Whitewater Rafting

Whitewater rafting’s latest news and product reviews.  Paddling Life keeps you informed on what’s new in whitewater rafts, rafting competitions, rafting industry news, and much more.

Whitewater Kayaking

Behind the Scenes with the… Gnarnivores!

Admit it: We all like watching carnage. And no one does a better job of capturing it from the paddlesports sector and passing it...
Eugene Buchanan -
Destinations

Alabama’s Montgomery Whitewater Park Grand Opening July 1-2

Get ready for the country’s fourth recirculating whitewater park. Montgomery Whitewater, an outdoor recreation and entertainment facility situated on the banks of the Alabama...
Eugene Buchanan -
Apparel

Water Boot Roundup 2023

Let’s face it, having the right footwear no matter what kind of outdoor pursuit you’re doing can really make or break the experience. Paddling...
Aaron Black-Schmidt -
Whitewater Kayaking

Accident Update: Whitewater Deaths Mounting During High 2023 Runoff Season; Pro Kayaker Will Hoxie Latest Tragedy

In a story we hate to report, whitewater deaths are mounting this year as winter record and near-record snowpack out West continues careening through...
Eugene Buchanan -
Stand Up Paddle Boarding

GoPro Games Go Off in Vail, CO; Zophia, Dolle Top Dane/Emily Jackson in Freestyle

Despite the absence of the coveted Steep Creek Championships on nearby Class V Homestake Creek, this year’s GoPro Mountain Games went off without a...
Eugene Buchanan -
Paddling Industry News

Rafter J PhD. – College Credits for Rafting?

After an epic ski season, teaching snowboarding was coming to an end. It was the early 2000's and I found myself sitting in the...
Miles De Feyter -
Canoeing

4 Top Rivers to Put on Your Canadian Bucket List This Season

Want to head to Canada, eh? Canadian River Expeditions, based in Whitehorse, Yukon, has a few classic recommendations for you, from tame to wild, all...
Eugene Buchanan -
Paddling Industry News

Floaters Get New Boat-in Campground on the Colorado!

Break out the champagne. It's not often paddlers get a new section of river to float and camp on, especially in an increasingly crowded...
Eugene Buchanan -
Whitewater Rafting

Grand Canyon Gets Massive Water Surge (40K CFS!)

Rafters and kayakers on the Grand Canyon in late April better hope they tied their boats up well at camp as federal operators of...
Eugene Buchanan -
Whitewater Kayaking

Idaho Rivers Getting Ready to Rage; Bruneau/Owyhee (285%!) Leading the Charge

A massive snowpack season has created a banner season in store for paddling Idaho rivers this summer. Snowpack levels range from about 110 percent of...
Eugene Buchanan -
Whitewater Rafting

OARS Announces 2023 Western Whitewater Forecast

Thanks to record-breaking snowpack across the Western United States, outfitters are expecting an exceptional whitewater year, especially in California and Utah. The statewide snowpack in...
Aaron Bible -
Paddling Industry News

Badfish Launches Raft Line

There’s a new player in the raft market, with gobs of experience on the water. Longtime SUP-maker Badfish, of good ol’ Salida, Colo., recently...
Eugene Buchanan -
Whitewater Rafting

Beer Spills into Montana’s Clark Fork River!

Paddlers on Montana’s Clark Fork this spring might find a little welcome surprise bobbing in the eddies: beer. A freight train carrying beer derailed along...
Eugene Buchanan -
Whitewater Kayaking

What the Cali Snowpack Spells for Paddling Season

Epic Snowpacksville: How the Runoff Year is Shaping Up in Cali In early March, as part of California’s ongoing “atmospheric river” pummeling, the Kern River...
Eugene Buchanan -
Whitewater Kayaking

“They System is to Blame”: Landing a Coveted River Permit an Upstream Battle (By The Colorado Sun)

Want to float one of the West’s most popular rivers? You have roughly a 2% chance of getting a permit. (By Tracy Ross/The Colorado Sun) Nearly...
Eugene Buchanan -
Paddling Industry News

Front range Rafters Rejoice! DRE’s Raftopia March 27-April 1!

