Two Idaho Writing Retreats
Getting off the grid and immersed in nature will reset your nervous system and invite the kind of deep thinking that isn't possible in the daily grind.
In three decades as a professional writer, I’ve learned to prioritize the two most nourishing elements of my writing life: writing retreats and a literary community.
Writing retreats allow me to withdraw from the constant distractions and interruptions of daily life, the two greatest enemies of good writing. When I need to do quality work on deadline, I hole up for 7 to 10 days at a time to work in monastic solitude. On an average day on retreat, I can double the number of words I can write at home. On a great day, I can quadruple it.
But solo retreats can be lonely. So the other great gift in my writing life is an immersive retreat or workshop in community with other writers. In some cases, we dissect magnificent stories to learn the mechanics of the craft, then break at night to make music. In others, we co-work in silence by day, then gather at night for the fellowship of a communal meal.
The end goal of a community retreat is relationships that outlive the retreat. Because sometimes what a writer needs most is other writers.
I want to share these gifts with you.
One of my love languages and superpowers is curating immersive real-life events that bring like-minded people together in some extraordinary way.
This September, I’m pleased to offer two singular writing retreats in the stunning wilds of Idaho. They’re very different experiences, both designed to help you get into the flow state by liberating you from the distractions and interruptions that threaten your writing life at home and work.
This is the greatest gift you can give yourself as a writer. You deserve it.
September 18-22: Flow State River Retreat
Who: Writers, editors, and creative thinkers
What: Guided multi-day whitewater river trip
When: September 18-22, 2026
Where: The Middle Fork of the Salmon River
Idaho’s Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness
Why: To get off the grid and gestate ideas in a creative community
Brought to you by The Waterproof Notebook and Middle Fork Rapid Transit, this guided backcountry float trip offers 5 days and 4 nights to unplug, reflect, connect, and find your flow state on 75 miles of wild river.
The Retreat
Led in collaboration with Pulitzer Prize-winning feature writer Mark Warren, this special edition river adventure is curated for professional writers and editors who need uninterrupted time in the flow state to incubate a major literary project or big idea. Non-writers are also welcome to apply. Space on this trip is limited to ensure a small and intimate group.
Getting off the grid and immersed in nature will reset your nervous system and allow the kind of deep thinking that isn’t possible amid the interruptions and demands of daily life and work. You can workshop your ideas (optional) in community with other big thinkers, get one-on-one time with Mark and Kim, attend small-group breakout sessions, and enjoy pockets of solitude to think and write between immersive adventures on the river. Whether you’re wrapping your head around a book, imagining the next chapter of your life, or simply in need of a break from the ever-loving grind, this wilderness excursion will send you home recharged with clarity and momentum.
The Adventure
The Middle Fork is a trip of a lifetime—period. Among the world’s most legendary whitewater rivers, it’s one the only ways to explore Idaho’s 2.3-million-acre Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, the largest US wilderness in the Lower 48.
In September, the river promises mellower rapids, swimmable temps, and stargazing in the nation’s first international Dark Skies Reserve. Opt-in adventures include fly fishing for native west slope cutthroat trout, soaking in hot springs, and guided hikes to petroglyphs, historic sites, and staggering views of a gorge deeper than the Grand Canyon. On the river, you can relax on an oar boat rowed by a guide, run rapids in a splashy paddle boat, or pilot your own inflatable kayak “duckie.”
You’ll wake up to coffee and a hot breakfast, refuel on the river with a made-from-scratch lunch, and float into each night’s riverside camp, where guides have set up your tent and laid out a happy-hour spread of apps and drinks. We’ll have a fireside discussion about storytelling craft and workshop ideas during a gourmet dinner (a typical menu includes grilled salmon, fresh veggies, wine or beer, and Dutch oven desserts), then leave you time to write before falling asleep on the plushest sleeping pads on the river. Pro tip: Forgo your tent and sleep under the stars (the Middle Fork has few mosquitoes).
