About Tributary Whitewater Tours - California Rafting Guides and other staff

The picture above shows four of our river guides (Danielle, Tyler, Jessica, Graham) and family on a private Grand Canyon trip. Our guides love being on the river whenever they can, and their enthusiasm shows when they are working on any of our California rafting trips. They can be found on the local rivers like the Yuba and North American in January or February if we get a warm spell and some snow melt or enough rain.

We have many of our great guides, drivers and office staff missing from this page, only due to the fact that they never gave us a photo or any small blurb we could include here. They are equally appreciated however.

We should have these great Tributary Whitewater Tours T shirts available (modeled above with a Grand Canyon back drop) for our clients this year and thanks to Doc Soule (our Face Book administrator and guide extraordinair) some of you got some special orders in 2010.

	Evelyn Azucena - Guide/Driver/Truckee Operations Manager Guiding with Tributary since 2001 and Truckee River operations manger since 2007. Evelyn moved to Lake Tahoe from Colfax in 2006 and dabbled in banking while guiding on weekends, but the call of the river brought her back full time in 2007. During the winter months she drives for Alpine Meadows ski area, but you may also find her farthur south guiding rafting trips in Mexico with Leo (her dad, below).
	Leo Azucena - Guide/Driver/Weimar Operations Manager Joined Tributary in 1995 as a guide and has been our amazing operations manager since 2000. Leo spends his winter months between Lake Tahoe (working at Alpine Meadows) and rafting in Mexico. Leo also runs rafting trips in Mexico - Check out radtreks.com for more detail of his excursions.
	Scott Buckley - Guide Guiding with Trib since 2006 went thru Trib guide school in 2004. Scott took his first rafting trip when less than a year old on the Rogue River, but no big deal as he was on the Class 4+ Upper Klamath 3 months before being born. He enjoys adventure and travel and has rafted in Alaska, on the Grand Canyon and in many other states. Currently full time student at Sierra College Scott is taking Recreation Management, EMT and more. This avid skier also works his off days at Sugar Bowl ski area near Truckee in the winter.
	Jonathan Crouthmel - Guide Went through our guide school in 2006 and guiding with Trib ever since. Primarily a weekend warrior now he has a "real" job. Jonathan's likes include fast cars and motor bikes.
	Teresa Ellis - Guide/Driver Went through our guide school in 2001, and guiding with Trib ever since. Theresa, or "Mama T" as some of our guides call her, was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and grew up working the family farm until she was 16. Theresa recently completed her training as a nurse, but is continues to guide and drive for Tributary. If she is not on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon (her favorite river trip) you may find her on various rivers throughout Mexico, Chile, Peru, and Costa Rica.
PHOTO COMING SOON	James Ferrigno - Guide Guiding since 2009. When not on the river, Jim spends his summer-time living in Tahoe City going to the beach with his dogs or taking photos for fun. Last winter he photographed for Smokin Snowboards, Sessions Outerwear, and YoBeat.com. web site: www.wix.com/jfotogs/portfolio
	Eric Halseth - Guide Guiding with Trib since 2006. Eric spends most of his summers on the river guiding – while in the winter he is a 6th Grade Elementary School Teacher. Spending 2 days on the Middle Fork American River's secluded canyon for rafting & hiking is Eric’s favorite river trip to guide.
	Adam Hunter - Guide Guiding since 1997 and with Tributary since 2008. Has been certified with ACA as an instructor in swift water rescue and participates in some of Trib's guide schools. Is also a Class 4/5 kayaker.
	Kyle Jasper - Guide Guiding since 2009. Coming straight outta Long Beach, Kyle spends his summers with Tributary guiding on the South Fork American River. During the off-season Kyle is a gaffer (Electrical Lighting Technician for tv & movies) and you can check out his IMDB profile (it's kinda a big deal, George Clooney has one too!). Currently Kyle is working on his AA in Film on top of a Psychology BA.
	Justin "Flower" LaBerge - Guide Guiding with Tributary since 2000. After rafting season is over Justin typically disappears on adventures such as climbing in Thailand and other parts.
