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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“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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The Welder – Notes from WELD's Laboratory

The Middle Fork of the Salmon encompasses every aspect that river runners love about rivers. It’s natural flowing, no dams, no water being diverted. At any moment in the journey, there is a very good chance you will see wildlife in its most wild setting. The water is clean, the rapids are fun and the pools are relaxing.

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Written by Keith21

Video Production, Outdoor Adventurer

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On January 4th I woke up to a gloomy, snowy Colorado morning. Another gray day and my spirits seemed to match the color of the mountain. Sitting at my computer checking my e-mails and OMG…… it read  “Blog Your Way Around The World Winner”. I went flying through the house screaming with excitement. After I calmed down I phoned everyone I knew and sent out masses of e-mails thanking everyone who voted for me. I know there are a lot of people I don’t know who have voted.  So I would like to thank each of you for your vote and your support of me.

Then I started looking at all of the trips. Where do I go first???? I have such amazing choices. Borneo seemed like a great choice for September. But I don’t want to wait until September to start traveling. So working backwards I decided to go with Backroads in June (if it is available) and OARS down the Salmon river at the end of July. Hopefully, all of these plans will fall into place.

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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Every once in a while I have a William Wordsworth moment. Wordsworth is the immortal English poet who penned, among many masterpieces, a sonnet entitled “The World Is Too Much with Us,” which begins:

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!  
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune.

Written by Don George

Don George has been a pioneering travel writer and editor for 30 years. He is the author of the best-selling guide Travel Writing and the editor of six acclaimed anthologies of travel stories, including The Kindness of Strangers and A Moveable Feast. Formerly Travel Editor for the San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle and Global Travel Editor for Lonely Planet, he is Contributing Editor and Book Review Columnist for National Geographic Traveler and Special Features Editor and Blogger for Gadling.com; he is also Editor in Chief and Blogger for the Adventure Collection.

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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.

Written by Debbie Hausler

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Preponderance of
Ponderosa pines imbues
yearning for green peace.

Rapid waters slow
onrush of advancing years.
Logjams free the soul.

Eddies inscribe circles
of new beginnings and ends,
reverse time, change flow.

Bow to the power
of capillary creeks breaking
aortal rhythms.

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Avid outdoors-person Katrina Kehl wanted her children’s introduction into the natural world to be a pleasant experience. A backpacking trip would mean a lot of pre-planning, packing, walking with heavy packs, cooking and cleaning up after meals. After careful consideration, her family chose to join an all-inclusive whitewater rafting trip on the Lower Salmon River in Idaho.

In a recent conversation Katrina revealed to me, “Joining an O.A.R.S. vacation is enticing because the logistics and details are managed for us. There is little work involved on the parent’s part. Additionally, a whitewater rafting trip forces kids to be resourceful and play with what is available. It also forces the adults to slow down and have a conversation or read a book or do nothing at all. Being in a raft and hiking and enjoying camp also gets you to stop, look around and pay attention, if only for five or six days. The trip is so relaxing: you have no idea what is going on outside the river canyon and eventually you do not care. It is different than going to Hawaii or Europe or a resort, because in those places you always have access to TVs, phones, electronics, and a schedule.”

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Written by Tracy

Writer, Photographer, former Waterblogged Editor

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Whether I’m laughing my way through Lava Falls in the Grand Canyon or camel trekking in the Sahara desert, I love to travel. I’ve explored five continents and paddled or rowed my way through nearly 200 whitewater rafting trips, and I’ve never tired of meeting people and experiencing life through their eyes. I go hog wild researching an area before arriving at my destination—I enjoy the research almost as much as the vacation! Here are 10 tips that can assist you before booking your adventure travel vacation.

What Are You In The Mood For?

• Be honest, you’ve worked hard for this vacation. Do you want to crank up the adrenaline, relax and enjoy a river from the bow of a boat, explore desert canyons and Native American artifacts or paddle your way through misty Canadian bays in search of killer whales? Do you want to relax around a campfire and sleep under the stars or would you like to experience a hot shower and linens at the end of your day—or perhaps you’d prefer a little of each? If you are traveling with a friend, child, and/or loved one, make sure you want similar vacations to avoid unnecessary friction.

Written by Tracy

Writer, Photographer, former Waterblogged Editor

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