Hiring guide trainees and experienced guides. Training world class raft guides since 1978!
Thanks for your interest in working with Echo Canyon! We've been training top notch guides for over 40 years, and we are in search of outstanding individuals for our upcoming season's raft guide training program. No rafting or guiding experience is necessary to train to become a full time guide with us. Experienced guides are also welcome and encouraged to apply to join our team!
We are located in the heart of the scenic Royal Gorge region of Colorado. The area features whitewater rafting on the Arkansas River, the most popular river to raft in the United States! The mountains around us offer fantastic opportunities for hiking, mountain biking, fishing, climbing, photography, and so much more. Come play outside with us!
About Echo Canyon River Expeditions
We are committed to safety, conservation, and providing a fun working environment that will provide you with skills you can utilize long after your employment with us. Echo strives to exceed each guest’s expectations and provide a truly memorable rafting experience for them, and you will play a key role in that mission. We place an emphasis on guiding skills as well as general knowledge of the Arkansas River including local history, geology, plants, and animals.
Your training at Echo Canyon will be comprehensive, to say the least. We exceed the state minimum requirements by quite a stretch, and we train more extensively than any other raft company in the state of Colorado. This extensive training lasts about 4 weeks. Our training is physically and mentally demanding which will require an unfaltering commitment from you. You will be training and guiding on various sections of the Arkansas River, located about an hour southwest of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Our 2024 Guide Training begins on May 20th.
River rescue skills are taught throughout the course. Scenarios like the cross-river zip line are a favorite of trainees. We included a photo in the slideshow, be sure to check it out!
The Employee Experience
Guide Trainees become a tight-knit group of friends who motivate and support each other throughout the program. Check out our videos links! Meet some of our staff and get a feel for what it’s like to live and work at Echo.
Experienced guides coming to Echo get to both work and play with a community of like-minded individuals. Staff are encouraged to use company equipment during downtime, often getting together to boat the Royal Gorge after work or run other rivers. For those that enjoy climbing and mountain biking, Canon City offers nearby climbing and over 50 miles of hiking and mountain biking trails. Don't forget to bring your dutch oven so you can throw down for family dinners! We love to celebrate just about anything, check out the photo of us sporting our 4th of July flare in the slideshow!
Ideal Candidate
For starters you need to be fun loving, hard working, and a team player! Being a people person that enjoys sharing your love of the outdoors and connecting with our guests is a must for this job. Working outside on the river everyday is an amazing experience but it does come with some challenges. River guides need to be physically fit and mentally prepared to meet those challenges on a daily basis.
Room and Board
Camping is available at no charge while you are training with Echo Canyon. Once hired as a full-time member of the staff, you are welcome to continue camping at our on-site employee camping area at a cost of $350 per summer, plus a $50 camp deposit. We have employee bathrooms and showers which are included in the cost of camping with us. A docking station is available to charge up all of your electronic gadgets and our guide staff have access to boosted wireless internet.
Echo also has an on-site restaurant for meals, or you can stock up on food in town. In general, food is not provided during training or employment with exceptions being times that you work full day or multi-day trips. Some staff members prefer to rent rooms or apartments in Canon City, about 8 miles away.
Although all of us at Echo love dogs, we do not allow them to live on-site due to a variety of factors – you will need to find other lodging if you must bring your dog to the area.
Employee Perks
Besides all of the after-hours rafting you can fit in with the free use of our rafting equipment, Echo Canyon River Expeditions is centrally located in one of the most beautiful alpine desert regions of Colorado. Whether you have experience our would like to learn many of our staff enjoy kayaking, fishing, mountain biking, hiking, rock climbing, and bouldering right here in Fremont county.
Our staff gets freebies and discounts at a number of activities and attractions in the Pikes Peak region. You will get comp trips to take your family and friends rafting with you for free. In addition, we know you won't be a raft guide forever so we encourage you to save for your future with our opt-in employer-matching simple IRA and of course, you get employee discounts on property!
For Fun
As an employee of Echo Canyon, you also have opportunities to take part in activities with our vendor partners for free or minimal fees – activities include zip line tours, Royal Gorge Bridge and Park, Royal Gorge Route Railroad, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, biking down Pikes Peak, and so much more.
Our guides have access to top-notch equipment that they can borrow to private boat on days off and to run trips together. Additionally, we fully support our staff being active in the local boating community. Echo sponsors our guides to compete in local whitewater festival races and surf competitions. In 2021 and 2022 our guides paddled their hearts out to win both first and second place in the Royal Gorge Raft Race!
We work hard and play just as hard. When we aren't working you will find us rafting, kayaking, surfing the play park, mountain biking, climbing, dressing up for raft guide prom, or preparing food for family dinners! All in all, we make the most of every minute of our time together each summer.
How to Apply
Please complete our online application, and submit your resume, and we’ll contact you for a short phone interview. Realize that we want you to be successful in the training program, but an invitation to join the program does not necessarily guarantee employment. The hiring of trainees from the training class will be based on training performance and growth, ability to perform essential job skills, work ethic, and ability to work in a team setting. We give you every opportunity to be the best you can and we hope that everyone we train will become a member of our team.
Contact Info
- Jessica Smith
- jessica@raftecho.com
- (719) 275-3154
- www.raftecho.com
