About Us

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. Paul found work guiding for a local rafting company, whose owners were looking to move on. Penny continued her work in education with the non-profit organization Wallowa Resources, becoming their Youth Stewardship Education Coordinator. 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 plenty of pasture for Penny's horses, 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 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 and Salmon to trade knowledge of every good campground, rapids, fishing spot and swimming hole along both rivers.

Posts from "The River"

Weekend Train Report on the Wallowa - Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:51:40 -0800 Steelhead Fishing Train Report! - Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:52:58 -0800	The Steelhead Express - Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:55:28 -0800 Fancy Clothes - Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:10:35 -0800

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