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 bought the company!

John is one of the founders of River Dancers. He’s been guiding for over 30 years and still retains his enthusiasm for whitewater rafting. He is a master storyteller, a teacher and practitioner of Transcendental Meditation, and has a deep reverence for the river. He is an expert at balancing your need for adventure with getting you safely down the river. He is also a superb dishwasher!

Chantal is one of the original founders of River Dancers.  She has traveled to every nook and cranny of the world and has an interesting story or two to tell that will make you laugh.  Her warm personality and smile will make you feel right at home on any river trip. You may find her in the kitchen orchestrating a gourmet river meal.

Casey divides his time between the mountains and rivers and is an exceptional and experienced guide in both domains. Originally from Port Townsend, WA, Casey grew up in the Northwest but has lived just about everywhere west of Colorado. Casey has climbed and skied many of the Cascade volcanoes and spent many years climbing full time, including a month-long expedition to Denali where he skied from the summit.

You may see him carrying a large, sharp knife around town. Not to worry, he uses it to cut the amazing sushi that he makes. You may even be blessed to have him do it on the river.

He also holds a certificate in white water rescue, is a Wilderness EMT, and has his BS in Geology.

Casey believes that the most important piece of gear is PMA (Positive Mental Attitude).

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.

Mountain guide, river guide, ski bum. Living the life. Alyssa has dedicated herself to the outdoor lifestyle. She holds a degree in Outdoor Leadership from Southern Oregon University and has developed the mettle for adventure in the wilderness. She brings a diverse set of skills to the river. You can count on her if things go wrong, but you can be rest assured they won’t on her watch.

Bantering is her specialty. Don’t let her spunk fool you. She will dish it out if she thinks you can take it. So make sure you don’t.

Ken is the ultimate professional river guide and quite the accomplished musician. He’ll often bring a guitar along so be sure to ask him to play and sing you a tune. He exudes charm and knows a thing or two about having a good time.

Check out the SoundFarm Band

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 in 2017 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. Although he works mainly on the South Fork of the American, he makes the trip up north to help us out on the Klamath, Upper Sacramento, and Trinity rivers.

Wes has a professional level river rescue certification and a wilderness first responder certification. Bottom line: if you’re in trouble on the river Wes is a great guy to have around. But we’ve never seen him in trouble, so you are in safe hands.

When he’s not on the river, Wes works as a social science teacher in Sacramento. If you are lucky enough to be assigned to his boat, you’ll not only be with one of our most experienced boatmen, you’ll also learn some interesting local history along the way.

Wes also enjoys backpacking, hiking, climbing and canyoneering. And if you haven’t guessed, has a pretty extensive resume in each of these sports as well.

While taking River Dancer’s Whitewater School, Joey fell in love with the river and was soon slinging gear as a river guide. Having retired from his career as a chef, Joey finds himself whipping up culinary concoctions on the river bank. At home in the forest, he loves to forage for mushrooms, edible plants, and fun!

Chance spent his formative years in Happy Camp. So if he seems a little weird, that is the reason. But seriously, Chance is one of the most hard working, but fun, positive guides we have. Occasionally he takes a break from being a professional firefighter, EMT, and ski patroller to join us on the river. When he does, we love it! You will, too.