SOTAR Orange Torpedo Boat  First Descent Big Brother Falls, White Salmon River, WAAs with our previous installment of OTT First Descents (here), we must note that while this falls has been run many, many times by folks in kayaks, rafts, and other kinds of IK's, this is a First Descent for our new SOTAR Orange Torpedo boats. Keep reading ›

  For years now, I’ve spent my summers in truly awe inspiring places–fantastically beautiful, grand, remote and dynamic. More than that, I’ve spent them doing something I love: running rivers. Most days I manage to appreciate this fact for the blessing it is. Some days, though, when I’m tired and sore and the morning is cold and the work to be done seems to run with infinitude ahead of me, I misplace my gratitude. My little big epiphany, as I’ve come to think of it, came on just such a morning. It was the second morning of a five-day Main Salmon trip. I was fixing breakfast with th... Keep reading ›

Sotar Orange Torpedo Boat First Descent - BZ Falls White Salmon RiverSometimes, don't follow your guide…While this falls have been run many, many, many times by people in kayaks, rafts, catarafts, and other IK's this was a first for the new SOTAR Orange Torpedo. Keep reading ›

River Wisdom Wednesday - Happy New YEAR! From our family to yours, a thought to open the New Year. Keep reading ›

If you’ve ever been rafting, kayaking, or really any-thing on the river, then you’re—hopefully—familiar with PFDs, that is, Personal Flotation Devices, A.K.A., lifejackets, life preservers, Mae Wests, life vests, life savers, cork jackets, buoyancy aids or flotation suits. (For those of you who may not be familiar with PFDs, they’re basically kind-of-puffy, vest-ish things filled with enough floaty stuff to help keep their wearers afloat when they wear them.) Once you’ve spent enough time on, around, and especially in the river, you know not to take PFDs for granted. Well, you know n... Keep reading ›

Looking for your river guide? If you’ve been following along, you’ll have noticed that the previous (and only) two installments of this--the OTT Where’s Your Guide--series have followed the more faraway members of our family. So we thought we’d bring it home for a change. This week we’re stalking the the only member of the OTT First Estate (or if you’re in need of a more contemporary reference, the OTT 1%): Orange Torpedo Trips’ General Manager, Erik Weiseth (affectionately, N.G.). If you’ve gone on or booked an OTT trip in the past 10+ years, chances are that yo... Keep reading ›

  Waterproof Camera Phone Case | OTT Gear Guide Product Spotlight: The Watershot With built in camera phones rapidly replacing conventional point-and-shoots, it was only a matter of time before something like the Watershot (~$90) showed up. This cutting edge removable camera housing (with models available for the iPhone 4 & 5 and the Galaxy S3 & S4) is designed for those who want to take their phone around, on and in the water. With a listed effective depth of ~130 feet, this housing was born to serve and protect.   The phone fits snuggly into the case, features two large interchang... Keep reading ›

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It's like the Riverguide's version of tapping ruby slippers. Keep reading ›

The River of No ReturnAmong other things, the offseason means finding other ways to slake our river-need, and one of the best ways to get that fix is through the magical world of film.Now, there are a number of great river-running-related films out there. A River Runs Through It (1992) is an obvious--and choice--example. Likewise, The River Wild (1994). Both are great films (from the river enthusiasts’ perspective, if not the film critics’), and if you haven’t seen them, we’d strongly recommend doing so.But while both of these films have and continue to enjoy relative notoriety (at least in th... Keep reading ›