Whitewater Rafting in West Virginia

Gauley River raftingWhitewater rafting in West Virginia is famous for amazing water, mild trips to extreme trips, picturesque scenery, and tons of fun. The cool thing about a whitewater rafting vacation is that there really is something for everyone. Check out our river trips and see what works best for you.

 

Upper New River Rafting
Upper New River rafting trips are for first-timers, young families, and zen floaters. This easy float trip has great scenery and fun, splashy waves. Upper New River Rafting is the perfect introduction to West Virginia whitewater rafting.


Lower New River Rafting
The Lower New River Gorge rafting trips are for ages 12+ and ramp up the excitement with moderate waves, exciting rapids, and a steep lower gorge canyon. Spring is high water adventure, summer and fall take it down a notch.

Lower Gauley River Rafting: 
Oh this beautiful, intense river! The Lower Gauley River lives in the shadow of its intense big brother the Upper, but this river stands on its own as having everything a great rafting trip wants: breathtaking scenery, intense Class IV-V rapids, pools between rapids to catch your breath. This would be the eastern trophy trip if the Upper didn't exist. It's a "must do" river trip if you want to do the Upper Gauley River but have little experience in big white water.

Upper Gauley River Rafting:
The Upper Gauley River is the trophy day trip of commercial white water rafting. Huge, gnarly, challenging, breathtaking. Not for the timid or inexperienced. Class V rapids stacked one after the other with little or no time to recover.
If you're at all unsure, do the Lower New River and then the Lower Gauley River, in that order. Your mom will be grateful. (So will your raft mates.)


 

 

Know Just What Rafting Trip You Want? Start Here:

 

Confused By All These River Trip Choices?  Start Here:

When you know what you want in your river trip, you can go straight to your relevant right trip choices. Here's how:

  1. Scan our complete rafting trip list at the far right of this page. Remember, you can upgrade to Team Extreme action or Oars on the Gorge maximum love on any trip.
  2. Or, click on your preferred river section: Upper New, Lower New River Gorge, Lower Gauley, or Upper Gauley, and the choose a specific trip from there.
  3. Don't forget to check out our combo rafting trips that include 2-3 river sections, our River Camping trips, and our new Wilderness trips.
  4. Want a convenient vacation package with rafting, lodging, and meals included? Visit our Rafting Vacation Packages.
  5. Book it online or via phone!

 

The ages of your group members and your desired intensity level are the best places to start to narrow down your trip choices.

  1. Ages in Your Group: Our rivers have strict age requirements.
  2. Level of Intensity: This is determined by two factors, the season and the river difficulty. Our trips clearly identify both. In general, spring means higher water and greater intensity.
  3. Desired Vacation Experience: What will "float your boat" on your vacation? For example, half day rollercoaster rapids, two day strenuous & exhilarating action, or multi-day zen river camping trip? Match your trip to your goals.
  4. Newbie Tip: Each river gets progressively more difficult- from Upper New to Lower New to Lower Gauley to Upper Gauley.
  5. Learn more about How to Choose Your White Water Rafting Trip.