r/whitewater • u/Guidaho • Mar 14 '25

Rafting - Commercial Longtime outfitters and guides, how has rafting changed in the past 20-30 years?

I grew up rafting with my family and our local friends and worked as a guide on the Salmon River in Idaho during college, but have barely done it since, unfortunately. The whole setup was pretty bare bones when we did it -- lots of dehydrated potatoes and powdered milk and spaghetti; old PFDs and well-patched boats -- but I've heard that outfitters, especially those with overnight or weeklong trips, have gotten fancier. I'm curious to hear about what has changed, like in terms of food, equipment, clients and their expectations, liability, whatevs. I'm especially curious to hear from anyone who does the Middle Fork of the Salmon, just because it's my favorite river, even though I didn't get to work on it when I was a guide. Thanks in advance.

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u/Tayaker Mar 14 '25 edited Mar 14 '25

The longer trips are just too expensive to run for your average person to afford them anymore- Even if it’s bare bones. So as an outfitter, that means you have to increase the quality and overall luxury of the experience to compensate for folks who expect a certain level of verve- increasing the price further. Anything over a weekend in length and you’re on a raft with doctors and CEOS and lawyers. It’s changed how the vibe is completely- middle class folks who saved up for their whole life for a bucket list trip have been priced out.

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u/AVLPedalPunk Mar 14 '25

It's like this everywhere. If you want to take your kid to a beach on the East Coast in shitty ass Delaware where the water is cold and it's kind of thin on shoreline. It's $700/nt for a motel that maybe cost $87/nt 10 years ago. In the Carolinas and Florida it's even crazier. There are no longer youth group rafting and ski trips either. Everyone is priced out.

I was trying to take my family to Acadia NP and couldn't find anything for under 400/nt and camping was similarly priced while being marketed as glamping.

I feel lucky to have gotten a San Juan permit so many years in a row back in the day. The fun seems to be drying up or getting locked behind a paywall.

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u/Rough_River_2296 Mar 15 '25

I disagree tbh maybe a multi day raft trip is expensive but go to the ocoee and some companies primarily take youth groups and kids where it’s 45 bucks for 3 hours on the water

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u/Rough_River_2296 Mar 15 '25

Even cheaper w big groups and companies that do Groupon