River, Store & Reservation

What makes WV different? No one else has such a fantastic staff!

More Staff: Bike Tour Guides, Fly Fishing Guides

Eric Martin (Owner)

Runs the show! He's a former US team kayaker and still loves being on the water. He took the company over from his father about 20 years ago. Having been raised in the whitewater world, running the company is his natural instinct. Backed by a degree in International Recreation Marketing from The University of Maryland, he's always ready to add something new to WV's offerings. If he's not at the store, you'll find him kayaking, fishing, skiing or hanging out in Penny Hot Springs.

Lynne Martin (Owner)

Lynne keeps the accounting running smoothly & helps manage Falls City Pub. She paddled on the junior national team for a stint after years of gymnastics and swimming. She still loves being on the water and skiing in the winter. She also studied at The University of Maryland and has a degree in Archeology. Look around and you'll find her playing with her dog Kona, enjoying Ohiopyle or returning to her Archeological passion and searching for cool rocks.

Kasia Martin (Store Manager)

Traveled through Africa and Asia before finding her way to Ohiopyle. She grew up in Colorado, attended The University of Colorado at Boulder and met Eric along the Arkansas River one fateful FIBArk Festival. She now runs the store, Trillium Lodge, Rapid Java and helps with marketing. She loves to bike - road or mountain, ski ,run and paddle that mighty class III water.

Ben Scoville (Operations Manager & Trip Leader)

Veteran guide Ben has worked at Wilderness Voyageurs since 1998 off and on. He accepted the Operations Manager position in 2003 and has been with us full time ever since. Ben has worked on every river we offer; the Lower Yough, Upper Yough, Cheat, Big Sandy, and Savage Rivers. Ben is an expert kayaker who has taken his skills are around the US. Ben graduated from Frostburg University with a Bachelor Degree in International Studies and a minor in Spanish. His Spanish skills have helped aid him in his love for travel. Ben has traveled to Nicaragua, Ecuador, the Caribbean, Australia, and all over the United States. When Ben is not working or traveling he enjoys kayaking, yoga, teleskiing, and cross country skiing. He is very fluent in current affairs and reads and watches the Daily Show when he gets a chance. Since Ben is the head honcho it is rare to see him on the river. That does not mean he has forgotten how to run one of the most personable trips around.

Scott Downs (Trip Leader)

Our most "senior" guide. For over two decades, he has been guiding people like you safely down all the rivers in the area. Scott is also the head of our guide training program, and has been producing quality whitewater professionals for years. Known for his voice projection and professionalism, Scott Downs is, without a doubt, "The Man". During the season, you're most likely to find him on the Upper Yough. Off the river, he loves his dogs, garden, wife & collecting winter firewood.

Dale Kotowski - aka "the Fly Guy"

With an incredible amount of fly fishing knowledge and passion. He runs the Orvis fly fishing portion of the shop and leads the instruction. He's easily identified around the shop and loves to teach and share fishing stories.

Max (Trip Leader)

Long time Wilderness Voyageurs employee, Max (or "Mizzle") has been with us for 6 seasons. He guides on the Lower Yough, Upper Yough, and Cheat Rivers. He is a long time kayaker who has taken his guiding and kayaking skills as far a Costa Rica. Max hails from Kearny, NJ and graduated from West Virginia University with a Bachelors Degree in History. He enjoys keeping up to date with college and national football and basketball. Other activities are .... well .... really just sports. If you are on a trip that Max leads you can expect the ride back to the outfitter to be filled with country music as his favorite song is “Country Fry”.

Jared Callahan (Trip Leader)

Long time raft guide, Jared or J-rod, has been guiding with Wilderness Voyageurs for three years. He put in guiding time elsewhere for two years making 2010 his 6th year working with whitewater. Jared works on the Lower Yough, Upper Yough, and Cheat rivers as a raft guide or kayaker. Jared grew up 20 minutes away in Connellsville, PA. He enjoys kayaking, skiing, yoga, mountain biking, and any sport that is challenging and exhilarating. You will know he is on your trip when you hear his unique and infectious laughter.

Josh Lawrey (Trip Leader)

Josh is a valuable guide here at Wilderness Voyageurs. He has been guiding the Lower Yough, Upper Yough, and Cheat Rivers for 5 years and is one of our expert kayakers. He has also put in guiding time on the Rio Grande in Texas, various rivers in Maine, and two seasons in Costa Rica on the Pacuare River. Do not make the mistake of thinking he is only at home on the river. He will impress you on a mountain bike and can name ANY bird you see or hear. Josh received his Bachelor and Master degrees in Parks and Recreational Resource Management and Environmental Education at Slippery Rock University. He served as Assistant Director for SRU Outdoor Adventures for two years. Josh loves to help you enjoy the outdoors and will always be there with an encouraging compliment to make your day more enjoyable.

