Tributary Whitewater Tours has been running Guide Schools since the 1980’s. Throughout the years our industry has changed and therefore so has our guide training program. We still find that an immersive 7 day training course to learn the skills to guide rafts down white water rapids on the many rivers we are permitted to run is the best way to learn.
New in 2022
In the past we welcomed private boaters seeking the skills for paddling as well as individuals seeking employment as a professional river guide. Due to the popularity of our program, the Tributary Guide School is an application based training program. If you are interested in coming to our Guide School you will need to fill out our application form, there is no deposit required to apply. We will review your application and if accepted we will hold you a space for our Guide School for 1 week (awaiting a 50% deposit). If we do not feel that you are up to par with our Guide School requirements our reservations team will reach out and suggest alternative river trips.
Where we go rafting
We start at our South Fork American River Campground with both on and off river instruction on the Forks of the American River. We usually travel to others rivers like the North Yuba, Truckee, Upper Klamath, Lower Klamath, Trinity & East Carson. The rivers we travel to depend on flows as several are free flowing and depend on snowmelt. We want to take you to the best places for putting your raft guiding skills to use on river, so often the itinerary is flexible.
Lunch is included daily. Dinner & Breakfast are not included, except for 1 of each when we teach you how to cook for our overnight meals. The group usually shops & cooks for other meals together.
For the duration of the guide school we are camping. We will provide the space for camping and you are to bring your own gear (tent, sleeping bag, camper van etc). There is typically no power at most locations (including our main camp in Lotus), many of our guides carry around solar charges. We also have an office in Lotus just a couple miles from camp that you can use to charge things, connect to WiFi, as well as a washer/dryer for laundry.
Whitewater Rafting Guide School Emphasis:
- River hydrology
- River navigation
- Reading whitewater
- Raft equipment rigging
- Equipment maintenance and repair
- Personal rescue equipment & signals
- Commercial safety put-in talks
- Camp/kitchen operations
- Knot tying
- Leading safe, enjoyable whitewater rafting trips