ROW Guides - Talented, Knowledgeable and Fun!
Our guests agree that ROW guides are the most important element in the success of their adventure with us. Whether it’s a river guide out West, a yachting guide in the Mediterranean, or a sea kayak guide in the Galapagos, we are proud to have some of the best in the business.
ROW’s mission is "Sharing Nature – Enriching Lives" and we strive to realize this on every one of our adventures. Along with extensive training and certification in First Aid, River Rescue and other outdoor skills, over 75% of our USA-based guide staff are trained as Certified Interpretive Guides through the National Association of Interpretation. Interpretation in this context means our guides are trained to communicate their knowledge with you in a way that will connect you to the places we visit in a personal and relevant way, so that your vacation with us is that much more enriching.
Below you'll find biographies of some of these exceptional guides.
Guide since 1999: MT, ID. Started with ROW in 1999. Curry grew up in Great Falls, Montana and started working on ROW’s Missouri Canoe trips during college. Here he earned his nickname “the tin man” for his heroic efforts to combat the Missouri’s famous winds with copious amounts ...
Guide since 2003: WA, OR, ID. Joined ROW in 2007. Tom has a unique skill set. He is able to recite Dr Seuss’s the Lorax from memory, brew a mean pint of beer, drive a bus, milk a cow, cook a tasty Dutch oven lasagna, and write a Microsoft Access database. On top of all that, Tom is a great guide ...
Guide since 2007: CO, AZ, UT, NM, ID, WA, MT. Joined ROW in 2012. Whether it is the cool mountain waters in the wildernesses of Idaho, the boulder-choked canyons of the Arkansas or the silt laden Colorado, Josh loves rivers and loves guiding rivers. In August of 2012 he logged his ...
Guide since 2001: ME, WV, ID, MT. Joined ROW in 2007. Spinney, as he is known, hails from the Live Free or Die state, New Hampshire. As a young man Erik took this motto to heart and decided to pursue a life unbound by convention. First he became a river guide in the north woods of ...
Guide since 2012: ID. Started with ROW in 2012. Like many of our guides, this proud Hoosier came West as a young man, drawn by the open spaces, steep mountains and free flowing rivers. While he still roots for the Hoosiers, he loves living and working in remote locations without distractions ...
Guide with ROW since 2011. A fine fisherman and artist, James grew up in Missoula, Montana around some of the best trout streams in the country. One day his father finally turned him loose to fish his favorite trout stream alone. After high school, he attended the University of Ski Bum ...
Guide with ROW since 2011. Mikey followed an unusual journey to become a river guide. He grew up in Central California and as a teen he ran in gangs instead of rivers. To escape this dangerous world, he joined the U.S. Navy, where like generations of fellow Navajo before him, he worked ...
Guide since 1998: AZ, UT, AK, ID. Joined ROW in 2005. The first time Nute ever stepped into a boat to row, he was pushing his raft full of guest gear away from the boat launch at Lees Ferry on the start of a 15-day Grand Canyon trip. A guide had quit unexpectedly and the company needed a ...
Guide since 2012: ID, MT. Started with ROW in 2011. Jake joined ROW as a swamper on the Middle Fork in 2011 and returned the next season to guide on the Northern Rivers. Jake writes that “As a full time student I really cherish my time on the river. For me guiding isn’t a ...
Guide since 2011: ID, WA, MT. Started with ROW in 2011. Peter, or “Petras” as he is known around the ROW world due to the plethora of Peters on our staff, joined ROW to get away from a career in the financial services industry and all those electronic devices. He grew up in ...
Guide since 1985: ID. Joined ROW in 2012. Connie is one of the true veterans of the whitewater world in Idaho. Born and raised in Nebraska, Connie came to Idaho for a river trip in 1976. A few years, a few more Main Salmon trips and one life-changing National Geographic television ...
Guide since 1998: AK, ID, WA, MT. Joined ROW in 2011. A native Idahoan, Shane is an avid outdoorsman and one of the hardest working guys anywhere. Shane grew up in Nampa, Idaho and started guiding shortly after graduation over 15 years ago. His love of wild places, big fish and big ...
Guide since 2006: ID, MT. Started with ROW in 2006. Growing up in southern Idaho, Kip’s Dad taught him the basics of kayaking and canoeing on outings into the mountain of the Idaho Batholith, skills he has honed since becoming a full time raft guide for ROW. A Certified Interpretive Guide, Kip ...
Guide since 2010: ID, MT. Started with ROW in 2010. Landon grew up in Tennessee in a family filled with love and a dinner table full of fried Okra. An adventurous tot, her daddy once yelled at her and her twin sister for climbing a tree to jump onto a trampoline -- that thanks to the ...
Guide since 2012: WA. Started with ROW in 2012. Whether it’s brewing beer, developing his own urban homestead or collecting and consuming wild edibles, Matthew there is rarely a dull moment in his life or a moment that Matthew doesn’t genuinely find amazing. He grew up in a somewhat nomadic ...
Guide since 2011: MT, ID. Started with ROW in 2011. In high school when many brothers want nothing to do with each other, Tom’s taught him to kayak. Little did he know that those lessons would eventually help pay for college. In 2011 he joined the ROW team as a guide and safety ...
Guide since 2011: WA, ID, MT. Started with ROW in 2011. Born and raised in the woods of north Idaho, Taylor rafted the Lochsa with ROW in high school and hasn’t looked back since. Since he is working on his B.A. in History from the University of Idaho, it should be no surprise that he loves ...
Born 1969 Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Guide Since 1999: MT, OR ID, WA, Canada, Mexico. With ROW since 2004.
Matt is one of those guides who can not only guide you down the river safely, he can out ski you on the slope, teach you high school algebra, and design software for a space program. Matt resides ...
Guide since 2008: ID, MT, WA. Joined ROW in 2008. Born into a rafting family, Jake has been rafting since grade school and lists his first trip down the Clark Fork as a childhood highlight. He appreciates the opportunity to not only work in some of the most beautiful places on earth, but to share ...
Guide since 2005: MT, AK, ID, OR. Joined ROW in 2008. The Operations and Middle Fork Managers for ROW, Peter loves to tell stories. In fact, he’s far more likely to share a tale about an early homesteader, discuss western water policy or talk about wolves than remember a joke, even if ...
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