Whitewater Rafting – St. Louis

The St. Louis River offers whitewater rafting all summer long.

Upper St. Louis River Trips.  Approx. Total Trip Time 2-2 1/2 hours

This trip takes you through a semi-wilderness area with rugged outcrops, tall pines, abundant wildlife, and challenging rapids. (TIP: Are Looking for the Highest Water Action? For your adventurous spirits, Book your trip May-June)

Typical summer flows change, but still supply challenging rapids as you ease into the river experience with class II+ rapids building into class III/III+ rapids in the second portion of the trip.

Lower St. Louis River Trips.  Approx. Total Trip Time 2 and 1/2 hours

When the Upper St. Louis River gets too low for rafting, we run the Lower St. Louis River through Jay Cooke St. Park. Since much of this section flows through narrow canyons it can only be rafted safely at summer flows. Whether it’s late in the summer or a dry summer, it’s lower Louis time!

The Lower St. Louis sports technical class III rapids and features several rapids that are three to four-foot drops. The steep-walled sections of river provide excellent scenery. Since this trip covers fewer river miles, we include additional adventures within your trip!

Meet at our headquarters located at 121 Vermillion St. Carlton, MN 55718. You will receive a confirmation email once you book your trip with directions to our facility, what to wear, and other FAQs.

*Please arrive at your trip time, no need to be early, just on time.

Swiftwater Adventures is amazing! The most knowledgeable and experienced wilderness adventure guides you’ll find. If you have an adventure in mind they can do it. Adventure at it’s finest!

Nora Whitmore
3M

$65 per person

no hidden fees or taxes after you sign up! Swiftwater’s Upfront Pricing guarantee!

Everything is included in the price! All necessary gear, including wetsuits and paddling suits, plus a professional in-raft guide.

What Our Clients Say!

Very enjoyable experience

Great experience , we had good weather and the guides were great and very informative Well organized and up-to-date on Covid precautions.

It was a blast can’t wait yo go back!!!

Very professional!!! A Lot of fun!! Highly recommended. Guides made sure it was fun and that you were having a good time!!

Great time!

It was great! My family of four (youngest 11 years old) had no experience with whitewater rafting and felt safe and had a ton of fun throughout the whole trip. We would definitely recommend it!

Great fun rafting!

It was an amazing experience. The staff was very professional yet extremely welcoming. Will go again.

Awesome experience!

Awesome trip! We had a great time! The staff was amazing and we got to surf the rapids. The drop was super fun! Would totally do it again!!

Great family day trip!

This was a great family adventure, ages 14-50s. We all loved it! Our guides were skilled, friendly, and fun! Keep us all safe and helped us have an awesome day on the river. Highly recommend it.

Fun Family Adventure!

The whole set up was perfect for a fun family adventure of all skill levels. The tour guides were fantastic!

Great experience

I went there yesterday for my birthday and it was AMAZING!! Will definitely go back! Caleb was awesome.

Day on the river

Whitewater rafting with Swiftwater Adventures was the highlight of our trip. Highly recommended. Everyone that works there from the bus driver to the very competent guides were pleasant and fun. Our family loved it.

Do it!!!

I have lived in Duluth 20 years, and cannot believe I haven't tried this until this year! It was a blast, and a very memorable highlight of the summer. The water level was high, making for a very wet ride. I wish I had worn a bathing suit for the experience we had. There was an adventure swim and the option to jump from a granite cliff, during a picturesque stop. The scenery is like the BWCA, with the cliff and pines. The staff were very organized, capable, and friendly. Two staff accompanied our group of rafts for safety and photos. I cannot wait to do this again, and I have been raving about the experience to my friends.

SO MUCH FUN!

Did not expect to have this much fun on our rafting trip. The rapids are much more than we expected which was awesome. We were worried it might be lame but it exceeded our expectations. Our guide, Trent, was so much fun.

Amazing!

It was an excellent experience that is exciting for everyone of all ages. The rapids are perfect, not too intimidating, yet incredibly thrilling. Great guides, definitely coming back!

Rafting on the St Louis River, MN

Surfing and the Electric Ledge. Patrick was our guide, he was awesome. Great photos! We will go again.

Awesome Ride for all ages

This was an awesome Ride! We went along with friends and family and really enjoyed it. It's not scary or risky, it's kids friendly. Our kids jumped into the water and swimmed also. The guides who came with our group are very friendly and gave us safe instructions and took care of us. Kory and Luke, Andy good Pictures! Carlson nice support! Thank you for this awesome experience!

Fantastic!!

We had a fantastic time and loved our guides. Lucas, Andy and Karsten were the best!! It was our first time and wasn’t nearly as scary as I worried it would be... in large thanks to Lucas! Thanks guys!!!!

Amazing rafting experience on the St. Louis River!

My son and I had a fantastic time! Our guide was amazing and informative! Plus, he kept me from getting sucked into the water when "surfing" our raft, which was an added bonus! Thanks for that Carston! The view was amazing along the St. Louis river too. Would love to kayak the Thomson Reservoir someday after this trip opened my eyes to it. Everything was done professionally following COVID guidelines too. We had so much fun and would highly recommend company and the adventure itself to anyone visiting Duluth! You won't regret it!

Great Family Experience

Our family of five had a great trip. 17 yr old, 14 and 10. We had never whitewater rafted before. We felt safe and our guide was great. The precautions taken for covid were fantastic. Thank you very much!