Utah is the home of several famous places once homesteaded by many robbers, rustlers, outlaws and bandits. Some names more common than others, all modern day ‘Robin Hoods’ competing with the rich to help give back to the poor.

Starting out with the most famous of them all was Robert LeRoy Packer, or better known as Butch Cassidy. Born in 1866, this Utah native was the first of twelve children in a devout Mormon family. He grew up working close to his mother and idol Mike Cassidy at a nearby ranch to help earn money for their struggling family. Packer quickly won the family’s approval as the youngest cowhand apprentice in his area. After spending a lot of time with Mike Cassidy out on his moonlight raids drinking old crow and learning the ways of a true cattle hustler, Packer changed his name to Butch Cassidy, after his profession as a butcher and to protect his family’s reputation.

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Posted in: Currents Utah Whitewater Rafting, Hiking, Multi-Sport Vacations | Post a Comment

Written by Natali Zollinger

We rose about a half hour before first light. As we put on our warm layers and lifejackets, the first light creeps over the hills. We push off one by one in our blue kayaks, there are only three of us on this excursion to the lily pad pond. We paddle across the calm bay to a little inlet.  As we creep along in the clear channel, a flock of Merganser ducks squawks by us. Very slowly and quietly we enter into the lily pad pond.  

The pond is misty and full of huge green pads loaded with yellow flowers. The center of which contains swirls of orange and black. We hear an eagle over head. Ever so gently, we glide across the pond scanning the water’s edge and look into the woods for wildlife.

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Posted in: Contributors Currents Featured Destinations Wyoming Sea Kayaking and Multi-Sport Vacations Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Park Vacations | 1 Comment

Written by Ali McNabb

One of the most common things I hear guests say on our river trips is, “I never thought Idaho would look like this.”  I don’t know if its because ’Idaho’ sounds a little like ‘Iowa,’ but they seem to think Idaho will have soft, rolling hills and wide open plains. Well, it does have those things in its valleys – 25 billion potatoes need somewhere to grow – but there is much more that meets the eye traveling across the state.

Idaho means, ‘the sun comes down from the mountains,’ originating from the Shoshone Indian phrase ‘Ee’ (coming down), ‘Dah’ sun/mountain, ‘How’ (acts as an exclamation point in the Shoshone language).  If you have spent a fortunate evening sitting riverside on a beach, watching the sun sink down over the dark rocky cliffs, or sipping a cup of coffee on that same beach in the morning as golden light brightens the mountainside, you understand what the Shoshone were trying to capture.

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Posted in: Contributors Currents Featured Destinations Hells Canyon of the Snake River Rafting Idaho Whitewater Rafting Middle Fork Salmon River Rafting | Post a Comment

Written by Debbie Hausler

by Ali McNabb

The first light of the rising sun creeps over the Eastern mountain range.  A silhouette of a moose swimming across the lake can be seen.  The water is so calm that it barely leaves a ripple.  A mating pair of Sandhill Cranes flies low on the horizon. Dawn is stirring.  

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Posted in: Contributors Featured Destinations Jackson Lake Kayaking O.A.R.S. Guides Wyoming Sea Kayaking and Multi-Sport Vacations | Post a Comment

Written by Ali McNabb

by Curt Chang & Britnee Packwood

Idaho weather and water update for August 7th. Temperatures this week are a bit on the cooler side, but don’t expect the summer fun to cool down anytime soon! In Lewiston, prepare for highs in the upper eighties to upper nineties. Expect nighttime lows to reach the mid-to-low sixties. In Stanley, expect daytime highs in the mid-seventies to loweighties. Nighttime lows are expected to reach the upper forties. Finally, in Salmon expect daytime highs in the low-to-mid eighties and nighttime lows in the low fifties. There are fire impacts currently on the MF below Big Creek on river left moving slowly down river and likely to continue until it rains. So far not a big problem just some smoke when the breeze subsides. The fire status in general has been very small, and we are hoping to keep it that way.

The Middle Fork has dropped from the 2.40 feet spike last week to a much lower 2.07 feet today. So we are flying into Indian Creek while the crew deadheads from Boundary. The Main Salmon has continued dropping from 8,040 cfs to 6,760 cfs. As for the Snake, its flows have been fluctuating between 8k and 15k cfs.

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Posted in: Contributors Featured Destinations Idaho Whitewater Rafting | Post a Comment

Written by Curt Chang