Log in
A whitewater rafting blog for anyone interested in California whitewater rafting, Idaho river rafting, rafting in the Grand Canyon, as well as rafting throughout the U.S. West, national parks vacations, multi-sport vacations, adventure travel, and all things related to the world's waterways.

Archive for the 'Grand Canyon Dory Boat Trips' Category

The Dory Story

March 2, 2010.

Life offers us certain magical treasures that cannot be duplicated. Eating a fresh, warm, buttery croissant in a Parisian café. Sharing your first glimpse into Yosemite Valley with someone special. Sharing a pennant victory on home soil with your baseball-loving kids. Experiencing a whitewater river trip in a sleek, classic dory.

Smooth, solid, surreal…As stylish as it is burly, a dory is to the river what an Italian sports car is to mean, urban streets and rowdy rural routes. No other boat is as capable, safe or elegant on the wild waters that O.A.R.S. explores. Beyond their stout, thoughtful design dories hold a soulful connection to the river and a heritage of western exploration. Combined, the qualities of the vessel make for an unmatched and unforgettable journey.

Dories are made for rock and roll. They’re also finely tuned to provide classic amenities. Hardwood-hulled but ultra-buoyant, they slice walls of wave, buck through rapids and land large drops with ease (and more than enough splash).

In rippling waters and inconsistent currents—conditions that would make other vessels more unruly—a dory is unbelievably sleek and lounge-like. Sincerely smooth sailing. Decked over, there is room for hundreds of pounds of gear, dry and out of sight. Above board, there’s ample space for four passengers and a central cockpit for a guide manning two powerful oars.

Aside from the incredible places these boats will take you; aside from the wonderful experiences you will have there; aside from the dories’ heritage and elegance; these boats, more than any other on the river are just plain fun.
                                                                                                
-Excerpt from the O.A.R.S. Dory Catalog, 2004


O.A.R.S. dory boats
are descendants of the original Portuguese fishing dory—a flat-bottomed, splay-sided rowboat with high upturned ends. In the early years of commercial river running in the Grand Canyon, two veteran rowers of the old Cataract boats, Martin Litton, and P.T. Reilly, saw the need for a more practical craft, but wanted to preserve the dignity and grace of the wooden boat.

According to a wonderfully detailed account of the dory’s history, written by Grand Canyon boatman Brad Dimock, Martin and P.T. worked with boat builders Keith Steele, and later, Jerry Briggs, to develop larger, decked-over versions of the McKenzie dory. They found the boat to be perfectly adapted to the rigors of the Colorado River, and it could carry four passengers and plenty of gear below the decks. In 1964, inspired by the canyon’s grandeur and driven by a will to save it from proposed dams and inevitable destruction, Martin Litton received authorization from the National Park Service to row dories commercially in the Grand Canyon and Grand Canyon Dories was born.

Rigid, keeled cutwater boats first made their appearance on the rivers of the western U.S. in 1869 during the Major John Wesley Powell expedition through the Colorado River canyon. Powell and the expeditions that followed were able to navigate the Colorado in these heavy, unwieldy boats. Then in the 1890’s a Utah trapper named Nathaniel Galloway revolutionized whitewater boating by utilizing a light, flat-bottomed boat. In the late 1930’s Norman Nevills took the next step by creating a far broader craft called a Cataract boat, using it on the first commercial Grand Canyon river trip in 1938. Though the Cataract boats were run in the Canyon for more than 30 years, their poor carrying capacity forced them to succumb to the new competition: inflatables.

The river dory evolved on Oregon’s McKenzie River. In the 1920’s Torkel Kaarhus, a Norwegian boat builder, began to modify the awkward flat plank boats then in use. He bent the ends up, giving the boats "rocker" and making them easier to spin. He raised the low square stern to help ward off the waves.

A few years later Woodie Hindman, who got his start with Kaarhus, began to modify the design. After running a trip on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River with its bigger rapids, he returned to Oregon determined to design a better whitewater dory. First, he converted the high square stern into a higher, pointed stern to better cut through the waves. Next, he squared off the low pointed bow to accommodate a motor. In a sense he turned the boat around backwards. Lastly, he lengthened the boat for better handling. This became the McKenzie style dory, or "drift boat," which is now common on rivers throughout the Northwest.

