Dan brings some international flavor to our staff, coming to us from Taupo, New Zealand. Dan met Rebecca and Zack McGahey, co-owners of RRA, while they were honeymooning in New Zealand and took them white water rafting on two class V rivers outside of Rotarua. Zack and Rebecca were impressed not only with Dan's skill, but his knack for entertaining customers. It wasn't long before they were exchanging emails and Dan was booking a flight to California. He is now a summer (winter, for him) fixture for River and Rock Adventures. Dan-O (as he's called by his fellow guides) is a talented class V white water rafting guide with diverse guiding experience from all over the globe.

Kaela has been an avid white water rafter since she was 5 years old. While she was growing up her parents managed a nonprofit organization that provided outdoor recreation opportunities to people with disabilities. During the 8+ years her family worked with the organization, she grew up rafting the Colorado, Green and San Juan rivers. Kaela and her family moved to Northern California in 2000 and have been rafting the American River nonstop since! Spending practically her entire life on the river and outdoors, Kaela quickly graduated RRA's guide school in 2009 and has been a great addition to the staff. She loves kids and making big splashes in the rapids so if she's your guide, you know you'll never forget it!

A native to the Sacramento area, Ryan grew up loving the outdoors. As a freshman in high school Ryan went with his father down the South Fork Gorge, that’s all it took to get hooked. Ryan started guiding as a summer job during his time at Sac State. Recently graduating with a degree in Business Finance and a minor in Economics, Ryan now works for Wachovia in business loans. Mostly, though, he is just excited about focusing on another white water rafting season.

Colby’s first trip down the river was when he was five, on a family trip for his brother’s birthday. His mom got hooked on the American river and started guiding the following season. Pretty much growing up on the back of a boat, he became a river rat at a young age and has never outgrown it. Colby moved out of California in 1998, returned in 2005 and went to white water rafting guide school with RRA the following summer. When Colby isn’t on the water he keeps busy snowboarding and mountain biking. He loves to entertain, and make people laugh, so if you end up on his boat you're sure to have a great time!

Joe started boating at the tender age of 11. His first trip on the river was a discounted seat in a training boat that his father haggled at a boat show. They've been running family trips every year since. His second trip down the class V Salmon (age 16) the company owners offered to send him to white water rafting guide school. The rest is history (although he wishes he didn’t have to grow up and get a real job). He lived/worked either at the South Fork or the Cal Salmon every summer through the rest of high school and college (UC Davis). Now a rafting guide with River and Rock Adventures, he still cooks the same river meals he learned when he was 16 (and impresses everyone he cooks them for), and still tells some of his favorite corny river jokes regularly.

Eric starting guiding in 2005 when his then co-worker, Zack McGahey, convinced him to go to RRA's guide school. He quickly fell in love with th river. Eric has been rafting on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, the Owyhee River in Oregon, and of course many trips on the American River. Besides guiding on the South Fork, Eric also has assisted RRA booking reservations. The same outgoing personality that helps lure customers in on the phone also entertains said customers on the river. Eric works as an engineer in the Biotech field and lives just across from The Giants' ballpark in San Francisco.

Tim started boating when he was in High School. He didn't know at that time that his brother would later own the white water rafting company with whom he started his white water experiences. Tim recently moved to Sebastopol in Sonoma County and took up guiding for the family business. Showing that years off the American River couldn't overpower his diverse boating experience, Tim quickly became a regular guide in his first year. When not on the American River, Tim is an aviation mechanic, working on private jets. He has two beautiful daughters.

Tom grew up with Colby and spent a lot of time with River and Rock Adventures during Colby's first season paddling, driving shuttle, or just generally helping out around camp. The next season, he went to white water rating guide school on the American River and by springtime, he was guiding boats on the South Fork. Tom is a talented guide who makes not only his customers laugh, but his fellow guides as well. He's finishing up school at CSU Chico right now. You're guaranteed a good time on Tom's boat, as well as a safe trip down the river that will provide memories to cherish for years to come.

Amy's first time rafting, at the age of 8, was on the America River and it was just a matter of time before she came back to it. Before moving out to South Lake Tahoe with her husband, Ian, she spent 6 years working for Hudson River Rafting Company, in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. She graduated from Gordon College with a bachelors in Recreation and Leisure and has been pursuing that ever since. She met her true love while snowboard instructing at Bristol, New York and then dragged him to the river to make him into a rafting guide. The two of them can now be found guiding for RRA this summer. Along with being extremely good looking, she is also a certified wilderness first responder.

Ian grew up in upstate New York. He is addicted to snowboarding and while teaching snowboarding he met a lovely girl named Amy. Amy had been teaching snowboarding for 3 years and white water rafting for longer. When spring came and the snow melted he chased Amy to the Adirondack Mountains and learned to guide (to impress her of course) on the Upper Hudson river. After two years on the Hudson, Ian and Amy drove west to seek out bigger mountains to ride and better rivers to run. This landed Ian at Kirkwood Mountain Resort and when the snow melted he found his way south to the American River and River and Rock Adventures. Yes, Ian likes "White" water no mater which way you serve it up!

Sedale has grown up on the American River. A native of the Coloma area, white water rafting has always been a part of his life. After attending guide school in Oregon he returned to the Coloma area to guide on the river he grew up on. In addition to being a river rat he is an avid guitar player, who never misses a chance to entertain. Sedale is a legacy guide, working hard to outgrow the shadow of his father, who rafted the American River with the current owners of River and Rock Adventures before the company even existed. Sedale is taking time off to travel, but we look forward to his return.