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Rafting with Children - A Family Perspective
-Water Rat in Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame
“What’s our river this summer,” Gabe asks. When my twin boys were seven we took our first family overnight float, a four-day journey down the class II Grand Ronde River in Oregon. What we remember is “Butterfly Camp,” where hundreds of monarchs visited us on the beach, and the way the boys and their step dad, John, lost themselves in the art of creating fire from a spindle and bow they made from a branch and some driftwood. In the end all that emerged was some smoke and a lot of shavings and we were glad we had remembered to bring a lighter so we could grill the steaks. That night we set up the tent, but slept outside, four across on a giant tarp, drifting off before nightfall. The next morning each of us commented on how we awoke at some point in the middle of the night to see the brilliant night sky.
My sons are twelve now and we’ve taken at least one, sometimes two river trips each summer. In recent years we’ve sometimes gone with an outfitter on what my sons’ call the “luxury line.” They are impressed with dessert every night and the fact that they don’t have to do the dishes. Usually they find themselves helping out anyway. That’s where the guides are and they are by far the most fun kids on the trip.
On rivers my sons learn to row a raft and paddle their own inflatable kayaks. They learn to read water: to know where the safe eddies are, and how to find the tongue of a rapid. They learn to notice hawks in the sky and trout in the current. They learn to entertain themselves on the flat stretches, by attempting kayak acrobatics or starting a water fight. We’ve endured many acts of piracy with everyone including the captain ending up overboard, and there are always plenty of stories to tell at camp. I have never heard Gabe and Dylan laugh harder than when we are on a river.
We go on other vacations, car camping, resorts, once the boys even talked me into an amusement park. But our river trips hold a special place in our summers. Maybe it is that odd relationship between the way time slows down but the current keeps moving. Each night there is a room with a new view and new beach to explore in search of rocks and swimming holes and wild denizens. Each day there is a new stretch of river with rapids or hot springs or pictographs along the way. There is no word for boredom in river speak, or if there is, in five years of river travel I have yet to hear it.
After one trip a woman, mother of three, asked a guide what he wanted people to get from the river trip. “It’s a vacation, but it’s more too,” he answered, “A river experience is a chance to tune into a place, and to your own wild roots.” I’d add to that list, and to each other.
© 2007 Laura Stavoe
Laura Stavoe writes essays for many national magazines including FamilyFun, Prevention, Paddler and Ladies Home Journal. She is currently writing a memoir about motherhood, relationships and the outdoors. You can read more of Laura’s work on her website www.laurastavoe.com.
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ECHO Still Has Space on a September Turquoise Coast Trip
While our September 19 Turquoise Coast trip is filled, our September 5 trip still has space on it. Join us in our 11th year of yachting the beautiful Mediterranean Coast of Turkey. This is a tour for people who don’t like tours. Twelve guests and a professional, licensed guide sail for six days and nights, on a beautiful wood motor-sailor, built specifically for plying these coastal waters. Each of the six cabins has a private bath. The crew consists of a captain, a cook and a mate. Each day we have the opportunity to go ashore and visit a special archeological site or village. At night we berth in bustling resort towns or small fishing villages, or we anchor in a beautiful cove.
Before boarding the yacht in the resort town of Marmaris we we spend a full day and two nights in Istanbul, visiting The Aya Sofia, for 2 centuries the largest building in the world, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, the Roman Hippodrome and the underground cisterns. Then we visit the famous archeological sites of Ephesus, Didyma and Priene.
Those with extra time can take our Cappadocia Extension. In central Turkey, Cappadocia boasts one of the most exotic landscapes in the world. Soft volcanic rock has been carved by wind and water into fantastic shapes, and people have been carving their homes, stables and churches into the rock for thousands of years. They also went underground, excavating whole cities that could hold up to 20,000 people and their livestock for weeks. People lived above ground, at the cross-roads between the east and the west. They fled underground when under attack by any of the armies crossing the Anatolian Plain.
Learn more about our Trips to Greece and Turkey.
