Motives for recreational river floating: Relative consistency across settings

Motive profiles for recreational travel on rivers by canoe, kayak, raft, and inner tube are analyzed for 11 diverse rivers nationwide. Differences among the rivers exist and are described, but the profiles are noted more for their striking consistency across the wide range of environmental settings represented. River recreation motives were also compared with those for 17 other forms of recreation. Of the 17 activities studied, sailing, motorboating, and fishing are motivationally most similar to river floating. Through the data, we question the presumption that relationships are strong between the environmental character of outdoor recreation settings and the goal orientations of people attracted to them.