river drifters - day tours

Great guide, sorry I can't remember her name. The people were helpful and our kids (6-18yr. old) all had a marvelous time. Price was reasonable and next time will go on the full day trip! We have done this in other parts of the country and this company was superior.

My fiancé and I went on a white water rafting trip in August. Our guide was Travis. We thought things were going to be okay but upon getting in the river Travis had a very crappy attitude and was extremely negative. He was making catty comments and being very rude to us until we dumped him out of our boat on accident due to our clear lack of experience. After his refreshing dip in the water his attitude improved. At one of the rapids both my fiancé and I were dumped out of the boat. I feel like I almost drowned and my fiancé felt like his leg was going to rip off since it was stuck in the raft while he was outside of the raft. Once we both got in and we're okay we exchange stories not knowing that each of us were having trouble. Travis our guide never said one word to us to ask us if we were okay. Other raft mates were very concerned about us and showed sympathy and empathy. Travis? Not so much. After our own dip in the water we learned that we were not leaning in enough when he asked us to lean. That would've been nice to know the first time we didn't do it right. Travis is not a very good teacher. I would use this company again but I would absolutely not go with Travis as my guide. He should not be a guide and interacting with people because he has little patience, is a terrible teacher and has a very crappy attitude.

I highly recommend River Drifters!! This past August I spent a week in Hood River, Oregon. The prior year I had done a rafting/supping trip down the Deschutes River with River Drifters, and had an absolutely phenomenal time, so I decided to do it again this year! This time it was down the White Salmon River. During both trips, River Drifters has made the experience absolutely seamless, stress-free, and always a blast. Each guide I have had the chance of meeting has been friendly and totally professional. Rafting can seem a little daunting to some, but these guides put us at ease the minute we met them. They really took the time to make sure everyone was safe and comfortable, and having fun, every step of the way. My favorite part was definitely the cliff jumping… It’s an awesome way to challenge yourself while have an awesome time!!

Great rafting trip on the White Salmon River in Washington. This trip including everything: great rapids, cliff jumping, a grand finale drop and then some bridge jumping. It was all the fun and excitement that one could pack into a trip. Incredible! I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a great half day trip.

I want to say thanks for takeing me rafting. It was a perfect day for me, thanks mike pender to give me the oportunity to do this. And i want to say that everything was good and save, everyone is really profetional.

During my vacations in Portland, Oregon, I decided to go whitewater rafting with friends because I heard it is lots of fun and a beautiful scenery. I got several recommendations to go with the company River Drifters, because of their excellent organization, guidance and service. The trip was an awesome experience, lots of fun, exciting and compensating as well. All the guides were lots of fun, well trained, very friendly and took best care of us.After all I can highly recommend their service and will definitely go with River Drifters again.Thank you again for the fun time we had!

I have been whitewater rafting with River Drifters since about 1997, and truly believe that it is the best whitewater rafting company in Oregon and SW Washington. I have always had great experiences with River Drifters. I have rafted with River Drifters on the Deschutes River, White Salmon River, Wind River, Sandy River, Klickitat River, Clackamas River, Sandy River, North Santiam River, and Klamath Falls River. The groups I have gone with ranged from just another friend to large groups of about 45 people. In addition to going on River Drifters' standard half day and full day trips, River Drifters has custom designed 2-3 day trips for me and my group of friends. Every single whitewater rafting trip I have ever been on with River Drifters has been nothing but phenomenal, fun packed, exciting and always an awesome overall experience. The customer service provided by everyone at River Drifters, from the person taking my reservation over the phone to the guides who have taken me rafting down the various rivers have always been superb, helpful and friendly. All of the guides at River Drifters who I have rafted with seem to be very experienced, knowledgeable, well trained, friendly, and most importantly, they know how to make each rafting trip fun, exciting, and safe. If you are thinking of taking a whitewater rafting trip in Oregon or Washington, without any sort of reservation, I would highly recommend that you go with River Drifters.

This 3-day SUP adventure is for you if are looking for:1) Multi-day Deschutes River adventure, 2) The opportunity to learn and progress your SUP whitewater skills,3) Quality gear and food (even for vegetarians)4) Safety-focused, friendly and experienced guides!Thank you River Drifters for the best 3 days of my summer!

I had the chance to take a rafting trip down the White Salmon River in August 2014 with River Drifters and it was absolutely awesome! Their equipment (wet suits, fleeces, booties, splash jackets, helmets, etc.) was in great shape, the initiation process was informative, and their staff are fun and completely professional. Our guide, Charlie, knew every aspect of the river and knew the perfect balance between safety for everyone on the raft and letting us have a great time. The White Salmon rapids are legitimate rapids that are a ton of fun to navigate through and the scenery while going down the river is absolutely beautiful! The water is pretty damn cold, so make sure you take advantage of all of the gear that River Drifters offers - you'll need it. We had options with other rafting companies, but when we were going down the river and saw the rafts and gear that the other companies used in comparison to River Drifters, all of us were so happy we chose wisely. The trip was hands-down the best rafting experience I've ever had and it added to an already great long weekend in the Hood River region. I highly recommend River Drifters for anyone looking to go white water rafting in the Hood River area!