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Duckie! Trips on the Middle Fork and the Rogue
It is no secret the the Middle Fork of the Salmon River and the Rogue River are two of America’s best rafting trips. With spectacular scenery, awesome wildlife, and perfect Class III rapids, the Rogue and Middle Fork make for ideal family vacations. For families looking for a few more thrills and spills than a 16-foot raft can provide, ECHO River Trips is now offering unique wilderness adventures: four to six day family expeditions down Oregon’s friendly Rogue River and Idaho’s pristine Middle Fork of the Salmon River, using only inflatable kayaks.
What makes these trips different from ECHO’s regular raft trips? Instead of riding as passengers or paddlers in a big raft, each guest will paddle their own kayak for the entire stretch of the river. With help from experienced professional guides, guests will rig their own drybags onto their kayaks. Once boats are rigged and the “expedition” is ready to go, guests will experience whitewater in the most exciting way possible: up close and personal. With just a paddle, and directions from the fearless leaders, each person in a duckie! will paddle through boulder slaloms, plunge into frothy holes, and glide over glassy waves to their heart’s content. Maneuverable, stable, and incredibly fun, duckies! allow adventurers to challenge the rapids on their own for a more personalized whitewater experience than rafting. Because each person has their own kayak, Duckie! trips travel light and fast, allowing more opportunities enjoy the marvels of these premier river canyons. There will be ample time to hike in the side canyons, soak in natural hot springs, take photos of wildlife, and examine Native American pictographs and other archeological sites on the Rogue and Middle Fork canyons.
The progression of the rapids is perfect for beginner paddlers because by the time the trip enters the Impassable Canyon or Mule Creek Canyon, with the most challenging whitewater, everyone will have gained confidence and experience on the easier rapids upstream. Negotiating the fun yet safe Class III rapids is an empowering bonding experience for the whole family. On Duckie! trips, the emphasis is on exploration and adventure over luxury in camp. This minimalist style of river trips embodies the spirit of wilderness adventure on which ECHO River Trips was founded over 35 years ago and creates lasting memories and tall tales that will be retold for years.
We are offering a duckie! trip on the Rogue River in June and on the Middle Fork of the Salmon in August. Learn more about duckie! trips 
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The End of an Era on the Tuolumne River
It is with mixed feelings we announce the sale of our Tuolumne River business. We have operated on the Tuolumne since the very beginning of our company 35 years ago.
We have been involved in two colossal environmental battles to protect the river. Both fights centered around a series of elaborate dams that made no sense to anyone except dam builders. The battle in the early ‘80’s ended with the U.S. Congress protecting the Tuolumne under the Federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. What a sweet victory.
The second fight was over damming the most pristine of the Tuolumne tributaries—the Clavey River. In 1994 those dams were stopped too, and the Clavey still runs free. But there is some unfinished business because the Clavey deserves the same quality of protection afforded the Tuolumne. With the new Congress and with a corps of dedicated fans of the Tuolumne watershed that could very well come to be.
Dick Linford and I were directly involved in both campaigns. Dick volunteering many hours and numerous trips to DC, and yours truly served for 12 years as president of the Tuolumne River Preservation Trust from 1985 until 1997. Those were hard fights, resulting in some wonderful memories.
But time marches on. The 1970’s, ‘80’s, and ‘90’s have given way to a new century, and we must give way to a younger generation. It has been a fantastic ride! We tip our hats to a great river.
But we are not done with river running. You can still find us heading down river on both the Middle Fork of the Salmon in Idaho and the Rogue River in Oregon. See you there.
Best wishes to all,
Joe Daly
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“Be a Kid Again” Pricing on the Middle Fork
Ever dream of fliying into a beautiful remote airstrip? Do you love fishing crystal clear water? Do you want to be a kid again?
There is plenty of space on our August Middle Fork of the Salmon trips. To make the trips more attractive, we’re offering our special kids pricing to adults for the month of August.
August is a wonderful time on the Middle Fork. The river levels are lower than June and July, but the rapids are still exciting. Many people choose the sensational experience of navigating the river on their own in an inflatable kayak or “duckie.” Our six day August trips begin by flying into the remote wilderness airstrip at Indian Creek where you’ll meet the guides and begin your journey.
