Up Rose Creek in 1965

When this 1965 trip happened, only a handful of people knew about the Stanislaus River as a rafting treasure. Rose Creek, shown here, was pristine and small groups had the experience mostly to themselves.  In the bottom photo, Bryce Whitmore, owner of Wilderness Waterways, luxuriates under a small waterfall; in the upper photo Bryce’s wife, Mary Ellen, sits watching others on the trip get ready to jump in the first big pool up Rose.