This trip was one of the most memorable outdoor adventure trips I've done to date! I can't think of a better introduction to the fairly new and fast-growing sport of SUPing than this 3-day adventure down the Deschutes. The guided instruction, high-quality gear, wonderful food - not to mention perfect weather and a gorgeous location - made this a unique and wonderful experience not just for me but for everyone in the group. The guides were encouraging, patient, and really helped us push our limits, both physically and mentally. Their knowledge of the river made traveling the Deschutes via SUP seem completely safe and normal - even though we were the only SUPers on the river over this three-day stretch. I am already excited to return next year!

I can't say enough good things about River Drifters. They go out of their way to make sure you have a good time and enjoy your trip. If you go I would ask for Brian to be you guide. The others were very friendly and great too, but Brian made ours one of the best events of our labor day vacation get together!

We had Matt as a guide and he was outstanding. Very professional, obviously knew what he was doing, and hit every rapid great. On certain rapids we were even able to circle back and hit it again! I've never had a guide get as much out of the Deschutes as he was able to. Overall, they were well organized and everything ran smoothly and on time. I'd highly recommend them.

All guides are NOT created equal. Joey was my guide for the first half of the trip, and he was a rock star! He had VERY clear instructions and showed us (in the first 5 min) exactly how we needed to paddle. This is key to a good ride. My guide for the second half of the day was NOT so clear. She didn't have a loud voice and it was hard to understand what she needed from us. Quick note: I think this was a perfect activity for our 4 & 5 year olds. Just know, little kids cannot go over the biggest rapid. Everyone in a raft with little kids will go around the drop through rapids that do not have such a strong potential to pull rafters out. We understood this and it had NO negative influence on my day. My whole family enjoyed our day on the river. We did a whole day, with lunch, with our family. We had my age 55+ parents with us, my cousins with teenage kids, and my husband and kids ages 4 & 5. Every single person had a fantastic time. The only thing to keep in mind is that your trip is only going to be as good as your guide. We had a very large group with a diverse age spread. So we were split in 2 different rafts. I started the first half of the day in the raft with the teens and it was fun! Our guide was Joey and he kicked butt. Once we stopped for lunch, my mom was pretty worn out and opted to go back to the hotel. They were all really gracious about accommodating her needs. Oh, and lunch was really good. So after lunch I hopped in with the hubby, kids, and another family with 2 young kids. Such a different ride. Now the guide was in a lousy position because my family wanted a thrilling ride. The other parents wanted to paddle as little and lightly as possible. Crappy. She did tell the other father to switch places with me (putting my husband and I in the bow to take the lead) which certainly helped. But eventually, my dad ended up in my raft, sent my husband over to Joey's raft, and left me helplessly trying to follow orders with a bunch of sissies (and I don't mean the kids. The kids were awesome. The adults were lame). Anyhoo... she did the best she could for the rowing issues and the kids had a blast. But after being in a raft with clear instructions and willing participants, the second half of my day was much less exciting than I'd hoped. It wasn't til after reaching shore and heading home that my husband and I discussed the strengths and weaknesses of our guides. While Joey had a great drill (holding the life vest of the person in front of you to illustrate what paddling together looked like), the gal on the other raft had no such instructions. The lazy parents on the raft might have simply killed the trip from the get-go no matter what. True. But no one was ever paddling together, and some more clear and firm instructions might have helped. Either way... at the end of the day. We were smiling. We loved it. I'd go back again. We tipped both guides, but I should have tipped Joey more. Lol.

We booked an overnight rafting and camping trip with River Drifters in August and it could not have been more fun or better organised. We are from the UK and were travelling in the Pacific North West for August. Right from the very start when we first contacted this Company in February they were enormously helpful, especially as we had never rafted before. They guided us to the right trip, which RV site to use (Maupin City Park, also great), what to wear , provided camping equipment etc. Then when we had a potential hiccup with timings they were extremely helpful. The actual trip was incredible, combining excitement, beautiful scenery, great picnics, wonderful guides and a dog! In the end my family and I (wife and 2 boys aged 10 and 14) had one of the best experiences of our holiday. We cannot thank River Drifters enough and whole heartedly recommend them.

Having run this river with and without guides for over a decade I can say with experience that this outfit is top shelf. The boats they use are much better than the other guides where they don't flex and throw the guest when dropping in onto a rapid. Also they office arrangement with the bathrooms and changing rooms nearby and in town are handy.