River Guides that Make The Difference
Take Me to Ouzel Guide Biographies
A Committment to Customer Service
The Ouzel Difference begins with our river rafting office staff. From your first call, you'll find us friendly and eager to help you find the perfect trip and answer all your questions. We'll even answer the questions you forgot to ask! On the river, our guides know that the Ouzel standard is higher than elsewhere and they go out of their way to exceed every guest's expectations. Each member of our team is proud of our reputation for running high-quality trips, and each of us is dedicated to the proposition that this is YOUR trip.
Guides Make all the Difference
Our guides are highly skilled at maneuvering all types of rafts down rivers, leading hikes to historic sites, preparing fabulous meals and at handling all the physical details that go into a trip. What makes them true professionals, however, is their committment to the care of every guest. They realize that each person joins a river trip for different reasons and they work hard to match each person's expectations with the actual experience. They provide an educational setting for the inquisitive, fun activities for kids of all ages, challenges for the adventurous, and a peaceful and easy pace for those who just want to relax. Ouzel guides never "abandon" their guests. You will always find your guides present, approachable and helpful.
Ouzel requires and provides a higher level of training than is generally found at most rafting companies. Regardless of experience, every Ouzel guide is required to train and retrain each year in river rescue, risk management and customer service skills. We require Wilderness First Aid and CPR for new guides and Wilderness First Responder or EMT training for our trip leaders and senior guides. They are eager to share their knowledge, experiences and enjoyment of life in the outdoors. They come from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences, and possess a wide range of personalities, but all are friendly and open, obviously enthusiastic about their jobs and humble about their skills.
We are fortunate at Ouzel to have a very low turnover rate among our guide staff. This allows us to focus our yearly trainings to increase professionalism, interpretive knowledge and teamwork. As a result, our guides are a finely tuned team of professionals who know our rivers and guests well.
Click HERE to meet some of our guides.
