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Meltwater cascading from the glacially carved ridges of the Trinity Alps feeds a vast, dendritic network of streams that cut through ancient geology to form the Trinity River, the largest tributary in the Klamath watershed. The Trinity is one of the most ecologically important streams in the Klamath Mountains, a remote and rugged region renowned both as a global temperate biodiversity hotspot and for its dense concentration of Wild and Scenic rivers. The Trinity’s blue-green waters, sculptured bedrock, and steep incised canyons are beloved by the north coast whitewater paddling community. The river supports three of the region’s core adventure rafting companies, all based around the small Trinity County river community of Big Flat. Here, this past September, the Trinity River hosted the 2025 United States National Whitewater Rafting Championships, an event entirely curated by a tenacious homegrown Humboldt County youth rafting team: the Redwood Rafters.  

If any river locals have spent recent time on the Illinois, Smith, Salmon, Van Duzen, Eel, Mad, or Trinity rivers — even on Humboldt Bay or Big Lagoon when rivers are swollen — then you have likely run into the Redwood Rafters. The team floats under the radar as a local youth sport but they are hard to miss on an isolated river as a flotilla of 4-person boats in bright river safety gear and their infectious teenage stoke coming out of a posse of 12- to 17-year-olds. They travel rain or shine most Sundays, year-round, to some of the most remote and stunning riverscapes in our region, often leaving surly before sunrise when you can drive through the entirety of Eureka in a tunnel of green traffic lights. All the surly floats away when they push their rafts off the banks. What’s unique about this team is its rarity, being entirely supported by parents, dedicated volunteers from the region’s boating community, and help from local organizations, and businesses.

My kids were recruited to the team from friends they met way back from daycare days. Other rafting families have similar word-of-mouth community connections with kids floating in from six different Humboldt County schools. The Redwood Rafters have blossomed over the past three years to around sixteen kids since its humble beginnings starting with the Guthrie family. Abby and Neal Guthrie met while kayaking on the Klamath River back in 1997 and are both former commercial river guides who worked as young adults for adventure rafting companies across the Sierra Nevada. They, along with their daughter and a few trusting families, created a rafting team during a pandemic and are the reason why this unique and competitive sport exists on the North Coast today.

Like many naïve parents, my daughter, who was 12 at the time, convinced me she needed to join her friends and try rafting. I had no idea this is a very competitive sport that measures athleticism from endurance to technical maneuvers, similar to an all-around track and field athlete. I also had no idea I would be rafting too, supporting the team. Now, as a ‘raft dad’, I find it incredibly inspiring to spend whole days with these kids in nature where, through practice and experience,  they are fully engaged and in tune with the pulse of each river. They imprint on everything the river brings to them, especially respect for water, massive helpings of focused teamwork, and rewarding wildlife moments from spending deep time in nature. While driving to the put-ins, along river canyons, they dissect rapids into their parts (holes, waves, eddy lines, wave trains, boof rocks!) while fiercely debating the cleanest line and the line with the most carnage. They know trouble, they know how to avoid it, and they know how to respond to trouble just as much. These decision skills have been patiently and iteratively reenforced by their coaches, Abby and Neal. Parents are improving their boating skills too while serving as backup teenage river chaperons.

As a fish biologist and self-described nature nut, I find it deeply rewarding to see local youth exploring remote areas that few visit outside of biologists, naturalists, anglers, and boaters — especially in winter. Now more than ever, young people need opportunities to re-connect and imprint on the natural world through lived experience. Like surfing, mountain biking, or climbing, competitive rafting blends nature and sport in wild places, fostering senses of belonging and adventure. However, rafting seems to stand apart as a group endeavor, where every paddler shares responsibility and learns to both lead and listen. Based on my own experience, it’s a sport that builds not only physical skill, but also trust, crystal clear communication, and deep connection to place. 

