River Guide Schools and
Whitewater Rafting Workshops

The Summer Guide School is offered over a seven-day period in late May and early June. It takes place on some of the best rivers in the world for learning how to river guide. These rivers are excellent settings in which to build skills and confidence for aspiring professional guides and personal rafters alike. You have the option of focusing on paddle boat captaining or oar boat rowing or both.

The first three days of this school are spent on the North Fork Umpqua, a Wild and Scenic River located between Roseburg and Crater Lake, Oregon. During this portion of the river guide school we learn the basics of captaining a raft through current, calms, and various class II, III and IV rapids. Each day each student gets countless opportunities to captain the rafts, as we rotate student-captains frequently. Instructors provide ongoing, positive feedback and important reminders to all students about guiding techniques. Note: depending on water levels we may substitute the Clackamas or McKenzie river for the Umpqua river.

Numerous mini-seminars are presented on an ongoing basis, providing information such as the correct use of a throw bag, hypothermia prevention and care, knot tying, and swiftwater rescue techniques. These seminars are true hands-on learning experiences, giving each student the chance to participate in the actual techniques required to safely run rivers.

We then head south to the Rogue river, where we spend the next four days of the river guide school in one of the premier wilderness canyons on earth. The Rogue, with its variety of class III+ rapids, is an ideal place to further refine new guiding skills, learn techniques related to wilderness river travel, and captain student-only boats. Over 30 miles long, this river features an abundance of wildlife, stunning scenery, and most important, exceptional opportunities to learn as much as possible about guiding wilderness river trips.

An optional bonus day of the school is offered the day after the whitewater rafting school formally ends. For this day we head to the McKenzie river and students are given the opportunity to captain their own rafts. This school is designed and structured for both professional and private river guide instruction. Students who participate in this school are awarded a certificate indicating the successful completion of the course. We will also assist those who are interested in finding guiding work with companies throughout the U.S. for the upcoming season.

$995 per person.
Includes all meals, personal camping equipment, and transportation between the airport and the river before and after the school.

Please add 6% land/government use fee to the above price.

2008 Summer School: June 1-7, bonus day June 8.

Destination Wilderness' Whitewater Rafting Workshop is a great week of learning and practicing skills needed to guide personal rafts down wild rivers. Those seeking a comprehensive seminar that deals largely with technical river running skills and dealing with emergencies should consider this workshop. This school does not focus on commercial outfitting, focusing instead on how you can most safely and enjoyably guide river trips with family and friends. By extension, however, one can learn foundation skills needed to become a professional guide.

Participants in the Whitewater Rafting Workshop can choose between oar boat guiding and paddle boat captaining, or can split time equally between the two. We also have segmented this workshop so that those with some experience can learn advanced guiding and safety practices necessary to run more challenging rivers while beginners can learn more fundamental techniques.

This workshop is different from the River Rescue Skills Seminar described below in that it focuses largely on river running skills and is designed for those seeking a comprehensive learning vacation. While it does provide significant river rescue skills training it is more diverse and relaxed in its focus than the river skills seminar. For those wishing to learn or improve on rafting skills and receive exhaustive training in rescue techniques, we recommend attending both this course and the River Rescue Skills Seminar.

The first three days of this whitewater rafting class are spent on the Umpqua river, an ideal place to learn a variety of skills related to reading rivers, swiftwater rescue, and river first aid. The Umpqua is perfect for this type of learning, as it is laced with a great number and wide variety of class III and IV rapids. Note: depending on water levels we may substitute the Clackamas or McKenzie rivers for the Umpqua river.

The next four days we run the Rogue river which is a excellent place to learn about the nuances of wilderness river journeys. During this portion of the trip participants are asked to "run their own trip" which includes simulated rescues, logistical problems, wilderness raft repair, and dealing with troublesome trip members. In short, we use this time to enact many of the possible problems and issues that can arise on private wilderness trips. Throughout the school numerous on-land seminars are presented. Topics such as advanced raft repair, hypothermia detection and treatment, river emergencies, Tyrolean rescues, knot tying, and more are covered each day.

$1395 per person. Includes all meals, personal camping equipment, and transportation between the airport and the river before and after the school. Also included is a copy of The Complete Whitewater Rafter, one of the best books available about guiding rafts through rapids. Minimum age: 14.

Please add 6% land/government use fee to the above price.

2008 Whitewater Rafting Workshop: May 11-17

Destination Wilderness' River Skills Rescue Seminar was created and is offered for those seeking several consecutive days of hard skills training in rafting and river rescue. In particular, swiftwater rescue techniques such as river crossings, telfer lowers, foot entrapment and more is presented. Additional, much time is spent on raft extraction, swimmer rescue, and wilderness evacuation and emergency medical approaches.

This course does not focus much on river running techniques such as reading whitewater, dealing with guests, etc. For personal rafters and experienced commercial guides seeking primarily to improve their rescue skills this is an ideal course. For those personal rafters wishing to learn or improve on rafting skills and receive extensive rescue techniques training, we recommend attending both this course and the Whitewater Rafting Workshop described above.

Four days in a row are spent on the McKenzie river, which provides a great setting for river rescue techniques training. Each day focuses on a variety of emergency responses and rescue skills that are related to river running. Unlike other river rescue courses that may be designed for urban emergency personnel such as firefighters and police, this course focuses entirely on rescue techniques for rafters and kayakers.

Significant amounts of time in this course are spent on swiftwater crossings, rope systems such as telfer lowers and z-drags, foot and swimmer entrapment rescue, raft extraction, swimmer rescue, and more. Each evening time is spent in a "classroom" setting where additional concepts and techniques are presented.

This course is taught by globally-experienced river guides who have formal swiftwater rescue training and extensive (as in years and years) backgrounds leading rafting trips that have enabled them to participate in hundreds of actual river rescue events. It is an exhaustive seminar that presents extensive information about river rescues.

$895 per person. Includes all meals, personal camping equipment, and transportation between the airport and the river before and after the school. Also includes overnights at the Adventure River Center if the seminar is held on the McKenzie. A copy of River Rescue, an excellent rescue techniques handbook, is also included. The minimum age is 16. Note: All participants on this school must have a drysuit, as considerable amounts of time are spent in the water.

Please add 6% land/government use fee to the above price.

2008 River Rescue Skills Seminar: May 20-23