Jerry Ashburn: Adventure Pioneer to Riverside Host

Jerry Ashburn’s enduring legacy with EarthTrek Expeditions

If you’ve ever passed through Coloma – especially in a boat – you may have noticed the canvas tents on platforms along the river just below the Highway 49 bridge.

But when adventure travel pioneer Jerry Ashburn first arrived over forty years ago, things were different. Commercial rafting and lodging on the South Fork of the American River were still very much taking shape.

Ashburn had been bringing groups from Southern California to the Sierra for a while. He grew up in Orange County, California, and by 1966 worked at Disneyland. But he was always getting away, usually into nature.

“One of the reasons I loved to travel was to get out of Los Angeles and Orange County,” he says. And he loved going with others. In 1970, he started the Disneyland Alpine Club, taking work colleagues backpacking. Other programs followed including multi-day rafting trips through Desolation Canyon, Cataract Canyon, and Grand Canyon.

Around 1977, Ashburn and a travel agent friend figured there might be a business model in all of this. “Adventure travel was getting more popular,” he recalls. “My friend came up with this name ‘EarthTrek Expeditions,’ and we slowly started getting bookings.”

In 1980, Ashburn began making reservations for his first commercial rafting trips on the South Fork of the American. Before long, business was booming. “We rented a campsite in Ponderosa Park,” he says, and partnered with a local rafting company.

In 1982 EarthTrek set up permanent camp at River Bend Resort. Ashburn decided it might make sense to guide the rafting trips too. By 1984, he was running rafting trips regularly with the help of Jim Leabeater. “[Ashburn and Leabeater] prioritized teamwork,” says Janeen Stewart, a former EarthTrek guide and manager. “They worked well together, and through example, inspired us to follow suit.”

After ten years at River Bend, the partners started looking to buy their own facility. In 1992, the right opportunity knocked. “A fella I know owned Gold Rush and he came to me saying he wants to sell his business and his land,” Ashburn says. In 1993, they officially moved.

For Ashburn and EarthTrek, it was also a chance to upgrade accommodations. “I was always into building a better camp than most people get when they go rafting,” he says. So to the EarthTrek camp came cabin tents — elevated canvas structures with beds or bunkbeds. Those remain EarthTrek’s signature look even as others along the river have added similar “glamping” style structures.

“When trends ran through the rafting industry, Jerry stuck to his own principles,” says Stewart. “He has never lost sight that a quality operation and experience for the guests is at the core of EarthTrek. This affected everything from the pricing of his trips to the treatment of his employees.”

In 2000, EarthTrek expanded their footprint and bought the remainder of the property it owns today. That allowed the company to build more tents with bunkbeds and host more children  — mostly fourth graders — who visit Coloma to study the Gold Rush in the off-season. For many, EarthTrek is their first camping experience ever.

Parents often stay with their kids, and the camp has hosted celebrities and their children, such as Vanessa Paradis and Jennifer Garner (who even helped out in the kitchen). The camp has also hosted music festivals, bike rides, and wellness events. Corporate trips and a wedding venue also did solid business for a while, though the school trips are most important now.

EarthTrek sold its rafting permits about ten years ago to OARS. Around that time it also built more river tents at the river’s edge. Coming full circle, EarthTrek again partners with OARS to offer multi-day rafting, camping and meals. Ashburn and his staff still cook for most of their guests.

Recently, Ashburn finally has found some time for fall traveling. Now 76, he’d like to get up to Alaska with his wife Susan. He’s pleased to see his daughter Laura taking on more responsibility for booking and management. And he’s proud to be a survivor in an industry where consolidation is the new norm. “It took nearly ten years to make the business start to grow into what it is today. I am proud that I had the patience to stick with it.”

To learn more, and to experience the legacy of Jerry Ashburn — a pioneer in adventure travel and river glamping — visit EarthTrekExpeditions.com.

 

Read more articles by Anthea Raymond here