Nicole Smedegaard

Hi my name is Nicole and I have a whitewater boating problem. Rivers are the most amazing dynamic environments I’ve come across in my life, a way to see new landscapes and transect steep canyons. Whitewater is charged with excitement, forcing me to be present as the cold waves duck and weave over and around my boat. I live in a river town, Rogue River, where I have nearby access to world class solitude in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. The Klamath mountain bioregion is a playground of endemic species, where I can plant-nerd out on wildflowers in the spring. The trials are tough. The region’s serpentine soils create moonscapes of rock sculpted by wildfire, but if you look closely water seeps from fens and fissures into rivulets that work their way down and through, to end up in the main stems where I guide in the sunny months. The lower Rogue is my summer home, sleeping on the rafts and helping the commercial guests make that connection with nature that I feel so lucky to have. In the off season, I’ve started a small business teaching others to navigate whitewater themselves. Nature Nicole Whitewater LLC is based on the Rogue, Illinois and Smith River drainages and offers American Canoe Association certified instruction in Swiftwater Rescue and Rafting. 

 

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