original Mother Lode.
We gain access to some land just down to road to provide a more isolated camping experience for groups wanting to get away from it all at The Cove.

2011 - Our website gets a full makeover.

Phone

Toll Free: (800) 738-0555
Local: (530) 621-3918
Fax: (530) 344-0398

Mailing Address:

PO Box 307
Coloma, CA 95613

Web

fun@rocknwater.com
facebook.com/rocknwater*
twitter.com/rocknwater*

* Facebook and Twitter are great ways for you to see what's happening at Rock-N-Water, but if you have questions, phone or email will be much more reliable.