Swiftwater Adventures - Whitewater Rafting and Kayaking! — Attraction in Carlton

Cliff Langley guided me on a Kayak outing Saturday morning in late summer of 2014 on the St. Louis River at Thomson Dam. I am an experienced canoer (and a good swimmer) but had only been in a kayak a few times. Cliff provided me with basic instruction in the Lake behind the Thomson Dam: a wet exit, kayak strokes and bracing. I had never heard of many of these concepts but with an hour of instruction on the lake I felt I was ready for some river kayaking. Cliff’s plan was to take me to the Upper St. Louis and do some Class I whitewater. I had seen the lower St. Louis and it’s Class II whitewater and had already decided that’s what I wanted to do. We discussed the differences in the Upper and Lower St. Louis River and what we thought I could handle and decided we would do the Lower St. Louis. We spent some time talking about safety, the specific part of the St. Louis River we were going to kayak and off we went. It was an eye opening experience for me. Much more difficult than anything I had done in years. I flipped three times, wet exited safely each time, Cliff was right there making sure I was alright and helping me get the kayak to shore and the water out and off we went again. After each start Cliff explained the next section we were going to kayak run, how to run the drops, where the eddies were (and what they were) that we would stop at and reset. It took us an hour to go about a mile, but it was well worth it. Cliff is an excellent guide not just knowledgeable and skilled but patient with excellent communication skills. I am planning at least a couple trips in 2015 on the St. Louis River with Cliff as my guide. I have purchased my own kayak and equipment (Cliff provided me with the equipment on our outing and the equipment was excellent). I have joined Minnesota’s Rapid Riders and have been preparing for 2015 kayaking in the Rapid Rider open pool sessions in Brooklyn Center. I am 58 years old and if I can do this, so can you if you are looking for a challenge. If you are an experienced kayaker Cliff knows the St. Louis River area well. Later in the fall I contacted Cliff with the plans to do a second trip. We couldn’t make our schedules work with the weather so I asked about a good whitewater canoe run I could do alone and with Cliff’s recommendation did a 7 miles stretch of the Cloquet River. It was an excellent recommendation and day trip that fit perfectly with what I...

Have you ever had an experience where it completely changes how you feel about life? My first ever whitewater rafting experience yesterday was that for me. I signed up at the last minute and am an older, overweight, have rheumatoid arthritis and am a not in the best shape grandmother. My thought was gee I better do it now because who knows if I will be able to next year with the RA and my joints hurting more and more. I got to Swiftwater and everyone on the team was so helpful and helped me with my life jacket and finding a lighter paddle.

I was prepared for some physical activity but when I was paddling in the beginning, I was not using a good form or digging deep enough. The guide was kind but blunt and explained that I needed to get the paddle all the way into the water and use my body to be effective and to stay in the raft in the areas coming up. After the first rapid and surfing (mild compared to the last two rapids), I was literally thinking what in the hell did I do and asked Lucas, our guide in the kayak, if it would be possible to get dropped off on shore and walk back. He said it would be a 4+ mile walk and if I was scared I was getting the best ever experience. There was no quitting and I was scared and it was hard but I loved it. I highly highly recommend this company for your trip and Lucas, Trent and the guides in training were amazing. They truly will work with people of all abilities but to be safe and not put others at risk, you will need to be able to paddle.

In two short hours I went from thinking this would be a once in a lifetime experience before I was too old and my arthritis could be too progressed to knowing I can and will do this again and I need to work hard to get to where I want to be physically for the next trip. I went from being the grandma that thought I can tell my grandkids about this to thinking that if I change things up now and dig deep,, I may be the grandma that rafts with the grandkids someday.

I was so sore afterwards, but once again everyone was kind and helped me unclasp my life jacket when I couldn't get my fingers to cooperate, made sure I made it across the gate ok when walking back to the van, etc.

The trip was fricken amazing and thank...

I was really looking forward to going white water rafting, especially after speaking with the gentleman on the phone. He was patient, informative, and took the time to answer all my questions, which gave me a lot of confidence before we even got there. When we arrived, the three ladies at the sign-in shack were just as friendly and helpful.

What stood out most to me was how focused they were on making sure everyone understood the process—not just for fun, but also from a safety standpoint. I really appreciated the way the staff in kayaks guided us, giving us clear heads-ups and reminders throughout the trip. That kind of attention helped a ton.

The experience itself was absolutely exhilarating—riding through the rapids with friends was so wonderful. Our guides, Margo and Thea, were incredible. They were both friendly and supportive the whole time. At one point, during the last rapid, my friend lost his balance and fell into me, and almost knocking me out of the raft. Thankfully, Margo and my wife reacted quickly and grabbed me before I went overboard. Special thanks to Margo for that!

Honestly, the whole trip was so much fun I was ready to go again immediately, but we had to check in our hotel and grab dinner. I just wanted to say thank you to the entire team, especially Margo and Thea, for making our first rafting adventure such a great one. We’ll definitely...