Jasper Vanspoore

Jasper was born and raised in Missoula, Montana and grew up camping on the sandy beaches of the Salmon and Selway rivers with her family, who is from Kooskia, ID. After graduating highschool, she moved to Alaska to explore the north as a sea kayak guide. Jasper spent three years living in Southeast Alaska rainforest, where she kayaked with orcas and humpback whales, worked at the local bookstore, and learned to weave cedar bark baskets from Haida teachers. During one especially rainy day, she realized she dearly missed the mountains, rivers, and sunshine of Idaho and decided to return home. For the last four years, Jasper has been guiding on the Salmon–the same stretch her family has been rafting for decades! There’s no place in the world Jasper would rather be.

When river season comes to a close, Jasper returns home to Missoula to spend the winter skiing, riding horses, and attending the University of Montana. In May 2022, after four months teaching in a Yupik and Dena’ina village in Southwest Alaska, Jasper graduated with her bachelor’s degree in English Teaching. In addition to being a guide and a teacher, she’s an avid watercolor artist who finds endless inspiration in the enchanting canyons of the Salmon River.