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About our ownersAloha from Anne and Don Kirkendall. Welcome to our website and company. I believe I can speak for everyone from Arrowhead River Adventures. when I say that we love our job in the whitewater rafting, fishing, kayaking and hiking industry. My experience as a guide began 30+ years ago as a fishing guide on Southern Oregon rivers. I was hooked. Fishing led me to the excitement of whitewater rafting. I have been fortunate to have rafted the magnificent Grand Canyon on the Colorado River, traveling 226 miles from Lee's Ferry to Separation Point. I have floated California rivers such as the Tuolumne, Scott, California Salmon and Smith Rivers. Oregon rivers such as the Chetco, Rogue, Klamath, Umpqua and John Day Rivers. My experiences and delight in these rivers led me to obtain Federal permits to commercially run them and introduce others such as yourself to them as well. My staff shares this same enthusiasm and literally decades of safe river rafting, kayaking and fishing experiences. We invite you to let Arrowhead River Adventures be your Oregon whitewater rafting, fishing, whitewater kayaking and hiking outfitter. |
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About our companyOur company is concerned about your safety! We use the best equipment on the market for all of our river activities.
Our guides have decades of experience, they are CPR/First Aid certified and have attended whitewater rescue courses. We also believe that our guides should be entertainers. Entertaining you, our guests, with informative (sometimes humorous) safety talks and knowledge of the area that you are vacationing. Entertaining you with scenic, exciting whitewater rafting and kayaking trips. Entertaining you with the thrill of catching your first trophy fish. Entertaining you with our great stories and experiences from previous trips. We also believe in giving our valued guests the best value for there dollar. Our warehouse and office is located on company owned land in Eagle Point. We, therefore, have no rental expenses. Our office staff in many cases are the guides that are not working that day under the supervision of Anne Scott our office manager. Who better to answer your questions then those who will be sharing the river with you. |
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Meet our guides |
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Gil Phelps |
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We are blessed with several guides that are what we call renaissance men. Gil Phelps is one of them. He is just as at home on the oars and handling a net as he is at rowing way more then he should down the 'Wild and Scenic' portion of the Rogue River Canyon. He is also an excellent chef and story teller. He does all these tasks with equal ability and enthusiasm. Ask him to tell the story about the salmon caught in the picture to the left. It was unbelievable. I watched the whole epic battle. |
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Andy Buckingham |
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Andy Buckingham comes to us from Noah's River Adventures where he works as a multi-day rafting guide in the Summer, honing his river skills in the same water where he fishes in the Fall for Arrowhead River Adventures. He has many stories to tell of the early history of the Rogue River, his kayaking all over the globe and one of his secondary professions as a mason in the Rogue Valley. He is becoming a excellent salmon and steelhead fisherman as well as the photo belows shows. |
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John Mayernick |
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John Mayerniks Bio: I'm an outdoor enthusiast with many years of experience in the field, rowing rivers throughout the American West. I fish the more isolated coastland streams of the Northwest. My real job is a RF Engineer Technician for a high tech company in Hillsboro, Oregon. I also guide for Arrowhead River Adventures on the 'Wild Rogue' in the Fall. I have been working for ARA since 2002 as one of your Lower Rogue River Canyon Lodge fishing guides. We met while I was taking a private trip and dreamed of guiding the Rogue River Canyon; the following year this dream became a reality. |
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Bob Evans |
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Bob Evans is someone I have known for over 30 years. We dreamed of guiding the Rogue River Canyon and John Day River over 25 years ago and made it a reality. You are likely to meet him on one of our John Day River smallmouth bass fishing trips, day rafting/fishing trips or in the Fall on a Lower Rogue River Canyon lodge fishing trip. |
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Gary King |
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This will be Garys 10th year as a professional guide with Arrowhead River Adventures. He has been fishing and floating the Rogue River since 1964. He was trained in Lifeguarding and Advanced First Aid at Southern Oregon University. During the Winters he is a Alpine Ski Racing Coach for the Mt. Ashland Racing Association. He also likes to kayak and wind surf. The children love the way he challenges them to strive to be better at everything they pursue. |
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Alan Svitak |
