Meet the Staff of Echo Canyon

We work tirelessly to recruit and train the best staff so your Colorado rafting trip is a one of a kind experience your family will remember for a lifetime. Our guides are recruited from all over the country through a rigorous screening and training process. They are motivated, intelligent and interesting people who not only possess solid river skills, but also a love for the river and sharing the experience with our rafting guests. Our reservation, driver and kitchen staff strive each and every day to surpass your expectations and provide the behind the scenes duties required to make your trip go off without a hitch.

Read more about featured our staff members below. We'll update this page on a regular basis as we share more bios of our hard working staff...

 

Lauran is a 3rd year guide with us. She's from Cleveland, Ohio, and went to school at Morehead State University where she received a degree in Art. During the winter months she manages a child daycare in Winterpark, Colorado, where she hits the slopes with her snowboard on days off. She loves the family-friendly Bighorn Sheep Canyon run where is is often assigned as a Trip Leader.

 

 

 

Morgan, or Truelove as we know him, is from Traverse City, Michigan (that's the state that looks like a glove, just ask any Michigander). He traded in the cherry orchards of the Big Glove State for the rivers, rocks and mountains of Colorado. He's going to school at Colorado State in Fort Collins studying teaching; his student teaching begins this fall. A 2nd year guide, Truelove is training for his Royal Gorge certification. In his spare time he enjoys hiking and snowboarding, and he's also an accomplished rock climber. He's done some pretty impressive climbs in the Royal Gorge and throughout the Cañon City area.

 

Mary is a first year guide whose stomping ground is Colorado Springs, Colorado. She rafted with Echo Canyon last year as a guest and thought a summer job as a guide would be about the best thing out there. She's living her dream and enjoying every minute of it. Mary is also a student studying psychology and she's a big fan of camping in the mountains and coloring!

 

 

 

Andy C. is a 2nd year guide who ventured our way from Connecticut. Trading salt water for the fresh water of Colorado, Andy loves meeting new rafting crews and sharing his new found love of the river with those paddlers. He spends winters around Vail where he does a lot of snowboarding. Andy's first trip was in Costa Rica; he still does a bit of travelling when he can between rafting and working at Vail.

 

 

 

Ken is one of our new shuttle drivers this season. He grew up in Williamsburg, Colorado, but has traveled around a bit. He worked for the Los Angeles Police Department for 10 years, then moved back to Colorado and worked 5 years with the Cañon City P.D., and finally spend over 20 years working for the Department of Corrections. He now drives school busses for RE-2 School District during the school year. In all of his spare time he enjoys fishing and hunting.

 

 

Phil Bob is new to Echo Canyon but not to the Arkansas River; he's been a commercial raft guide since 1984! He's a rafted a lot of other rivers such as the Salt, Rio Grande, Gauley and the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. In the winter he drives a snow cat at Angel Fire Resort in New Mexico, and he also works as a solar panel installer. Yep, he likes to keep busy!

 

 

 

Claire grew up in Australia and enjoys dual citizenship here in the U.S. She's a first year guide here at Echo Canyon and does an excellent job of guiding guests down the Bighorn Sheep Canyon. She's going to school at Yale studying mechanical engineering. In her free time she enjoys playing rugby, snowboarding and working on her car. Claire's twin sister Sarah also works at Echo; you'll find her bio just below.

 

 

 

Sarah grew up in Australia; you probably never would have guessed. Twin sister to Claire, Sarah is also a first year guide and also attends Yale. Her first raft trip was with her family when she was 10; her Dad got ejected from the raft and took an epic swim! We're still trying to get him to visit his daughters for a second attempt at rafting. Sarah is also a rugby player in the off-season and simply loves working in the outdoors on the water.

 

 

 

Tyler has been with us for the past 7 years. He grew up in Madison, Wisconsin and use to float small paper boats on Lake Waubesa until one day he said, "I'm bored. I want more." So he went out and began exploring the world traveling through Central America and commercially guiding in Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama to name just a few countries. He always finds his way back to Echo in time for the Arkansas River season and we're glad for it. Tyler is our head glue-sniffer, which means he works with the nasty glue/chemicals requird to patch and repair rafts. He enjoys climbing and rafting in his spare time.

 

Stacie is a first year guide who joined us from New Orleans, Louisiana. She went to school at LSU studying environmental consulting; she plans to return to school soon to get her Master's degree. In the meantime, she'll remain here to spend some time snowboarding, rafting (of course) and whatever else the Centennial State offers in the great outdoors.

