On Aug 12, 2023, Crew 27 set out for the South Fork of the American River from the Congregational Church of Belmont. Upon arrival at Camp Lotus, we met up with our wonderful river guides and set out down the river. The river ranged from class 1 to 3 with some really fun rapids that we boated through. We stopped along the river to eat a decadent spread of Cheetos, juice, and sandwiches. After lunch, we hit the largest rapids of the trip and were buffeted up down, and across the river. Our river rafting sadly came to an end as we were bussed back to our cars but our trip was far from over. We booked it to Indian Grinding Rock to camp overnight. Some light thunderstorms later we woke up and decided to check out everything else the park had to offer. The site featured models of huts and long houses as well as a large rock face that had small holes ground into it by Native Americans grinding their grains into a meal along the rock. We visited the museum there and learned about their customs and traditions and looked at some of their tools. After the museum we began our trip home, stopping for lunch along the way. An hour or two later we were back at the church where our journey had begun.
