Meet Our Guides
We know the only reason we’re providing great river adventures is that of the skills and efforts of our 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, an overriding concern for your safety and enjoyment, and an incredible array of river skills and experience. We feel lucky to work with them closely and our lives are better for it. 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
We have always had such a great team at Montana River Guides. In 2018 the guides not only upheld our company tradition of running great river trips for our guests, but they increased the bar for next season. Thanks to all of our guides for doing such a great job and caring so much about giving our guests the best trip possible. Thanks to Ellie Turner, Sam Kinney, Willie Connell, Maelan Arciello, Jerrod Sellers, Cory Davis, Leon Beltran Laborde, Sam Johnston, Katie Matthews, Sami Stasi, Stellan Bechtold, Russell Gilbertson and Kaito Roemer. A lot of raw river talent here, perhaps more than we’ve experienced in 25 years at MRG.
Ev has been running the rivers with us for years and finally attended guide school, got his SRT and Wilderness First Aid and jumped through the hoops to get checked off to guide. Born in Missoula and a graduate of Loyola, the Big E attended Carroll College on a hoops scholarship. During the summer 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.
Born and raised on Montana rivers, Stellan is our youngest staff physicist and, in his first season of full time guiding, our primary safety talk specialist. Stellan spent as much time logging preseason training trips as humanly possible last year before moving into a full time guide slot. He attends Brown University, is a wicked good hockey player and broke the ranch dining room table in a fairly competetive round of spoons. Stellan helped out regularly with Riverboard trips, rescue classes and safety boating. He also patiently tutored some of the rest of us in basic math and science.
After a stint guiding in California and South America Martin returned to run the rafting operation at MRG …and we’re glad to have him back home. Martin graduated from Sentinal High School in Missoula and parlayed his top-notch swimming and river skills and Montana charm into a job with us as a river guide. Martin has all the makings of a workaholic who keeps it fun. He’s an EMT and hardcore creek boater. On top of everything, he’s a Marine so he has our fear and respect dammit! I Martin is now a Swiftwater Rescue Instructor and Spill Response Ops Manager at the Whitewater Rescue Institute.
After a fifteen year hiatus as an economist and working in outdoor retail, William returned to MRG in 2018 to help out with our swift water rescue classes and as a trip leader for some high water rafting trips. It was great for MRG to get Willi back on the team for a good part of the 2018 season. He brought a ton of river experience and leadership to the staff. He also regularly led the charge to get guides out on the river
Born in Missoula, Montana and a graduate of Florence High School, Jo has been running the Alberton Gorge and Blackfoot River since she was three. Jo leads riverboard trips and is a third-year raft guide. She also runs safety on most of our high water trips. Jo attended Willamette University where she majored in environmental science and played volleyball, rugby, and basketball. She once shaved her head for her Mom and she gives her brothers no mercy. Jo coordinated the MRG end of the Extremesports4vets riverboarding program for a few years and has been lucky to run the river regularly with a bunch of bonified American heroes. She’s now working at KAVU and helping out on trips whenever she’s back home.
With years of whitewater paddling and guiding under her belt, “Rosie” runs great trips and tight ships. An EMT and swift water rescue assistant instructor for the Whitewater Rescue Institute, Rosalynn is a bonified registered nurse. While her husband Martin runs the show at MRG she runs him and keeps us all organized and having fun. Rosie lead guides or runs safety on many of our high water trips, runs our youth camps and guide schools. Rosie is a true river pro and we are lucky to have her keep an eye on all of us. We love it when Rosie shows up on busy days and makes sure we are running a tight ship.
We’ve known Cory for quite awhile through our rescue training. We knew he could hold his breath for at least 30 seconds based on a high water swim out of a ducky at Pinball on the Middle Fork. Cory ran another raft company for many years before moving to MRG to help direct rafting operations and work at the Whitewater Rescue Institute. Cory knows rafting and rivers inside and out and is a great teacher for our guide schools, swift water classes, and professional guide training program. MRG is lucky to have someone with Cory’s knowledge and river experience. In the winter you’ll find him taking care of everything up at Blacktail Mountain.
