Now Hiring New & Experienced River Guides - NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED!

Join the Royal Gorge Rafting & Zip Line Tours team!

Royal Gorge Rafting is now accepting applications for Whitewater Raft Guides for the 2026 season and beyond. Inexperienced Guide Training begins from May 21st and runs for three weeks+

Prior experience is not required. But the love of working outdoors, embracing challenges, entertaining, educating, guiding, and genuinely connecting with guests is a must! Royal Gorge Rafting & Zip Line Tours is the top-rated and largest outdoor adventure destination in Colorado. With over 26,000 participants on average per summer, we employ a team of professional river guides, support photo kayakers, zip line guides, customer service reps, and many more positions. 

Apply or learn more at https://royalgorgerafting.net/careers/

Opportunity

Being a river guide has many perks aside from unlimited whitewater opportunities. You will have the chance to learn to kayak, access world-class mountain biking and hiking, fishing, and much, much more in our region.

Royal Gorge Rafting is Colorado's top-rated Company on the Arkansas River in the Royal Gorge region.  Join our team of fun, laid-back, and professional river guides and kayakers.

Criteria

To become a River Guide at Royal Gorge Rafting, you will need to go through or meet the following requirements:

• Applicants must be over 18 years of age.

• You will need to maintain a high level of fitness to work outdoors in diverse weather and challenging scenarios. 

• Possess current First Aid and CPR certifications. We always encourage our guide staff to seek higher levels of training, such as OEC WFA or WFR & SRT

• Commit to a full season of work, which includes weekends and holidays. (Memorial Day Weekend thru Labor Day Weekend - exceptions are made for students) 

• You will be expected to assist our team in maintaining the highest quality and cleanliness of our base location, beaches, associated gear, and vehicles.

• You must adhere to Royal Gorge Rafting's guidelines and treat colleagues and guests with the highest level of respect. 

Expectations

The guides we seek possess outstanding people skills, a good sense of humor, and the ability to read social cues and adapt to your guests' interests. You will need to connect easily with a wide range of personalities and genuinely appreciate people for who they are.

You will need to anticipate, troubleshoot, and solve challenging problems when and if they arise. You will be expected to stay energized and positive while delivering exceptional customer service. You must be resilient, fun, and lively, and embrace adventure! You must be a flexible team player with sustained energy and motivation even when days grow long.

You will need to embrace the lifestyle of a river guide, with its challenges, but it is highly rewarding if you take full advantage of what it offers. We are looking for applicants who are passionate about and respectful of the outdoors and who value meaningful relationships with colleagues and managers. They should approach their work professionally, whether the task is big or small. (If you don't think you fit the description, honestly consider whether a job with Royal Gorge Rafting is right for you.)

Pay

Guide pay is per-trip at a salaried rate of $60-$80 per trip (starting), with the potential to run two trips per day during our busiest season. 

About Us

We are the top-rated choice for rafting on the Arkansas River in Colorado. Our community is diverse; we employ a large, cohesive team of river guides, zip line guides, customer service representatives, CDL bus drivers, photographers, and more. We maintain a genuine, tight-knit professional crew that is a family of guides and, 99.425% of the time, lifelong friends. We operate our rafting operations on 2 sections of river, 2 Zipline tours, 4 luxury vacation rentals, 15 riverside yurts, 4 airstream rentals, and the White Water Bar & Grill out of our two base locations.

We look forward to your inquiry with Royal Gorge Rafting, Zip Line Tours, Vacation Rentals & the White Water Bar & Grill. "One Location - 100% Fun!"

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