Thanks for a Great 2016 Rafting Season!

“It’s time to move on. It’s time to get going. Under my feet, baby, grass is growing. It’s time to move on. It’s time to get going.” The words of Rock and Roll poet and legend Tom Petty always comes to mind every October as the whitewater rafting and kayaking season comes to a close on the St. Louis River. As bittersweet as it is to close out the season it’s always fun to look back at the season, look forward to winter adventures, and know that the river will be there to welcome us back in 2017.

It was a great year for Swiftwater Adventures as we got to take a lot of folks down the St. Louis River. It’s fun to experience the diversity of people and how differently everyone reacts to the rapids and wilderness. From all the summer tourists, to educational trips to team building trips: our number one goal was and always is safety and fun.

Here are some highlights from 2016:

Summer Tourism

On all our trips we strive to offer an interactive whitewater and wilderness adventure experience regardless of the water level. Since whitewater rafting on the St. Louis River is only 15 minutes south of Duluth, an obvious tourist hot spot, we took a lot of people rafting. We met people from all over the world this summer showcasing the best of northern Minnesota.

We had some high water flows in July, which is always fun to have some big waves when it’s warm out, since high water is usually in the spring. Our in raft guides steered a lot of people into big waves and good times!

We had a couple of weeks of low water in August where we ran trips on the Lower St. Louis River rather than the Upper. When we run the canyon of the Lower we offer a few extras, such as the side hike and adventure swim.

Educational trips

We expanded the number of educational trips we offer for schools and camps this past season working with teachers to incorporate their classroom curriculum into our trips. It’s fun to mix the sciences into an adventure experience. We did trips for physical education classes, biology, ecology, environmental science and beyond.

Team Building Adventures

We are also experts in fun and engaging team building trips. We have even started a new division dedicated to team building adventures and experiences called Evolve Endeavors. Call us to set up your company’s team building adventure today. We offer team building adventures year round!

Kayaking Merit Badges

Be prepared: for whitewater. This summer we worked with the Boy Scouts of America to help scouts obtain their kayaking and whitewater merit badges. With myself being an American Canoe Association certified kayak instructor, we were able to teach scouts the basics of kayaking, from wet exits to paddle strokes. Then we were able to test their skills as we learned to read and navigate whitewater. I was impressed by the energy and enthusiasm the kids had for paddling!

Customized Group Trips

We led quite a few customized bachelor and bachelorette parties. We also guided several  specialized trips for organizations such as Team, Red, White and Blue, a fantastic organization that gets veterans and the community out together interacting and having fun. We even took down Celtic Thunder, an international recording act from Ireland, and they thought October felt like summer in Ireland!

Paddlemania –St Louis River Rendezvous 

For the last several years Swiftwater has organized this paddling event held on the St. Louis River in correlation with Carlton Daze in Carlton, MN.

The 2016 event had the most racers and spectators to date! The Blast to the Bridge expert kayak race featured 32 racers. Throughout the weekend there were hundreds of spectators. And a couple of dozen teams competed in the Team Rafting event on Sunday. We had a bunch of great sponsors and volunteers: http://www.paddle-mania.com/

We had a blast in 2016! Huge thanks to all our customers and our great staff! Without you we wouldn’t exist.

We hope to see you in 2017! Book your trip now.

Category(s): Blog Posts