Earth River Expeditions was founded on three core principles:

• discovering, pioneering, and developing exceptional river destinations,
• delivering the safest and highest quality river trips in superlative locations, and
• protecting threatened rivers and watersheds. 

Throughout the company’s 36 year history, it explored and developed river trips on the Magpie in Quebec (1989), Futaleufu in Chile (1991), Primrose in the Yukon Territory (1998), Ventana in Patagonia (2015), and Bordali in Patagonia (2025), all of which are a part of the company’s current offerings. 

“Earth River made an expeditionary first raft descent of the Futaleufu and figured out how to safely navigate it. They have since turned the Futaleufu into an outstanding adventure destination for rafters.”
—New York Times

Discovering a new river is only the initial step in the trip development process. It often takes years of effort to make the destination a high-quality world-class experience. For example, the Futaleufu was not considered a commercially viable river for rafting when we began offering it the early 1990s. However, careful preparation and planning, state-of-the-art equipment, much of it custom-made for the Futaleufu, and most importantly, accomplished, mature guides with a pioneering spirit made it possible. By the time the next outfitter began offering rafting trips on the Futaleufu years later, Earth River had already set the industry standard with established secure routes through the rapids, high-water cutoffs, and detailed safety protocols.

Equally important to recognizing what makes a great trip is what does not. Earth River has conducted over two dozen first descents and river exploratory expeditions throughout its history. Most of these did not lead to the development of commercially viable trips. On our first descent of Tibet’s fabled Po Tsangpo, we were enthralled by the world-class whitewater, extraordinary culture, and otherworldly Himalayan scenery. Unfortunately, a few months after our maiden trip, a landslide dammed a tributary, creating a large lake that made access to the river dubious and unsuitable as a reliable destination.

Despite the difficulties and low success rate, we are always in search of new rivers to share with our guests, so we are thrilled to announce the discovery of a new river in Patagonia, Chile. This year our world class guide team— Ty, Humberto, Cade, Tommy, Teal, and Mo Mo along with a few intrepid clients— successfully completed the first descent of the Rio Bordali, a stunning turquoise Class IV wilderness river born from a glacier in Queulat National Park. Not since Earth River’s first descent of the Rio Ventana a decade ago had a river trip of this caliber been discovered. We will be offering this trip in March of 2026.