Moving water is the greatest stress reliever I know. On rivers, life is reduced to its simplest form: your only tasks are to make and break camp, make sure the kids are safe and let the current carry you downstream. Everything else is superfluous.

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Written by Katie Arnold

Mother of two and author of Outside Magazine's Raising Rippers — a blog on bringing up adventurous kids. Arnold is also a freelance writer and editor who focuses primarily on subjects such as: adventure, travel, sports, health, and the environment. Her stories have appeared in The New York Times, Men's Journal, ESPN the Magazine, Marie Claire, Runner's World, Elle, and Sunset Magazine (among others).

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In July 2011, we sent 15-year-old Sarah Faller down the Snake River through Hells Canyon with a challenge to describe, in her own words, an O.A.R.S. rafting trip. (Sarah is no stranger to the river life—or to O.A.R.S.  —having rafted the Main Salmon River with us in 2010.)

Written by Sarah Faller

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I started rafting the Main Salmon River in 1992 – it was my first multi-day wilderness trip and I was very excited and a little intimidated!  The put-in point is a long drive from the town of Salmon, driving alongside the river the entire way. The North Fork joins the Main just outside town and many miles downriver, the Middle Fork enters and about doubles the size of the river.

This is Lewis & Clark country as this river canyon turned them away from attempting to canoe down the canyon and they turned and went into Montana. There are many historic sites commemorating this event on the drive to the edge of the wilderness. This is the Frank Church – River of No Return – Wilderness which is adjacent to the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana.  Together they form the largest wilderness area in the lower 48 states. Outfitters put into the river at Corn Creek which is where the road ends and you enter the magnificent river canyon.

Written by Nancy Harrison

Adventure Media is the brainchild of founder Nancy Harrison. Nancy only started adventuring at the age of 40 when she learned to ski, whitewater raft and horseback ride while living in Winter Park, Colorado. Moving to Wyoming gave her the opportunity to enjoy fly fishing, hiking and camping, sea kayaking, and many other nature-based activities. Nancy has two grown children and four grandsons, all of whom enjoy the outdoors - fishing, hiking, camping, water sports and snow sports. Nancy is a true Citizen of the West who has lived her entire life in the Rocky Mountain States. She has become an expert in her field of media relations and spends a good deal of her time each year teaching and lecturing on PR to groups such as The International Ecotourism Society, America Outdoors, the Adventure Travel World Summit and many state and regional conferences and international gatherings.

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My years of experience as a professional river guide have shown me that the trips I remember and learn from the most have been those with a purpose. Trips like these accomplish a therapeutic value from the overall experience of being in nature, and floating down a river.  For me, the Green River’s, Gates of Lodore river trip was an opportunity to observe this therapeutic value through the eyes of veterans coping with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The thirteen veterans who participated in this trip were from various wartime operations, which included Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Central America.

For those who suffer from PTSD, being on a river trip enables them to have new experiences and at the same time create a sense of normalcy. One Veteran summarized, “Most vets that are in these programs have lost their self-respect to the point where they feel they cannot contribute to anything anymore, so a lot of this may seem minute to some people…It is a big deal to the vets…it gives us a feeling that we can start over and still be useful”. The veterans were introduced to an oar raft, a paddle raft, and an inflatable kayak through rapids, slept in tents, and hiked up side canyons to waterfalls.  All these new experiences added to the rivers ability to recharge them and build self-efficacy.

Written by Teresa Yates Matheson

Teresa Yates Matheson started guiding through the Colorado River in Grand Canyon in 1985 with Georgie Clark, one of the early pioneers of river running. Her twenty-year river career includes commercial and scientific expeditions, where she did research on fisheries, sediment, vegetation, and wildlife. Since her recent graduation from the University of Utah, Teresa is in the process of writing about how the environment has influenced her life, and the therapeutic value of wilderness. She has published Slithering Company and Nankoweap’s Wild Kingdom in Crista Sadler’s, There’s This River: Grand Canyon Boatmen Stories. Her image of Georgie Clark has been published in several videos and books.

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“The boat slid down the Boundary Creek ramp…” – or some variation can begin the tale.

Each river has a point of reference, which triggers memories grown dim with the distractions of daily living. Around the Grand Canyon, a mention of Lee’s Ferry can make a normally reserved acquaintance into a raconteur. In the Salmon River country, referring to the Boundary Creek put-in ramp could lead to such an earful of adventures from a Middle Fork veteran that you may decide to disappear from ‘civilization’ long enough to gather a few stories of your own.