  

In a recent conversation with John Blaustein, one of Martin Litton’s original dory guides, I asked him why someone might appreciate a dory. He stated from his home in Berkeley: “They are simply the most beautiful and graceful boats on any river. You feel details of the rapids, and you certainly get a feel of the water more intimately because of the way a rigid boat responds to the current. However, whether a person chooses to travel downriver in a dory or in a raft, they will almost certainly have an amazing whitewater experience. Adventurers will still explore side canyons and share a campfire with newfound friends. They will fall asleep under the stars and awaken to the sound of water flowing downstream. However, dories are elegant, classic and graceful—a word that Martin often uses. In fact, you should call him.”

It took very little encouragement from John to get me to pick up the phone and call Martin. As predicted, he immediately described the dory as “graceful.”

“Dories are spirited,” he added. “They have individual personalities. Each one is named after magnificent wild places. All your gear is stored below deck in watertight compartments which makes it a very sleek and elegant-looking boat.”

He continued, “A dory reacts to the water, and as you grow accustomed to your boat and learn its unique quirks, you always know how it will respond. It has a direction to it. Dories are made to go over the waves. They were made based on a history of going through ocean breakers. The dory’s design—the rake, the slant of the sides, the width, the gunnels—all these characteristics influence how the boat handles and how it keeps the water out. This doesn’t mean that you won’t get wet, certainly you will in big rapids.”

Martin spoke with animation about his years spent in the canyon, sharing with me a history of one of his legendary boatmen, Kenton Grua (a.k.a. “The Factor”). He suggested I read Colin Fletcher’s book, “The Man Who Walked through Time: The Story of the First Trip Afoot through the Grand Canyon.” Of course we discussed John Blaustein’s book, “The Hidden Canyon.” Somehow the discussion led to alpinist Lito Tejada-Flores, but neither of us could recall how we found ourselves on that topic. We touched briefly on politics before Martin shared tales of two of his young guides in the early 1970’s — Curt Chang and Regan Dale. These two aspiring guides learned the ropes from Martin, who had introduced commercial dory trips not only in the canyon, but also on rivers in Idaho and Oregon.

After independent adventures of their own, Curt took over the reins in Idaho, and Regan managed Grand Canyon operations. Today these gentlemen continue to carry on the Grand Canyon Dories and O.A.R.S. Dories legacies and are part of one integrated family born of the Grand Canyon.

Nearly two hours had passed since Martin and I discussed the dory, so I asked him again why he thought someone might consider joining a river trip by dory and he said with a laugh, “Well, they’ll just have to experience it to find out!”
 

 

O.A.R.S. Whitewater Rafting Guide, Jeffe Aronson, Featured in Award-Winning Blog

April 1, 2009.

Don George, the Adventure Collection’s Web Editor in Chief, is a highly respected and pioneering travel journalist.  He was most recently the Global Travel Editor for Lonely Planet Publications.  Prior to that, Don was Travel Editor at the San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle and then edited Salon.com’s travel site, Wanderlust. An interview with GC Dory Guide, Jeffe Aronson, is currently featured on Don George’s award-winning blog – “Don’s Place.”  Well done Jeffe!

Here is the complete interview…

Well Guided: Conversations with Top AC Guides
Mar 30, 2009

A great guide can transform a journey. This month we talk with Jeffe Aronson, who navigates travelers through the Grand Canyon for O.A.R.S. A river guide for 34 years, Jeffe describes the role of guides as being “musicians, storytellers, jesters, professors, great cooks, best companions, and, of course, excellent boatmen.” In our conversation, Jeffe shares some of his most hair-raising rafting adventures, and reflects poignantly on the rewards of river journeys.

DG: How long have you been a guide?

JA: This year, 2009, will be my 34th season.

How long have you been a guide for OARS?

This will be my 4th season in a row, plus one back in ‘92, when I met my wife in the Grand Canyon.

As a guide, what do you do?

Hah! Everything from cleaning up “La Pooparia” to cooking soul-satisfying meals, from putting band-aids on owies to splinting up for the chopper, from sharing a scotch while watching the stars wheel in over the rim to offering a hand to get hikers over the next boulder, from rowing flat-water against the wind while trying to keep up a conversation to high-siding my dory rails while catapulting through the V-Wave in Lava.

What area/trip is your specialty?

I’ve worked all over the world, but have settled back into the Grand Canyon rowing dories (as long as I can keep them bamboozled into thinking I can actually do this).

What is it about the Grand Canyon that most appeals to you and that you love most to share with your travelers?