 

 

 

 

Drew grew up in High Point, North Carolina and joined Echo 3 years ago after a year of guiding experience on the Chattooga River. If you’ve ever seen the family film Deliverance then you’ve seen the gorgeous scenery of the Chattooga. Don’t worry, Drew doesn’t own a banjo. He does own a fly fishing rod though and he enjoys catch and release of the Brown Trout and native Rainbow Trout in the Arkansas River. He’s also an avid kayaker. Drew has a lot of patience and is often selected to guide rafts with guests suffering from developmental disorders.

 

Alex is another of our guides with Texas roots. He calls Tomball, Texas his home and is studying civil engineering at Texas Tech. Alex had an interest in floating rivers at an early age and found himself rounding up his buddies to travel all over the southern and eastern states to search out new kayaking runs. We’re happy his travels landed him here on the Arkansas River. He trained to become a guide right here at Echo this spring. When not rafting or studying he enjoys backpacking, traveling, skiing and you guessed it, kayaking.

 

Another Texan? Oh yeah! Alfredo is a native of Beaumont, Texas. Several years ago he did a whitewater raft trip with his Boy Scout troop. After that he set his sights on becoming a raft guide. He called us just in time this spring to get in on our guide training program and we’re thrilled that he did. He attends school at the University of Houston and has about a zillion years left in the physical therapy program he’s taking on. In his spare time he enjoys mountain biking, playing basketball, swimming and rafting with friends.

 

Derrik, or Flahive as he’s called, was a second year guide with us who grew up in Littleton, Colorado. We're sad to say Derrik died Nov. 15, 2011 in an accident while studying abroad in Chile. He was a student at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, where he studied International studies and philosophy. He volunteered in Tanzania and Zimbabwe helping to build schools and wells, and he was also a mentor in the Colby Cares About Kids program. He was loved by his friends and co-workers at Echo Canyon, and he will be very much missed. We'll leave this profile posted in honor of Derrik.

 

Kevin is a first year guide who joined us from San Francisco, California. He keeps busy in the offseason teaching water polo. Kevin attends school at Humboldt State where he's studying Outdoor Recreation and Business. When he can't be rafting the fresh water of the Arkansas River he out in the surfing the salt water off the California coast.

 

 

 

 

Derek, call sign Double D, is a 3rd year guide who grew up in Arlington, Virginia. As a young lad his parents took him on numerous rafting trips which spurred his interest. He moved to Denver, Colorado where he now spends time when not guiding at Echo. He’s an EMT who hopes to get on an ambulance crew after this rafting season. Double D volunteers for Search and Rescue and also enjoys skiing, hiking, rafting with friends. What does Double D stand for? There’s a lot of speculation; you’ll just have to come rafting with us and ask him!­

 

 

Jon has been driving rafting shuttles for us for the past 2 years. He grew up in Penrose, Colorado, home of the world's largest rocking chair (but you probably already knew that). When he's not working at Echo he drives school busses for the RE-2 School District. He's also a volunteer fire fighter and a talented photographer. He absolutely loves socializing and chatting it up with rafting guests and co-workers. He's a most welcome addition to our driving staff.

 

 

Thomas is a first year guide with Echo Canyon. He grew up in Florida but goes to school at the University of Colorado at Boulder where he's studying marine biology. Yeah, he could have studied that in Florida, but the Sunshine State isn't known for its whitewater. He graduates in May of 2012 and spends free time skiing and skateboarding. He's also one of our more skilled photographers who we routinely send out to photograph our Family Float trip.

 

 

Kristen, or K.K. as she's known here, is a 2nd year guide from Temple, Texas. Yep, we don't just take a lot of Texans rafting, we recruit them to become guides as well! K.K. is an avid climber and is an excellent Trip Leader on our Bighorn Sheep Canyon trips. She is studying international and environmental studies and she'll be heading to Germany this fall for a semester or two abroad. We hope she can return to work with us again in 2012 after she graduates in May.

 

 

Ben W. is a first year guide from Muskogee, Oklahoma. Back home he loves fishing and hunting, and he got his river running start canoeing creeks and rivers with his buddies back in Oklahoma. He's studying wildlife ecology in school, graduating in May of 2012 and we hope to have him guiding with us for some years to come.

 

 

 

 

Brittany is also a first year guide who is from Minnetonka, Minnesota. As a child she would regularly float the rivers and creeks of the great Gopher State with her family. She was bit by the river bug (not a gopher). She came out to Colorado to paddle bigger waves and whitewater. Brittany is a student at Colorado Mountain College in Steamboat where she is studying outdoor education. She'll graduate next May and then plans on taking some teaching classes so she can meld the two studies into one.

