Meet the Guides

The guides of southwest Colorado make adventuring in and around Durango exciting and accessible for everyone, regardless of experience. Whitewater rafting companies along the banks of the Animas River—including Flexible Flyers, Mild to Wild, and the Durango Rafting Company—are all staffed with expert guides to ensure your safety and excitement on some of Colorado’s best-known rapids. Fishing guides, including Duranglers, also work (and fish) along the Animas and San Juan Rivers; customized guide trips are designed to fit your skill level. Guides at San Juan Expeditions lead groups into the San Juan Mountains, providing everything from avalanche training to rock-climbing clinics. The Colorado Trail is yet another outdoor adventure area, where Hermosa Tours provides self-guided mountain-bike tours.

SAN JUAN EXPEDITIONS

HERMOSA TOURS

MATT McFEE

640 E. Second Avenue, Durango, CO 81301 877-ROLL-MTB (765-5682) • hermosatours.net

What is your favorite trail in La Plata County? That’s easy—the Colorado Trail! What is your favorite trail to guide on outside of La Plata County? The Arizona Trail, specifically the section from Oracle, Arizona, to Superior, Arizona. What is your favorite thing you own and why? I want to own enough fly-fishing gear to start a second business. Work is what I do in between fly-fishing trips. Where do you want to travel the most? I would like to go to Kamchatka, Russia, to fly-fish. What is your favorite book? It is a two-way tie: The Monkey Wrench Gang and The Fountainhead. If you were going to get some ink, what would you choose and why? The bridge over Cascade Creek on the Colorado Trail looking upstream. It is my favorite place on Earth. What is your favorite meal to cook while on an overnight trip? Linguini puttanesca.

SOUTHWEST RAFT AND JEEP

CHRIS CHIBOUCAS

305 S. Camino del Rio, Suite V, Durango, CO 81301 970-259-8313 • southwestraftandjeep.com

What is your favorite part of the Animas River? Rockwood Box is my favorite section. It’s just an all-around fun, adventurous trip through an area of wilderness that you can pretty much only see from the water. What is your favorite river to guide on besides the Animas? This is a really tough question for someone who’s been guiding for 15 years, because there are so many great rivers. I think the Cataract Canyon section of the Colorado is probably my favorite, when the water is right. The whole trip is an experience every single time you go. You are out on the water for almost two weeks, going through areas you can only access by raft or helicopter. It has everything from big rapids days to epic hikes every single day of the trip. Where do you want to travel the most? I would say to go back to the Futaleufú River in northern Patagonia. It’s a river I have only had a chance to do once, and I would love nothing more than a chance to go run that section again. It is one of the most beautiful places in the world. What is your favorite meal to cook while on an overnight trip? Good old Jambalaya is my favorite. It’s easy to make, tastes amazing, and fills the belly after a long, hard push on the water.

JACK KLIM

1303 Greene Street, Silverton, CO 81433 970-460-6065 • sanjuanexpeditions.com

What is your favorite mountain in the San Juans? It is Jagged Peak, the most remote thirteener in Colorado. Fourteeners are old news. What is your favorite place to guide outside the area? Alaska! Fly onto an Alaskan glacier from a plane that has skis that drop over its wheels to land on snow. Then step off the plane to guide expeditions to the summit of Denali, or ski untouched snow for a week from a glacier base camp. What is your favorite thing you own and why? My dogs Sandwich and Beans! Sandwich is an Australian shepherd-Anatolian shepherd mix, and Beans is a Pomeranian-American Eskimo mix. They are my favorite beings, simply because they remind me not to sweat the small stuff. Life is about dreaming and doing... and eating tasty treats. Where do you want to travel the most? I want more surf vacations in my life. I’ve spent much of my off-time exploring high peaks, exotic volcanos, and arctic environments. I would love to go surf in places like Namibia or explore the jungles of Borneo. If you were going to get some ink, what would you choose and why? Hahaha, I love this question! If it’s late-night ink? I would have to say a stick and poke of a penguin paragliding. If it’s a project tattoo? I would get a half sleeve with a raven on my shoulder symbolizing my soaring friends overhead. I would incorporate the San Juan mountain scape—that’s where I cut my teeth as a mountain guide—along with a snowflake in the raven’s eye symbolizing my eagerness for snow… always looking forward to winter.

MILD TO WILD RAFTING AND JEEP TOURS

DURANGLERS FLIES AND SUPPLIES

FLEXIBLE FLYERS RAFTING

ELENA DONHARL

50 Animas View Drive, Durango, CO 81301 • 800-567-6745 • mild2wildrafting.com

What is your favorite part of the Animas River? It is the lake, also known as the “Paradise Beach” area. I really enjoy this area, because you are able to float and get great views of the mountains. This is also a great area to practice swimming, flipping a boat, and trying to nail your roll while hard-shell kayaking. What is your favorite river to guide on besides the Animas? It is the San Miguel River in Telluride. Not many people are aware of this gem due to its remote location and how infrequently it is run. It is a narrow, fast river that has exciting rapids at every turn. I also enjoy the scenery of the red rocks, large groves of trees, and abandoned mines that scatter the hillsides. Where do you want to travel the most? My goal in the next couple of years is to travel to Zambia to raft the Zambezi River. What is your favorite meal to cook while on an overnight trip? My favorite meal to cook on an overnight trip is salmon covered in lemon with asparagus, and brownies for desert. Anna Folks, Mild to Wild’s multiday manager, makes sure to include awesome instructions so we make the perfect salmon. It is always a knockout!

TOM KNOPICK

923 Main Avenue, Durango, CO 81301 • 970-385-4081 • duranglers.com

What is your favorite part of the Animas River? I don’t really have a favorite part of the Animas. The river is 126 miles long, and each section is different—from the brookies upstream of Silverton, through the canyon section below Silverton, then flowing through Durango and below where bigger rainbows and browns swim. What is your favorite river to guide on besides the Animas? We are lucky to have many great rivers and streams in the Durango area, so it is not an easy question to answer. All things considered, I would have to say it’s the Piedra River. Where do you want to travel the most? I would love to go to Mongolia and tour the famous dinosaur localities of the Gobi Desert. While there, it would be awesome to fish for taimen, which are the largest members of the salmonid family. What is your favorite book? The River Why by David James Duncan. Check it out. What is your favorite meal to cook while on an overnight trip? When guiding multiday trips through the Gunnison Gorge, we do most of our cooking in a Dutch oven. A favorite of mine has always been lasagna, followed by upside-down pineapple cake.

ERIK JORGENSEN

890 Roosa Avenue, Durango, CO 81301 • 970-247-4628 • flexibleflyersrafting.com

What is your favorite part of the Animas River? It is the lower Animas going under the train bridge when a train is passing over. What is your favorite river to guide on besides the Animas? It would be the San Juan River out of Pagosa Springs. What is your favorite thing you own and why? It would have to be pictures and memories of family adventures growing up. What is your favorite book? The Magus by John Fowles. If you were going to get some ink, what would you choose and why? I just recently got some ink of a crane on my arm. It is good luck and prosperity. What is your favorite meal to cook while on an overnight trip? My favorite meal to cook is pork green chili enchiladas on a multi-day river trip.