Sawtooth Adventure Company guides have done it again. For the second year in a row SAC has been awarded TripAdvisor’s Certificate of Excellence. This certificate indicates that SAC’s level of service is considered within the top 10% of the millions of businesses, worldwide, listed on TripAdvisor.com for its Sun Valley Rafting Trips Sawtooth Adventure does it again. 2nd rear in a row!
Tripadvisor.com is a huge business referrer for Sawtooth adventure Company. If you have joined us on a Sawtooth Adventure please take a moment to post a review about your experience and ensure SAC stays #1!
Raft the Salmon river during your sun valley vacation
The Idaho Sun is shining and Sawtooth Adventure Company HQ is bursting with energy. We officially open on Memorial Day Weekend, but the true start to the Sun Valley Rafting season is father’s day weekend.
The new guides are trained and eager, while the senior staff is running Class IV trips and loving it. Every season brings a few changes to the operation, This year’s additions include our new bus, Big Red (pictures coming) and 120 brand spank’n new PFD’s
We are super excited to offer Idaho’s first is RiverSup School. Join SAC and learn the fastest growing water sport in the world on the Scenic Section of Idaho’s Salmon River. Our brand new fleet of super stable, river specific Stand Up Paddle (SUP) Boards allows guests of all ages to quickly pick up the skills while engaging in a great full body activity!
Learn to RiverSUP in Sun Valley Idaho
Last but not least….We have been approved to offer all inclusive overnight mountain bike trips to a high Sawtooth lake. We are STOAKED to say the least. Stay tuned for more details.
Sawtooth Adventure Co’s annual training trip is a tradition. Every spring the SAC crew enters the lottery to pick up an early season middle fork permit. Considering SAC operates day trips on the Upper Salmon and the Main Salmon wilderness section, people ask why the Middle Fork? The MF is the perfect mix of technical rapids (similar to the Upper Salmon) and the components of a multi-day Idaho wilderness river trip like our Main Salmon Adventure. Not to mention tons of hot-springs and the opportunity to explore our own backyard.
Guide Training on the Middle Fork of the Salmon
Well trained, quality guides make all the difference . SAC’s training trip not only helps the crew sharpen their whitewater skills, but it is also a 5-day social experiment. There is not a better way to get to know your co-workers than on a wilderness river in Idaho. SAC’s new employee orientation occurs around a campfire while we hold our HR and marketing meetings between rapids on a raft. Senior guide staff has the opportunity to shape the rookie guides, while constantly learning tricks of the trade from each other. Guides refresh their swift-water rescue, wilderness medicine and culinary expertise in the middle of the largest wilderness in the US. The crew quickly gets to know one another on a personal level, that only 5-days on a river can offer. The teamwork and camaraderie gained through this experience benefits SAC every day, all summer long. Great guide teams are the #1 ingredient for great adventures!
I must admit….though I own/operate a wilderness adventure company, like everyone else I am always connected. My Iphone is never far away and I think the Ipad might be the coolest toy since full suspension mountain bikes. During the winter I find myself digesting digital media equal to the big business guy plugged into the stock market. Against my better judgments and with Christmas on the horizon, the desire for more digital screens, devices and apps only grows.
I pride myself on being an active and involved family man. I strive to rage against the machine, but admittedly family time can still deteriorate into our own screens. When I think about how much of our lives will be absorbed into our digital devices it makes me sad. In this busy world of productivity, volatile markets, tweets, status updates and breaking news it is only getting harder to pull ourselves away from the screen.
As parents in the midst of the daily grind it takes a conscious effort to log-off …..and connect with what matters. I cherish the chats on the chairlift with my daughter during a cold, snowy powder day. Or the uninterrupted, warm & sunny beach walks with my wife. I look forward to spending a spring weekend surrounded by redrocks and the desert stars. Though mostly, without question… I look forward to our annual family river trips. For my family it happens every year, sometimes twice, but it never loses its magic. Those five days where I watch fellow parents fully engage with their kids… their laughter… their anxiety’s… their successes and their failures. I watch the parent-child relationship evolve through the daily discovery of the unknown. Those that have experienced the Salmon River know exactly what I am talking about.
So in an effort to ditch the device I will keep exploring, seeking out moments to disconnect. In this crazy world of trends, soundbites, bipartisan politics and digi-devices… more than ever, we to truly and completely need an escape. So if in your journeys you find a better opportunity than the Salmon River and The Frank Church Wilderness to reconnect with the fam, let me know…
The leaves are changing, there is snow in the forecast and rumors of La Nina returning with a vengeance. Before we completely forget about the warm Idaho sun, crystal clear waters of the Salmon River and the silence of the Frank Church Wilderness… We want to thank you.
2011 Annual Kids Trip
The SAC crew would like to thank all of the new friends we made during the 2011 rafting season. All in all… It was the most successful summer, ever!
