O.A.R.S. California Whitewater Guide School

You know it’s spring when… mornings are brisk, afternoons are balmy… lush green hillsides burst with color from poppies and assorted wildflowers… and our California Whitewater Guide School begins.

Our California whitewater rafting guide school is part Blazing Saddles (think beans and campfires), Survivor (although nobody is voted off the raft) and Navy Seals (you DO look bad a$$ rowing through Satan’s Cesspool and Ned’s Gulch). 

The O.A.R.S. 7-day, March 22 “Beginning Guide Training” meets at River’s Bend Resort on the South Fork of the American River and moves to other Northern California Rivers, possibly the Merced and Tuolumne, depending on water levels and group skills.  Led by longtime O.A.R.S. guides, all the whitewater basics are taught, such as reading water, oar and paddle boat techniques, navigation strategies, rope skills, boat rigging, setting camp, basic swiftwater rescue and equipment care.

Completing this course may lead to work as a summer raft guide and/or it may provide you with the confidence to go forth and lead your own private trips on any beginner/intermediate river throughout the West.  Any way you look at it, it’s a great way to get out from behind a desk and get on a river!

Written by Tracy

Writer, Photographer, former Waterblogged Editor