Tahoe Whitewater Tours

This was my husband and I first true whitewater trip. Mike the owner was absolutely wonderful. He greeted us at the meeting place was super friendly and drove us to our destination. Not only did he keep us entertained with facts about the the ego system and life in Tahoe but told some silly jokes too! We spent the first half of the tour with some relaxing class ones and minor twos. We had a great lunch prepared by himself and the other guide Willy both would not even allow us to assist very sweet. We headed out and hit some great Rapids «Loved it «the names of them were classic hospital run and recovery room, guides surprise and many others. We all got wet and loved every minute. This is a great trip for the first but I am ready for the class three and fours now. Love the thrill of the ride and challenge of the water.
We will be back! Thanks Mike
Gary and Veronica

These guys are by far the most accommodating group I’ve ever rafted with. They genuinely care about their customers and their experience. This all day excursion is lead by very qualified guides who know how to get the most out of the river! I always felt safe through every rapid we tackled. There was also a lot of fun facts about the geography and history of the river and surrounding area. Lunch is always included and its a gourmet sandwich bar with the highest quality breads and meats with fruit, chips, cookies, and all the toppings you could hope for! If you’re gluten free the lettuce is large enough to make a wrap out of and there are plenty of veggies for those of you who don’t like meat. I’ve never had more fun rafting than I had with this group. I wouldn’t recommend any other company to raft with in Northern California!

This was the highlight of our trip to Tahoe! Adam was our guide on the South Fork American river and he was extremely knowledgeable. This was my first time rafting and I am not a strong swimmer but Adam made sure we were safe all while having a blast. Make sure you’re ready to get wet so bring water shoes and sunscreen. We even took a dip in the river. We highly recommend this rafting group and want to do it again the next time we’re in Tahoe. Happy rafting!

Awesome we had Mike and Blake as our guides. Went on the Chili Bar run. It was my first time rafting. My husband and I had a great time. I think I’m going to go rafting again. Thanks

Blake and Dave were our guides.
They were awesome! They were friendly, entertaining, knowledgeable. Dave gave our four 15-​year-​olds on a
great trip. He messed around with them, tipping the raft up, spinning it! It was hilarious. Blake goofed off with the other guides; it was so fun to see, and made us feel like we were part of the «family». You guys are so fun. Thanks!

Great experience!!! We took our 17 and 14 year olds for their first white water rafting experience, everyone had a great time, very professional, very well organized!!!
We loved our guide, we even bought the picture CD (I never do that!). Highly recommend

Awesome experience down the truckee river! Jodie was our guide and he was great! Ali the photographer was also great! Positive employees!

Excellent all around. Fun and very experienced people. Great customer service. Tough but not too tough rapids

This was a great time. I heard the whitewater rafting wasn’t that great on the Truckee River, but I would have to disagree as a novice anyways. We did the Boca run and the route slowly builds until you get to class 3 rapids by the end. We had a terrific guide, Kim, who made the trip awesome and challenged us throughout the experience. Make sure you bring an extra pair of shoes and possibly clothes because you will get wet. Thanks for everything

To start it out, this was my first time trying out white water rafting (two years ago). My friends and I drove up from Southern California with minimal sleep and as it is a 10 hour drive, we were tired and a little frustrated because we were stopped by multiple road blocks and almost missed this appointment. When we got there, our friends from bay area were nowhere to be found (they were stuck in road blocks as well and they actually MISSED this appointment). We told the company about the predicament and they were able to arrange for my bay area friends to do it the day after; i thought that was very nice of them and they were very accommodating to our situation. When we got into the river, it was an awesome experience. Our guide had obviously been everywhere and was an adventurer. He told us about his adventures, upon us asking, of course. We flipped our boat on purpose, in fact, he encouraged us to do so during the lazy parts of the river. Even though we had setbacks during our journey to this place, it totally made up for them and much more; we left happy and excited, even though our friends were not able to make it, they had the same amount of fun. It was awesome and I believe I’m going back this summer for some more fun!

My family and I, six of us altogether, did the Boca Run on the Truckee River during a vacation in Lake Tahoe. It was fabulous and we love this rafting company. Reservations were easy to make by phone and we were given thorough information about what to bring, wear, and expect on this rafting trip. Our guide, Ivan, was fun, knowledgable, and a pleasure! Much of the trip was class I and II rapids, with class III as a dramatic and very exciting ending. We had a great time and would definitely recommend this company to others. We can’t wait to try other trips or come back to Tahoe and do this one again. As a bonus, we were able to purchase a CD of photos that we will have for a very long time!

Love these people. Went here with a bachelor party of about 12 guys and they couldn’t have been more accommodating. They played along with our antics and seemed to have just as good as a time as we did. Other companies in the area offer around the same pricing and group discounts, but when it came to overall information and response time this rafting company beats them hands down. We bought the picture CD’s from them and they turned out great as well.
Giving ⁴⁄₅ because of the rafting itself. The run is fun but doesn’t pick up until the very end and before that is just not that challenging. Some good drops at the end, but I wish it was a little more before hand.

