Whitewater Rafting
Tours in Idaho.

Cascade Raft & Kayak has been guiding whitewater rafting and kayak instruction on Idaho's North Fork Payette River since 1990, offering everything from beginner-friendly Class III floats to adrenaline-charged Class V expert runs on one of the most technically demanding commercially guided rivers in the country. The North Fork Payette near Banks, Idaho is a benchmark whitewater river among paddlers worldwide — the spring and summer flows through Cabarton, Swirly Canyon, and the infamous Jacob's Ladder stretch have launched careers and provided the training ground for some of America's top competitive kayakers. Multi-day kayak instruction courses give beginners and intermediate paddlers a structured path to river competency, while guided raft trips on the mellower upper sections make the river accessible to families and first-timers. The confluence town of Banks sits at roughly 3,000 feet elevation in the Payette River canyon, a climate zone that extends the rafting season from April through September when rivers at higher elevation have already dropped. All guides hold Wilderness First Responder certification and swift water rescue training, and the outfitter maintains a modern fleet of self-bailing rafts and safety kayaks.

Middle Fork River Expeditions guides multi-day raft expeditions on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River — the legendary 'River of No Return' — through 100 miles of pristine wilderness canyon that ranks among the finest wilderness river journeys in the world. The Middle Fork drops nearly 3,000 feet from its headwaters near the Sawtooth Valley to its confluence with the main Salmon, passing through the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness — at 2.3 million acres the largest designated wilderness area in the lower 48 states. The river combines over 100 named rapids ranging from Class II to Class V with long stretches of calm water that allow guests to swim in crystalline tributary creeks, fish for native westslope cutthroat trout, and camp on sandy beaches surrounded by canyon walls and old-growth Ponderosa pine. Wildlife sightings on a typical 6-day trip include black bear, mountain goat, bighorn sheep, osprey, river otter, and abundant deer and elk, as the wilderness corridor provides critical habitat for species long since displaced from more accessible river valleys. All meals and full camp equipment are provided, and gear is transported by the raft fleet so guests travel light between camps.