Hello Four Corners Guides Students and Followers,
Wow, this has been a tough year. Besides the divorce and losing our beloved guide, Ben, things continue to be challenging. Being fans of packrafting and the Southwest, most of you likely know about the devastating floods in Pagosa Springs and Durango and lesser damage to surrounding towns. My hometown, Mancos, had minimal damage, but still does not have potable water. Steve Reports that the Ranch is fine, though the flood waters came too close to the house, cabin and other buildings. You can see pics on his Instagram page. And you can find photos of the damage in Durango easily by doing a search, but Steve Eginore has a good batch here.
If you want to help out the folks in Durango, visit the Chamber of Commerce website for a full list of places to donate. You can find information here to help the folks in Pagosa Springs.
In other news, in early October, I came to Oregon to spend five days paddling the Rogue River. That was fun and so healing! I also attended the NOLS Risk Management Conference in Portland. I learned so much, and will be updating the Four Corners Guides risk management instructor trainings and polices for 2027 with the help of Luc Mehl.
After the conference, I joined a good paddling buddy to volunteer at the 2026 United States Adventure Racing Association National Championships on the Umqua River (video here). I did sweep and searched for & gathered checkpoints, and then stayed a week to hike/bike/run and camp by this beautiful river.
Finally, I decided to visit Washington to paddle the Skykomish (photos by AJ Frank). the Snoqualmie (the Middle Middle section) and soon hopefully I’ll do the Stillaguamish, Elwha and Green rivers, and maybe the Sauk. It’s rainy boating season in the PNW now. So many rivers to paddle, so little time! The Pacific Northwest should definitely be a destination for all packrafters, and the community of boaters up here is strong and friendly. The American Packrafting Association is doing a MeetUp (smaller RoundUp) in the Seattle area in May, so you, too, could get the chance to paddle these rivers. Subscribe to the APA newsletter for updates!
And to wrap up for the day, I am downsizing Four Corners Guides in 2027. I will run just 24 courses with 125 spots, including some private courses. We have already registered 25 people, so if you’re stoked to do a course with us in 2027 or schedule a private, email us asap. We’ll only run privates for 3 or more people moving forward.
As well, we’re working with various guest guides this year, including Jule Harle, who is coming back down from the Alaska Packraft School in June to teach a women’s expedition course, June 12-15 on the Dolores River, with Annie Bussell. Our January 19-23 Level 2 Essentials course in Jalcomulco, Veracruz, MX, quickly sold out. So I added four spots and hired another Mexican instructor, as people are still inquiring about the course. You can read more about it here, and learn about our Mexican and US guides on our updated About Us page.
Well that’s all for now. I hope y’all are staying safe and are getting out boating!
Best wishes,
-Lizzy Scully, CEO Four Corners Guides, Level 4 ACA Instructor
