By Peta Owens-Liston

When Snowpack Goes with the Flow

Flowers weren’t the only ones cheering on April Showers. River rats, river runners, old and new, and all of Holiday River Expeditions’ returning customers were too. I could hear them. No doubt, the guides (often ski junkies) were eyeing the weather as well and hoping that winter dragged on just a bit longer to ensure healthy water levels, keeping the river rambunctious and happily flowing well into summer.

On April Fool’s day—April 1^st— it was a bad joke. Snowpack melt was only around 75% of average. A month later, that jumped to 95%–cause for a Cinco de Mayo celebration.  Especially since the previous year, at this time, was a lowly 40% of average.

Operations Manager Tim Gaylord, who watches the snowpack and river levels like models watching their  weight, agrees that the numbers are very encouraging right now, but keep in mind that some run off will be held back in reservoirs, to make up for low water levels from last year.

“What we can expect is a strong, typical river-running season with higher water levels early in the season and a steady water flow throughout the rest of the season,” predicts Tim. These higher flows will sweep the beaches clean, creating stellar camping spots. The higher flow will also help propel the raft to maintain a steady clip, opening up more time to explore off- river (hikes) and allow for more downtime at campsites to rest or play on wide open beaches.

Sleeping on those wide open beaches or sharing a campfire and a meal under a setting sun are memories that seep back into my life periodically from previous Holiday River Expeditions’ trips. Sometimes memories show up in dreams.

The other night, I heard my youngest yell out while in the midst of a late-night dream,  as I got closer, I’m pretty sure he was in the midst of a water fight on an unnamed river flowing through his dreams. After all, annual river trips with Holiday have become a tradition for our family, and not one has slipped by without a rambunctious water fight between rafts. I suspect as Christmas-day like anticipation increases as we get closer and closer to our next  trip— the Main Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho this July— those dreams (aka, “fun-mares”) will be waking up the whole house.

Peta Owens-Liston is a writer and editor with extensive experience in magazine writing and marketing communications writing.  Publications she has written for: TIME Magazine, Sports Illustrated for Women, Organic Style, Paddler, Redbook, Via, KUER/NPR affiliate (radio essays), Park City Magazine, Salt Lake City Magazine, The Salt Lake Tribune to mention a few.   Find out more ~ www.petaliston.com

by Julie Trevelyan

1. Awesome rapids on the Salmon River! Gunbarrel, Devil’s Teeth, Split Rock, Bailey Falls, Big Mallard, Bodacious Bounce, Lorna’s Lulu, and more ensure plenty of fun whitewater.

   

2. Great paddling sections for the kids! Flat, smooth parts of the river are perfect for the younger (or just more timid) adventurers to get out in an inflatable kayak and try out their skills.

   

   
   

3. Raft through the second deepest canyon gorge in North America! Only the nearby Hells Canyon on the Snake River is deeper. Behold the mighty power of the Salmon over the millennia as it carved out this impressive and beautiful canyon, all for your viewing pleasure.

   

4. Amazing wildlife viewing opportunities! Lumbering black bears, sleek river otters, graceful kingfishers, curious bighorn sheep, soaring golden eagles, or even a majestic moose might fill your camera lens during an Idaho rafting trip.

   

5. Raft through stunning alpine scenery in the largest roadless wilderness area in the lower 48! Tall pine trees and luxuriously green sections grace the river’s winding route through the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. It’s a spectacular trip every river rafting enthusiast needs to experience at least once in their life.

   

Written by Julie Trevelyan.

Julie is a freelance writer and wilderness guide in southern Utah. She especially enjoys books, coffee, yoga, wild country, horses, and dark chocolate.

by Julie Trevelyan

Spring Time Wildflowers

Where can you find the funnest, most rapid-y whitewater rafting in the springtime? Or the most classic views of southwestern canyon country scenery? How about water that begs to be played on in inflatable kayaks? On one of these four river trips, with Holiday! Each trip offers something unique and not-to-be-missed.

Yampa River

The last undammed river in Colorado River system, the Yampa is one heck of a wild ride. Springtime trips are virtually guaranteed to see plenty of big water as the snowmelt roars downstream. What does this mean for you, the intrepid river rafter of the Yampa? Way more fun than you can shake a stick at!

Yampa River Rafting

Cataract Canyon

During springtime flows, the waters of Cataract Canyon are big, bold, and bodacious. Winding directly through the heart of sublime Canyonlands National Park, this river raft adventure is what rafting trip memories are made from. Hop aboard and see for yourself why this famous canyon echoes with exhilarated hollering on its thrill ride whitewater sections.

Cataract Canyon River Rafting

San Juan River

Rafts and kayaks both offer lively entertainment on the San Juan. With the water dropping eight feet for every mile, this is the fastest-moving river Holiday runs. Ancient Puebloan petroglyph panels adorn some of the canyon walls, and crumbling ruin sites prod the imagination to wonder what life was like here a thousand years ago or more.

