Meet Tobi Rohwer | Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tobi Rohwer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tobi, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
When we started out more than a decade ago, we had pretty modest goals. We just wanted to be able to take guests on a rafting trip that we would be proud to take our own friends and family on. We wanted to develop a sense of family within a renewed company. We wanted to develop a boating community in the town where we grew up and where one didn’t exist before. We wanted to create jobs that paid passionate and skilled people what they were worth and where they would come back to work summer after summer. We wanted to share the magic of floating on a free-flowing mountain river because we knew that once people have done it, they are forever changed.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
We didn’t set out to be the biggest outfitter in the area, just everyone’s favorite outfitter. Our efforts to share a professional but friendly, small-town, family-owned-and-operated experience has been overwhelmingly embraced by our community. Our primary goal is for each and every one of our guests to have a fun, safe, and memorable time.

After graduating from college, I spent my 20’s using raft guiding as a means to travel and explore the American West. I was able to run a ton of different rivers and work for dozens of different outfitters big and small. I had the unique opportunity to identify all the things I really liked at every company I worked with, as well as some things that didn’t work so well. I learned that there are a few big important things, along with a whole bunch of tiny details, that all add up to make a high quality river trip. When you adventure with Pagosa Outside, I hope that you are having too much fun to notice all the little things that have gone into making your trip safe, smooth and seamless.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Where We Go Out to Eat: Good fresh sandwiches right next door at The Peak Deli
Pagosa’s best Baja Style at Kips Grill and Cantina. Try the tacos!
Bakery style breakfast at Pagosa Baking Company.
Awesome NY style Pizza at Rosies Pizzeria.
The best local beer at Riff Raff Brewing Company
Fine dining at the Alley House Grille
Sweet treats at PS FroYo.
Our favorite Mexican and Margs – Chavolos
Where Our Friends Stay:
A motor lodge with character – Motel SOCO
Modern cabins on the San Juan River at Fireside Cabins
Camping on the edge of the wilderness at Sportsman Campground and Cabins
Boutique lodging inspired by the atmosphere of the 1950s roadside motels The Nightingale Motel
Convenient camping at River Side Campground
Large VRBO with MASSIVE views – Legacy Mtn. Lodge
Cheap or Free Local Activities:
Play disc golf, hike, and bike on Reservoir Hill
Hike on the Piedra River Trail and to Piedra Falls
Stand with one foot on each side of the Continental Divide
Soak in the Hippie-Dip Hot Springs
Recommended Local Activities:
Horseback Trail Rides – Elk Heart Outfitters
Hot Air Balloon Rides – Rocky Mountain Balloon Adventures
Guided Fishing – High Country Charters
ATV Rentals – Outback ATV Rentals
Escape Rooms – Pagosa Escape Zone
Electric Scooters – Pagosa Scootz
Snowmobile Tours – Snow Country Adventures
More Ideas from our Visitors Center

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
And we would have to do it with the financial backing of a transient raft guide that had been living out of his truck for the last 10 years and a recent college graduate with a pile of student loan debt. And then, just to make it even more fun, life decided that we needed to be the parents to two beautiful young ladies.

Looking back at all of the growth and change, I feel pretty proud of where we’ve come.

Website: pagosaoutside.com

Image Credits
Pagosa Outside