Did you know that whitewater rafting can be traced back to 1811? The first recorded attempt to navigate a river was planned for the Snake River in Wyoming. Rafting through the years is vastly different than what we know now. The equipment, training, and companies have grown with time, but the whitewater is an unchangeable and constant force.

Equipment
Whitewater rafting started to take off around the 70s and 80s when guides were using “bucket boats”. A raft that did not have holes in the floor to release water. After a big splash, you would use buckets to get rid of the water that filled up the raft. This was a lot of work for a few miles of floating. If too much water got in the boat, you could start to sink! You would sometimes have to flip the boat on purpose to expel all the water. Modern-day boats are called “self-bailers”. Self-bailers were introduced to the whitewater world in the early 90s. Since then they have become the standard practice for all rivers. The floors of these rafts have lacing around the bottom so when water rushes into the boat it can flow back out through the open space.
When they used bucket boats, a lot of the people going rafting wore floatation devices that wouldn’t do much. Or they didn’t even wear helmets… we know better than that now! We take our equipment very seriously these days, and most whitewater rivers require a type 3 PFD (personal flotation device) and a helmet at all times.

Training… or not
Training for guides used to look a lot different. Safety wasn’t always everyone’s first concern. A lot of the “training” involved going down the river a few times… claiming they were good enough… and then start taking customers. They would just wing it for the first couple of trips. Without these brave pioneers we wouldn’t have the knowledge of rivers we do now. These days most companies have extensive and harsh training for guides. Though at one point people with no experience were venturing down the rivers! If you ask a guide now about their training they will say it took them weeks, or even months to take their first trip. Everyone these days wants to make sure they are ready for what is thrown at them. This is the way to be most safe!
Change can be good
When rafting companies were created, there weren’t many storefronts. You would have to book a trip and meet the company at the river’s put-in. The guides would just bring all the gear with them in vans to the riverfront. There the customers would gear up, and get their safety speech. No bathhouses or changing rooms are involved. Just cars and gear and boats! Simpler times. Now a-days we love our professional and put-together outposts. Guests get to come to a building with bathrooms, picnic tables, and a souvenir shop. What’s a rafting trip without a T-shirt from the store and looking at pictures in the AC? Some smaller companies still do it the old-fashioned way and there is nothing wrong with that!

Rafting would be nothing without the people that paved the way for modern-day boating. Zollers Outdoor Odysseys was the first company on the White Salmon River and we are celebrating 51 years of business this summer. One thing we cannot deny is that rafting has changed through the years. We have learned and grown from the people of the past, and that is something to be forever grateful for!

She is a lover of the river and what the Pacific Northwest has to offer!