Blog
Last season (2017)I made the work transition from being a whitewater river guide to being a River Ranger in one of our nation’s spectacular National Parks. Working as a river ranger isn’t “a walk in the park” as the saying goes. Many a hot buggy work day was spent at […]
NRS: River Rangers and Kitty Litter?
Far from the crowds that flock to southern Peru, you can get your “Indiana Jones” on in the northern territories where ancient Incan and Pre-Incan archaeological wonders rival the famed citadel of Machu Picchu. The mountains surrounding Chachapoyas in northern Peru contain the lush vegetation of the Andean cloud forests […]
NRS: Five Reasons to Travel to Peru
This time, last year (or at least this is my side of the story) on the Salt River in the Sonoran desert. Our low-water river trip down the Salt River in Arizona was an expedition with lots of wild life. So much life in the desert. Maybe it was the […]
Duct Tape Butt and other Bear Stories
2018 – IS THE YEAR of the Rio Marañón! Do not wait another year to sign up, this is the year! So many launch dates and themes to choose from! Each trip has its own unique flare, one is sure to fit your interest. Here are three different themes and […]
Year of the Rio Maranon
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 […]
2017 Hard to Beat!
This was a pack I did for the Escalante River. It was 7-days for 4 kayakers. No Coolers style; see my cookbook series “Camp Without Coolers”.
7-Days, 4 people – Food Pack
For 5 years this has been my work. I am passionate about doing what I can to save this river and to help the locals and Peruvians in their battle to protect the very important free flowing Upper Amazon. Please read my article about the conservation effort and learn what […]
AW: The Fight to Save the Rio Maranon
If I told you it’s possible to go boating in paradise for as little as $46 dollars a day would you believe me? It seems crazy, yes, but in Ecuador, it’s completely attainable. That $46 a day included traveling to Ecuador with my personal cataraft, frame and oars, round-trip taxi […]
NRS: Traveling to Ecuador with Cats
Join us on a self-support trip to Ecuador this winter. You make all the flight arrangements and get your boating equipment down to Tena or Baeza. Not sure that you can travel with your equipment? Rental is available or purchase one of Neil’s “International Travel” cataraft packages. These are the […]
Join Us in Ecuador – winter 2017
On a trip during Mexico’s monsoon season a flash flood threatens to sweep NRS Ambassador, Lacey Anderson, and her companion down the river. Faced with the option to run a flooded IV+ canyon or hunker down within reach of a Mexican pot farm, Lacey outweighs the potential risk of […]
NRS: Lacey’s Choice: Canyons or Cartels
There’s a Ben Harper song that continued to run through my head as I rowed the Rio Marañón in Peru last summer. The chorus, I am blessed, I am blessed, I am blessed to be a witness, played over and over again, through countless rapids and lulls of flat stretches. […]
NRS: Blessed
ONE TIME DEAL – LOW SPECIAL PRICE OFFER! This will be a true cultural experience; best if you are fluent in Spanish and love traveling in Peru. The trip was organized for the Peruvian NGO Conservamos por Naturaleza and the Peruvian Rio Marañón conservation campaign. The majority of participants will […]
Peruvian River Conservation Trip
A Floater’s Guide to the Rivers of the Yaqui Watershed; Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico is the title to the new guidebook. Here is an Excerpt: Just south of the US/Mexico border (Arizona) lies an expansive and impressive watershed that offers a variety of rivers to be run – the watershed […]
Northern Mexico River Guidebook
This is an excerpt from my camp cookbook, “Camp Without Coolers or Stoves – Tasty Meals with Absolutely NO COOKING!”. The guidelines for eleven specific produce items is because those are the most common fresh produce ingredients in the cookbook. Tip # 1 – Keeping Foods Fresh Purchase fruits and […]
Keeping Produce Fresh, Camp WITHOUT Stoves
The 5-Day menu includes breakfast, lunch, and a themed multi-course dinner each day. Dinners start with happy hour where drinks and appetizers are served. Then the main entrée is served with salad and bread. Lastly, top the meal off with a delicious dessert. Use the 5-Day Menu in its entirety […]
5-Day Menu, Camp WITHOUT Stoves
“I’m a native of Tupen Grande. We have to face a problem caused by the company Odebrecht. It’s a mega-dam project which they are trying to do in the Maranon River Basin,” states Emer Chavez. “It will flood hundreds of square kilometers. Thousands of families will be displaced” continues Emer. […]
Serpent of Gold – Trailer II
Check out the trailer to our documentary! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj5q4gB5HZc Please give it a like or share from our facebook page, and share with any paddling/ environmental / social groups you might think will be interested. https://www.facebook.com/paddlingwithpurpose?ref=hl After all this time planning, fundraising, organizing and paddling it is awesome to see what […]
The Serpent of Gold – Trailer
Here is a 9-day menu that I put together for another Upper Amazon (Rio Marañon) river trip. I hope it inspires you. Check it out: B: Fresh Fruit, Peaches, Yogurt, Granola and Cereal, milk, energy bars L: Tuna Sandwich + PBJ/Nutella, Chips, cookies D: Appetizer: Guacamole & Corn Tortilla Chips […]
9-Day Menu, No Ice Needed!
12-days of meals! Listed below is the partial menu from a 28-day Upper Amazon river expedition, June, 2015 (Rio Marañon). Keep reading to discover 12 days worth of camp food! Includes: breakfasts, lunches, appetizers, main dinner meals, salads, sides, and desserts. True, all this food was bought in Peru, but […]
12-Day Menu
Deep in rural Guatemala, expedition rafter Lacey Anderson employs a whiteboard and the common language of rivers to bridge the communication divide and train a group of indigenous Mayans to be river guides. With a marker and small whiteboard in hand, I began illustrating hydrology to a group of Mayan […]
NRS: Mayan Guide School
Neil and I were about to embark on the first raft descent of the upper Rio Bavispe in northern Mexico, a tributary of the Rio Yaqui north of the infamous Copper Canyon. As far as we knew, the river had been run only once, by a solo kayaker. This is […]
NRS: Exploring Mexico´s Rio Bavispe
2 Peru and Mexico are the destination countries for 2015! In May through July I will be in Peru running the Upper Amazon. In July I will return home to start preparing for river trips in Mexico. In August and September you will find Neil and I on rivers together; we […]
Join a River Trip!
The 30 pounder on the SelwayNo, you don’t have to go on a diet, just downsize your raft or cataraft and frame! We own four 12.5 and 13 foot catarafts and here are the weights on the sets of tubes: 30, 38, 43, and 45 pounds for each set. These […]
New Year’s Resolution? Lose Weight!
Do you ever dream of doing an international boating expedition? Say in Guatemala, Nepal, Mexico, or Peru? Stop dreaming and join me in 2015! See the new Facebook group for information on upcoming river adventures! The FB group is called “Womens Water Expeditions”. I just completed running some rivers in […]
Seriously, Do It In 2015!
Having done both tributaries of the Rio Aros, the Rio Mulatos (2010 and 2011) and the Verde/Upper Sirupa (2013), we were keen to complete the “trilogy” and run the remaining headwater stream, the Rio Tutuaca. In 2013, we had scouted access to the Rio Tutuaca and the area around Rancho […]
Rio Tutuaca, Mexico – First Cataraft Descent
“Thank you for expressing an interest in the Women´s Peru Expedition happening in 2015, this is the 1st update.” So began my letter to interested participants in an all-women river expedition planned for 2015. I was about to take-off to Peru for my second trip down the Rio Marañon (the […]