I have been, as I said, all over the world. I’ve boated some of the hardest, wildest, most remote rivers during my career. The Grand Canyon is, well, more than a river trip. Of the thousands of people I’ve taken down the mighty Colorado, many of whom are experienced world adventure travelers, most all end up leaning on the coffee table some glorious morning near the end of the trip, waxing lyrical, to tell me that this was the most amazing experience they’ve ever had in their lives. That they can never, will never, forget it.  As for sharing, I love to scan the faces of folks while I play my beat-up guitar and sing around the campfire, or as they come around the last corner before seeing The Patio at Deer Creek, or Elves Chasm, or as we float awe-struck (every one of us) through Marble Canyon downstream of Redwall Cavern, or watch them watch the guides as we scout Crystal or Lava or…

Can you give an example of any special experience or connection you have that you have been able to pass on to your travellers?

I have met a boat-load of incredible characters in my own incredible life. I am told I am an okay storyteller. Sometimes, when I am inspired, which isn’t hard to do along some riverbank, I launch into a tale of my friend Joe Biner, a boatman with cerebral palsy who has rowed the Canyon a dozen times, or of huge, funny Dave Edwards diving in to save a client from drowning in the Havasu flash flood, or legendary Suzanne, or the ‘83 flood, or… I love my job, and this place, so much. I have also lost a few things over the years to be down there. They can tell. That’s all they need.

Can you give me an example where you think you made an important difference for the travellers on one of your trips?

I instituted Grand Canyon river trips for people with disabilities, against great political odds. These trips are now done by the outfitters themselves, and are no longer considered too risky or too much of a hassle. I will always remember some of these first pioneers, bogged in deep sand in their wheelchairs fishing, or gazing at a waterfall after believing they would never be able to do that again, or being held by their helpers in a rapid, terrified and joyous. The effort was painful and I took a hiding, but I am very proud of it, nonetheless. I think of the ones that have followed.

What are a rafting guide’s most important skills?

Keeping the folks calm and safe as they are taken way beyond their comfort levels. Getting them through while making sure they don’t miss the magic.

What does a good guide add to a journey?

The best guides stay out of the way. They share of themselves and their knowledge, and remember that it’s all about the river, not them. They’re patient with the same question they’ve heard a million times, helpful to the biggest klutz on the trip, and keep an eye out, not only for trouble, but for that singular, fleeting moment. They may be musicians, storytellers, jesters, professors, great cooks, best companions, or, of course, excellent boatmen. Either way, they must have a keen sense for each of their pards and their clients, and watch for the hole that needs filling, or the rainbow that needs an “Ah!” to keep it going.

What are the main challenges of travel in the Canyon, and how do you overcome them?

The heat and the constant moving camp. As to the heat, you gotta teach the folks. As I write in my short story, “Sinyala Fault”: “You have to push through and beyond the sweat, the heat dragging at your heels, feeling like you’re baking in a convection oven. Somehow, you have to twist your mind and spirit into sucking in the heat, inhaling the burning rock, shrinking your presence into your sombrero and sunglasses and worn running shoes. Going beyond insane into primal, focused intensity.” As for moving every day, you just have to keep them psyched for what’s around the next bend, and help them figure out how to pack.

What do you enjoy most about your work?

The simplicity. The natural, sunburnt, gently flowing camaraderie. Watching people get it. Listening to the creak and dip of my oars.

What has been your one most memorable experience as a guide?

I cannot, do not, have just one. Comes with the territory after so many years. I’ve written a book, and am now shopping around for agents. There are a dozen stories in it, many of them river guiding adventures — and I’ve taken a number of others out! Perhaps it was when Glen Canyon Dam nearly burst in 1983, and we rowed the Canyon at 100,000 cfs. Perhaps it was when I lost my motor in high water Cataract Canyon and had to row the two-ton boat and five clients thru the Big Drops. Perhaps it was when a client going through chemo on one of our disabled trips asked the group’s permission to die right there and then, at Grapevine Beach, because she was so happy. Perhaps it was watching the eighteen-foot crocs leaping into the river, our river, right next to the boat on the Zambezi in Zimbabwe. Or diving into Havasu Creek in front of a twelve-foot flood wave to save two clients. Or rowing non-stop read-and-run Class 4 for hours on the Bio-Bio in Chile, now buried under a reservoir. Or the insane portages and must-catch micro-eddies on the Franklin in Tasmania, or having a grizzly charge me to within ten feet in Alaska, or…

How can travellers get the most out of a whitewater rafting adventure?