 

 

Justin is a first year guide who joined us all the way from Denver, Colorado. Sometimes opportunity is in your own back yard! Justin says a life outside is well spent and he’s spending it well as a talented new guide who loves all things outdoors. Off-season he’s a student studying psychology. He also has an adorable dog named Maddie who’s a little ball of energy who can’t wait for the river season to end so she can take Justin for walks again!

 

 

 

Evan, or Oyster as he's also known, grew up on a dairy farm in Ohio and couldn't wait to get out West to play on the rivers and rocks. He's a second year guide who is training to certify in the Royal Gorge. He spends winters in Winter Park where you'll find him working at the resort and snowboarding when he can. Evan does a lot of traveling between rafting and ski season to search out new rock climbing areas; recently he's been enjoying the rocks of Utah and Nevada. He'll be heading out to California to climb as soon as this rafting season ends.

 

Philip is an 8th grader this year and helps out checking in guests, selling photos and doing maintenance work. A staunch critic of child labor laws and a proponent of dry humor, he works at Echo part time during his summer school break. In his spare time he enjoys playing baseball and target practice.

 

 

 

 

Kate has been a reservationist with us for the past 2 years. She enjoys going to school at the University of Colorado at Boulder studying integrative physiology (we had to Google that one, too!). She does a lot of hiking, skiing and crafting in her spare time. You'd think she's worked here for years as efficient as she is at answering your questions or taking your reservation. And yes, she was on a real phone call when this photo was taken!

 

 

Michelle is our most experienced reservationist at Echo Canyon. She's worked here since 1996! Michelle can help a guest with questions and complete a phone reservation faster than the average raft run through Sunshine Rapid (average Sunshine run time is 16.9 seconds with a light breeze and average river flow). Okay, maybe we're exaggerating a little, but she's pretty fast! She's a teacher at RE-1 School District when not at Echo. She also likes to travel, spend time with her niece and she's a huge fan of anything Disney.

 

Shawn is a California boy. He grew up in Chico and took to the river in 2001. He commercially guided the American, Tuolumne and Rouge River just to name a few. Shawn has also spent some endless summers guiding in Costa Rica, Chile and Argentina. He began working at Echo 3 years ago and we’re very happy to have his experience in our ranks. Besides doing a lot of travelling and pull-ups, Shawn is also a rising star in the male model world; he’s still awaiting a call from Abercrombie and Fitch. Keep your eyes peeled for him.

 

Jered is a proud local of Canon City, Colorado. He’s worked with Echo for the past 6 years as a guide and also helps us out in the off-season doing a variety of handyman-type work (because we break a lot of things around here). He’s studying Mechatronics at Colorado State at Pueblo, and if all goes well he should graduate no later than 2037 (he exaggerates sometimes). His sister Coree was a guide here years ago and she got him interested in raft guiding. In his spare time he likes to go hunting, fishing, snowboarding, and he is currently rebuilding a jeep.

 

Jason, or Ruzic as he's known, hales from Neosho, Missouri. He's a 2nd year guide who is training for his Royal Gorge guide certification. He recently graduated from Colorado Mountain College earning a degree in Outdoor Recreation Leadership. Ruzic hopes to one day start an outdoor guiding company catering to kids and young adults who are financially disadvantaged so they can experience the thrill of outdoor adventure. In his spare time he likes rock climbing, kayaking and rafting.

 

Rachel grew up in Joplin, Missouri, and is a 2nd year guide here at Echo Canyon. She has just one semester left at Missouri Southern State, after which she plans on entering a paramedic training program. When not rafting Rachel can be found hiking, shopping and doing some substitute teaching. She is also a dancer, but you probably won't see those moves when she's guiding rafts!

 

 

 

Nick joined us from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He's a first year guide who in the offseason is going to school studying Finance. He got bit by the river bug after paddling a 120 mile section of the Rio Grande on the border of Texas and Mexico. He traveled that river by canoe and decided to join us for some good times rafting the Arkansas River; we hope he sticks around for a while!

 

 

 

Thor has been here at Echo longer than any other CDL driver - 19 years! He's known for his impressive backing skills and his awesome handle bar mustache! He'll always volunteer for the longer drive assignments and he can't wait for the next river season to start. Thor lives in Canon City, drives also for Fort Carson, and is a proud Dad and Grandpa. We hope he sticks around Echo a long time!

 

 

 

With over a dozen years of experience guiding, Newman has worked at Echo for 9 of those seasons. If you've rafted with us very much you've probably had Newman as your guide at some point. He absolutely LOVES floating rivers with guests; his positive attitude is infectious. Newman is one of our core multi-day guides. Off-season Newman floats other rivers all across America and eventually finds his way to Durango where he winters over.

