Turtle Guides

We spend our winters as students, writers, musicians, and . . . travelers. Each summer, we return to the mountains of northern California to share our passion for rivers. Professionally trained in wilderness medicine and river safety, we also know the best camps and swimming holes — and can bake an incredible dutch-oven gingerbread cake.

Kelsey Demarest
Plagued from birth with adventurous parents, Kelsey did her first river trip at 7 months old. She guided her first raft at 8 and became a professional guide at 18. Now a “Turtle Elder”, she leads trips on the Klamath and Trinity and paddles lead on the Cal Salmon. Majoring in Theater Arts in the off season, she’ll keep you entertained with a wealth of poetry and stories — some of them even true.

Ken Nelson
It’s a rarity in the world of river guides to find any constant. We tend to be wanderers — but Ken is an “original” Turtle guide, going back to the very beginning over 30 years ago.

Besides being one of the best Class 5 guides in the north state, he is also a multi-talented musician — vocal, keyboard, percussion, guitar, and flute.

Kevin Tulley
Self-reflective and totally bamboozled by this incredibly mysterious and beautiful existence. Meditator, musician, teacher of children with learning disabilities — a lover of wilderness, kites, solar panels, tea, & books. His hope is to one day be doing pretty much the same thing he is now.

Ben Gardner
A “native”, Ben was born and raised in Mount Shasta. Growing up in the mountains of northern California, he was exposed to an outdoor lifestyle at an early age and became a river guide in 1994. He regards the river is the ultimate metaphor for life.