Learn more about our trips:

White Water Rafting Trips

Rafting trips on six rivers from 1/4 day to 10 days in length.

Arkansas River White Water Rafting Trips, CO

America’s most popular river near Denver & Colorado Springs.

Salt River Trips, Arizona

World-class whitewater near Phoenix & Tucson.

Family Rafting Trips

Choose from a variety of family & group-friendly rafting trips.

Royal Gorge & Numbers

The most challenging rafting trips on the Arkansas River.

Multi-Day Getaways

Rafting combined with riverside camping or bed & breakfasts.

Land-Based Adventures

Enjoy a horseback ride, Jeep tour or downhill mountain bike trip.

Guide Training & Interview Trips and the Hiring Process

No Experience Required to Be a Raft Guide – We Teach All the Skills You Need

Feel free to submit an application at anytime.
We are finished processing applications for 2011. We will begin evaluating applications for 2012 in December of 2011.

Applicants: Please note you must be in Colorado, ready to train no later than Sunday, May 20th, 2012. Subsequent years you must be available approximately one week earlier.

Applicants with no prior guiding experience are encouraged to apply after reading this page closely. Applicants that have worked as a whitewater guide on class 3 or higher should read our “Information for Experienced Guides” page as well as reading this page.

Thanks for your interest in guiding on whitewater rivers this summer! Our color brochure and our website give you a good idea of what Wilderness Aware is all about. Wilderness Aware has been rafting in Colorado since 1976. Our brochure and website gives more on Wilderness Aware’s background, and information on the types of trips you would be working.

WILDERNESS AWARE HIRES… self-starting, creative, friendly, dedicated and hard working applicants. Our clientele expect the best raft trip in Colorado. You should be prepared to be a team player, work to exceed our guests’ expectations, and to help maintain the highest quality rafting equipment made. Be willing to learn to prepare fresh, multiple course meals, and be willing to respect and be respected by your managers and fellow employees. Having twice been named Colorado’s ‘Company of the Year’, we believe we are running the best river trips in the country. A quality professional guide staff is the key ingredient in providing quality whitewater adventures.

If you are hired, the State of Colorado requires you to obtain Standard First Aid and CPR Certification before you can begin working. If you want to be a river guide in Colorado we suggest that you enroll in a First Aid and CPR class now if you are not currently certified. Once you are hired you will receive continued intensive training (unpaid) until you are ready to guide commercially – usually about 3-4 weeks.

WHAT DOES THE JOB PAY? 1st year guides earn about $60 per day and can expect to gross approximately $2300 (plus tips) from mid-May through late August. Summer expenses include $480 rent and utilities for the season, meals while not on the river, and your personal safety equipment. Experienced guides earn over $8,500 (plus tips) a summer.

HOUSING? Wilderness Aware owns an 18 unit mobile home park. Guides are assigned to a unit with 2-4 roommates. This park is within biking distance from our office just outside of Buena Vista. Many of our guides do not have cars and enjoy cycling to work. $480 covers your rent and all utilities for the entire summer. All 1st year guides are required to live in Wilderness Aware’s employee housing for their first season of employment. Pets are not allowed.

WHAT IS THE APPLICATION PROCESS? Fill out the online application. We will review applications, check references, and schedule a phone interview. Applicants should be prepared for a 5 to 20 minute phone interview. The top applicants will be invited to join three of our experienced boatmen on a five day Interview Trip on the Salt River in Arizona. The cost of the trip is $300 if you pay by check or money order, and $310 if you call and pay by credit or debit card. If you are invited to join an interview trip, you will be confirmed for the trip once we receive your payment. We will begin evaluating applications in December of each year.

Once on the Interview Trip, experienced boatman will demonstrate the camping and rafting techniques we use on our trips. You will then take your turn at camp chores and guiding the boats. This five day interview gives us a chance to see you in the environment that you would be working in and also gives you a chance to see if Wilderness Aware is the right company for you.

We generally do not hire people with previous commercial river guiding experience – we prefer to hire individuals that demonstrate an ability to learn and that have exceptional people skills. In addition, we seek intelligence, humor, attention to detail, and a strong work ethic. Up to 60% of the applicants that attend an Interview Trip will be hired. We have an excellent track record of assisting those that we don’t hire in finding work with other companies. We can not guarantee you a job, however, with our assistance many past participants have found jobs with other top companies in Colorado and around the country.

WHY DO YOU CHARGE FOR INTERVIEW TRIPS? We believe that our exceptional guide staff is the key to our success and we invest significantly more time and energy into our hiring process than any other rafting company in Colorado. We charge a discounted rate for our Interview Trips so that we can spend five full days on the river getting to know our applicants while giving them an opportunity to know us better (with tax, a non-discounted five day Salt River Wilderness Trip would cost over $950). Our Interview Trips give applicants five full days to experience what it’s like to work as a commercial river guide. Following the Interview Trip we can feel confident that we are hiring the best guides in the business, and you can feel confident that Wilderness Aware is the company for you.

Our hiring decisions are made no later than the first week of April (giving those applicants not hired a chance to find work elsewhere). There is no charge for the three weeks of additional training we provide in May (most meals are included) and having already made our hiring decisions in April we are able to concentrate all of our energy on training our own staff. This enables us to produce the most highly trained professional guides on the river.