San Juan River Rafting

Desolation Canyon

In search of big, roller coaster style rapids? Deso, as it is affectionately called, has those in spades. Although more than 60 rapids grace the waters of Desolation Canyon, they are more moderate, which means this is a great family trip. This part of the Green River is also notable for its burst of springtime wildflowers, which add great bits of color to the already stunning red canyon walls.

Desolation Canyon River Rafting

Written by Julie Trevelyan.

Julie is a freelance writer and wilderness guide in southern Utah. She especially enjoys books, coffee, yoga, wild country, horses, and dark chocolate.

By Derek Farr

The real world exists. It always does. But when we reach the ramp at the put-in of the Main Salmon River, the real world might as well be one million miles away. Accordingly, the things that serve a purpose in the real world don’t always have a place on a river trip. Here are five examples.

1. A cell phone/smart phone: Last year a curious group of men brought along a smart phone to verify that there is still somewhere remote and wonderful enough not to get a cell signal. Their verdict? Bliss. No reception for the entire six-day trip. “Can you hear me now?” Nope. Just a side note: We always bring a satellite phone in case of emergency. But nobody’s allowed to forward their office phone to it. When you’re on the river, the real world fades away. No glorified hunk of plastic and metal is going to change that.

2. A watch: Here’s something you’ll never hear on a Main Salmon trip, “Dinner will be at six o’clock.” On the river, time is fungible. We get up when the sun rises and we eat dinner as the sun sets. There’s usually lunch and happy hour somewhere in between. Yet none of those events take place according to a specific time. Now, just to be clear, wearing a watch isn’t prohibited on our trips; you’ll just have to forego breakfast if you do.

3. Many, many changes of clothes: I read somewhere that Prince William changes clothes before every meal. That may be true, but one thing’s for sure: he wouldn’t be doing that on our river trips. Even though we have plenty of space on our boats for everybody’s gear, packing an entire wardrobe is frowned upon. And the truth is most people don’t go through a lot of clothes anyway. It’s nice to have a few extra outfits to change into, but usually your morning ensemble is going to look a lot like your afternoon attire. The one exception is evening wear, which makes an appearance from time to time. I’ve seen a tuxedo, a ballet dress and a banana – yes a banana. And I must point out, just in case Prince William is reading this: please, leave your chainmail at home.

4. Your best, newest clothes: I like fashion. And except for the fact that I don’t pay any attention to fashion whatsoever, I’d say I’m a fashionista. That aside, I don’t bring my nicest threads on the river. On many of our trips, we spend a third of our time on rafts, a third on sand, and a third in the water. It’s like clothing’s version of the Ironman triathlon. I’m not saying you’re going to look like Bruce Willis at the end of Die Hard, but your clothes are definitely going to be tested. My rule is: if I’m worried about getting something stained, I leave it at home. Sorry Jerry Seinfeld pirate shirt, no rafting for you.

5. Your best behavior: You don’t have to worry about seeing a salad fork on our trips. We pull out all the stops for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but we leave the formalities at home. Let’s face it; it’s a raft trip on the Salmon River, not a commencement brunch at Buckingham Palace. Everyone knows the Idaho backcountry isn’t the proper venue for stuffy affectations. Our red carpet is a sandy beach. Our dress code is, “No shirt, no shoes, no problem.” And our after-dinner merriment is Big Booty. Sometimes we sing and dance. We always laugh. But we never hear anybody ask, “Where are my cuff links?” It’s just how we roll.

Derek started guiding rivers in 1996. He lives in Idaho where he and his wife use every opportunity to experience the natural wonders of that great state.

By Derek Farr

Salmon River History

The recent human history of the Main Salmon River is fraught with peril and rich in failure. Two of the first European-Americans to enter the Salmon River Canyon were Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. After seeing the canyon’s daunting rapids, the pair opted for an overland route to the Pacific.

That was August 25, 1805. Since then, thousands of settlers have attempted to make the Salmon River Canyon their home. Few were successful.

By contrast, Native Americans lived in the canyon for almost 7,000 years. During that time, they left very little evidence of themselves. The most significant evidence is at the put-in of our Main Salmon trips. There, a seasonal village once occupied the river’s edge at a place we now call Corn Creek. Archeologists believe ancestors of the Shoshone Bannock tribe came to Corn Creek in the fall to hunt for big game and fish for Chinook salmon and steelhead. Other evidence of Native Americans is found on secretive rock walls where ancient artists painted abstract signs and figures. It’s believed the native people who visited the canyon did so sporadically. They knew when it was time to leave.

European-American settlers did not. They were the first people who tried to occupy the canyon year round. Most failed. But a few hearty souls managed to beat the odds and scratch out a living in the rugged country of central Idaho.

