![]() ![]() Feel the significance of an ancient canyon that is so great, that even our tiny selves become greater floating in its presence.Īll of this is the stoke of the river, the energy that ignites a fire of passion and connection. Feel a joy so pure that it makes adults giggle like children, dancing around a campfire wearing costumes and singing songs off-key. Feel a rush so powerful that you instinctively yell with excitement on the same day you feel inner peace watching the morning sun meltdown a canyon wall. But a great guide is one that opens up others’ hearts and minds to the feeling of an experience, where they feel things they have never felt before. A good guide can give talks on geology, set up a trap, and make a delicious dutch-oven chocolate cake. What all these memories have in common is that they are all felt and not taught. The excitement and rush of running rapids the peace found in a pristine wilderness the control one yields to the river the wild joy expressed through cheerful howls when a huge rapid is run the intimate connection created between themselves and the beautiful canyons empowerment from rowing a boat and accomplishment from catching a fish. When I ask river guides to think back on their first trips and share the experiences that made them want to come back, I hear a variety of answers. But the true privilege is when guides get to pass this torch to those unfamiliar with it, unexpecting of it. It is passed down from river generation to river generation, like seasoned guides passing the torch to young, rapid-hungry rookies. Once found, the stoke is so powerful it sustains throughout a person’s life. It begins with someone’s first time running a rapid, or first time watching the sunset over a river. Whether it be at the top of a mountain or floating through the bottom of a canyon whether it be a person’s first day in the backcountry or their 100th, this vibration reverberates silently in these places and echoes inside of those who explore there. There’s this thing, this energy that all who adventure and wander into pristine places feel. Your line is flawless and you holler at the top of your lungs, and these new friends, who have become your family, join in with you.Ī guide loves, they love the river, and they absolutely love the perpetual search for the place where the magic happens. You know you can do it, and you know your team and these people have your back. The rapid approaches and you settle into yourself, your oars strike the water exactly how you want them to, your strokes put your boat exactly where you want it to be. Patiently waiting, hoping the critters will be enticed to pop back up… as excited to see you, as you are them.Ī guide is giddy, because some days the water is big, and your heart pounds, and your fellow guides, your team, and the guests are relying on you to do your very best relying on you for safe passage. They notice the family of otters sliding into the river (invisible to the untrained eye), and usher others into excited silence. Then they share what they’re smiling about. Then just like that the cold spurts become less and less frequent… the days continue to get longer, the nights warmer, the fires burn bigger, and the river gets higher and higher.Ī guide smiles, a lot. The first snow of the year laying down the foundation for all the preceding storms, a subtle or sometimes dramatic fluctuation between the hot and the cold, and everywhere in between. They patiently, or not so patiently, wait for another magnificent cycle of water. They do it so they can figure out a way to squeeze in more the following season. Allowing everyone around them to sink into this unbelievable state of euphoria, instead of overthinking the unknown.Ī guide doesn’t tally their river miles at the end of the season as some great accomplishment, they do it to relive every one of those miles, those moments, those shooting stars, the laughter, the joy. I’ve thought about it a lot… To keep it short and sweet, a guide knows where the magic happens.Ī guide makes the uncomfortable, comfortable. All of a sudden it feels like you can step outside of yourself and become the person you were always meant to be and isn’t everyone perpetually striving to figure out who they are? It falls into the metaphysical realm for me, because being a guide is who I am. ![]()
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