We are also offering a shorter three day option during the month of August. On these trips, you’ll fly into an airstrip at the Flying B Ranch and float 35 miles through the famous Impassable Canyon. This is a great way to see the most striking part of the Middle Fork and spend two nights in the wilderness. Click here to learn more about our three day trips.
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ECHO Photo Submission 2007
We know there are many inspiring photographers on our trips. For those interested in having their photos displayed on our web site, we have started a formal submission process to enter the following categories of photos.
1. Rogue River scenery photo (for the Rogue River page)
2. Middle Fork of the Salmon scenery photo (for the Middle Fork page)
3. A family on the river photo (for the ECHO home page)
4. A fun ECHO camp photo
The photos selected in each category will be used on our web site next season complete with photo credit. At the end of the 2006 season, ECHO guest Lauren Kutzcher submitted a picture for consideration we and added it to our home page.
Guidelines for submission
1. Photos don’t need to have an ECHO boat or logo in them, but it is preferred.
2. For the Rogue and Middle Fork pictures we are looking for a picture that conveys the spirit of the river.
3. You must have taken the picture on an ECHO trip in 2007.
4. Submit your digital photographs by emailing them in full quality to photos@echotrips.com.
5. You are welcome to submit photos outside of the three categories above (i.e. specific guides, theme trips) and we will consider them for our site. We have special prizes for the photographers that submit the photos we use in the above categories.
We bring an “ECHO camera” on all of our trips and upload the pictures to the ECHO Photo Site. You can submit any photo you take with an ECHO camera by downloading it from the photo site and sending it to photos@echotrips.com.
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White Wine and White Water
(well, red wine too)
Imagine rafting the beautiful Rogue River for four days, and camping luxuriously for three nights.
Imagine gathering before dinner to taste excellent California wines while listening to a distinguished vintner talking about how and where the wine was made
Imagine eating wonderful food, planned to complement the great wines.
Imagine running exciting rapids in rafts and inflatable kayaks.
Imagine bald eagles up close, river otters along the shore, osprey diving into the river for fish, and black bears strolling through the woods.
Imagine sharing this special experience with someone you love.
Join Tamra Lotz, Assistant Wine Maker for Mumm California and Dick Linford, co-owner of ECHO for this very special river trip. We hope you can join us!!
Price: $815 per person
Price includes tents, sleeping bags and air mattresses, wine, and meals beginning with lunch the first day and ending with lunch the last day
Learn more about our wine trips or call us at (800) 652-3246 to hold your space.
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Salmon River Snowpack Report
Recent storms in the mountains of Idaho have increased the snowpack to 83% of average as of March 2, 2007 for the Salmon River basin. This is great news for our trips on the Middle Fork of the Salmon for this summer.
The Middle Fork is a free flowing river, it has no dams on it that control the flow of water. That means that the water that we float down in the summers is due to winter snowpack, spring rain, and summer temperatures. We like to have snowpack between 80% and 120% of average. From experience we have found that this range of snowpack gives us runnable flows through August while keeping the water at a reasonable level during the June runoff.
This is especially good news for the Salmon Supreme trip that starts on May 29th. Since we run both the Middle Fork and Main Salmon in seven days, we need higher water flows to do the 160 - 185 miles that we’re planning on covering in such a short time. Below average snowpack means that the road Boundary Creek should open by then so that we can run the entire 100 miles of the Middle Fork. When the road is closed we have to fly into Indian Creek and miss the exciting upper 25 miles.
