Wild & Scenic River Tours
Guide Training Seminar, 2005

Thank you for considering Wild & Scenic for your river guide training. Our instructors are among the best in the business and teach all aspects of river rafting on Washington State's premier whitewater rivers. This self-paced course is designed for those interested in private rafting or commercial guiding. The skills you will learn include, but are not limited to:

Reading the River	Paddle Boating	Oar Boating
Boat Flipping	Boat Unflipping	River Rescue
River Equipment	Personal Equipment	Safety Talk
First Aid & CPR	Swimming Rapids	River Ethics
Knots & Rope Handling	Teamwork	Scouting Rapids
Pinned Boat Extraction	Camp Management	Group Management

All of the planned rivers are tentative based on water levels. If they prove to be unraftable due to too high or too low water then another river will be selected.

2005 Training Schedule
Orientations	Wednesday 3/30 in Seattle, or Thursday 3/31 in Wenatchee
Skykomish or Wenatchee	Saturday 4/2 and Sunday 4/3
FA/CPR & Skykomish	Saturday 4/9 at Index FD, and Sunday 4/10
Suiattle, Sauk, Skagit	Friday 4/15, Saturday 4/16, and Sunday 4/17
Wenatchee	Friday 4/22, Saturday 4/23, and Sunday 04/24
Methow & Skykomish	Saturday 4/30, and Sunday 5/1
Optional: Advanced Swiftwater Rescue Training. $50/person for two 4hr classes to be held after normal training day.

The price for the seminar is $425.00. This price includes all instruction, wetsuits, helmets, life jackets, spray jackets, boats and assorted gear, handouts, First Aid / C.P.R. class and state sales tax. A deposit of $175.00 must be made in advance of the training to hold your spot, with the balance or payment plan due by April 23. Space in the seminar is limited and camping is mandatory on some of the dates. All personal gear must be checked out and then turned in on the last day of the training seminar.

Guide Apprenticeship
Upon completing the river seminar, you may be asked to participate in our summer guide apprenticeship and/or work as a guide. During your apprenticeship, all group rafting equipment will be provided by Wild & Scenic. You will be required to have your own personal river equipment, (see guide training manual for list of required personal equipment). Being an apprentice will enable you to participate in nearly all commercial rafting trips during the season and continue building upon the river skills learned during the seminar.

Some of you may want to participate in the apprenticeship without the goal of becoming a guide. This happens every year as not all seminar participants want to guide. Our apprenticeship is a great way to extend your training for the purpose of becoming a "private boater." Around Washington State a great many of the best private boaters are graduates of our seminar and apprenticeship.

Wild & Scenic does not hire commercial guides fresh out of training for any of the rivers we operate on except the Wenatchee and some of our float trips. In order to begin commercial guiding on our other rivers, you must use your apprenticeship to develop the skills learned in training, gain experience in running paddle rafts, and show a commitment to running first class commercial raft trips. This apprenticeship can take some people a full season, before they are ready to guide Class III+ or IV commercially, but with hard work and determination some apprentices can commercially guide at that level after a couple of months.

Our commercial season is almost year 'round. Our regular season starts at the end of April and runs into October. We run Fall Colors trips on the Upper Skagit in October and November. Our Skagit River Bald Eagle watching trips run December and through February. Our spring whitewater specials are in March. This year, our spring Guide Training Seminar is in April and May. During the year, we will run over 500 commercial rafting trips. Apprentices are invited on most all of those trips. Apprentices can earn money during their apprenticeship by booking groups on commercial rafting trips or guiding on our easier rivers. Those qualified to guide will get hiring priority to guide if they book their own groups. After that, those with more seasons with the company and professional qualifications get hiring priority. We hired 68 different guides in 2004.