"The Splash" The Main Payette :
Meet us at the Cascade Raft River Center to begin your trip on the Main Payette. After checking in, we will take a quick drive upstream to our put-in location at Banks, Idaho, the confluence of the North and South Forks of the Payette. Your guide staff will equip everyone with lifejackets, paddles, and safety information before you start the 8-mile trip back to our river center.

Rapids you will encounter include GLOYF (Go Left or you're Fired named by Cascade's own Kenneth Long), Bennett's Rock, Mike's Hole, Chief Parish, Mixmaster, and AMF. These rapids are rated class III--big, playful waves, but little maneuvering required. Expect to get wet, but the relatively warm water of the Main Payette makes this experience an enjoyable respite from the summer heat. Between rapids there are opportunities to swim, splash, or relax on the raft.

Approximately two and one-half to three hours after you depart, you will return to the Cascade Raft River Center where you will find changing rooms, our gift shop and cafe, and photos from your trip ready for viewing.

Children as young as 4 years old are welcome to join trips on the "Mighty Main". We recommend that they be comfortable wtth the water--swimming skills are not necessary.

"The Escape" North Fork Cabarton :
The full-day North Fork Cabarton raft trip departs from the Cascade Raft River Center at 9:15 AM. Guests coming from the McCall or Cascade area can make arrangements with the reservations staff to meet the trip at Cougar Mountain Lodge in Smith's Ferry. After collecting all participants, we will continue North to our put-in at Cabarton Bridge, about 8 miles downstream from the town of Cascade, Idaho. Your guide staff will equip everyone with lifejackets, paddles, and safety information before you start the 11-mile trip to Smith's Ferry.

Enjoy the warm water and gorgeous scenery of the North Fork of the Payette as it winds through remote and forested canyons. Among the times of swimming and relaxation, you will encounter friendly class III rapids such as Trestle, Francois, and Howard's Plunge. Midway through the trip, we will stop on a sandy riverside beach for lunch. Your guides will serve up the fixings for deli-style sandwiches that you can create to your liking as well as train wreck (salsa and cream cheese with crackers), fresh fruit, pasta salad, cookies, and soft drinks.

After refueling, we continue downstream, under the scenic Rainbow Bridge, and through the last big splashes of the day. The Cougar Mountain Lodge in Smith's Ferry is our take-out point. There you will hop in our shuttle vehicle for the return trip to the Cascade Raft River Center where you will find changing rooms, our gift shop and cafe, and photos from your trip ready for viewing. Though the length of the trip fluctuates with the water levels, you can expect to return to our river center at approximately 4:00 PM.

Children as young as 4 years old are welcome to join trips on the Cabarton. We recommend that they be comfortable wtth the water--swimming skills are not necessary.