About Us

"I love that land of winding waters more than all the rest of the world."
Young Chief Joseph, Wallowa Band of the Nez Perce Tribe
(referencing the watersheds of the rivers we float)

Winding Waters River Expeditions is a family owned and operated whitewater rafting company based in Joseph, Oregon. Since 2004, our specialty has been providing an entertaining, unique, and comfortable experience for our guests in a rugged and remote wilderness environment. The owners, as well as many of the guides have diverse backgrounds in experiential and traditional education, a range of natural sciences, wilderness medicine and therapy, and backcountry ski guiding. Our core principles are safety, fun, education, hospitality, and respect for the land. We are committed to supporting our community by hiring mainly local guides, donating to regional non-profits, and serving locally sourced foods on the river when available. We are proud of our excellent safety record due to our years of experience, combined with the awareness and precautions taken by our experienced professional river guides.

The Snake River through Hells Canyon, the Salmon River, and the Grande Ronde River watersheds truly are the "land of winding waters". And the owners and guides of Winding Waters River Expeditions have a deep love as well for this landscape. Our passion is sharing these dramatic, wild watersheds and witnessing the positive effects these experiences tend to have on our guests.

How it all started...

This turns out to be more of a love story than a business profile. Talking with the owners of Winding Waters River Expeditions, based in Joseph, you often hear that they love what they're doing. Love where they do it. Love being on the river. Love sharing that experience. Love, love, love. And the thing is, it's genuine.

Paul Arentsen and Penny Rieke met in the Wallowa Mountains back in 1997. They were doing what they loved: sharing the great outdoors with young people by leading wilderness outdoor education trips across the West. The Wallowas stood out among the many locations they'd explored. They also noticed each other. Paul and Penny were married in 2003, and moved to the Wallowa Valley the following year. Paul recalls, "We traveled all over the West, to all sorts of little towns. But Joseph just seemed perfect."

Winding Waters was born soon after. The Arentsens bought a place several miles outside the town of Joseph, tucked between Wallowa Lake and the imposing backdrop of Chief Joseph Mountain, named for the Nez Perce leader who said of the Wallowa Valley, "I love that land of winding waters more than all the rest of the world," which explains the name of the company, Winding Waters River Expeditions. Paul and Penny's new home had beautiful views and a shop building just perfect for housing all the boats and gear required to operate a rafting company.

Enter Morgan Jenkins. Also a romantic when it comes to living your life how you want to live it. Morgan had been on track to follow the family tradition by pursuing a career in law. Then he took some river trips and left Virginia for a look around the western states. That meant one less lawyer in the world. Morgan moved from Virginia to Colorado and graduated from UC Boulder with a degree in geography. If college degrees for guiding rivers had been available, Morgan might have a different degree on his wall. If such a degree ever does become available, Morgan might be the one behind the podium.

Morgan landed in Washington State after college, but not everything clicked and he started looking for a place that could live up to his ideal of summers on the river with good winter skiing. Oregon's Wallowa Valley seemed promising on the map, so he came to have a look. He arrived in Joseph at night, and had a handshake deal to buy a house before the sun was down the next day. Several years later, Morgan was working as a lead guide for a rafting company based in Idaho. That required lots of driving, and time spent away from his home that just happened to be a short distance up the road from his new neighbors, Paul and Penny Arentsen, who were putting together a new rafting company. You could hear the click as things fell into place.

Paul and Morgan have more than their combined river experience in common. Both of them work during the winter as backcountry ski guides in the Wallowa Mountains. So they don't just know the waters they're rafting during the river season, they've already tried that water out back when it was snow. And they know what it takes to make the best trip possible for their guests, whether in the mountains or on the river.

Paul already knew the lower Salmon River and Grande Ronde River like the back of his hand. Morgan had Hells Canyon etched onto both hands. After partnering up as co-owners of Winding Waters, they've run enough trips together on the Snake, Salmon, and Grande Ronde to trade knowledge of every good campground, rapids, fishing spot and swimming hole along all these rivers.

Posts from "The River"

Wallowa River Steelhead Report - Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:22:11 -0800 Steelhead Reported on the Wallowa River - Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:24:04 -0800	Sled dogs, ski movies and steelhead - Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:34:18 -0800 Birdies of Hells Canyon - Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:27:42 -0800

Video Testimonial...