Northwest Rafting Company was founded by the two owners of ECHO River Trips, Dick and Joe, along with one of their guides Zach in 2009. The goal was to create an outfitting business for Zach while Dick and Joe slowly sold ECHO and retired.
ECHO History
ECHO was founded in 1972 with a whopping investment of $5,000, a GMC Suburban and the adventurous spirits of two high school teachers, Joe Daly and Dick Linford. What began as weekend dashes from Berkeley to the American or Stanislaus Rivers quickly became a way of life for Dick and Joe, who would drag themselves into their classrooms on Monday mornings, tired but fulfilled.
At this time, rafting was on the lunatic fringe of adventure. River guides were called “boatmen” and donned cut-off Levis, old sneakers and big Buck knives. Lifejackets were for only the biggest rapids and wetsuits were for wimps, even on cold, high-water trips. Early guests were a hearty bunch as well. Saddled with their own camping gear and utensils, they were quick to assist the boatmen with loading boats, cooking, and clean-up. ECHO’s answer to cold water was to cut head and arm holes in garbage bags.
“In the 70’s, our guests’ idea of fun was being cold, wet and scared.”
As Dick and Joe pioneered this wild sport, they modeled their company to change with the times. ECHO was one of the first rafting companies to hire female guides. It was, in fact, females that hastened the moniker for river guides, as boatmen suddenly didn’t apply. As ECHO expanded, the food improved, camping was made more comfortable, and river trips became great family vacations.
For the next 10 years, ECHO grew steadily. Both Dick and Joe continued teaching part-time until 1979 when they traded pop quizzes for paddles. By 1981, ECHO was running 19 stretches of river in 5 states and Yugoslavia. However, both felt that the most important element of their trips, fun, had ceased to be the focus. They were tied to their desks, overseeing a sprawling, albeit successful business and at that point, decided to emphasize quality over quantity: quality of river, quality of river trip, quality of lifestyle.
“We are incredibly fortunate to be able to make a living out of something we love.”
During ECHO’s next decade, Dick and Joe simplified things by running trips on their favorite rivers: the Middle Fork of the Salmon and the Rogue. ECHO remained largest outfitter on the Middle Fork of the Salmon until 2014 when Dick and Joe sold their Middle Fork of the Salmon operation to Zach and Northwest Rafting Company.