Your Guides
Mark Warren is the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner for his feature story, “A Death in Alabama” (Esquire). Warren worked as an editor at Esquire Magazine for twenty-eight years, twenty of those years as Executive Editor, where he oversaw much of the award-winning narrative nonfiction literary journalism for the magazine. He then spent six years as Vice President and Executive Editor at Random House. During his decades in book and magazine publishing, he has covered Capitol Hill and the White House, and initiated enterprise reporting on race, poverty, geopolitics, technology, political extremism, domestic and international terrorism, gun violence, and the health-care system, among many other subjects. He coauthored Senator Harry Reid’s memoir The Good Fight when Reid was Senate Majority Leader, as well as Senator Jeff Flake’s book Conscience of a Conservative.
Kim Cross is a New York Times best-selling author and journalist known for meticulously reported narrative nonfiction. A full-time freelance writer based in Idaho, she won a 2026 National Magazine Award for “Out of the Wild” (Food & Wine), a story about tracing a wild salmon from a fisherman’s net in Alaska to a consumer’s plate in the Lower 48. Her first book, What Stands in a Storm, was awarded the Fitzgerald Museum Literary Prize and the American Society of Journalists and Authors nonfiction book award. Her third book, In Light of All Darkness, won the 2024 Truman Capote Prize for Literary Non-Fiction and was an Edgar Award Nominee for True Crime. Her magazine stories have been recognized in “Best of” lists by the New York Times, the Columbia Journalism Review, and Best American Sports Writing. Kim is a writing instructor for the Sawtooth Writing Retreat, the Larry McMurtry Literary Center, and Harvard Extension School.
A small family business based in Idaho, Middle Fork Rapid Transit has been owned and operated by the Porter family since 1980. Unlike many other rafting companies, their guides don’t move around during the summer working different rivers with different crews—they work together all summer, year in and year out and their experience, professionalism and cohesiveness show. Their food continually exceeds expectations and has been featured on Great Chef’s outdoor feature.
Interested? Email me for details and instructions on how to apply.
September 23-26: Sawtooth Writing Retreat
Who: Writers of all genres and levels
What: Outdoor-centric retreat with great food, rustic lodging, and
a customizable schedule of workshops and writing time
When: September 23-26, 2026
Where: In the Sawtooth Mountains near Ketchum / Sun Valley, Idaho
Why: To write and learn from a team of instructors in a community where
all writers are welcome
Elevate your writing under the stars in the mountains that inspired Ernest Hemingway. Designed for adults who wish to advance their writing craft and connect with a community of serious writers, the Sawtooth Writing Retreat takes place at a rustic summer camp 17 miles outside Ketchum, the mountain town where Hemingway lived and wrote during the final years of his life.
This retreat is all about “getting away” and offering you the opportunity to focus solely on your writing. Our rustic setting (think childhood camp) allows your mind the freedom to wander and discover, as well as connect with the natural landscape.
Custom-design your ideal retreat. Choose from a menu of workshops and outdoor activities, and set aside uninterrupted time to think and write or hike and in a natural setting conducive to reflection. Connection to surroundings is integral to any good writing, no matter the genre.
Here’s what a typical day looks like: Wake up in your cabin, tent, or camper and gather in the lodge for fresh coffee and a continental breakfast. Opt into one of the morning workshops led by our team of writing instructors. Or skip it and spend a quiet morning writing by the stream or on a log among quaking aspens. Reconvene for a made-from-scratch lunch, then choose an afternoon workshop or opt for a hike to the lake, a nap, or more writing time. After a gourmet dinner, gather by a bonfire, enjoy an evening talk, or join astronomers on a tour of the night sky through professional telescopes.
Our food is exceptional. All meals are made from scratch using fresh, seasonal ingredients and cooked on-site by chef Carissa Cooper of NourishMe in Ketchum. We eat trout from local waters, goat cheese from local goat farms, produce from the area. Everything is local… except the avocados! (She also accommodates all dietary needs and restrictions.)
What past participants say
We’ve welcomed poets, journalists, fiction writers, memoirists, historians, narrative nonfiction writers, published authors, and aspiring writers to the Sawtooth Writing Retreat. Last year’s group included writers from Alaska, North Carolina, Georgia, and Los Angeles as well as Idaho towns big and small. Here’s what ProPublica journalist Ellis Simani had to say. Follow @kimhcross on Instagram for more writer stories.