One of those was West Virginia native Frank Lantz. In 1925, the 35-year-old floated a wooden boat 70 miles from Salmon, Idaho to the middle of the Salmon River Canyon, a place we now call Lantz Bar. There he disassembled the boat and built a cabin. Lantz would occupy that site for almost 50 years, planting gardens and fruit trees for food and building trails and fighting wildfires for work. In 1935, he married a woman from Montana. She followed him to the river where they built a two-story cabin that they shared for the next 20 years, until she died in 1955.

In October 1964, Lantz was in the twilight of his life when tragedy struck. A Forest Service summer guard was heating water when he accidentally burned Lantz’s cabin down. With winter just weeks ahead, it looked like Lantz would be forced to leave the land he loved.

Then Bitterroot National Forest Supervisor Harold Anderson stepped in. He sent lumber and Forest Service employees to Corn Creek. Local fishing outfitters used their jetboats to deliver the workers and supplies to Lantz Bar free of charge. In weeks, Lantz had a new cabin.

It was a splendid act of altruism. For his exemplary efforts, Supervisor Anderson received a reprimanded that stayed in his file for the rest of his career.

Lantz died at his cabin on Oct. 12, 1971. He is buried next to his wife in Corvallis, Montana.

His cabin is still there. So are the fruit trees he planted.

They still bear fruit.

Derek started guiding rivers in 1996. He lives in Idaho where he and his wife use every opportunity to experience the natural wonders of that great state.

by Julie Trevelyan

Social media icon image from: http://www.jaelcustomdesigns.com/

How do you keep connected with the latest goings-on at Holiday River Expeditions? It’s a piece of cake with our social media outreach. Here are links to the places around that big worldwide web to find out what’s happening in our fun zones of Utah river rafting, Colorado river rafting, Idaho river rafting, Utah mountain biking, Baja trips, multi-sport combination trips, and all the cool adventures we offer. Join the conversation, share your own stories, and stay in touch.

Facebook Fan Page

We share photos, memories, and fun chats with fans. Swing by, fan our page, and say hello!

Facebook Page

Our regular page has fewer members, but we’re always very happy to have more. Visit here and share how you like to Go With The Flow.

Holiday River Alumni Group

Been a river guide with Holiday? This is the group that keeps everyone in touch.

River Currents Blog

Holiday’s blog brings you information, pictures, fun tidbits of river history, portraits of fascinating river characters, top lists of things to bring or do on a trip, mountain biking essentials, profiles of staff members, and detailed information on all our trips.

Twitter

Do you tweet? We do, and we enjoy all new followers. We’ll follow you back and keep up a lively conversation.

Google+

Help us grow our Google+ page by heading over to it and joining our circle.

YouTube Channels

Get up close and personal with a trip before you go. See the whitewater, the downhill, the scenery, the campsites.Customers can also post videos that showcase their outdoor excursion.

Vimeo

Vimeo fan? Our videos rock it on here as well.

Trip Photo Galleries

Check out our enormous gallery of trip photos. Collected by date and place, these images capture fun on the river, endless views on mountain bike trails, and plenty of happy grins.

Pinterest

We love to pin pictures of our rafting trips, biking adventures, the food, the guests, the guides, and more! Specialty trips, desert blooms, Baja trips, hiking, and historic Holiday photos grace these boards.

Written by Julie Trevelyan.

Julie is a freelance writer and wilderness guide in southern Utah. She especially enjoys books, coffee, yoga, wild country, horses, and dark chocolate.

by Julie Trevelyan

The Katz Family multi-generational charter trip.

Written by Julie Trevelyan.

Julie is a freelance writer and wilderness guide in southern Utah. She especially enjoys books, coffee, yoga, wild country, horses, and dark chocolate.

by Julie Trevelyan

A potty with a view

A big concern for many first-timers on a river rafting trip is how to care of…you know. Number one and number two. No fear—it’s not nearly as out of your comfort zone as you might think. First off, in Holiday lingo the bathrooms are called baños, which right there takes some of the nitty gritty, down and dirty facts right out of the word, making it less of an, um, questionable thing to do while on the river. Secondly, the guides set up and take down the baños so quickly and efficiently you hardly notice what they’re doing. And thirdly, you’ll get to enjoy some of the best views you’ve ever seen while you’re attending to nature’s call!

Looks like it's available!

First off, it’s fine to pee directly in the river. That’s right, pee right there in the water. It’s cool: everyone else is doing it, regulations allow for it, and nature doesn’t mind. In fact, the two best places to pee: in the river, or right in the baño itself (sometimes a choice for the female gender). There are many opportunities to swim or wade in the river. A favorite way to do it usually practiced by both guides and guests involves casually hanging onto the end of a boat and peeing while your lower half is submerged in the river. Everyone does it, nobody notices, and it’s okay. Peeing at random spots onshore at campsites or lunch stops is a no-no, as it ultimately can make entire areas smell like a giant outhouse. Hence, the river or the baño.

