River Guide Schools

Whitewater river guide schools are offered each Spring by the outfitters and guides at Marble Mountain Guest Ranch. This outstanding 6-day course of instruction is based out of our guest ranch home and involves on-land instruction as well as daily on-the-water experience on some of Northern California?s most beautiful and exciting rivers. Our instructors have been training river guides for over 30 years and are well qualified to teach the skills necessary to safely guide a raft or drift boat down the river.

River guide school with us is personalized. We have a maximum of 12 students/class, and operate with a student to staff ratio of 4:1. Small student to staff ratios guarantee that you maximize the time spent at the guide seat under our tutelage. While the “dry school” and time observing is important, we have found that the most valuable part of a white water guide school is time in the guide’s seat. You simply must be able to make the mistakes of a learning curve with supervisory staff at the watch to correct and advise.

Whether you are considering summer employment as a professional river guide, or just looking to guide your own private river trips, the instructors at the Marble Mountain Ranch whitewater guide school will teach you everything you need to know.

Reading whitewater and understanding river conditions Maneuvering paddle boats and paddle-assisted oar boats Risk Management and River Logistics Gearing for a trip, and Knot tying River signals and river communication River safety and basic river rescue skills Equipment maintenance and repair Meal preparation and food safety on the river Entertaining guests & public relations

River guide school begins with breakfast Monday morning and ends with an award dinner the following Saturday. Our all-inclusive whitewater guide school includes all meals, cottage lodging at the Marble Mountain Ranch, a copy of The Guide?s Guide: Augmented, by William McGinnis and the Marble Mountain Ranch Guide School Manual, use of all necessary river gear (including wetsuits and splash jackets if needed), and daily rafting on sections of the Klamath River and California Salmon River.

River Rafting Guide School Costs and Dates

White Water Guide School is only offered in the Spring and is an unbelievable dollar value for river time. It is a 6 day course and is scheduled the last week in May. This course is designed to bring you to a class III guide competency, allowing you to boat privately or commercially. Our guide school is also the prefect foundation for building skills necessary to guide advanced class IV and V rivers. The school cost is $975 and covers all lodging and meals, instructional material, and daily time on the river. We hope you enjoy this preview of our white water guide school text and that you will join us for our annual whitewater river guide School.