Rich (Trip Leader)

Rich is one of our most senior guides. This year will be his 8th season working for Wilderness Voyageurs. Rich works on the Lower Yough, Upper Yough, Cheat , Casselman, and the Savage Rivers. Rich is an avid low water boater and has also dipped his paddle into the Gauley, Arkansas and Tygart rivers in the US and the Pacuare River in Costa Rica. During the school year you can find Rich teaching the youth of America in Pittsburgh. He received his BS in Education and is certified in Secondary Biology, Earth/Space Science, and General Science. He has taught grades 6-9 for the past 13 years. In his spare time time Rich enjoys mountain biking, road biking, yoga, kayaking, and walking his dogs. He has also taught snowboarding from 1995-2005.

Adam Greenfield (aka Sherpa)

Adam Joseph Greenfield is expectantly awaiting, anticipating his tenth season as a white water rafting guide and every spring is more exciting than the previous. Serious. Still learning, still discovering how water moves one, pushes, pulls and leads, how water calms and excites and decidedly gets the blood flowing, Adam loves all things fluid and dynamic, all things spring summer and fall, kayaking, rafting, shredding and swimming. The golden retriever Bruiser dog concurs, usually, although he may prefer rolling and frolicking in the colorado high country powder for that clean fresh scent.

Ben Taylor (Trip Leader)

Known as "BT" around Ohiopyle, Ben has been guiding for Wilderness Voyageurs since 2005. He is an avid paddler and if there is water, you'll find him kayaking. He might be your guide on the Lower Yough, Cheat River or Upper Yough. This winter he's taken on a home building project and is fine tuning his carpentry skills. Go Ben!

Amanda Love (Trip Leader)

Amanda has been with Wilderness Voyageurs for years. She is a great athlete; you'll find her on the trails, her bikes or in her boat at any time. She teaches in Connelsville and lives locally so she can be out as much as possible. Her fiery personality is always fun to be around and her giggles will make you smile. You'll definitely enjoy your trip if Amanda is your Trip Leader.

Brian T. (Trip Leader)

Coming up on Brian's third season with Wilderness Voyageurs

Andrea Detwiler

Andrea is coming into her 3rd season with Wilderness Voyageurs, working reservations and check in after a season in the store. From yoga nights to loop runs to dancing to live music at the pub, she is enjoying everything Ohiopyle has to offer and lovin' every minute of it. She is working on polishing those kayak skills and loves being the "guest safety boater" on days off. Originally from Rochester, NY, Andrea and her boyfriend Brian T. (also of WV) head out to Steamboat Springs in the winter to work in the ski industry and carve freshies in the deep pow. She also loves reading, cooking, and doing crossword puzzles.

Mark Beerse

Mark grew up kayaking in the flat lands of Southwestern Ohio where he mistook brown, flooded creeks for whitewater. Upon moving to West Virginia to satisfy his interest in the sport (and pursue a degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Resources) he quickly realized he had much to learn about the wonderful world of whitewater. Mark is now going on his third season guiding with Wilderness Voyageurs. When he is not on the river or going to school, Mark enjoys spending his time doing anything in the outdoors.

Colin Frye

Colin is no stranger to the company. This Pennsylvania native has been doing the dirty work around here for years, and now he is finally old enough to guide. This teenage ruffian, lovingly dubbed "Schlep" by his co-workers, joined our already stellar guide staff a few years ago and is now a trip leader! In his free time, Colin enjoys driving his brother's VW Beetle, improving his cooking skills, and cleaning the toilets at the bath house. He's currently studying at Fort Lewis in Durango, Colorado and returns each summer to take you down the river

Zane Reinard

Zane is currently a senior at california univeristy of pa for parks and rec with a minor in hydrogolog. He spends most of his time outdoors, guiding people down the Youghiogheny and teaching people to climb. Growing up in punxsutawney pa ,the the midst of the pa wilderness, he came to love water sports when he used to rent canoes and kayaks on the clarion river. During the winter months yo'll find Zane skiing the east coast slopes from PA to VT. After this summer of raft guiding, he'll be heading to WVU to continue his studies in parks and rec, eventurally interested in becoming a college professor in rehab recreation.

Tiffany

This down home girl is starting her 4th year at Wilderness Voyageurs. Even though she hails from Grafton, WV she is no country bumkin. She guides on the Lower Yough. She has been kayaking for five years and kayaks regularly on the Upper Yough, Cheat, and Big Sandy rivers. Tiffany is currently working on her Bachelors Degree from Fairmont State in Chemistry. When she is not kayaking she enjoys skiing, dancing, and singing karaoke. If she is one of your guides you are sure to be impressed with her kayaking skills and her consistent smile.

