Bighorn sheep canyon rafting trip

Smalls is a college student at the University Of Arkansas who trained to become a raft guide in 2022. He has always loved to go camping, hiking, and rafting, and is currently working on his goal to summit all 58 of Colorado’s 14,000ft peaks. During the offseason, Smalls spends time working on music, playing live shows with his band, Ozark Riviera, and exploring Arkansas nature. Smalls loves giving guests a memorable river experience and plans to continue rafting far into the future.

Lali is from Miami, Florida. She is currently earning her coding certificates to ultimately pursue a future in programing, with the intent to sustainability continue a lifestyle in outdoor recreation. Her passions are in analysis, health, and recreation. In her free time, Lali partakes in mindfulness practices, reads, creates art, is a proud cat mom, and partakes in strength/mobility training.

If you can relate to her on any of these levels, it will be easy for either you or her to talk each others ear off!

Pam joined Echo in 2021 after enjoying her three years of guiding on the Cache La Poudre River in Fort Collins. Pam grew up in Aurora, CO, and graduated Colorado State University in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in music therapy. Pam is a board certified music therapist, and is the proud founder of Mountain Melodies Music Therapy Services. During the winter months Pam works as an adaptive ski instructor at the National Sports Center for the Disabled, teaching people with cognitive, physical, and emotional disabilities how to ski. Pam believes that outdoor recreation should be accessible to all, and she loves taking people of all abilities rafting. In addition to rafting, Pam has enjoyed backpacking, hiking, scuba diving, and earning her skydiving license all in her home state of Colorado.

Hello, my name is Wade. I’m a guide from Oxford, Mississippi. At age 8, I wrestled my first alligator. At age 11, I grinned down my first bear. You see, there’s nothing so absolutely irresistible as an old fashion, good natured grin. I’ve grinned down rivers, women, mountains, bears, burritos and Mexico. I don’t always smile, but when I do, I give ’em the good stuff.

Trinity is from Orange County, California and studies Entertainment & Tourism. Although everyone makes fun of her “valley girl” voice, she is proud to be the only current female guide from Cali. Growing up her summers consisted of restoring homes on Native American reservations across the US and bummin’ it at the beach. She has a wide array of hobbies, rafting being her new favorite. Taking a spiritual approach with rafting has helped her connect to the element of water and appreciate the river’s energy. Trinity’s goal is to perform a one-woman show for all her rafting guests called Safety Speech: The Musical

Coming from Edmond, Oklahoma, Jacob Stewart is yet another one of our Oklahoma boys. In May of 2022, Jacob graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma and majored in Outdoor Recreation. Some of Jacob’s favorite activities include climbing, skiing, and of course boating. Jacob also worked as a climbing instructor and ski instructor in Oklahoma City and Lake Tahoe respectively. His favorite part about boating is pushing himself to new limits and constantly improving! Jacob, aka Stew, likes to say “a calm sea does not make a skilled sailor.”

Ramzi, originally from Nashville, Tennessee, trained to guide in 2019 at Echo but had guided previously in Wisconsin. In Ramzi’s off-season he likes to hike around Boulder losing himself in the trees. Some of his favorite things besides being on a raft are, mountains, feeling the breeze through his hair, hanging out by the beach, and in the winter he thrives while snowboarding and skiing. Ramzi’s motto is to take everyday one giggle at a time, go boating with him and you will have the best time EVER.

Come meet Sara, our loudest river guide! She’s sure to whip you into paddling shape right off the bus. She’s always on the hunt for the best waves and the best outfits. Her next move is to be sponsored by Chaco! But for now, she stays rocking the best Echo Canyon guide gear on the Arkansas River. Besides clothes, she’s an expert on the wildlife as well! Be sure to ask her about her favorite animals on the river!

Riley trained in 2019 at Echo Canyon and is from all over the United States. Being from a military family, Riley had lived in 16 different houses in 16 different cities by the time she turned 18. She is currently about to take on her second year of school at Colorado College, studying Environmental Studies and Education. Some of Riley’s favorite activities include snowboarding and backpacking, her favorite place being Havasupai Falls in Arizona. Riley’s favorite part about rafting is seeing the facial expressions coming from her guests’ faces and hitting BIG waves.

Baker is from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and attends the University of Central Oklahoma. He is in his third year of studying Outdoor Community Recreation, and plans to someday become a motivational speaker to outdoor enthusiasts. Some of his favorite activities include picking out new short shorts at the mall, running, and biking up and down 8 mile hill. Baker wants everyone to know that if you get on his boat you’ll be crushing big waves and laughing all the way down the Arkansas River.

Jef trained to be a raft guide at Echo in 2018 and has stuck around ever since! Originally from West Bloomfield, MI she moved to the mountains for a little more texture and found a love of whitewater instead. When she’s not chasing big splashes, she loves exploring the area with her fellow guides and/or taking naps. Her favorite part of being a raft guide is getting to share the places she loves with new people – so come check them out!

A Colorado native, Ritchie is from the Denver area and has lived in the mountains for her whole life. She attends CU Boulder and is working on getting her degree in Biology. She enjoys long walks in the park with her pet pig, Pig Floyd. Her most recent hobby has been partaking in basket weaving at the local community center. She hopes to one day get good enough to be able to underwater basket weave.

Karlyn a.k.a. Karl comes straight outta Wisconsin and is a huge advocate for everything in her state. She’s studying nursing and loves to treat everyone’s booboos here at Echo Canyon. While on the boat with Karl you’ll notice her very strong accent, so be sure to have her say “bag” for you at least 5 times. She loves to give speeches about her favorite foods like cheese curds, yogurt, and the fact that she loves eating bread in the mornings. As Karl likes to say, WISCONSIN OR DIE!

