Recent Posts from Zachary Collier
My Favorite Middle Fork Camp: Survey Creek
My favorite camp on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River has always been Survey (aka Dutch Oven). It’s a nice bench on the left side of the river at mile 75. What makes it special is the maze of small Ponderosa Pines. Other camps on the Middle Fork stand out because of hot springs, views, side hikes, beautiful creeks, or natural history. I like Survey because I always have fun there. The Ponderosas give the camp a special magic that you can feel - almost...
Family Rafting on the Rogue River Video
We just finished this video about family rafting on the Rogue River. Enjoy! We'd love to hear what you think!
Play ECHO's Annual Trivia Contest!
The first 5 people to respond correctly will receive an ECHO stainless steel, insulated travel bottle perfect for your next river trip! Simply comment (using facebook) below and we'll contact you if you're a winner (BTW if you're reading this you're a winner no matter what).
Stand Up Paddleboards on the Rogue River
Our guides have fallen in love with Stand Up Paddleboarding on the river. Stand Up Paddleboards (or SUPs) involve standing on a big surfboard and using a long paddle to propel yourself forward. They are surprisingly stable and a fun way to experience the river. Similar to how riding low in an inflatable kayak offers a completely different perspective, standing up on the paddleboard is sort of like hiking down a river! We bought a few SUPs last summer for the crew to play with on...
New Middle Fork of the Salmon Video
Last summer our friend Nate Herbeck of Sheer Madness Productions joined one of our Middle Fork of the Salmon trips to capture the magic of our trips on video. He came back with so much amazing footage that we decided to make a short film from his footage. Enjoy!
Our 2012 Bhutan Rafting & Cultural Tour
We just put the final touches on our our 2012 Bhutan Rafting & Cultural Tour. This is an opportunity to visit this magical kingdom and be one of the very few people to raft or kayak it's rivers. Next year's trip will be 11 days including 9 inside Bhutan. We'll visit it's most famous monasteries and temples as well as raft some amazingly beautiful rivers. For more information, check out our Bhutan Information Web Page or give us a call at (541) 386-2271.
Siberia 2012: The Sayan Oka
For 2012 we're offering a special expedition to the Sayan Oka River in Southern Siberia. We had a great trip to Siberia's Kaa-Khem last summer which generated a lot of interest for another trip to this unknown land. The Sayan Oka is further East which makes it easier to reach through Bejing, China. From Bejing we'll fly to Irktusk and then it's a day's drive to the river. The trip ends near lake Baikal and we'll take a few days to explore this lake which is...
Trip Report: Siberia's Kaa-Khem River
Vlad and I just returned from an amazingly epic trip to the Kaa-Khem River, located in Siberia near the Mongolian border. Our trip began with flights into Moscow, where we spent a couple of days exploring this historic city before flying to the city of Abakan in the heart of Siberia. From Abakan, we traveled by van to Kyzyl, the capital of the Tuva Republic, which is a region in Southern Siberia whose residents are mostly Mongolian Buddhists living in small villages. Tuva gained notoriety in...
Creme Brulee
Here at ECHO we love cooking on the river and sometimes we get a wild hair to try things out of the ordinary. Last week we decided to try and make Creme Brulee from scratch. We found a great recipe on the internet and scaled it up for a group of 30. Ingredients 36 egg yolks 2-1/4 cups white sugar, divided 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 15 cups heavy cream 3/4 cup brown sugar Directions 1. Prepare 2 dutch ovens by heating the lids and lighting 50...
Bhutan 2010 Trip Report
ECHO's first rafting and cultural tour of Bhutan exceeded my own expectations. For the trip, we teamed up with our friends from DeRiemer Adventure Kayaking and traveled with 5 rafters and 2 kayakers for a tour of the pristine natural environments and the seemingly unexplored culture of "the last Shangri-La". Our trip started with a short flight from Bangkok into the Paro Airport, in the heart of the Paro Valley. Paro is surrounded by mountains, and we were excited to see a river running parallel to...
