The river is our life. Our love for whitewater adventure, wilderness, and river rafting has inspired and enriched our lives. Come join our river family!
Aaron Beverly
Head River Rat
Aaron, on a permanent hiatus from an electrical engineering career, is an accomplished river guide, mountaineer, ski patroller and a highly skilled outdoorsman. He loved River Dancers so much, he foolishly bought the company!
John McDermott
The River Yogi
This suspicious character was seen milling about at the 1980 Reagan inauguration in a pair of running shorts. The secret service and George Bush knew him as Big John. John has a storied life and though he hobnobbed with Mike Love and the Maharishi, make no bones about it – he is a river guide to the core and can drink the beer to prove it.
Co-founder of River Dancers and teacher of Transcendental Meditation, you’ll still find him out running trips. No one knows the river better. He is our guru.
Rudi Bega
A True Original
Meet Rudi Bega. He’s not your typical root vegetable. Besides his parents, we may be the only ones that know his real name. Unfiltered, passionate, funny, ridiculous. He’s following his own path in life and we’re glad it led him to River Dancers.
He’s usually last to bed and last to rise. If you can wake him up, you’ll find an amazing guide and a true river rat with a million stories to tell.
Matt Hanelt
Class V Dishwasher
Meet Matt. He took guide school a few years ago and has been geeking out on rafting ever since. He’s done that river and this river. He’s got this cert and that cert. Yadda, yadda, yadda. He’s a class V dishwasher and that is all you need to know. You’ll love it if you find yourself on the river with him and so will your dinner plate.
Becca Russell
So Nice!
We’d like to give Becca a hard time. That’s what river guides do. But she is too nice. And she is becoming the backbone of River Dancers. She runs the office, packs the food, loads the gear, cooks the meals, and guides the rafts. She does it all. She has her Wilderness First Responder and Swiftwater Rescue certs. She’s guided on a variety of rivers, paddled on an expedition trip in Nepal, but her favorite trips are always on her home rivers around Northern California. If you get her on a trip, you’ll want her back on all of your trips. We are stoked to have her part of the River Dancers family.
Casey Glaubman
Positivey Mental
If you see Casey carrying a large, sharp knife around town, don’t worry, he’s a sushi chef. You may even be blessed to have him make sushi on the river. He’s also always prepared for a tough boat repair.
Casey is an exceptional and experienced river and mountain guide. He’s skied many of the Cascade volcanoes and Denali in Alaska. He has his Wilderness EMT, a BS in Geology, and a swiftwater rescue cert.
Casey believes that the most important piece of gear is PMA (Positive Mental Attitude).
Ken Nelson
Coyote Ken
Meet Ken! With over 40 years experience he is our most seasoned guide. He’s a rock star at heart with a love for whitewater even though we still aren’t sure he can actually swim. You can find Ken around the camp fire serenading our guests with a guitar until dinner is ready. We love Ken and that’s why we give him hard time, but with his professionalism in wine drinking and guitar shredding he will likely become your favorite guide on the water on multi-day trips. Don’t let his picture fool you – he doesn’t look that good in person.
Wes Tite
Knowledgeable, positive, smiling
Whether he is in your boat or not, he’ll get you down the river safely. After a Grand Canyon trip, he took our guide school and yet is a surprisingly great guide. In fact, he helps teach the course now. We don’t get to see him often, but he is one our favorite guest guides. Always positive and smiling. Guides and guests like him equally.
Wes has certs as a river rescue technician and a wilderness first responder. He is also a history teacher and has a unique story or two to tell you about the river you are on.
Kaylee Winkelman
Sweet and Sassy
Meet Kaylee. She’s one of those behind-the-scenes players – helping with food shopping and packing, hefting gear, prepping food on the river, making charcuterie art. Her passions are plants and skiing. While not pontificating about dandelions, look for her getting after those sick lines in Dunsmuir. Oh, she also guides a raft on occasion. Give her a hard time and expect to get it back. She can’t help it. She’s a Winkelman.
Jennifer Hoffman
Our Life Coach
Jennifer is a teenager at heart and has the sleep patterns to prove it. Always smiling and positive, she is a great energy to have on a trip. She loves teenagers and has the personality to connect with them. Her passion is being a life coach. She designed the Whitewater Camp for teenagers trip and it is gaining popularity each year. You’ll be stoked if you find her out on river. We always are!
Dan Wycka
Eager to Lend a Helping Hand
Dan retired from firefighting in Florida, left everything behind, jumped in his van, and hit the open road. Somehow he ended up at River Dancers. And we’re glad he did. He is strong, hard working, friendly, and is always eager to help out. When not on the river, he works as a contractor and gets out into the mountains as much as possible.
Nick Caselli
Experienced, professional, but never too serious.
Nick has been raft guiding since 1999. You may have seen him out on one of the many rivers of the west including the Animas, Snake, Skagit, Noosack, Cattooga, San Juan, and the Colorado through the Grand Canyon. He has also guided on all of our local classics including the Rogue, Klamath, Trinity, Sacramento, and Smith Rivers. Nick is an EMT and has technical rope rescue and swiftwater rescue training. When not on the river, Nick works as a mountain and heli-ski guide and ski patroller. Ultra professional when needed, but always willing to let loose with a good joke and story. Nick is pleasure to have on the river with us.
“You were outstanding hosts and guides, but more importantly, wonderful people."