Grant is originally from Chicago but spent most his childhood in Utah.  He studies film at Utah Valley and ultimately would like to direct movies. Grant has always liked movies, especially the artistic side.  Grant was inspired to be a raft guide after going on a class V rafting trip in New Zealand. His guide’s name was Ants, which is short for Anthony in Kiwi.  Grant decided right then and there that he wanted to be doing the same thing, and trained at Echo in 2017. In the future he wants to go to Gauley Fest and Gore Canyon.  His favorite movie is No Country for Old Men and if you hop on his boat you can discuss all the great movies with him!

Bridget is from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  She majored in psychology in school and plans to get her master abroad in Ireland and then teach.  Bridget had never done anything like raft guiding before coming to Echo Canyon River Expeditions in 2017 and she was ready for a new adventure.  Being able to learn new skills during the summers is probably her favorite part about her time here. Aside from rafting, Bridget also plays lacrosse, field hockey, and the guitar. Eventually she wants to hike the El Camino trail through the entirety Spain! Her advice for those of you looking to come train, “use your fear to fuel you!”

From Akron, Ohio (home of LeBron James), Craig trained at Echo Canyon in 2015. He has previously taught history at Northwest High School in Ohio. Craig loves history; he feels the greatest thing about it is that it’s made everyday. His favorite historical event just might be the Cavaliers 2016 NBA Championship run, we aren’t sure we’ve ever seen someone more excited! Craig enjoys rafting because he gets to crack jokes with the boys while also crushing big waves. Eventually he dreams of going down the Grand Canyon and the Congo River. Craig also wants to eventually visit all the National Parks, he has already knocked out 17 of them! DOWN WITH THE DAMS! FREE THE RIVERS!

Corndog is from Columbus, Ohio, and studied Social Work at Capital University. Her mom took her on her first rafting adventure down the Gauley when she was 16 years old and ever since she was hooked. She came to Echo in 2015 to train, and earned the nickname “Corndog” after eating 38 corn dogs after a particularly long day of training. One day, Corndogs hopes to climb all of Colorado’s 14ers, powered exclusively by corn dogs.

Jenny graduated from Kansas State University where she ran cross country and track. She is from Fulton, Missouri, and has been guiding at Echo since 2016. Jenny had been studying all night and at 3 am in the morning googled cool jobs in Colorado; the rest is history! She loves being outside all day and can’t wait for the upcoming summer!

Josh has been a guide since 2016, hails from Cañon City and is attending University of Colorado, Boulder. When training at Echo we spend a substantial amount of time swimming and cultivating the skills to flip boats over that occasionally capsize. Josh found this component of training to be especially exhilarating! Travelling will likely be a big part of Josh’s future; until then if you’re lucky enough to have him as your river guide you’ll see that he has the biggest dimples on the Arkansas River.

Coming all the way from Orlando, Florida, Ricky joined Echo in 2015.  He came to Colorado after working as a cook in Alaska, in order to be outside and out of the blazing hot kitchen! Ricky thoroughly enjoys travelling; he has visited many places including Australia, Thailand, Japan, Columbia, and the Caribbean. Ricky’s favorite part of the river is the noise the water makes, as it ebbs and flows and becomes incredibly enchanting. Ricky plans to continue rafting and travelling in the future, he hopes to eventually run the Futaleufú in northern Patagonia. In the winter, Ricky works as a dog sled guide and his favorite dog and best friend is Dragon.

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 moderate 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.

Don worked for the federal government for 22 years, retired, and then he realized that he’s not very good at being retired. So he got his Commercial Driver’s License and started driving buses for Echo Canyon in the summers and for the school district the rest of the year. Before and after work, Don enjoys riding ATVs, checking out old ghost towns, and visiting his four daughters.

Alfredo is from Beaumont, Texas. He currently attends Lamar University, is a member of the University Cheerleading team and is ultimately pursuing a career in physiology. Rafting has been a passion of his ever since he went for the first time with his Boy Scout troop over a decade ago. Now Alfredo is one of our trainers here at Echo! One fun fact is that he is fairly fluent in Spanish. So if you want to come rafting but are more comfortable in that language have no fear! In his free time he enjoys fishing, cycling, working out and Disney movies.

Spencer has been guiding for the last two decades. He is an eccentric renaissance man, artist, painter, illustrator, poet, playwright, actor, writer, director, MC, photographer, and all around creative whirlwind.  Spencer is also an accomplished Eagle Scout, mountaineer, chocolatier, rock climber, mountain biker, snowboarder, skier, and whitewater ninjedi lunatic. When in the real world, Spencer lives and works in Cañon City, Colorado. Spencer is always hard at work and play.

Andy is our fearless leader and owner of Echo Canyon. He grew up in Boulder, Colorado, and started guiding rafts while in school, just like a lot of our guides today. Now let’s not do any math on his age, but he’s been working in the rafting industry for the past three decades years, the second half of which as the owner of Echo. He’s very active and dedicated to the industry as a whole, involved in the Colorado River Outfitters Association, Arkansas River Outfitters Association, Pikes Peak Country Area Attractions and Colorado Springs Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, just to name a few. He absolutely loves floating rivers (he picked the right profession, right?), and he gets on the river every chance he gets. He and his wife, Karen, have three kids who all play a role in the business as well. They love being able to raise their kids in the fun environment of a rafting company. In his spare time he enjoys spending time with family. All of us here at Echo feel fortunate to work with Andy.

Ben is a Guide and General Manager of Echo Canyon and began working with us in 1994 as a first year raft guide. He keeps busy at Echo with staffing, marketing and social media, but his favorite part of the job is guiding rafts. His home town is Omaha, Nebraska. And in his free free time he likes spending time with his wife, two sons and furry canines. Ben feels very lucky have been able to take so many wonderful rafters down the river, and also that he gets to work with a great group of people.