Choosing The River

So you have learned all the introductory information about riverboarding, you got yourself the required gear and a riverboard, and you're ready to rock! But...where should you go? And how will you know if the river you're on is safe and good for riverboarding?

As a general rule, if there are companies running commercial rafting trips on a river, it's going to be riverboardable. Rafts tend to traverse rapids that would be safe for a riverboarder, much more so than kayaks do.

Yet there are many creeks and streams that are run by kayakers which it would be possible to riverboard, even though rafts can't navigate them - the important thing is knowing how big the drops are, and where they are.

So until you're a world-class riverboarder who likes going off 70 foot waterfalls headfirst, like world-traveller Mike Horn (who also riverboarded the ENTIRE Amazon river), just stick with rivers that get rafted a lot. The extreme end of rafting, such as Cherry Creek in California or the Gauley River in West Virginia, while huge, have been riverboarded.

The best resource for finding rivers near you is the search feature on AmericanWhitewater.org. If you don't know any local rivers, just select your state, choose the Class level (I - V+) that you wish to board, and you'll have a great list right in front of you!

Once you've got your river, take time to scout it before you run it!

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