Burke's Canoe Trips is the casual summer rite of passage on the Russian River. Located one mile north of Forestville on River Road, on the bank of the Russian River itself, Burke's offers a self-guided ten-mile canoe and kayak trip that begins at their canoe headquarters and ends at their private beach in Guerneville. The trip takes about three and a half hours of actual paddling, but most groups pack picnic supplies, swim at the beaches along the way, and end up out on the water for four to five hours. Wildlife sightings are reliable: river otters, great blue herons, ospreys, turtles, egrets, and the occasional bald eagle in winter.
The format is intentionally low-friction: reservation by phone, arrive at the headquarters, get instructions and a life vest, push off downstream. The take-out at Burke's private beach in Guerneville is well-marked, and the school-bus shuttle back to the parking lot at headquarters runs continuously. The season is Memorial Day weekend through mid-October, with daily operations seven days a week. Camping is available adjacent to the headquarters for overnight river-and-redwood weekends. The audience is families, casual paddlers, and travelers who want the most accessible Russian River day on a budget. Multiple decades of the same business model means a generation of Sonoma County kids took their first canoe ride at Burke's; many now bring their own kids.
