Copyright Greg VonDoersten

2017 kept me so busy that there has been no time to blog. Here is a quick reflection on 2017 (better late than never): started the year with my “International Cataraft” in Ecuador, feel even more in love with the rivers and people of that country.

In February came back home to the beautiful desert of Joshua Tree (but only for a few months). The spring and summer found me working on the Colorado River through Cataract Canyon and the Green River through Labyrinth and Stillwater Canyons. I worked as a National Park River Ranger. Checking folks river permits, maintaining the National Park Lands and patrolling those breathtakingly scenic river canyons. September found me back in Peru (for the fifth year in a row!). I hung out with Peruvian friends and then ran a couple of Rio Maranon (headwaters of the Amazon River) expeditions in northern Peru.

I have been organizing these trips since 2014 for awesome groups of adventuresome people. I work with Peruvian outfitters, renting the Peruvians expedition equipment, utilize Peruvian logistical support teams, support local villagers and hire only Peruvian guides. I enjoy supporting the local economies and local citizens. Participants from our groups have came from all over the world – Canada, (former) Yugoslavia, Sweden, Guatemala, Argentina and the USA.  In December I traveled to Ecuador to meet my husband for our favorite past time – catarafting little known rivers in the Latin World! In 2016 we had discovered many wonderful rivers in the Tena and Baeza area and in 2017 we branched out exploring rivers with our small easy to transport catarafts into other regions of Ecuador. We feel in love with even more areas of the country and better yet made even more friends wanting to share the boater’s paradise of Ecuador.