Looooooong overdue review! I’ve been out with Tributary multiple times. Easy half day, more technical full day and most recently a four day trip through Hells Canyon on the Snake River. I think it’s safe for me to say that Tributary Whitewater is the bees knees!
Starting with Jessica in reservations, to Jeremiah the owner who I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with a few times, right down to the amazing guides Chris, Megan, Joe, Matt, Noah, Nate, & Gregor just to name a few, these guys are truly top notch.
The day trips are fun and exciting and I’ve always felt safe and supported but this multi day trip was next level luxury. Relaxing and fun days on the water, fresh lunch prepped riverside each day, guided hikes to ancient petroglyphs and old homesteads, showing up to camp already set up, tents pitched, and a gourmet meal being put together by chef Megan. What more could you ask for? Lemme tell you. When we had a sudden shift in temperature, guide and boss man Chris pulled out quite literally every piece of clothing he had with him to keep us warm. Sweet Joesph ushered us up some slippery volcanic rock for some fun rock jumping and when I was too much of a weenie to jump alone he held my hand and jumped with me. Matt spent an entire night going over pointers for all the things I still want to learn and different online resources he used when he was in training and even a volunteer program he knew of where I could get some more river hours in. And when I got some gnar blisties, Chef Megan didn’t just grab the regular first aid kit, she went and grabbed a special honey salve that her brother gave her from her own personal gear. Special little touches that show that they didn’t just care about getting us from Point A to Point B in one piece, but making sure we enjoyed the ride along the way.
These guys are also great land stewards and all major LNT principals were followed perfectly, which is not as common as you’d think in river guiding. In chatting with Chris about training guidelines, it’s clear they cultivate a company culture of not just enjoying the land and rivers they work on, but respecting and caring for them, too, which is super cool.
10/10 have and would recommend to a friend and if Tributary is on a river that I want to run there is no reason I would go with anyone else.