Besides being the team superglue, Abby is a big advocate for the sport in the US. She is the secretary of the United States Rafting Association Board, the governing body for whitewater rafting in the US that supports top American whitewater athletes of all ages with goals of advancing to international competitions.  Abby encourages youth participation, and some Redwood Rafter members serve on the association’s youth board giving them experience in leadership at a national level. She also heads the USA Rafting Coalition, a nonprofit that promotes rafting, and secured crucial funds to host the Nationals on the Trinity this fall. Oh yeah, it’s also worth mentioning Abby and Neal also race on separate adult teams with members joining from across the western US to represent the United States and compete on the world stage. Through winning 2024 National titles in Oregon, both Abby and Neal’s Masters teams have qualified for the World Championships, and they are travelling to represent USA and race in Malaysia this November. The kids cannot wait to cheer their coaches on!

2025 USA Whitewater Championships

It took nearly a year for the Redwood Rafters to prepare for hosting Nationals this September. Every detail from the US Forest Service use permits to fish surveys, from spectator shuttle vans to installing portable bathrooms in remote locations, all needed detailed advanced planning to create a minimal impact and safe event. The team also got the blessing from a gold miner to let us build a temporary slalom course along a key rapid on a placer mining claim. Many local businesses contributed funds and materials to the event. Special thanks to Jeramiah Lewman of Sotar Custom Rafts, who built and shuttled all of the competition rafts,  Wing Inflatables for building racecourse buoys, along with The Mill Yard, Almquist, and Shaffer Ace Hardware for supplying materials to build the Slalom course.

In true North Coast spirit, the Redwood Rafters recruited Humboldt’s very own Jacki and the Jollies band to play as the sun set in the V of the river canyon at Friday’s awards dinner. And as any high-profile race in the region would be lacking without the legendary Cal Poly Humboldt marching band. Twenty-six suspender-clad Marching Lumberjacks and their brass were ferried across the river near the finish line, where they played everything from the National Anthem to Ozzy’s Crazy Train as racers paddled for the finish — it was no less than heroic! 

The event was also livestreamed on multiple cameras and radio broadcasted live on Arcata’s very own Humboldt Hot Air 94.7FM, and on YouTube.

Four Events, One Goal: National Titles

A rafting team consists of four paddlers per raft who compete in four separate types of races, all in identical rafts, that collectively measure the physical endurance and whitewater skills of each team: Sprint, Downriver, Head-To-Head, and Slalom.  Twenty-five teams descended on the Trinity River September 12th-14th, including nine youth and 14 adult team combinations, with teams coming from as far away as Colorado. Team categories include Men, Women, Mixed, Adult Masters (over 40), Adult Open,  U23 (youth ages 14-23), U19 (youth ages 14-19), and Cadets (ages 11-19).

Sprint

The first race was the Sprint, an all-out paddling frenzy, lasting just a minute or so. This race determined each team’s order and opponent pairing for the following three race event categories. The Sprint course on the Trinity required teams to paddle as fast as possible through flat water, then through Hell Hole, a locally famous and stout Class III rapid with a formattable drop and strong hydraulics that can flip or dramatically slow a raft down depending on the line a team chooses—or is forced to choose. In such a short race, just seconds separated the 25 teams, so every element of synchronicity and perfection was needed to have the edge. Surprisingly, not a single raft flipped in Hell Hole. Based on the stunning photos taken by rafter mom and photographer, Juliana Dean, teams were all smiles after dropping through the rapids’ roaring chasm of foam and bedrock as delighted spectators on both banks cheered them on to the finish.

Downriver

The second race was Downriver, a sustained endurance test of synchronic paddling, threading rafts through tight boulder gardens, and navigating Class III rapids as racers vied for the fastest river currents over an average of 28 grueling minutes. Much of this race is won in the slower flatwater sections where teams read subtle currents and eddy lines to minimize drag while maintaining a strict paddling cadence. The faster intermittent rapids are where teams can regroup, catch a breath, and soak up the beauty of the Trinity.

