Fun, Safety, Education, and Teamwork
Our youth whitewater rafting programs are grounded in the following core values: Fun, Safety, Education, and Teamwork. It's a balance, and that's what we want to share with your children.
Fun
Whitewater rafting on the South Fork of the American River is incredibly fun, especially when your kids are rafting with us.
The South Fork is an adventure machine, and RIVER KIDS squeezes every drop out of it.
Each session blends rapids with play - swimming, surfing, island-hopping, blackberry picking, rock-jumping - plus games and challenges that keep kids smiling while they learn.
River Runners guides are like whitewater lifeguards. Your kids get the chance to explore the river environment together, facilitated and encouraged by expert instructors.
Students learn independence, leadership, courage, and rafting skills by guiding rapids, playing games, swimming in the river, and exploring the diverse river environment.
Safety
Whitewater rafting is fun when everyone feels safe and well cared for by our team. At River Runners, we provide industrial-strength river gear, incredibly talented guides, and a lot of personalized care.
River Runners is committed to having a low student-to-instructor ratio, so we can coach each student personally.
Our guides are highly trained professionals who continue sharpening their skills through ongoing safety certifications, river education courses, and time on new rivers - so your child is learning from experts who take safety and skills seriously.
The result: kids can explore, grow, and challenge themselves with confidence, because they’re surrounded by the right equipment, the right people, and the right level of care.
Education
The river is our classroom. Through games, exploration, and hands-on instruction, kids learn how to thrive in moving water - rigging a raft, wearing gear correctly, reading current, leading a paddle crew, and building real self-rescue fundamentals.
They’ll also learn the practical stuff that makes a great teammate (yes, even making a deli sandwich). And because we love this river, we teach conservation and stewardship - so the river can thrive right alongside the people who enjoy it.
Along the way, kids grow life skills that can’t be faked: courage, accountability, humility, resilience, situational awareness, emotional regulation, and independence - we help them build through real challenges, chosen at their pace, with expert support.
Teamwork
Good chemistry is the key to any good river trip. River rafting is a team-building activity by nature. Every day, we assemble a team that has to work together to have fun and be safe.
At River Kids, we teach kids how to become strong team leaders and teammates in a real, unengineered environment - Listening well, calling commands clearly, taking responsibility for their role, and stepping into leadership when it’s their moment.
When a crew clicks, confidence rises, challenges feel doable, and the crew builds camaraderie - one paddle stroke at a time.
About River Runners
River Runners has been delighting guests with inspired river trips since 1974. That’s when Jackie, a school teacher who lived in the Los Angeles area, fell in love with rafting on the South Fork of the American River.
Eventually her friends felt inspired and joined her, and their friends starting clamoring for their chance to participate. More participants meant more vehicles, more equipment, and more guides, and the business bloomed.
River Runners has always been family-owned and operated, and passed down through the decades to subsequent leaders that cherish and love River Runners and the American River just as much as Jackie did.
River Runners is passionate about providing unique whitewater rafting experiences and instruction to groups of all ages and abilities. Education is in our blood. River Runners has provided guide schools and youth education programs for decades, from class IV guide workshops to boy scout merit badges to youth rafting camps.
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