Sherry Fox Tayler

Sherry has been with Wilderness Voyageur fo a few years and is now married to Trip Leader Ben Taylor. Congrats you too! During her first year she enjoyed guiding in the Middle Yough and Lower Yough. She also enjoyed guiding the mountain bike and Pittsburgh to Washington D.C. bike tours. During her first year here she learned how to kayak and now kayaks on class four rivers. Sherry received her Bachelors Degree in Aviation (Accident Investigation) from Ohio State University. She enjoys skydiving and has her pilot license. When is comes to sports on land she loves road and mountain biking, hiking, camping, and shredding (which is a form of whitewater rafting). Sherry also enjoys reading and studying Christian Theology.

Elise Birch

Elise is a seventh-grade English teacher in Washington, PA, whose students enjoy her various character voices and accents. She enjoys traveling, snowboarding, and whitewater kayaking and loves to swap stories of adventures abroad and epic outdoor mishaps. Elise met the love of her life while kayaking and now lives 20-minutes from Ohiopyle, the place she grew up admiring.

Ryan

Ryan (Risky) was born of humble beginnings and lived so until he conjured up the idea: “Why not live in a tent and occasionally lead people down whitewater for employment?” So hence, the blessing that befell Wilderness Voyageurs had arrived in the spring of 2009. Now beginning his third year here at WV, not much has really changed about Ryan...at all. When not working in Ohiopyle, you could find him in his constant state of studying and shenanigans at Penn State, where he is working on two degrees in History and Environmental Studies. Hopefully graduating within the near future, he plans to become a teacher, a field researcher, or maybe even an astronaut.

Zach Sipe

Zach is returning for his third season working on the Yough and his second working for Wilderness Voyageurs.   Zach started his whitewater paddling career 5 years ago in the state of Indiana when his college soccer career came to an end.  Being a paddler from the Hoosier state gave a unique opportunity to sample paddling regions around the country.  To date he has visited 18 states and over a hundred rivers.   Moving to PA cut his commute to Ohiopyle from 7.5 hours to 20 minutes and he can be found on the loop after work most days.  As a licensed science and math teacher with life changing passion for whitewater it was natural to combine the two and become a whitewater kayak instructor.  When Zach isn’t helping out on raft trips he is in his boat helping a new paddler master their first peel out or eddy turn.  

Dan Brett

Dan has been raft guiding for Wilderness Voyageurs since 2009. He guides on the Lower Yough. Dan grew up in Johnstown, PA, but has spent a lot of time in the Ohiopyle area since his youth. After graduating from Saint Vincent College with a B.S. in Finance, Dan prolonged his full time job and guided full time for the summer. Dan now works part time on the river in the summer and enjoys hosting spaghetti dinners for his fellow guides at his family’s cabin. In his spare time, you can find Dan skiing at the area resorts or hanging out in the South Side of Pittsburgh.

Danny Siger

Dan Siger studies Geography at the University of Vermont where he spends most of his time doing other things, one of which is running the University's whitewater program. Dan is returning for his third summer as a kayak instructor and raft guide at Wilderness Voyageurs, where long ago he took his very first kayak lesson shortly before swimming his first rapid. Formerly employed teaching wilderness combat and survival to British Special Forces and Israeli Mossad, Dan turned to whitewater raftguiding after becoming disgusted with the "lack of backbone" exhibited by his students. Dan is a professionally certified kayak instructor, swiftwater rescuer, and wilderness first responder. What little time he spends off the water is spent trying as hard as he can to keep his girlfriend happy(see Malina Leslie).

Malina Leslie

Malina came to us in 2009 and has been working in the lovely Wilderness Voyageurs Outfitters Store ever since. She is the audio effects coordinator and in charge of the AACSPP (Artistic And Colorful Signs Production Program) which you'll find traces of throughout the store. She rides a blue bike when snakes are sleeping but mainly stays in the store and giggles. Originally from Vermont she was tricked into coming to Ohiopyle by Danny Siger and couldn't be happier!

Montana Miller

Montana enjoys coffee, peanut butter, 100-mile mountain bike races, and making love in confined spaces. He studies Creative Writing at the University of Pittsburgh because his brain is too addled to focus on a real major. In spite of constantly losing his tools, he's good at rebuilding suspension forks and other complicated bike repairs.

Colleen O'neil

An Ohiopyle native, Colleen knows all the best places to sneak off into the woods. She is currently studying English literature and running cross country at the College of Wooster in Ohio, but she would much rather spend her time living in a tent by the river. She enjoys long runs in the woods, baking cupcakes, falling off her mountain bike, and swimming in the river.

In Memory...

"Carnage" Carl Schneider

We miss you. For those of you who had the pleasure of having Carl as an instructor, TL or Merit Badge leader, you were lucky to know him. He worked for Wilderness Voyageurs since 2007 and was deeply rooted into the WV family. Carl passed away in October 2010 and will be eternally missed. His smile, laugh, and passionate personality will never be forgotten.