Whitewater Rafting
Tours in New York.

Hudson River Rafting Company runs the Hudson River Gorge and the Indian River below Lake Abanakee dam from a base in North Creek, deep in the southeastern Adirondacks. The trip begins with a scheduled dam release on the Indian, which feeds the Hudson and creates 16 miles of class III-IV whitewater through a remote, roadless gorge — the most iconic guided whitewater run in the Northeast. Spring snowmelt produces the biggest water, with rapids like Cedar Ledges, Givney's Rift, and the Black Hole running near class IV. Late summer trips on dam-release days extend the season into September. Guides are state-licensed and the operation has been a fixture of the gorge run since rafting commercialized on the Hudson in the late 1970s.

St. Regis Canoe Outfitters has guided paddlers through the St. Regis Canoe Area since the 1980s, operating from Saranac Lake on the edge of New York's 6-million-acre Adirondack Park. The 18,400-acre St. Regis Canoe Area is the only motorless, canoe-only wilderness east of the Mississippi, with 58 ponds and lakes connected by short carry trails between drainages. Guided trips range from half-day instructional outings on Lower Saranac Lake to multi-day traverses linking the Saranac, St. Regis, and Raquette river systems. The outfitter rents Kevlar and wood-canvas canoes, sea kayaks, and full expedition kits, and runs shuttle service across the Tri-Lakes region. Trips are designed around the boreal lake ecology, loon and osprey populations, and the historic Adirondack Great Camps.