As always, there are many ways to become a river guide. The majority of river companies in the western United States charge a fee for their May or June guide training. They then hire their staff from those early summer classes. Most companies only complete their hiring by the end of May or early June. The disadvantage we see in that system is that if you participate in a May or June training class and are not hired or choose not to work for the the company you’ve paid to train with, it is difficult to find work elsewhere so close to the start of the season. Another disadvantage we see is that guide training gets heavily diluted as the instructors have to spend time training guides that paid for the course but in the end won’t be working for them.

WHEN AND WHERE ARE THE TRIPS? We will run a series of five day on-water interview trips on the Salt River in central Arizona. The Salt River Canyon is a class III-IV wilderness trip traveling through Arizona’s Sonoran Desert. The trip will meet at the Phoenix International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Interview Trip Dates for 2012 are as follows:

Trip A: Saturday, March 3 – Thursday, March 8
Trip B: Saturday, March 10 – Thursday, March 15
Trip C: Saturday, March 17 – Thursday, March 22

TRANSPORTATION: You may fly in and meet us at the Phoenix (Sky Harbor) International Airport. Information on Phoenix International Airport is available at www.phxskyharbor.com. You may, of course, drive your own car directly to Globe, Arizona and have us pick you up there. Please email us and let us know how you plan to get to Arizona and where we should plan to meet you.

MEETING PLACE INFORMATION: If you are flying to Arizona we will meet you at the Phoenix International Airport. We will meet at the east end of Terminal 2 near the Arizona Intercity Transportation desk at 3:00 PM on Saturday. If you are driving we will meet at a prearranged location in Globe, Arizona.

TRIPS CONCLUSION: We will return you to the Phoenix International Airport area no later than 8:00 PM on the following Thursday night. We recommend that you plan to fly out of Phoenix no earlier than 9:00 PM on Thursday. You are responsible for you own accommodation Thursday night if you decide to fly out on Friday. Ask for special room rates offered to Wilderness Aware Rafting guests.

GETTING THERE: Airlines servicing Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix include American, Continental, Delta, Frontier, Jet Blue, Midwest, Southwest, United, US Airways and other regional airlines. Discount travel websites such as those listed below will work to find the best deal possible.

Greyhound Buslines – (800) 231-2222 also services Phoenix on a regular basis.

Prior to departure we will provide you with a list of the participants for your trip. We encourage you to call each other and arrange ride sharing if you are considering driving to Arizona.

WHAT IF I AM SELECTED? Be prepared to send full payment for the trip if you are invited to join us. Your space on the trip can only be confirmed once we’ve received full payment. Space on each trip is limited to the first 12 invited participants we receive payment from. If we don’t receive your payment, someone else will be invited in your place. If you are not chosen through the interview process to join us on the trip, you will be notified as soon as possible so that you can make other plans. You will receive details and trip specifics at least two weeks prior to the trip. This will include all participants’ names and phone numbers so you can arrange car pools or room sharing before or after the trip.

REFUNDS/CANCELLATIONS: Once you are invited and have paid for the trip, there will be a $20 fee for any cancellations if we are able to find a replacement for the spot you are vacating on the interview trip. If we are not able to find a replacement, there will be no refund issued.

WHAT IS PROVIDED?: We provide all rafting equipment including Coast Guard approved PFDs (lifejackets) and helmets. Each boat carries accessible drinking water (bring your own if you don’t wish to share with others) and waterproof storage for personal items. You can rent wetsuits, booties and paddle jackets from us if weather or water conditions warrant their use. Used wetsuits will be available to purchase for the same cost as a rental. Also included in your trip is transportation to and from the river and reliable 2-way radios, cell phones or satellite phones. We prepare fresh hearty meals from breakfast on the first rafting day (Sunday) through lunch on the last day (Thursday). Lemonade and water are included with every meal. We make every effort to make you comfortable by supplying a kitchen shelter and toilet facilities.

OTHER COSTS: If you don’t have some of the rafting or camping items on the “What to Bring” checklist below, Wilderness Aware can rent these to you. You are responsible for any meals on the road. We usually stop at grocery stores, cafes, or delis while driving to and from Phoenix. We recommend that you bring enough spending money to cover up to four off river meals, drinks, snacks, etc.

WHAT SHOULD I BRING?

RIVER GEAR	CAMP GEAR
Wool or pile sweater and rain jacket Wetshoes or wool ( not cotton) socks and old tennis shoes or Teva’s Swim suit and/or shorts Hat or visor Sunglasses w/ securing strap Securing strap for prescription glasses Sunscreen & lip protection Water bottle Raincoat or rain poncho Wetsuit or equivalent	Warm jacket and insulating layers Light boots or extra tennis shoes Headlamp or Flashlight Sleeping bag * Ground pad * Small tent or rain shelter * Wool or pile hat, gloves Camp clothes (warm & cold weather) Plate (plastic or metal) Utensils Drinking cup (plastic or metal) Toiletries Alarm clock

*We have wetsuits, wetsuit booties, splash jackets, two-man tents, sleeping bags and Therm-a-rest sleeping pads to rent. Note that we will have used wetsuits available to purchase for the same cost as a rental. Interview Trip rental prices are as follows: