Continuing the vein of “big lists” this post is a list of whitewater forums and online communities. We’ve broken out the communities by the following:
- Active, non-region specific
- Active, region specific **There are tons of Facebook groups that fit this category, please help us keep this list up to date and comment with what we are missing**
- No longer active
Non-region specific active communities
Whitewater focused forums that are active and not tied to a specific river or region.
- Mountain Buzz. Probably the most active forum outside of region-specific Facebook groups. Posters refer to themselves as “Buzzards”. Primarily rafters, but plenty of kayakers too.
- /r/whitewater. There’s a subreddit for everything, including rafting and kayaking. Mostly kayaking in this subreddit.
Region or river specific online communities
There are lots of groups that are dedicated to a single river or area. Most are found on Facebook. Once this list gets long, we’ll break them out by state. Please help us keep this list up to date: We are missing tons of Facebook groups in this list, please comment and we’ll add them.
- Central California Whitewater.
- Colorado River Basin Boaters. “This is a group for all the interconnected Rivers of the Green and Colorado River Basins. From Wyoming to Mexico, mountain tops to the Ocean”
- Grand Canyon Private Boaters. “This Facebook page was set up to exchange information re river-related topics.”
- Idaho Whitewater. The name says it all.
- Kern River Boaters. “Kern River Boaters is a non-governmental organization that advocates for the interests of recreational whitewater boaters in the Kern River drainage.”
- MF/MAIN Salmon, Hells Canyon, and Selway River Trip Information. “Welcome to the four Idaho rivers, the Middle Fork of the Salmon, Main Salmon, Hells Canyon, and the Selway River discussion Group!”
- New York Whitewater Paddlers. “New York’s Whitewater Community homepage: Plan trips, share events, buy /sell gear or just meet up with other people to paddle with.”
- San Juan River Rats. “San Juan River Rats is a page to share information about river trips- photos, water levels, beach conditions, camping spots, great river recipes and other ideas for future trips”
- Western USA Family Rafting Trips and Planning. “This group is intended for rafters with families interested in planning trips with other families for Rafting on Western USA rivers, anything from day trips to multi day. Coordinate permits, invite families to join on your permit, share trip reports.”
- Where’s the Whitewater at? Primarily New England based.
No longer active
These are the communities that were once huge and are no longer online
- Boater Talk. This was a big one back in the day. From their homepage: “Thank you for being a part of the BoaterTalk community. I deeply appreciate you and I am honored that you enjoyed the site.”
- Professor Paddle. Not dead but not that active either.
Help us out! We are missing tons of Facebook groups in the region-specific section, please comment and we’ll add them in.