With a midwestern appreciation for the mountains, Tom arrived at MRG with a love for our rivers and an eye for the beauty all around us. He’s a renaissance outdoor man. Thoughtful, artistic and considerate, not your typical guide. When he’s in town Tom guides many of our kayak trips and provides an experienced hand with the rafting as well. Tom studied film & media at the University of Montana and recently formed his own media company, 
Maddie was arguably the best first-year raft guide we’ve ever seen. She grew up near Kalispell, Montana running the Middle Fork of the Flathead with her Dad. This may account to her apparent imperviousness to cold water. Maddie ran track and played soccer at the University of Montana. She apparently majored in Kicking Ass because that is what she did at MRG in 2014. She’s tough, smart, funny and hard working and fit right in as a full-time guide right off the bat. After completing guide school and Swiftwater Rescue Training Maddie helped out with our swift water classes on the Gallatin, Yellowstone, and Flathead rivers last year. She’s an EMT, Swiftwater Rescue Tech and patrolling powder somewhere in Utah in the offseason.
Our very own Sasquatch. Registering at 6’10”, Quinn is a tall drink of Chewbacca. A graduate of Florence High School in the Bitterroot Valley, Quinn is attending Western Montana University on a basketball scholarship. Perhaps Quinn’s finest moment at MRG was last summer when he went toe to hoof with a large cow (with large horns) at the Mineral County Fair. When we saw him remain enthusiastic after nearly being killed, well we knew he was a true raft guide with a big dose of cowboy.
Russell G, AKA the Golden Eagle, AKA Lil’ Biscuit, grew up rafting the best rivers in Oregon with his family. After guiding for a bit over there Russell brought his formidable river skills to Montana and improved our operation at MRG. We like Russ because he walks the razor’s edge along the path of the hero, balancing carefully between Captain Jack’s intensity and his bosses general confusion. Always the optomist, Russ loves running the river with our guests and always has a good word for his fellow guides. As you can see he is comfortable with the oars. Russ is an EMT, pro Patroller at Sno Bowl and works at the local hospital while attending the University of Montana.
Talent, looks, athleticism, a brilliant mind–Matt has none of these but damn he is good. I hate saying this–he may be the best ever! A University of Montana graduate, Matt earned his reputation during his first season by rowing more high water Gorge training and safety boat trips in one season than anyone we know of in the past 10 years. Matt put that high water experience to good use and started guiding full time for MRG in 2008. A quiet leader with a forceful intellect, Matt was on the river every day living and working hard for MRG out of the Alberton Gorge Ranch. He is still well liked despite the fact that we are unable to tell whether he is making fun of us or not. We suspect he is a former Appalachian porn star, but have no evidence of this other than his demeanor. Utterly reliable and friendly, Matt followed the path of MRG Guide to Wilderness EMT instructor, to all around river sensei and is now a full-time Paramedic in Northern California.
Local boy, track legend, coach, teacher and mentor to everyone at MRG, Captain Jack runs a tight ship. If we don’t put the gear away right –all it takes is the Blue Steele Clint Eastwood stare from Jack and we start guessing what needs to be done better. Along with Drummond, he created some guiding principles for the core guides at MRG. Jack sets the tone for professionalism at our company and has high expectations that we strive to meet. He’ll work all day and go run the gorge after work. On a rare day off he’ll be paddling some other river. Now working as a science teacher in Idaho, Jack is coming back to keep guiding MRG in the right direction.
Born and raised on the rivers of Missoula, Montana Paul was always in the right place at the right time his first summer at MRG. After completing our guide school, he ended up guiding full time for us because he was always ready, ran shuttles (literally “ran” them) and outworked just about everybody. It didn’t hurt that he’s smart, funny and has a lifetime of river experience and passion for river running and fishing under his belt. The main thing wrong with Paul is that there are no flaws(other than obsessive flyfishing) we can find–as a human being he sets the standard for us all–so we need to give him as much grief as possible. Now a lead Guide, EMT, and a Rescue Tech and Instructor at the Whitewater Rescue Institute. Paul’s attending Montana State where he’s studying engineering.
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.
Photographer, kayaker, teacher and longtime guide and friend, Brittany created and ran PHOTO RAPIDO, the whitewater photography operation at the Alberton Gorge. She did a little bit of everything at MRG, helping us out in more ways than we can list here. She was the daily mission leader for the guides–always getting a group of guides together to go paddling before, during or after work. 
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 certified swift water 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.