Be ready for the magic. Appreciate how rare the experience. Soak up the camaraderie. Test your boundaries. Oversome your fears. Leave the preconceptions behind, in the brochure. Accept. Take some of it home with you.

Grand Canyon Whitewater Rafting Photos

November 30, 2008.

Many thanks to Pamela Newberry for these incredible images from her recent O.A.R.S. Grand Canyon Dories trip!  We’d all love to hear about your experience hiking out of the Canyon from Phantom Ranch on the Bright Angel Trail.  Was it the most difficult hike of your life?  Was it relatively easy but l-o-n-g?  Did you have enough water and snacks?  Could you refill your water bottles on the trail?  What was your hiking guide like?  What was your experience like staying at Phantom Ranch?  Inquiring minds want to know…

    

Video of Grand Canyon Whitewater Rafting with OARS Dories

November 26, 2008.

Here is a short video clip of Bruce Keller guiding his dory One Eyed Jack and guests, Dave and Betsy, through a fun little rapid on the Colorado River. This clip was taken on an O.A.R.S. Dories trip in October 2008.

Whitewater Rafting in the Grand Canyon

November 24, 2008.

Bow riding on Young Tim Dale’s dory, Lava Cliff, on an O.A.R.S. Dories whitewater rafting trip through the Grand Canyon.

D-O-R-I-E-S… Ho!

November 20, 2008.

Longtime whitewater rafting and dory guide, Bruce Keller, sure knows how to show folks a good time in 36 Mile Rapid on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon! This ‘bow riding’ video was taken on an October 2008 O.A.R.S. Dories trip from Lees Ferry to Diamond Creek.

O.A.R.S. Dory Guide – Bill “Bronco” Bruchak

November 18, 2008.

As longtime O.A.R.S. whitewater rafting and dory guide, Bill “Bronco” Bruchak states, “I love sharing the magic of beautiful places with others.”  Indeed, sharing time with Bronco in the Grand Canyon in his dory, The Yampa, is a magical experience.  His rhythmic, hypnotic stroke of the oars creates a floating meditative experience in one of the most spectacular places on earth.  Whether rowing flat water, entering a Class 10 rapid, or spotting big horn sheep high up on a canyon wall, his zen-like poise does not waver.

Bronco is a humble and passionate man with a kind soul (and huge heart) who lives and breathes the Great Outdoors.  He isn’t simply connected to the places he visits; he is an integral partner.  He does not hang up his oars at the end of the day or the end of the season.  He IS the dory, the river, the history, the wilderness…  Each story he relates deepens your experience and expresses his true love of the Canyon.

Thank you Bronco, for continuing to facilitate the magic…
 

Bronco in Lava Falls, October 2008

           

 

      

Rondoworld Does House Rock Rapid

November 14, 2008.

Longtime whitewater rafting guide, pirate, bike-shop owner, mountain biker, entrepreneur, real estate developer and one of my personal favorite storytellers, Rondo Buecheler, guides his dory, Shoshone, through House Rock Rapid on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. This clip was also filmed on a recent 18-day O.A.R.S./Grand Canyon Dories trip from Lees Ferry to Diamond Creek.

The Colorado River’s House Rock Rapid

November 14, 2008.

Longtime whitewater rafting guide, Bruce Keller, takes his dory, One Eyed Jack, on a sweet ride through House Rock Rapid.  House Rock is located near mile 17 and is given a rapid rating of 4-7.    –Colorado River rapid ratings are given on a scale of 1 – 10, with 10 the most difficult.  Ratings are based on river flows of between 5,000 and 25,000 cubic feet per second (cfs).–   This clip was filmed recently on an 18-day O.A.R.S./Grand Canyon Dories trip from Lees Ferry to Diamond Creek, and the flow was approximately 12,100 cfs.

Under the Spell of the Grand Canyon

November 10, 2008.

There’s no denying it… I’ve fallen under the spell of the Grand Canyon.  Here is a sampling of some images taken from a recent whitewater rafting trip down the Colorado River with O.A.R.S. / Grand Canyon Dories.  If you have any photos/videos/stories you would like to share, please send them to info@oars.com.  We’d love to hear from you and we’ll post them here with your permission.

   

   

 

Read the rest of this entry »