Head-To-Head

On day two racers competed in Head-To-Head, a spectator favorite which is gaining traction internationally to nominate it as an Olympic Games sport. Two closest-ranked Sprint teams are paired together in elimination rounds and are simultaneously started. The race is timed, and each team needs to circle all four of their heads round two separate giant red buoys suspended from highlines in challenging rapids. One buoy must be navigated on the left side of the river, and the other on the right. There are four buoys to choose from, so this race becomes very tactical, with teams bumping and battling. Being the fastest raft out of  the start is not necessarily an advantage in this scenario, as many leading boats get T-boned and pushed out of the way at the first buoy if racers are neck-and-neck. The race is less than 3 minutes, but the side-by-side battling and technical buoy navigation fully tests a team’s strength, endurance, and tactical decisions. This race is often unpredictable with strategic chaos often being imposed on your team by your competitors — adapt or lose. Oh, and let’s not forget the strategically positioned giant marching band that provided auditory jet fuel at the final sprint to the finish!

Slalom

On day three, the final race was Slalom at Sailors Bar — the most technical race of the weekend. Teams had to navigate through whitewater and a dizzying maze of 11 gates, formed by pairs of poles slightly wider than the raft that dangle from river-spanning ropes. I helped build this course and it was no small feat erecting 300 ft-long highlines until just days before the race. I came to appreciate Neal Guthrie’s rope skills as we set highlines by adapting gear and methods he used to climb and haul equipment up walls in Yosemite. All our anchors were temporary and constructed out of tree-friendly soft tubular webbing. Some gates were placed in precarious locations with powerful hydraulics that can instantly flip a raft (some did) after a wrong move so split-second team decisions and paddling finesse define this race. To add to the challenge, four gates required teams to pass through the gate against the current—literally paddling upstream in whitewater!  Namely, Gate 10 was a crowd favorite because it forced teams to paddle upstream, then get sucked directly into a “hole” that surfs the raft across the river and spits it out on the other side of the gate. To clear a gate, all four paddlers had to pass through in the correct direction without touching the poles. Each team had two timed runs, scored on speed, the number of gates cleared. Points were also subtracted if a gate was touched.

Redwood Rafters Made Their Mark

In the U19 category the Troublemakers (U19 Boys) and the California Poppies (U19 Girls), both who hail from the Lake Tahoe region, won the overall combined National Race titles. The Troublemakers competed at Worlds in Bosnia the previous year and both Tahoe teams are older (and inevitably stronger) than the U19 Redwood Rafters by a few years on average. Basically, our youth look up to these other teams as inspiration, role models, and the teams to beat as they build their own skills and strength. 

Perhaps the most rewarding outcome of the weekend for the Redwood Rafters was the pair of upset-wins made by our U19 Girls and U19 Boys teams.  The Girls handily defeated the Poppies in the Slalom race, while the Boys edged the Troublemakers in the Head-To-Head event. These were the most technically challenging races of them all, so our teams were ecstatic when they realized they became the National Champions for these individual events. In the Cadet categories, Boys, Girls, and Mixed teams ran unopposed but delivered strong performances in all four events. These 12- to 14-year-olds confidently navigated the Class III whitewater course highlighting their hard-earned skills and growth in the sport. Our Cadet Girls even edged out the California Poppies in an exhibition match showing they will be a force to be reckoned with.

Rafting is a community-based sport in general so when the boys Cadet team needed another paddler, they recruited a younger sibling from a Colorado U19 team. It’s great to see youth strangers join and achieve shared goals on a big stage. Speaking of recruiting, the Troublemakers have now invited one of our U19 boys, Zade Hatton, to fill a critical spot on their U19 team competing at World’s in Malaysia this November!

Watching all these kids work together hosting this event, cheering each other and other teams on, and racing with everything they had was inspiring and showing their growing leadership will sail far beyond whitewater rafting. Seeing them thrive in such a wild, natural setting also warmed my soul. Based on feedback from many travelling teams and overall event stoke, hosting Nationals locally was a massive success for this growing sport. With their impressive race results, the Redwood Rafters now have realistic aspirations of representing the USA in International competitions in the years ahead. They are the future — one paddle stroke at a time.

Thank you to Abby and Neal, the parents, the teams, the volunteers, the safety team, all the sponsors, the community and businesses of Big Flat, and the US Forest Service for creating such a magical event.

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Besides being a “raft dad” Justin Garwood is also a co-editor and author of the book — The Klamath Mountains: A Natural History.