liveonearth | Entries tagged with guiding

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

~ Rumi

RCW 79A.60.430
Vessels carrying passengers for hire on whitewater rivers — Safety requirements.
( See the legalese. )

...is worth overdoing. That was their mantra.

Completely Recommend.
( is worth overdoing. )

I am a river runner. From way back. My father got me started, in canoes first. When I was very small he would put me in the bow of the canoe, tell me to paddle, and surf the canoe in river waves. We used to camp by creeks up on the plateau, and he'd let us take the insulite pads that we slept on and go hiking up the stream to float back down on the thin beige mats. I got my first kayak when I was 11. It was a cut-down Mark 4. I was already too big for it, or at least, it was uncomfortable and I always got fiberglass in my arms and legs when I used it. I only used it a few times, once when I got hypothermic on the Nantahala and had to be plowed to shore by my dad's canoe, and once when I got tangled in vines on the Green and completely panicked. I didn't paddle for several years recovering from these experiences.
( ruminations provoked by another woman's story of becoming a guide )

They spend all day in their dripping wet rainforest camp. The men stay in their tents and their sleeping bags as if they existonly only to live in them. The women do what the men are always too tired or too uninterested or too caught up in a conversation about sport or politics to be bothered doing. They work. They peel vegetables. They collect firewood. They fetch water from the river up the steep and awkward bank to the campsite. They wash dishes. They help the guides organise the camp, unpacking and packing barrels. Repairing equipment. The men reserve their energies for some future conjectural at of courage. The women's courage is of a type that endures this day of rain. Meanwhile the men get depressed. The men feel some embarrassment that women are on the same trip and doing things that really only men ought be doing. The guides prefer it. Nothing, for a river guide, is worse than an all-male trip. They are boring and lazy and inclined to foolhardiness. They are considerable work to look after. They are generally not in the same class for company. Aljaz likes sitting down with the women around the fire....
--Richard Flanagan
p154
( another quote, p224: )

Here is Colleen Laffey's recent piece on the Gauley River in West Virginia. Colleen is a professional videographer, and a paddler, so she has collected a lot of amazing clips on this river over the years. Her profile of the Gauley really captures the playful and international flavor of the boating gathering that occurs there each fall, and it has some great footage of rad whitewater kayaking and lots of rafts flipping. =-]

Here's a photo of a typical river camp along the section of the San Juan where we were. Imagine however that the area that they are camped on is under 10 feet of roiling fast brown water, and you'll have an idea what it looked like that day in May. And we were in little playful whitewater kayaks, not rubber barges.

I'm still reading Deep Survival and as I read, I remember the many times on my own outings that someone could have died, but didn't. People are often unaware of how close to the edge they are walking. On the river people underestimate the hazard of high water, on the snow people forget about avalanche, in good weather people act as if the weather won't change with no notice. One of the more risky trips was relatively recent. This trip, while it turned out well, was on the very edge of disaster. Let me record what I remember about it.
( the story )

I was ready, well past ready really, to have my own raft. My crew that day was a set of four thick-bodied men wearing gold jewelry. They had not bothered to take off their gold watches, saying "it's waterproof". They said they were "bean counters" from New York, and would not explain to me what a bean counter was. That was our bad beginning.

( the story )

Every time I talk with certain old friends, we trade stories from our years of working and playing on the river. I have so many such stories that when someone asks me to tell them a story, I have trouble selecting a single one to tell. I have long thought that I should tell those stories in my journal. So I will begin. Mind you, many of these stories have no particular beginning, end, or point. They are simply stories. Here's the first one.

First, here is a picture of the rapid Jawbone at somewhat lower water than the level on the day of my story:

( The day I checked out on the mighty Chattooga, Section IV: random reminiscence... )

Went paddling with Susan again today. The river was running about 900 CFS, which is headed toward low water. Susan has a torn hamstring and was more uncomfortable than usual in her boat, but the water was the lowest we've seen it yet, so it balanced out. We're getting comfortable paddling together. It was a lovely warm day.

I used the lightning paddle that my friend R built, and it was so light and easy! I rolled three times on each side at the put-in and confirmed what I already know, that the wooden paddle I have been using makes it harder to roll. We started catching more eddies in this run....it's just getting low enough to HAVE lots of eddies. I guess I am a low water boater, because all those eddies make me happy. I am still not satisfied with my kayak. I guess I should find another one that I won't complain about every time I use it. I wish for the one that I left behind in Flagstaff, in T&T's garage, my old Inazone 240. So what if it has a big dent in the hull?
( other happenings )

( notes pulled for black book )

( In the Dream: )

Current Mood: awake

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31

INTERESTING TIMES

are better than no times at all.

Entries tagged with guiding

Rumi: Guest House

OR State Law as Pertains to Riverguides

Anything Worth Doing

Sexism on the River

QotD: from Death of a Riverguide (1994 novel)

Good Gauley

River Tales: High Water San Juan with Rookies

River Tales: First Flip

River Tales: Section IV Checkout Day

Trip Report: Clackamas River, Fish to Bob's

Microbiology: TOENAIL funk: Tinea Unguium

Dream: Raft Guide Switch

Profile

May 2025

Syndicate

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags