During the fall of 2025, Annie and Toria DeRosso launched on a nearly a nearly month-long journey down the Salmon River, starting in Stanley, Idaho and finishing in Washington on the Snake River. Their craft of choice for this adventure: stand-up paddleboards.

Questions were constant during their journey, asked by family members, strangers who rolled down their car windows to yell them out, people who saw them in dry suits in a convenience store, hunters and steelhead fishers who lined the banks they floated past, and friends upon their return home. Here, they share the questions that stood out the most, along with their responses.   

Nearly every person we interacted with that wasn’t directly looking at the SUPs (and even some who were): Where do you put all your stuff?

This was the most common question of the trip by far, and it sparked plenty of creative theories. Do you wear a backpack? Drag bags behind you? You must have a support boat? The answer, though, was much simpler: we kept everything on the boards.

We each had a large, medium, and small dry bag on our boat the whole time. We put the large bags on the front to drive the boat forward through rapids and secured all of the bags to the boards with two cam straps each. The system worked really well… until one of us flipped. Then it was pretty challenging to flip the board back upright with all of that weight on it.

Toria’s very sweet, very concerned grandparents: How do you know which way to go?

The incredible part about navigating a river is that you don’t have a lot of big picture choices. You’re moving with the current downstream, wherever the river is headed! What you do get to choose is how you navigate the water itself, which is a lot of the fun. 

That said, we did plenty of planning and preparation with maps beforehand. First, we needed to estimate how long we would be out there so that we could supply ourselves properly. We used maps to figure out our re-ration points. The trickiest detail for us was camping in certain stretches where there is a lot of private land. For that we used the PaddleWays app, which let us see different camp sites, private versus public land layers, and satellite imagery for finding the nearest sandbar to the Ram’s Head Cafe.

A shocked man fishing from a jet boat, after learning about our trip: Wow. Both women?

Yup. Both women.

Friends at Grumpy’s (a bar back in our home town of Ketchum) post-voyage: Did you carry all of your food for the whole trip?

Nope! We broke the trip up into four ration periods. Toria’s mom brought our first re-ration box to Salmon and we spent a day in town, getting more provisions from the grocery store and eating as much food as we could. Our friends dropped a box of dehydrated food off with Greg and Sue at Yellow Pine Bar that we were able to snag mid-trip. A friendly outfitter in Riggins hung on to our final re-ration box for us until we passed through Riggins. We were also able to buy some extras from the local grocery store.

So many people: Were you freezing the whole time?

Surprisingly not! We had plenty of warm layers and dry suits to keep us warm and dry on the water. While we did wake up to frost many of the mornings, we tried to camp where we’d get sun as early as possible. It turns out that paddling a SUP all day is a lot of work, so we were definitely keeping ourselves warm. We also really leaned into the hot lunch—ramen warms you up from the inside out!

Grandfather and granddaughter fishing along the Salmon River who drove their four wheeler out onto the sandbar we were camping on to inquire about the trip: What emergency equipment are you carrying?

Our emergency systems were redundant so that if one boat somehow got lost, we’d still have what we’d need to survive. We each had a satellite communicator, some snacks, a bivy, and water purification on our person. Each board had a stove, a med kit, a repair kit, a sleeping bag, a way to purify water, and food. We packed the same things on each board every day so that we always knew exactly where things were.

A couple at the Challis Hot Springs, who were boaters themselves but had little experience with stand-up paddleboards: Are you on one SUP or two?

Definitely two—this would have been way more of an epic on one. However, we have been known to run a rapid tandem before!

Man who slowed his white van down to ask a question out the window and then waited for us at the next rapid: Are you going to hit that next big drop?

Probably! We’ll look at it first.

Group fishing from a drift boat just above Riggins: How often do you fall?

Not as often as you’d think! The boards are designed for whitewater so they can run through pretty burly rapids. More often than falling in, we’d just fall onto our knees, and we could usually get back up onto our feet pretty quickly! However, we definitely spent some time swimming in the Salmon.

A patron of the Clayton Silver Bar: Do you want me to drive you around the rapids ahead?

No, thank you. That’s the fun part!

Bartender at the Dusty Mule, astonished at how much food we were ordering: What have you been eating?

Space and weight were major factors in deciding what food to pack. Most of our meals were a mix of dehydrated food and ramen, but it was just as important for us to bring a few comforts from home. A spice kit was mandatory, featuring Annie’s favorite seasoning, Old Bay, along with fresh garlic, which can elevate almost any meal. On the final leg of the trip, we even managed to bake a chocolate cake.

Whenever we had the chance to add fresh food, we took it. Cabbage, one of Toria’s favorites, travels exceptionally well. Ours stayed fresh and crunchy even after days of being tumbled around and smashed by whitewater. The old homesteads along the Main Salmon provided an abundance of fresh apples that we happily savored. After a stop at Buckskin Bill’s with Barbara, Heinz, and Alice, we were gifted a cucumber and tomatoes that were unbelievably delicious.

We also made a point to stop for a hot meal whenever the river brought us near a bar or restaurant. Pizza, burgers, and chili cheese tater tots helped satisfy our greasy cravings as we floated downstream.

Greg and Sue, caretakers at Yellow Pine Bar: Do you want some whiskey in your cocoa?

(With a big, warm smile) Yes, please!

Two fishermen we spent time talking with after we pulled over to ask them for tape to help repair a broken dry suit gasket: How did you plan the trip?

Trip planning is something we genuinely love. It usually starts with a simple idea and gradually grows into spreadsheets, packing lists, food resupplies, and logistics. Eventually you reach the point where it no longer matters what you may have forgotten, because it’s time to leave.

Early on, we focused on gear: how many bags each of us could carry, how to stay light, and how to remain fully self-sufficient in case of an emergency. We made sure we had adequate backups while carefully balancing weight and space. Once the gear was dialed, we broke the planning into manageable sections to simplify the process.

Using our prior knowledge of the river, alongside PaddleWays for precise mileage, we divided the 400-mile journey into four sections. This approach allowed us to plan food more effectively, prepping, staging, and delivering resupplies to specific points along the river.

When we launched, we had a general itinerary, but we knew flexibility would be essential. Weather, river conditions, and how we felt day to day all influenced our decisions. While most of the planning happened before the trip, it didn’t end at the put-in—it simply shifted into real-time decision making and daily problem solving once we were on the river.

A man on a jet boat who has worked on the Salmon River much of his adult life, and was confused as to where our rafts were: Has this ever been done before?

To our knowledge, not on stand-up paddleboards. It is not uncommon for people to do this entire river in boats or kayaks. We even know of a person who swam the whole thing. But we are yet to meet or hear of anyone who has done it on paddleboards.

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Guest Contributors Toria and Annie DeRosso are adventure-lovers based in Ketchum, Idaho. They love exploring the mountains and rivers on any craft they can get their hands on- SUPs, skis, bikes, rafts, climbing ropes and more! They are known to bring their travel backgammon set almost everywhere and make a mean backcountry pizza.

Editor’s Note: In October 2025 Annie and Toria paddled 398 miles over 25 days in order to complete the first stand-up paddleboard descent of the entire Salmon River. The trip doubled as their honeymoon! You can read more about their journey here.