	Don Lester - Head Guide Went through our guide school in 2001 and been guiding with Trib ever since. Don currently guides on all of our rivers (class I-V) teaches our guide schools, and is a swiftwater rescue instructor. Don is one of our most requested guides and has guided rivers throughout California as well as rivers in Colorado, Arizona, West Virginia, Chile, Peru, Mexico, and most recently in Costa Rica.
	Tim McCarthy - Guide Guiding since 2005, with Tributary since 2007. Born and raised in New York this yankee has been exploring rivers worldwide since the age of 18, including the Filobobos River in Mexico, Tully & Baron Rivers in Australia, and the Class V White Nile in Uganda. During the summer you can usually find Tim guiding Tributary trips on the Truckee river.
	Graham Morey - Guide Guiding since 2002, with Tributary since 2002. Graham grew up in the Santa Cruz mountains and moved to Nevada City when he was 12 and first rafted with Trib on the North Fork Yuba River when he was 13. At 18 he took the Trib guide school and is now a Class 4/5 raft guide and trip leader with Tributary. Graham's time off is spent by taking inner tubes off waterfalls, and being in nature.
	Jessica Moskwa - Guide Went through our guide school in 2008, and has been with Trib ever since. Jessica is usually on the South Fork American River and is great with our Girl Scout groups! Her time off is spent, you guessed it, on the river! From Grand Canyon trips (picture at top of page) to excursions to South American Rivers she is there!
	Steven Paoli - Guide Guiding since 1998, with Tributary since 2001 on and off. Now spends more time doing more lucrative construction and other jobs, but can't stay away for long!
	Mark Piasente - Guide Went through our guide school in 2006, and guided with Trib ever since. Mark is now more of a weekend warrior but has but in many days and nights on the Middle Fork American River.
	Danielle Reed - Guide Went through our guide school in 2005, and has guided with Trib ever since. During the off-season, she is a student at Chico State and is working towards earning her teaching credentials for grades K-6. Having grown-up in Nevada City, CA she will tell you her favorite Tributary trip is on the North Yuba River. You can spot her at 'Trib' by looking for the little guide with the big smile!
	Jenny Ried - Reservation Associate Originally from Massachusetts Jen went to CU Boulder, graduated in '04 and has been in the outdoor recreation industry since. When she's not answering phones in the office Jenny is quick to jump into an outdoor adventure with her finace and chocolate lab wether it be kayaking, swimming, and biking in the summer to getting over 40 days of snowboarding in the winter. Jenny is also an artisan/seamstress, specializing in crocheting, beading, and repairing Outdoor Gear. She sells goods on etsy.com and loves special orders, check her out at www.designersewlutions.com.
	Dave Rothfuss - Guide Guiding since 2000, with Tributary since 2008. Guiding for more than 10 years, and residing in the Sierra’s year round with riley the dog; Dave is truly a mountain man. Dave (a.k.a. "Cocktail Dave") is also a photographer, Squaw Valley shredder, skydiver, base jumper, wing suit flyer, and dog lover. In the spring and summer you can find Dave on the Truckee River. He loves the fun, beauty and challenge of whitewater.
	Daniel Soule - Guide Guiding with Trib since 2001. Went through Trib guide school in 1999. Daniel "Doc" Soule grew up locally in Colfax, CA and began whitewater at a very early age. Doc went through guide school with Tributary at 13 years old, and has been yelling Trib Up ever since. A graduate from the University of Oregon (GO DUCKS!), a favorite river of his is the North Fork American, and is currently a teacher in Phoenix, AZ.
	Monica Stark - Guide Guiding since 2000 and guiding for Tributary on and off since 2001. One of the few Class 5 lady guides around and member of the California ladies raft team. Monica has definately surprised some of our overnight Middle Fork American River bachelor party trips by man-handling a overloaded gear boat through the Tunnel Chute! She likes the chance to get up farthur north to raft some great Class 4/5 runs on the Cal Salmon, Burnt Ranch Gorge and the Upper Klamath. Her time in the winter is spent up in Lake Tahoe doing various jobs and snow boarding the back country.
	Josh Workman - Guide Guiding since 2000 and with Trib since 2002 with a brief break from us in 2005-2006. Josh primarily works on the Truckee River as its close to home, but also qualified on Class 4 runs like the Middle Fork American River and North Fork Yuba River.