General description:
Our 7 day Paddle Guide Training Course is a fast-paced, active class designed to train paddle boat skills. The course is highly participatory and you should come prepared to pitch in, jump in, and do your share of the work.
While the emphasis of the school will be on paddling in low-volume, high- gradient, technical rivers, some aspects of commercial guiding will be covered, including training in river rescue, equipment maintenance, risk management, and emergency procedures as well as on-shore training in cooking, sanitation, and logistics. There will also be managed scenarios where your skills, judgment and responses will be assessed and reviewed, as well as team events, games, skills challenges and other fun activities to help hone your guiding and leadership skills. The rapids and the student responsibilities will increase in difficulty as the school progresses, making every day a challenge, an adventure, and loads of fun.
The goal of the California Paddle Guide Training is for every student to be a safe and responsible river user. We want you to be comfortable and capable of taking your own paddle boat down Class III rivers with a good sense of the things that can go wrong, the proficiency to avoid them, and the skills to deal with them if they aren’t avoided.
We hope you can join us.
Description of the South Fork:
The 7-day California Paddle Guide Training Course will take place on the South American in the central California foothills. The South Fork is California’s most popular rafting river and offers a great assortment of fun, tricky rapids and a bunch of helpful, instructional eddies and currents; perfect for learning the basics. The stretches of river that we will run are designed to increase in difficulty as your skill level increases and may change due to flows or safety concerns.
Proposed Itinerary (subject to change due to flows):
Evening before the trip: We will have a brief orientation meeting at Camp Lotus where we will go over school logistics and details and make sure everyone has the right equipment and expectations.
Days 1 – 7: Everyday of the school will be spent rafting various stretches of the South Fork of the American and base-camping out of Camp Lotus. Depending on dam releases and skill levels we will raft 10 – 20 miles each day, concentrating on paddle techniques and basic paddle captaining. The days can be long and challenging but the convenience of a base camp will give us the flexibility to find the appropriate stretch each day. Being able to run the same rapids more than once will also give us a great opportunity to correct mistakes and measure improvement.
Is this course for you?
This course is designed for active, enthusiastic and dynamic individuals who want a challenging, action-packed adventure. You don’t need to be a world-class athlete to join in the fun. Everyone willing to and able to learn to paddle captain can join! If you are the type of person who is first to get in line to wash dishes and last in line to get out of the surf, the course is for you. Some students come to the school with a lifetime of camping and rafting under their belts, others have never been in a boat before; all have succeeded (with no correlation). A positive attitude and solid work ethic are the most important things you can bring to the school.
More information:
The full details (where to meet, what to bring, etc.) are here. If there are any questions we haven’t answered, send us an e-mail arta@arta.org or give us a call (209-962-7873). We love to talk about our trips, so don’t be shy!
It is rare to do something that you look forward to for a year and have it exceed your expectations. But it did!