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Recipe for Contentment
by Penny Foster (ECHO guest since 1972)
Take 5 to 6 ECHO guides (absolutely no substitutes)
Add:
A half dozen or so rubber rafts and duckies
Some rigs
One truckload of paddles, PFDs, tents, dry bags, sleeping bags, oars, helmets, ice chests, and other equipment you’ll remember after put-in
2-6 gargantuan tarps
4-5 miles of duct tape (to be used for any medical or other emergency)
4-5 miles of hoopie
A stack of LUXURY edition thermarests
Fold in:
6 to 12 shopping carts of varied food items - roughly 33% of every aisle of the supermarket - include ample servings of steak, gorp, cold cuts, bacon, smoked oysters, and Snickers (figure 1-2 pounds of each per person per day)
Cooking instructions for 18 to 25 three to five star meals (depending on mood) plus helpful hints on how to feed two dozen for dinner when you don’t have the ingredients
Peet’s Coffee
Margarita mix
Two one gallon containers of tequilla (one for guides)
Mix together with:
Sunshine (if you don’t have this, don’t worry)
“Just enough” whitewater
A perch
Hot Springs
River booty
Plenty of guide gossip
A few otter and osprey
Some shooting stars
Laughter
Duckie wars
Great conversation
Trip tales
Being there
Cook at any temperature for 5 to 12 days
Feeds the heart and minds of 20
Satisfaction guaranteed.
Side notes: I got goose bumps while typing this in anticipation of the season.
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ECHO River Guides - Winter 2007 Update
Here’s a glimpse into the lives of some of our river guides during the winter months. Over the years we’ve found that most guides travel, teach, ski patrol, or hole up in a shack in the San Juan Mountains during the Fall and Winter months.
Shawn White decided against going back to her real job and instead has been preparing her sailboat for her eventual sailing trip around the world. She’s planning to sail from San Francisco to Baja after the 2007 river season.
Adam Farmer and Zach Collier have been integrating into the Hood River, Oregon culture over the past few months. Adam’s been slowly working on his ping pong skills and hopes to soon be the Hood River ping pong champion. Zach is trying his hand at kayak water polo and is just trying to stay in his boat.
Geoff Phillips just returned from Nicaragua where he was doing electrical work for the past few months. He’s trying to avoid working until the river season so he can plan a rafting trip in Croatia.
Colleen Winters continues to ski patrol at Deer Valley in Park City, Utah where she is working on her poker skills.
Dewi Butler has structured is life to maximize his love of the outdoors. He and his girlfriend Lynn spent September mountain climbing in southern France. For the winter Dewi is living in Park city where he skis, manages some properties (including several that he owns) and bartends for a caterer. In the spring they will spend a month or more climbing in Oregon before Dewi guides and manages for us in Idaho.
Jim Toney has been skiing the mountains around Salmon, Idaho all winter. Every time we try and reach him his wife (and fellow ECHO guide) Kelly tells us he’s off in the woods. The last we heard he was headed to interior British Columbia for a ski trip.
Vladimir Gavrilov continues to share his passion for astronomy and physics with high school students in Sacramento. He’s planning several rafting trips in the Altai Mountains of Siberia this summer.
Megan Anderson is in her first year of law school at the University of Utah.
Maggie Hodges and Hata Hill, who have been sweehearts since grammar school, almost grew up and took serious jobs last year. But a rafting trip down the Tatshenshini River in Alaska convinced them that they still had some river running to do. They are currently living in California, where Maggie can be close to her first nephew and Hata works in “green” construction. They plan to move to Hood River, Oregon, so they can run rivers with Adam and Zach before the ECHO season begins. They have a private Grand Canyon trip planned for late summer.
Tessa Sibbet has been helping ECHO with the web site and writing for this blog since the river season ended. Next week she is headed to Argentina and Chile so that she can raft the world famous Futaleufu River and do some backpacking trips.
Rio Jose Hibarger has spent is winter in the typical Rio style. He tried to drive his van from Olympia, Washington to Boise, Idaho for a rafting convention and it broke down about half way. He’s spent the last two months rebuilding then entire thing and swears it won’t break down again. At least his sailboat didn’t burn down and sink this year.
Shay Mavis is spending his winter skiing six days a week and attempting to finish school in New York. He met Zach and Adam for some west coast skiing a few weeks ago during his winter break.
Mike Burke is teaching at Colby. He is also on an author’s book-reading circuit promoting his new book The Same River Twice, which is both a memoir and an adventure travel story. He has a sabbatical in the spring. He and his family will visit Greece and continue to South Africa, where Mike has a grant to study several game preserves.
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