Our Guides

Born and raised on the banks of the St. Louis River Lucas spent his childhood fishing, camping and enjoying the lakes, rivers and woods of northern Minnesota. As an adult not much has changed.

When not working in the north woods Lucas spends months abroad exploring new cultures and landscapes around the globe always grateful to have such an incredible natural environment to return to.

With decades of professional experience he has guided tens of thousands of outdoor enthusiasts and adventure seekers. This is all part of his ongoing commitment to sharing the best kept natural resources and adventures in the forests he calls home.

Brian has been a whitewater kayaker for over eight years, spending two of those years living in Seattle kayaking some of the finest whitewater the United States has to offer. Having spent the last 10 years pursuing and completing his formal education—while taking as much time as possible for wilderness adventure—he’s aiming to take his love of outdoors to a new level.

Growing up on a lake in northern Minnesota, the water and wilderness have been an integral part of his life since early childhood. His love of the outdoors has manifested itself as a lifetime of hunting, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, sailing, SCUBA diving, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, and generally existing outside. Brian and his wife, Carrie, enjoy spending time together, exposing and teaching their two young sons, Michael and Collin about the wilderness.

Education: Brian’s formal education is in Music, specifically percussion performance. He earned the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the University of North Dakota, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Washington in Seattle. He aims to remain a life-long student of the natural world.

Josh loves paddling and spending time outdoors. Josh is a math teacher and loves to inspire young minds to reach their potential. He has been a guide and trip leader on the St. Louis River for the greater part of a decade. Rumor has it that he is a karaoke addict

Josh enjoys spending time with his wonderful wife and their baby–soon to be toddler!

Raised in Duluth and just blocks away from the lower reaches of the St Louis River Hunter has been adventuring since very young. It started with hunting as a family tradition, then fishing, then camping, then snowboarding, and then after a trip up the North Shore of Lake Superior with his Dad to camp, canoe, and fish, he was hooked. Ever since then Hunter has done many Boundary Waters Trips, Hunting Trips, Snowboarding Trips, Kayaking Trips, and many other awesome adventures. Hunter has spent a lot of time snowboarding competitively both regionally and nationally and once he graduated he moved on to coaching freestyle snowboarding. On top of coaching Hunter found his passion for whitewater which fit hand in hand with his winter activities. Hunter started on the Upper St Louis to learn which grew into many North Shore river trips, South East US Trips, and lots of trips within the Midwest, and no matter what he always comes back to the good Ol St Louis River. After about a year of whitewater Hunter decided to try guiding rafts at Swiftwater Adventures, he started as a Photo boater, then raft guide, and eventually working his way up to Trip Leader. When not working on the river Hunter is outdoors doing his hobbies or working his full time job at a school.  Hunter is a lover of anything outdoors and lives for adventure, he is hard working and compassionate and always pushing for the overall experience, See you on the river!

Karsten has been living in Esko only minutes away from the St. Louis river for most of his life. Karsten began kayaking on the St. Louis river about 5 years ago. Throughout these 5 years Karsten has learned just about everything about the river. Karsten loves the outdoors, in the summer he is either kayaking for fun or having fun outdoors at work. In the winter he spends almost everyday snowboarding at Spirit Mountain. Karsten recently graduated from Esko high school. Next year he plans on going to the University of Washington in Seattle, there he plans on studying aerospace engineering. Karsten also plans to kayak the world class rivers around the Seattle area.