New whitewater club splashes down in Moscow

Among river runners, Idaho is known as the Whitewater State and a pair of University of Idaho students has buttressed that claim by founding a paddling club to nurture the next generation of whitewater wizards.

The Vandal Whitewater Club was established last year by Ellis Jaeckel and Anastasia Jeffcoat, both 21.

Jaeckel just finished his junior year in Idaho’s nascent Natural Resources Enterprise Management (NREM) program, while Jeffcoat completed her third year of a triple major in conservation biology, international studies, and Spanish.

“This is an incredibly good area to become a whitewater boater in,” Jaeckel said, “so we’re just trying to pass it on.”

“The idea was not just getting something started at the University of Idaho, but in the community as a whole,” Jeffcoat added.

One of the Vandal Whitewater Club’s main goals is to offer at least one overnight paddling trip every month.

Recent outings have found club members camped on the banks of the St. Maries, Lower Salmon, and Owyhee rivers. The highwater mark came last month at the Collegiate Whitewater Fest on the Skykomish River.

“That was a really great event, with a lot of college kids and participants,” Jeffcoat said, noting that paddlers made their way to Index, Washington, from as far away as Colorado.

Aside from outings, the club’s other foundational goals are skill building, safety training and assembling a critical mass of competent paddlers on the Palouse.

“If you build a big enough crew, there’ll always be someone to paddle with,” Jeffcoat said.

Jaeckel, who is president of the club, and Jeffcoat, who is its treasurer, are a dynamic duo “who are going to be running this world pretty soon,” said Nate Moody, faculty advisor to the club and an instructor in the university’s NREM program.

Beyond simply founding a whitewater club, Moody said, “they are effectively running a non-profit right now.”

Jaeckel and other club members who are NREM students are encouraged to develop skills in fundraising, community development, and organizational leadership, Moody said.

The club also works with the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association to foster development of professional river guides.

Though it is a student organization, the Vandal Whitewater Club is open to anyone who wants to go paddling, Moody said.

Membership dues were $130 for the spring semester, up from $50 when the club was founded. The club may change the dues in the future to reflect the true cost of operations.

One of the immediate perks of membership is a discount when renting equipment from the University of Idaho Outdoor Program.

Simply put, the Vandal Whitewater Club offers cost-effective river trips that combine adventure, a sense of community, and connection to nature.

Idaho has a wealth of outstanding rivers and a growing number of people who want to paddle them, Moody said, so the club enables them to safely build competence and experience in the whitewater realm.

Though they are co-equal as founders of the club, Jaeckel and Jeffcoat took vastly different paths to arrive at the same place.

Born and raised in Moscow, Jaeckel grew up in a family that was heavily involved in outdoor recreation, particularly whitewater paddling.

He’s been honing his kayaking skills in Riggins, Idaho, for years and now spends his summers as a raft guide based in Joseph, Oregon.

Jeffcoat, on the other hand, grew up in the Piedmont region of North Carolina and had never been whitewater kayaking until last spring.

She proved a quick study and was soon paddling the Lochsa River – a legendary North Idaho stream known for the intensity of its rapids.

Jaeckel and Jeffcoat also have an eye for challenging and relatively unheralded rivers close to home.

Chief among these is the Potlatch River canyon, a deeply committing day trip less than 30 miles east of Moscow.

The Vandal Whitewater Club currently has around 15 to 17 members, which includes Moody and another faculty member in the College of Natural Resources.

Club members paddle a variety of craft, ranging from hard-shell kayaks, to inflatable kayaks, to packrafts, to full-on whitewater rafts. No one has shown up with a dory, yet, but they would be welcome.

Good times on the river are the most eye-catching facet of the Vandal Whitewater Club, but the heart and soul of the club is patient instruction and skill development for fledgling paddlers.

“A really big part of the success of this club is Ellis’s ability as a teacher,” Jeffcoat said. “He’s really great at it.”

As the Vandal Whitewater Club continues to grow and expand, Jaeckel and Jeffcoat want to exhume local traditions that have faded into obscurity. Chief among these is resurrecting the North Idaho Whitewater Festival.

The club is still in its infancy and many things are possible, Jeffcoat said, “but it’s really cool to look back and see how much it’s grown in just the last year.”