The 2005 season is almost over. Every year has its special qualities. This year we saw great high water on our early Tuolumne trips, while wild fires on the Rogue caused us to modify some itineraries. We also ran several Rogue trips on which we both camped and stayed in lodges. These camp/lodge trips proved to be quite popular, and we will be offering more of them in 2006.

Our new luxury packages also proved to be quite popular. A luxury package is a tent tall enough to stand up in, cots, and extra thick Thermarest pads. One long-time guest told us that the package has extended his river running by another ten years!!

Special Trips

Charter a Trip (e-News special) Book an entire trip with only your friends and family! One person, usually the organizer, goes for free. On the Tuolumne and Rogue we offer an additional 10% discount. When you charter a trip you guarantee that you will fill all the spots. The time to select the date for your charter trip is in the fall, while trip dates are mostly empty.

If we receive your deposit for a 2006 Charter trip in September (this month), you will receive 2005 prices for that trip.

Bluegrass Trips Each season we do a trip or two with bluegrass musicians Laurie Lewis and Tom Rozum. This coming season they are considering trips on either the Rogue River or the Middle Fork of the Salmon.

If you prefer one trip over the other, let us know at info@echotrips.com so we can tell Laurie and Tom.

Guide Schools We are offering two whitewater guide schools for 2006. The first will be an eight day Rogue and Tuolumne school starting March 25th. The second will be a ten day Idaho guide school on the Middle Fork and Main Salmon starting May 29th.

Our 2005 Rogue and Tuolumne guide school will be the feature article of the March 2006 issue of Paddler Magazine.

Reports From the Field

World Headquarters The office is gearing up for 2006 and improving the ECHO Web Site (click here for sneak peek). We are also working on ways to order prints or CD's from your ECHO trip through our Photo Site.

Oregon Wildfires on the Rogue brought helicopters and smoky conditions in July and closed the river for two weeks in August. A few trips even had the opportunity to see helicopters dip in the river up close.

We are offering two more trips on the Rogue in September: a four day Yoga retreat on September 9th and a three day camp/lodge trip on September 17th. Call us right way at (800) 652-3246 if you are interested.

California We had a banner year on the Tuolumne this season with medium and high water trips through July. The already thrilling class IV river became even more exciting when the rocks moved and rapids changed. Our August trips were the first to see the new altered version of Clavey Falls.

Idaho Late season snow and rain gave us a better Idaho season than we expected, allowing us to run trips into early September. Now fall has hit the area, giving us cool evenings, crisp mornings and great trout fishing. Our last Middle Fork of the Salmon trip is on the water right now enjoying the solitude of late summer and the first signs of the changing seasons.

Temperatures have been dropping quickly in the area and there has been talk of snow coming early in the mountains around Stanley and Salmon.

We look forward to our next river trip together!

Sincerely,

Dick Linford and Joe Daly, Owners

ECHO River Trips
116 Oak St Suite #1, Hood River, OR 97031
(800) 652-3246 | (541) 386-2271 | fax (541) 386-1362
email: info@echotrips.com | web site: www.echotrips.com