Written by B. Frank

Author of Livin' the Dream: Testing the Ragged Edge of Machismo (Raven's Eye Press, 2010), Brad Frank has done time as a: Colorado native, sawmill savage, fruit picker, artist, wanderer, poet, seasonal worker, commercial driver, photographer, traveling coffeehouse proprietor, outdoor guide, river rat and writer. Since 2005 he has been listed as a contributing editor and senior correspondent for Mountain Gazette, a magazine that sagely advises, "When in doubt, go higher." More stories from B. can be found at bfrankbroadsides.com.

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A Salmon River run offers something for the whole family – berry picking, campfire singing, cave exploring…even pedicures.

When the cool, deep shaft of the abandoned copper mine ended in a wall of rock, guide Mike Thurber turned to the group and said, “Turn off your flashlights.”

We were about 100 yards into an Idaho hillside. The lights went off as instructed, and in a moment of solemnity, 19-year-old Thurber quietly asked us to contemplate the phenomenon of utter darkness. For that instant, each of us was an island, alone in the black tunnel.

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Wyoming’s Wilderness Never Fails to Surprise

It only took ten minutes. Just out of Jackson, a moose and her calf graze at their breakfast, barely registering our presence as the van sped past toward Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, A.K.A. "American's Serengeti." The game, it seems, is afoot. Let the wild life begin.

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Written by Cynthia Barnes

Cynthia Barnes has trekked to Timbuktu and Tibet, writing for National Geographic, Slate, Endless Vacation and other newspapers and magazines. A graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia and former resident of Bangkok, she now names Wyoming as her new favorite place.

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It was Robert Redford, the Erstwhile Sundance Kid, who was the first person to mention the Outlaw Trail to me. I was interviewing Redford at his Sundance Resort in Utah a few years ago when he pointed to the long, ornate wooden bar with massive mirrors in the resort’s tavern, known as the Owl Bar.

“That bar is made of Irish oak and it was in the Rosewood Bar in Wyoming, where Butch Cassidy and his Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, the Wild Bunch, hung out,” he said. “Cassidy had it shipped all the way from Ireland. We found it in a biker bar up in Thermopolis, Wyoming, covered in Formica and shag carpeting. So we bought it, had it restored, which took about 18 months, and then brought it down here.”

Written by Everett Potter

Everett Potter writes for National Geographic Traveler, Travel+Leisure, Forbes Life, American Cowboy, and Ski. He is the editor and publisher of Everett Potter’s Travel Report, which The Wall Street Journal has called “a terrific mix of profiles and interviews, all designed to make the best use of your travel budget.” Potter, who has won four Lowell Thomas Awards for his writing, has a special affinity for the American West.

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“When I get back home, I can’t wait to book my next rafting trip,” Tracey told me. This was her first rafting and camping trip, and despite being a busy professional, hyper-connected to technology, and separated from her business, her experience on the incredible Rogue River in Oregon was amazing enough to inspire her to do it all over again. After five days and four nights of rugged luxury rafting with O.A.R.S., she changed from an apprehensive first-time rafter, to a wilderness enthusiast.

I completely understood her enthusiasm. This was my first rafting trip, too. I loved the idea of spending more time in the mountains, but with two small children at home and a fear of adrenaline-rushing experiences; I put off the idea as too risky and hoped to do it “someday.”

Written by Kristin Mastre

Kristin Mastre is a professional blogger, freelance writer, and premier restaurant critic in Fort Collins, CO specializing in craft beer and pairing dinners on FeastingFortCollins.com. She has been blogging for six years with three different blogs: a parenting blog, a fitness blog and a restaurant review blog, all of which receive worldwide recognition with works published by NewParent.com, Fox News, Reuters, USA Today, iVillage.com, and a multitude of other media outlets.

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What a way to end a trip!!! 

A perfect morning in camp starting with yoga and coffee, a good breakfast and back on the river. Perhaps a little hungover for some of us. That had been one amazing party.

This morning was awesome. From the minute of our departure from camp, to our lunch stop several hours later, we had continuous whitewater. Again, all four of the ducky’s capsized at least once. We were all getting use to this daily dose of ice cold water. One duckier (I won’t mention her name) aimed directly toward a boulder in the center of the rapid. Caught in the current and unable to veer away, hit the boulder and wedged itself there. Climbing out of the boat and standing on the rock, not knowing what to do next, CQ instructed her to stay put. Luckily, our raft was near enough to turn, paddle furiously up stream and get her off of the rock.

Written by Beth Robbins

Robbins is a Philadelphia native who grew up loving culture and the excitement of city life. She attended undergraduate school at the University of the Arts and received a master’s in Fine Arts at Temple University and The Tyler School of Art. Robbins taught art history for 16 years and sponsored off-campus trips for high school and college students. Her interest in travel sparked when she backpack and trekked on her own throughout England, France, Spain and the Mediterranean for five months. She later started an interior design business and art consultation company. She has two children and currently lives in Steamboat Springs, Colorado within the Rocky Mountain high country.

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