 

 

Matt's been guiding with Echo for the last 11 years. He's a towney - a local of Canon City. Matt loves making people laugh by sneaking funny lines into the safety orientation, the speech we give every raft crew on the way to the put-in. He's also a high school history teacher and does a lot of coaching at Canon City High School.

 

 

 

 

Our most senior CDL driver, Dick is happiest when he's working hard and helping people out. We have to tell Dick to take a day off, otherwise he'd work all season without a break. Outside of the raft season Dick drives school busses in Florence, Colorado. On a rare day off you'll find Dick welding or perhaps gardening with his wife, Florence.

 

 

 

 

Carla has been a reservationist with us for 3 seasons now. She's a pro at recommending trips and helping guests plan their trips; you'd think she's been doing this for ten years! Off-season Carla is a teacher in Canon City, and she loves traveling whenever possible.

 

 

 

 

 

Ashly has 3 years of experience guiding here at Echo. She's a licensed massage therapist and esthetican; bonus points if you don't have to look that up on dictionary.com! Ashly is still in awe that she gets paid to do this - to guide you and your buddies down the river. She can't think of a better summer job than being a raft guide!

 

 

 

Melissa has 4 years of experience with us. She used to work in an office, on a computer; she did that for 10 years and didn't like it. Now she rafts and loves it! Off-season you'll find Melissa 'working' as a mountain host at a ski resort near Salt Lake City. What a change of lifestyle - getting to work outside year around!

 

 

 

 

 

John has been driving school busses for 7 years. John probably has more great stories than most of our raft guides, and he loves telling those stories. Always whistling a song, John brings a great attitude to the job every day. If he drives your shuttle this summer you're sure to hear some of those stories!

 

 

 

 

We're not exactly sure how many years of guiding Zulu has under his belt; somewhere between 25 and 30 years! He grew up in Denver and Boulder, Colorado. Why does he keep doing it? He just loves to float rivers and share the experience with his guests. When not guiding for Echo Canyon you'll find Zulu exploring rivers throughout the Southwest. We're lucky to have his experience on the river every day!

 

 

Cody is a 4th year guide and just recently certified as a Royal Gorge guide! Another native of Colorado, Cody chases down every wave he can hit to give every guest a face full of whitewater. He loves the water, the river and beautiful scenery of the Arkansas River.

 

 

 

 

 

Another native of Colorado, Saul has been with Echo Canyon for the last 7 years. He says he loves coming back every season because he gets to yell at his paddle crews! In all seriousness, Saul is a very skilled and often requested guide who runs quite a few of our multi-day raft trips. He's also working hard studying to become a veterinarian when not on the river.

 

 

 

From Austin, Texas, Taylor has been guiding with Echo Canyon for the last 6 river seasons. She boats whenever she can, and likes checking out new rivers to guide commercially. She always has a smile on her face when she gets to guide another trip.

 

 

 

 

 

Buckman is a 3rd year guide who is learning some solid skills as he continues to pursue his guiding career. His greatest fear is an office space with cubicles. No wonder he became a raft guide!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kate has been rafting with us for 4 years. She hails from Michigan, Wyoming. She searched far and wide to find a job that would allow her to work outdoors. Becoming a raft guide was a natural fit for her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Allie is a 4th year guide who lives in Denver, Colorado. You'll find her enjoying the outdoors any chance she gets! During the offseason she is a ski instructor while pursuing a degree in environmental science. She loves returning to Echo each year for the challenge and excitement of the river.

 

 

 

 

McIver has been with Echo Canyon for 8 years. His accent gives away his Boston, Massachusetts home, and his love for meeting new people and guiding trips in the outdoors is McIver's passion. When not rafting he can be found studying history and secondary education, skiing and working as a climbing instructor.

 

 

 

 

Berto is our most experienced guide with 29 years of experience on 8 rivers. He loves the river, the lifestyle and showing people a good time. When the season is over you'll find Berto working as a ski instructor some years, while some winters find him south of the border working as a kite board instructor. If you've rafted with us a bunch you've probably experienced the cool confident demeanor of Berto!

 

 

 

Sage joined the Echo staff this year, but he has 5 years of commercial guide experience. Sage was born into the guiding world; his parents are avid boaters who put him on a raft as soon as he could walk! He's boated in Oregon, Washington and in the Grand Canyon. He's an EMT who works ski patrol during winters.

 

 

 

 

Krysta is a 4th year guide and is a true local who grew up in Cañon City, Colorado. She loves how the Arkansas River changes from day to day to keep it challenging for her and her paddle crews. She's a student during most of the year and snowboards whenever school allows, or goes to school whenever snowboarding allows!