Down River is bringing back Raftopia and it's going to be bigger than ever! Raftopia will return as an in-person event this spring and...
Eugene Buchanan -
Paddling Industry News

OARS Launches “Guide School” Vid Series

While it's still no substitute for getting out there and pushing rubber, a new video series from OARS called “Guide School” is designed to...
Eugene Buchanan -
Whitewater Rafting

“It’s about the people at NRS now.” Bill Parks, Founder of Northwest River Supplies Passes Away (1934-2023)

Talk about a helluva great run, life and role in paddlesports. On March 5, 2023, Bill Parks, the founder and president of Northwest River...
Eugene Buchanan -
Paddling Industry News

Get ‘Em on the Water: Friends of the Yampa Launches Youth River Camps

Wondering how to grow the sport? Take the lead of Colorado's Friends of the Yampa, whose burgeoning Youth River Camps help youth get out...
Eugene Buchanan -
Whitewater Rafting

Political Paddling Recap: Former President Carter Tackles the Middle Fork

With former U.S. President Jimmy Carter in the news recently for entering into hospice care, where the 98-year-old is expected to spend his remaining...
Eugene Buchanan -
Whitewater Rafting

MT Sobek Celebrates 50th Anniversary (Plus: A List of Sobek 1st D’s)

Celebrate your own first descents all you want. Unless you're Ben Stookesberry, you likely don't hold a torch to those compiled by rafting pioneer...
Eugene Buchanan -
Destinations

Behind the Scenes with the founders of GoRafting and Far Out River Maps

Hasta luego, soggy paper river maps and huhlooo a new digital app alternative with the FarOut App from GoRafting, a maker of river maps...
Eugene Buchanan -
Whitewater Rafting

Scenic Overdose Syndrome on Alaska’s Alsek River

“Stick to the feeders, not the drainers.” The advice comes from Bones. The feeders gain water and the drainers splinter off, leaving you high and...
Eugene Buchanan -
Whitewater Rafting

The Case of the Steamboat Sting, Dinosaur National Park, 1957

By Tom Martin (Modified from "Otis Marston: The Colorado River Historian," Volume 1, Book 4, available on Amazon Kindle) Editor's note: To adequately tell this...
Eugene Buchanan -
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Latest news

Paddling Industry News

Ocoee River Sees Historic Flooding

Historic Flooding Hits Ocoee River Region, Shattering Water-Level Record It's not just the desert Southwest of the Rockies getting record...
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Accessories

Summer Swagalicious Gear Roundup!

Okay okay, it's still a little early for Christmas. But it's coming, and the goose is getting fat. So,...
Stand Up Paddle Boarding

Isle Paddle Boards: A fun alternative to whitewater kayaking

ISLE Pioneer 3 & Pioneer Pro 2: A New Perspective on Stand-Up Paddling Looking for something to mix things up...

Must read

Conservation

Salt River Hit Record 84,900 CFS During Southwest Floods

Arizona's Salt River hit a record flow from the...
Conservation

Grand Canyon Hits 50K? Not So Fast…(But San Juan Tops 41K!)

While rumors (and hydrograph readings) attested that the Grand...
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Competition

Carnage on the Cheakamus

Leave it to the Canucks. While Canada and the...
Staff Post -
Paddling Industry News

Second Time’s a Sickline Charm for Morley, Newman

Maybe they just have the lines dialed. Whatever it is, it worked as both Joe Morley and Nouria Newman won the men’s and women’s divisions, respectfully, for the second year in a row at this year’s adidas Sickline extreme race on Austria’s Ache River.
Miles De Feyter -
Archive

Johnson Watercaft to Close Bellingham, Wash., Offices

Despite the year's rebound in the paddlesports sales -- Leisure Trend’s Paddlesport RetailTRAK reports January through May paddlesports sales totaled $177 million, a 20 percent increase over 2011-- Johnson Watercraft, a division of Johnson Outdoors, has announced plans to shutter its marketing and R&D offices in Bellingham, Wash., and move the departments to its facility in Old Town, Maine...
Miles De Feyter -