Meet Our Guides
We know the only reason we’re providing great river adventures is that of the skills and efforts of our river guides. We believe they’re setting the standard for professionalism and fun in our industry. While they all have different backgrounds, our guides share a respect for the river, a concern for your safety and enjoyment, and a span of river skills and experience. The guides we’ve worked with over the years have all left their mark at MRG by making us a better company. GUIDES VIDEO CLIPS FROM THE MRG ARCHIVES
Caleb is a lead raft guide, riverboard guide and swiftwater rescue instructor. A Florida waterman, Caleb loves the river enough to guide trips all day and then go paddling until dark. He developed his whitewater chops attending school and guiding in Colorado. Now a devoted local paddler, Caleb has a comprehensive set of river skills to go with his friendly professional demeanor.
Everett has been running the rivers with MRG his whole life. Born in Missoula and a graduate of Loyola, the Big E attended Carroll College on a hoops scholarship. During the summers he guided raft trips, helped run safety and riverboard and stand up paddleboard trips. Smart, funny and easygoing, Ev grew up spending summers around MRG’s guides, running the Missoula area rivers. Ev moved to North Carolina to raise money for progressive non-profit groups for a couple years before moving back to Montana to work on Kathleen Williams bid for Montana’s lone congressional seat. He recently settled in Missoula with the amazing Chelsea Chandler and has been focused on keeping MRG running smoothly. Everett and Chelsea welcomed little Lou into the family last season. Lou loves to ride in the bus.
Tyler, AKA Deep Blue, is a native Montanan with a deep love and appreciation for his homeland and it’s whitewater. We met Tyler when he was still in high school and he took one of our Swiftwater rescue classes. We liked Tyler immediately and noted his relentless positive attitude and enthusiasm. Now an experienced whitewater trip leader with plans to run his own raft company one day, Tyler is attending Ft Lewis College in Durango, guiding on the Animas and also guiding for MRG in the summers. We is always the first one up at the ranch, setting an example for the other guides. He also helps improve our operation with suggestions on improving guide training, risk management and hiring.
Perhaps the finest pure athlete and legal mind ever to paddle for MRG in the early days, Trent Baker was a great guide for MRG and continues to be a great friend and advisor. He holds the company record for gracing the MRG Yellow pages photo (our equivalent of the sports illustrated swimsuit cover). His first official training trip ever –he was 45 minutes late to help pack–despite this, he got Johnston to not only like him but convinced him he was reliable–no wonder he’s such a good attorney. As it turns out MRG still relies on Trent, not only for our occasional texas hold’em sessions, or for dawn patrol invitations to Triple Bridges, …we rely on Trent for his advice on all matters, whitewater and legal. More importantly, Trent uses his considerable talent as a boater and attorney to do great things for Montana trails and rivers. He was President of the Missoula whitewater Association and spearheaded the effort to build Brennan’s Wave, arguably the best man-made surf wave in the world.
A former backcountry ranger in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, Mike is a longtime guide who created Montana River Guides in 1994. An EMT and river rescue instructor, Mike has served on the local search and rescue team, the local whitewater association board, local bike path and historic park steering committees, the convention and visitors bureau, and chaired the local school board. For many years Mike was the only swiftwater rescue instructor in Montana. In 2008, Mike co-founded the 
If you’ve ever booked a trip with us chances are you’ve talked with Bernice, our boss and reservations manager. B grew up in Hawaii surfing the south shore of Oahu never knowing one day she would end up owning a rafting company and surfing river waves in Montana. Bernice manages the MRG office and reservations during the season where her bbq’s and homemade brownies are legendary. Bernice volunteered for 10 years at the Missoula YWCA as a facilitator for women’s programs and has a Masters in Counseling from the University of Montana. A fierce protector of MRG’s standards, Bernice is tenacious about making sure that after she has promised people a great trip on the phone–that our guides follow through and take care of our guests and give them the best day possible on the river. In her spare time, Bernice keeps an eye on her five river kids.
