Meet the guides

OAR is nothing without our guides. Their experience, professionalism, and love for the Ocoee drives our company and, more importantly, your experience on the river.

Get the inside scoop on our current guides below! OAR has a big, diverse team, from freshly trained guides to knowledgeable veterans. Looking for a certain experience? You can request a guide on reservation! Just give us a call.

Jon Hall

_____________

WFR / SWR

Certified

_____________

Hometown

Hockessin, DL

_____________

What should customers expect in your boat?

If you’ve rafted before, expect to do a bunch of stuff you didn’t do the last time. If you haven’t rafted before, expect to do more than you think you’re capable of. I believe every group of customers is unique, so I use my skills to tailor each trip to be as unique as they are. No two trips are exactly the same.

One of the most common questions I’m asked is “Will I fall out of the boat?” Ninety-five percent of the time, the best answer to that is through a question in return. “Do you want to?”

Education and Certifications

– Graduated Summa Cum Laude from Lee University, Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science, minor in Psychology

– Wilderness First Responder

– Certified in Warranty Repair for AIRE rafts

– Manage OAR’s rookie guide training program

Fun Fact

My best friend is a black lab named Dee. We hunt ducks together in the winter months, and she has made 992 lifetime retrieves for me.

Spirit Animal

I’ve never had to give this much thought before, but upon some reflection… a Clydesdale horse. I wear my hair long. I take lengthy strides. Steadiness and loyalty are two of my best qualities. I deliver fun to people. (in the form of whitewater, not Budweiser…) Like most horses, I’m generally calm and loving, but may try to kick you if you get on my bad side.

Quote

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”

Favorite Rapid on the Ocoee

Whatever one has the most chaos occurring in it at the time I get there!

Favorite Joke

The ziplines over the soybeans at Ocoee Outdoors.

Best Customer Story

Hmmm… hard to pick… three examples…

African-American family of 14, split between two boats. Uncle Roy, family patriarch, navy veteran, self-admitted incapable swimmer, and presently a paddler in my boat, fell into the water above a rapid. Upon seeing this, contrary to any possible conceivable instructions previously given, two more people from my boat, as well as two from the other family boat immediately jump into the river to give some type of aid to Uncle Roy. They locked arms, five wide, and took the next rapid together as a family… as my brother likes to say, “that was one way of doing it.”
Hispanic family in my raft at the put in, speaking broken English, hailing from Miami. I explain to them how important paddling is to the success of our day. One of the fellows in the front, an especially buff guy in his mid-twenties, gave me the following assurance. “Padding? Oh, paddling no problem at all, mon. I paddle here, from Cuba, on raft, for four days. This easy. Paddling no problem.” Without skipping a beat, I replied “Welcome to our country… let’s do the thing!”

Boy Scout Austin: Are we going to have to get down in the next rapid?
Raft Guide Jon: No, not unless something really unexpected happens.
Boy Scout Austin: You mean like if a dragon attacks our raft?
Raft Guide Jon: Yes, Austin, absolutely, in the event of dragon attacks I get my people down every single time.

tito

_____________

WFR / SWR

Certified

_____________

Hometown

Fyffe, AL

_____________

Cowboy

_____________

WFR / SWR

Certified

_____________

Hometown

Lebanon, OH