The Bano

The baño is made up of a plastic container and toilet seat. You’re ensured of a lovely view, as it will be set up on the river’s edge, away from camp. There’s an actual seat so you don’t have to practice your squats. There are usually two “baños” set up, one is for numero uno only, since sometimes women feel more comfortable with the baño than the river; the other is for numero dos. Or, as it has been called before, poo with a view. Toilet paper, easy disposal of said tp (just drop it in the “solids” baño ), and a wash station with running water and soap round out the system.

You’ll get the hang of it on your first day, and by trip’s end be an old pro at baño-ing in the great outdoors. It’s easy to get into the swing of things when you have stellar views each time. In a nutshell, when you’re on a river rafting vacation it’s super easy to relax and go with the flow, even when you’re attending to baño necessities. Happy currents!

Written by Julie Trevelyan.

Julie is a freelance writer and wilderness guide in southern Utah. She especially enjoys books, coffee, yoga, wild country, horses, and dark chocolate.

Salmon River Canyons

By Derek Farr

Inspiring words are often written by men and women in poems, lyrics, books and stories. But how often does inspirational language come from legislation? In my experiences, not very often. Yet the Wilderness Act of 1964 is different. The Act contains these 44 words that beautifully sum up the significance of our wild spaces:

“A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”

This is particularly important for our Main Salmon River trips here in Idaho. During those trips, we float 80 miles through a complex of three large wilderness areas. The largest is the Frank Church Wilderness (2.36 million acres) followed by the Selway-Bitteroot (1.3 million acres) and the Gospel Hump (206,000 acres). All together, they comprise the largest intact wild lands in the lower 48 states – the Frank Church alone is larger than Yellowstone National Park.

But what exactly does the designation “wilderness” mean?

In short, the designation forbids machinery. In other words, the crews that clear out downed trees from wilderness trails each spring must use hand saws, not chainsaws. Two years ago, after a heavy rain saturated the ground and a powerful windstorm swept through the forest, one trail crew in the Gospel Hump encountered 50 downed trees per mile. They cleared six miles of trail in seven days (last year they cleared 70 miles in four days).

“It keeps us in shape,” the head sawyer told me.

Salmon River Wilderness

Another big difference is roads. Wildernesses don’t have them. That’s a huge difference from national parks where visitors use scenic routes to view wild lands without leaving the comfort and confines of their cars. In wildernesses, if you want to experience the wild, you’ve got to get in it.

But perhaps the most demonstrative answer to the wilderness question comes from 20,000 feet above the earth. There, it is possible to see the difference between a “working forest” and a wilderness. While both are administered by the United States Forest Service, the working forest appears as a patchwork of similarly aged trees, which is evidence of timber sales and road building. In the wilderness area, where there are neither timber sales nor roads, the trees live their lives without human interference and no patchwork is visible. That may mean older trees, due to a lack of timbering, but it also may mean younger trees because historically the Forest Service has allowed wildfires to burn free in wilderness areas.

Either way, it equals a primordial landscape that is essential to the human experience. It’s a landscape that lives in us no matter how far we are from it. From time to time, we must escape to it. We are humbled and challenged by it. It’s fundamental. It’s necessary. It’s essential. It calls.

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Derek started guiding rivers in 1996. He lives in Idaho where he and his wife use every opportunity to experience the natural wonders of that great state.

by Julie Trevelyan

2) Sunscreen. Ye olde sun is mighty strong on the rivers out West. You’ll be in the sun all day, every day. The sunlight will reflect off the water, find every centimeter of exposed skin on the top of your head, and somehow manage to turn pink even the skin you thought was hidden beneath your shorts. Even on a cloudy day, those UV rays will be burning right through the faint misty barrier, so slather it on. Sunscreen: it’s for your fragile epidermis. Bonus tip: fried lips hurt. Pack along lip balm with SPF.

5) Ziploc bags. Why? Because different sizes hold almost everything you need them to hold: snacks, dirty socks, your river journal, extra waterproofing for your camera, personal hygiene supplies like toothbrush and toothpaste, anything you particularly want to seal off from getting wet. They’re practically weightless, take up almost no extra room, and come in handy when you least expect. It’s also helpful to be able to see what you’re looking for so you can more quickly find it as you dig through your river bag. In this case, plastic is your friend. Bonus tip: the bags that seal simply by just pressing together can be a better bet; the ones with a “zipper” that you slide tend to have the little plastic tab break off more easily after being constantly stuffed in with your other gear.

Written by Julie Trevelyan.

Julie is a freelance writer and wilderness guide in southern Utah. She especially enjoys books, coffee, yoga, wild country, horses, and dark chocolate.