My wife and I went down the Chili Bar run on the South fork of the American River with Tahoe Whitewater Tours. This section has 3 class II rapids and 3 class IIIs. We had a great time and it was the perfect stretch of river for our first time whitewater rafting. The trip was a full day that ranged from peaceful floating to thrilling rapids showering us with water!
Our guide, Mike was very informative about the history of the area and has lots of experience on the river which made the whole trip go very smoothly. Everyone I talked to from the company was very helpful and nice. The price of the trip included a great lunch and a shuttle from and to Tahoe. We are definitely going to use them again and try the class III-​IV run on the middle fork of the American River!

SO MUCH FUN! Had a great time! I was super excited when my boyfriend took me here for some rafting! We were placed with a family of 4 (who were awesome rafting companions) and a very fun guide. Our guide was very informative. He told us the names of the rapids, the stories behind them, the history of the river, and other interesting stories. He was also very helpful when teaching myself, and the others in our raft the proper way to row, sit, and keep our balance. Definitely had a great time here and I hope to either go here again or go find a more intense river! Great first time on the river and I definitely recommend this place for all!

F U N F U N F U N ! ! !
Oh man this review is 3 years late! Way over due, but here I go.
Tahoe is known for its ski resorts blah blah blah, yes this is true, but if you ever want to go during the summer, and don’t really know what to do besides hang around the lake all day, definitely find a day to take a Half Day or Full Day Rafting Tour.
If you are a thrill seeker like me, this is by far, for the money spent, a whole SHA-BANG’s worth full of excitiment, adreneline rush, and just plain ol’ fun.
A few years back a little gang of my buddies and I were up in Tahoe for the summer, and booked a Half Day Tour, starting at 1:15pm.
What I liked about Tahoe Whitewater is the fact that they use smaller rafts so you definitely get personalized attention. We had a group of 4, and while the rafts can hold up to 6, they were very accomodating in letting us have the entire raft to ourserlves.
It’s too bad I don’t remember our tour guide’s name, but he was just awesome – with his Surfer-​dude long blonde hair, and silly down-​home persona. I don’t think we could’ve asked for a more fun guide.
The last run, which perfectly named «Jaws» got us up to a Category 3 – 4, with photographers properly situated to document everything.
During this run, I was literally about to fall out of the raft because we hit this huge ass rock sticking out of the river. But it was the most exhilarating feeling I had every felt. (As you can see from the pix, I’m in the back, on the right side.)
If you love water, excitement, and have never tried rafting before, Tahoe Whitewater is defintiely something you’ll want to try.
The Half Day Tour for $ 68.00 is great if you have never tried rafting before. This is a great tour to get your feet wet and hopefully if you are like me, you will end up loving this activity and want to do it a bazillion more times to come!

I had a great time rafting with Whitewater Tours. My only complaints are: 1) My sister’s raft guide didn’t tell her how to properly place her feet so that she could keep her balance. As a result, she fell out of the raft in one of the rapids and got banged up; 2) Our guide didn’t really tell us much about the river, the names of the rapids, etc.; 3) We bought a CD of pics taken of us rafting, but when we got home found out that there were no pics on the CD. Other than this, I would recommend it. I had a lot of fun.

What a great team of individuals who really put together a great introductory tour to white water rafting! For $ 68, you get to make a little drive from the PlumpJack Inn (which I recommend you stay at), early in the weekend morning: 8:30am, meet a fantastic team of white water river guides and on-​site staff at 8:45a, get the skinny on the steps to take in case the uneventful happens aboard the inflatable bastion that keeps your soul warm and dry by 9:15a, learn the basics of paddling by 9:30a, glide across the still preliminary run of the Boca River 9:45a, hop and skip over the small rocks and holes of the river by 10am, get hyphy on the river by sharing pirate jokes and infamous «would you rather» questions with your unsuspecting yet amused guide by 10:15a, go down Pocahontas-​worthy river bends, down all the cleverly-​named stretches of water like «Railroad,» «Menace,» «Pinball,» and «Jaws,» the latter of the two are my favorite rapids to help navigate, to getting wet, to driving through boulders like the dangerous Ca-​Bob boulder jetting out into the course ahead of you and the «teeth» waiting for you at the end of the 2-​foot drop after Jaws, to passing a «9-​person and mayorless» town called Hirschdale or something, to seeing an airplane wreckage remnant, to a «Godfather 2» stunt car left to rust, and a flash of paparazzi taking your picture at two locations so you can laugh at all you have done going down a playful, fish-​taco-​and-​raft-​flipping (if you are lucky) rapids course by 1:15pm! Thanks to Shane, and the others who manned the mini-​ships for my friends for an awesome ride-​a-​long. Thanks. –Matt
(Times are approximate and used for dramatic purposes only and not intended to misrepresent the experience. Actual times may vary according to season, speed of paddling, and guts. –Matt)