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Alan has been rafting and floating the Rogue since he was knee high to a steelhead. Alan has been with us for over 5 years. Previously he worked for Adventure Center; based in Ashland, Oregon. He has run the mighty Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, the California Salmon, Scott River, Upper and Lower Klamath River and the Rogue River. He is very entertaining and always has a story or anecdote to share. |
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Asa Winant |
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Asa Winant is another of our renaissance men. He is a seasoned veteran of whitewater rafting and fishing trips. You may remember him from Siskiyou Adventures where he shared ownership of the company or Noahs River Adventures where he worked as a guide and general manager. He now works for us on our John Day River smallmouth bass trip where he excels at flyfishing and flyfishing instruction. He is also one of our top Fall Rogue River Canyon guides. He is a very entertaining guide and the guests love him. |
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Matt Shore |
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Matt Shore has been working for our company for close to 10 years as a rafting guide and fishing guide. He has a six year degree in geology and is happy to share his knowledge of the geological rock strata on all trips that he leads. His knowledge of the river is second to none. He has a 'real job' now but uses every opportunity to get back on the water. He has been called the 'Macgyver' of our group of guides. He can fix anything thats broken. |
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| Bonnie Raitt, her husband, some of her writers, her friends Pamela and Bill on one of our Maui kayaking adventures! |
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About are guestsIn this day and age it seems that everyone feels compelled to use superlatives in their advertising; "we are the best", "we were the first", "we are the safest" or "we are #1". We at Arrowhead River Adventures would prefer to let our past guests speak about us: Don: I want to thank you for the wonderful trip on the John Day River July 1-5. You obviously know how to organize and operate such an adventure. Our group felt you left no stone unturned to make things run smoothly. I have never had a trip where all the personnel appeared to be united and worked so hard to attend to our comfort and pleasure. They even appeared to like each other! It will be a pleasure to attend any future adventure that you operate. Sincerely, Tom Raymond, MD Don: On Saturday June 22, 1996, you and your guides assisted Grant Weidenbach, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) river ranger, after his boat flipped in Caldera Rapid. Your professional actions in helping the swimmers to shore and reassuring them, rounding up the raft and righting it, and allowing the schedule of the rest of your trip to be dictated by the needs of Grant and his crew members, is greatl;y appreciated by all of us here at the BLM. That morning at the launch site you agreed to run through the gorge with the BLM boat to provide backup safety, and then you held your trip at the top of Caldera until the BLM patrol trip could catch up to you. By doing so, Arrowhead River Adventures helped to contain and minimize a minor accident that could have potentially become much more serious. Your professionalism and kindness exemplify the best of the skill, comaraderie, teamwork and cooperation associated with whitewater boating on the Upper Klamath. Please forward the BLM's appreciation to your guides Asa and Bob. Thanks again for your help out on the river. Sincerely,A. Barron Bail Area Manager |
Dear Don and Ann: I've been wanting to write and tell you how you had instilled a love of rafting and kayaking in Jordan. He's been asking to take a trip with you all summer. Unfortunately we won't make it this year but today we made it down to the Clackamas for a little day float in our own raft. When we got back we looked at your website and wow! saw Jordy's picture! I can't tell you how happy it made him. He said "wow! I'm famous!" We are continuing to work on our smoked salmon business and all that. I am hoping we can see you in Hawaii one of these next seasons. Have a great summer and thanks again for the great time last year. Angie, Troy, Jordan, Terry, and Joy. Don, Please find enclosed the pictures that I promised you........... We all had a very good time on the fishing trip. The weather and fish really cooperated and your staff went overboard to keep everything going well. The food was great, the equipment super and the guides worked very hard. Most of the crew commented that this was the best trip we have been on yet. That is pretty good, considering that this is about our tenth trip, including trips to Alaska and Brazil. Sincerely, Bill Calvert Don: The three of us, Kurt, Kristi and Dan, would like to thank you for the fun and hospitality you showed us on the rafting trip yesterday. We got to talking about the trip on the way home and all agreed that I couldn't have chosen a better guide. We enjoyed the knowledge of the river and the area that Don displayed, and we enjoyed the food and hospitality of Anne. As a matter of fact we were quite impressed with the amount and variety of food that was prepared, shoot, I was figuring on a prepacked sandwich that might have been good, or might not. In closing I would just like to say you made our trip very enjoyable, and we are going to recommend you to all our friends. The next trip we plan we would like to use you as our guide and we will bring more friends. Once again thank you for the good time. Sincerely, Dan Bellows |
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