September 3-8, 2022 – Sold Out
Registration fee: $1995 – includes meals and river camping
Lessons Along the River: Attention, Language, Story with Joe Wilkins
When on a river—rafting, fishing, walking the rocky banks—one must pay attention. And on the Snake River, we’ll do exactly that: we’ll pay great and careful attention to the canyon we slide and splash down through, to the experiences and memories we carry with us as we do so. We’ll work to translate those experiences into language, and then into story, and in so doing know again, and for the first time, this beautiful and complicated world of ours. This will be primarily a generative workshop, so come prepared to write and share. Please bring notebooks, pens, binoculars, field guides, and whatever else helps you pay attention. Writers of any genre are welcome.
Joe Wilkins is the author of a novel, Fall Back Down When I Die, praised as “remarkable and unforgettable” in a starred review at Booklist. A finalist for the First Novel Award from the Center for Fiction and the Pacific Northwest Book Award, Fall Back Down When I Die won the 2020 High Plains Book Award. Wilkins is also the author of a memoir, The Mountain and the Fathers, winner of a 2014 GLCA New Writers Award, and four collections of poetry, including Thieve and When We Were Birds, winner of the Oregon Book Award. Born and raised in eastern Montana, Wilkins lives with his family in the foothills of the Coast Range of Oregon, where he directs the creative writing program at Linfield University.
Learn more http://joewilkins.org
The goal of Fishtrap’s Outpost program is to provide writers with an opportunity to experience a remote, natural environment in Wallowa County in order to find solitude, connect to the landscape in a meaningful way, and write about their experience. Instructor Joe Wilkins guides your Outpost writing experience this year and Winding Waters River Expeditions leads the river trip. Winding Waters River Expeditions is a family owned and operated whitewater rafting outfitter based in Joseph, Oregon. They are experienced pros, love what they do, and know what it takes to provide a quality rafting experience.
You will raft down one of the world’s most dramatic and rugged canyons while receiving personal instruction from author Joe Wilkins. To experience the natural world from the bottom of Hells Canyon, the deepest river canyon in the United States, is sure to stir the imagination and provide stories for a lifetime. As hosts of the trip, Winding Waters Expeditions will expertly navigate the river, provide delicious meals, and bring you to the best camp spots on the river. The work that will emerge is sure to paint a complex beautiful landscape, true writing of place.
Registration opens here December 1 at 9:00am pacific time.
COVID-19
Fishtrap requires that everyone attending Outpost on the Snake River be fully vaccinated. We will ask you to sign a liability waiver at the September 3 Orientation confirming that. If this represents a problem for you please contact Fishtrap Program Director Mike Midlo. mike@fishtrap.org or 541-426-3623
Lodging
Important: You are responsible for arranging your own lodging Friday, September 3 and Wednesday, September 8. There are many options available from Motels to camping. Learn more at the Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce. Winding Waters River Expeditions also has a good list of resources, too: Winding Waters – Trip Planning
Tentative Schedule
Saturday, Sept. 3
6:00pm – Evening Orientation and Dinner at Winding Waters Boat House in Joseph, Oregon. 204 E Wallowa Ave, Joseph, OR 97846
Sunday, Sept 4
7:00am – Meet at Winding Waters Boat House and travel to Launch Site – Breakfast Served
7:30AM – Depart for the 2 to 2.5 hour drive to the Launch Site on the Snake River (Hells Canyon Creek)
Between 10:30-11:30am – Receive a safety briefing & orientation to the boats and embark on the trip. Lunch will be served riverside following the launch.
Afternoon: Upon arrival in Camp, Writing Instruction and River Recreation
Monday, Sept 5
Camp Day – Writing Instruction and River Recreation
Tuesday, Sept 6
River Travel Day – Evening Writing Instruction and River Recreation
Wednesday, Sept 7
Camp Day – Writing Instruction and River Recreation
Thursday, Sept 8
Around 1:00pm Jet Boat up river to Launch Site – Travel to Joseph, Oregon
Between 5:00pm and 7:00pm – Arrive at Boat House
How to Prepare
You’re in for a great adventure. The key to getting the most from your trip is to be prepared. The Winding Waters’ Trip Planning web page can help answer most of your questions and help you pack for the experience. You’ll get insight from the experts on everything from weather and water to information on the geology of the area. Please visit this page and give it a good hard look.
Winding Waters – Trip Planning
Packing List & Tips
Please visit Winding Waters Packing List Page to help you know what to pack, and what not to.
Alcohol on the Trip
Alcohol is not included with your trip cost. You are welcome to bring your own libations. Winding Waters will provide ice for clinky drinks. They ask all beer to be in cans for safety reasons. Glass wine bottles are accepted. For your convenience, Winding Waters does sell a nice selection of canned beer and box wine that you can order at this link:
Winding Waters Beer and Wine Order Form
If you order here, simply select paying at the Pre-Trip Meeting. If you are bringing your own alcohol, please bring it to the river the morning of your trip launch.
Medical
Winding Waters staff are all certified first responders. In the case of a life-threatening emergency you will be flown or jet boated out of the canyon.
Pre-Purchase Fishing Licenses: If you’re interested in fishing on your trip, we suggest you pre-purchase your fishing license online. Please have a printer at hand to print off your license. https://myodfw.com/articles/how-buy-oregon-fishing-license.
Winding Waters will provide fishing gear for the trip.
Tipping/Gratuities: Many of Winding Waters’ guests ask about and appreciate information on the custom of tipping. Winding Waters’ guide crew will work hard to make your Outpost experience the best it can be. While it is not expected whatsoever, if you wish to tip, we recommend treating it like a restaurant (anywhere from 10-15% of your trip cost for the crew). You can either give your lead guide cash at the end of the trip or have us here at Fishtrap put it on your credit card. The gratuities will then be distributed among the guide crew, food manager, and shuttle driver(s). And again, please know this is not expected.
Suggested Reading List
- Snake River in Hells Canyon by Carrey, Conley, and Barton – A great resource for homesteader history in Hells Canyon. A series of entertaining short stories perfect for reading before bed.
- Home Below Hells Canyon by Grace Jordan – A memoir of a homesteading family at Kirkwood Ranch in the 1930’s.
- Islands and Rapids: A Geologic History of Hells Canyon by Tracy Vallier – Interesting read by one of the leading research geologists in Hells Canyon.
- I Will Fight No More Forever by Merrill Beal – The story of the Chief Joseph Band of the Nez Perce Tribe in the Hells Canyon region.
Interesting Hells Canyon Information
- Hells Canyon is the deepest river gorge in North America at 7,993 feet and approximately 10 miles wide
- It was added to the National Wild and Scenic River System on December 1, 1975
- Total length of Hells Canyon: 78.7 miles from Hells Canyon Dam to Heller Bar
- The Bonneville Flood (approximately 14,500 years ago) is believed to be the second largest single flooding event in geologic history and estimated to move water at 33 million cubic feet per second (cfs) through present-day Hells Canyon. Today, the Snake River in Hells Canyon typically flows between 10,000 and 50,000 cfs. The floods widened Hells Canyon more than deepened it. Many of the benches in Hells Canyon today are remnants of these floods.
- The first people in Hells Canyon are believed to be of the Nez Perce Tribe.
- In 1925 Amos Burg made the first documented float through Hells Canyon in a wooden canoe.