My years of experience as a professional river guide have shown me that the trips I remember and learn from the most have been those with a purpose. Trips like these accomplish a therapeutic value from the overall experience of being in nature, and floating down a river.  For me, the Green River’s, Gates of Lodore river trip was an opportunity to observe this therapeutic value through the eyes of veterans coping with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The thirteen veterans who participated in this trip were from various wartime operations, which included Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Central America.

For those who suffer from PTSD, being on a river trip enables them to have new experiences and at the same time create a sense of normalcy. One Veteran summarized, “Most vets that are in these programs have lost their self-respect to the point where they feel they cannot contribute to anything anymore, so a lot of this may seem minute to some people…It is a big deal to the vets…it gives us a feeling that we can start over and still be useful”. The veterans were introduced to an oar raft, a paddle raft, and an inflatable kayak through rapids, slept in tents, and hiked up side canyons to waterfalls.  All these new experiences added to the rivers ability to recharge them and build self-efficacy.

Written by Teresa Yates Matheson

Teresa Yates Matheson started guiding through the Colorado River in Grand Canyon in 1985 with Georgie Clark, one of the early pioneers of river running. Her twenty-year river career includes commercial and scientific expeditions, where she did research on fisheries, sediment, vegetation, and wildlife. Since her recent graduation from the University of Utah, Teresa is in the process of writing about how the environment has influenced her life, and the therapeutic value of wilderness. She has published Slithering Company and Nankoweap’s Wild Kingdom in Crista Sadler’s, There’s This River: Grand Canyon Boatmen Stories. Her image of Georgie Clark has been published in several videos and books.

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If you have a soft spot in your heart for rivers, then chances are Martin Litton is on your list of heroes. He first floated the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in 1955—the 185th known person to follow in explorer John Wesley Powell’s footsteps. Not long after, he founded Grand Canyon Dories and has since led scores of trips on the Colorado. In 2004 he broke his own record becoming the oldest person to row the entire Grand Canyon at the age of 87.

Written by Lauren de Remer

O.A.R.S.' Marketing Communications Coordinator & Waterblogged Editor

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Stephen Kenney is one of our top river guides on the forks of the Salmon River, the Snake River through Hells Canyon and on the Colorado River (both in Cataract Canyon & the Grand Canyon). Considering his diverse boating capabilities, Kenney gets to enjoy a multitude of watersheds – the best the West has to offer in terms of alpine scenery and wild landscapes! He also has a big sense of humor, wide range of educational experience, and can occasionally be found dressed in women's apparel while cooking on the river. Get to know this well-educated, Kentucky native in our ninth episode of guide interviews!

Written by Lauren de Remer

O.A.R.S.' Marketing Communications Coordinator & Waterblogged Editor

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Natali Zollinger is one of our top river guides in Utah & Colorado. Working primarily in Dinosaur National Monument, she gets to enjoy the Yampa River, Green River through the Gates of Lodore, Split Mountain 1-day trips and many more! Zollinger has a spunky personality, mountains of geological knowledge, and sheer flower power on the river. Get to know this easy going Utah native in our eighth episode of guide interviews!

Written by Lauren de Remer

O.A.R.S.' Marketing Communications Coordinator & Waterblogged Editor

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“SWIMMER, SWIMMER!!! SWIM OVER HERE! ROPE ROPE ROPE!!!” Yelling rang over the river as a rescuer tried to get the attention of a desperate swimmer fighting the whitewater. Though a normal observer would see this as an emergency situation, it was just another day for a student at O.A.R.S. California Whitewater Guide School. Though the majority of the guide school was focused on actually guiding rafts through rapids and flat water, three very important days were devoted to certifying students for Swiftwater Rescue, an international certification course taught by Sierra Rescue. This certification, though not required by many rafting companies, equips guides with excellent skills for customer care and overall safety on the water.

Entering guide school as a new student with very little river experience, the Swiftwater Rescue course was an excellent way to dive in (pun intended) to the life of a river guide. Nothing other than personal experience could have more adequately prepared me for the life of a boater. Our team of thirteen was taught rope technique, knot tying, correct responses to emergency situations, and so much more. Most importantly, we were introduced to the feeling of swimming in fast whitewater. The entire class gained a healthy respect for the power of the water, as well as solid planning skills for what to do in the case of an emergency.
 

Written by Tianna Stieglitz

Stieglitz is a Hospitality/Tourism Management student from Purdue University. She's from Indiana (born and raised) and loves traveling and seeing new places. Among other hobbies, she love people, being outdoors in creation, and good laughs with friends.

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A simple question for an even simpler answer, the phrase “I’m okay…are you okay?” was readily repeated during the first few moments of my initial whitewater rafting safety talk. Little did I know how strongly those words would resonate through every conduit of the O.A.R.S. California Whitewater Guide School. In its simplicity, the slogan was used when river guides needed to pose the question to other guides or people swimming through the current for dear life. Several pats to the top of your head in someone’s direction would communicate information regarding safety, concern and sometimes humor. If the recipient reached upwards to pat their own head, you knew they were okay too. That’s all it took – no additional complications or loss of message.

Our first day on the river we used this “instant message system” to understand the dangers of whitewater and the importance of taking care of each other. From that point forward, as we began to study more, we took the question/answer development to an entirely exclusive level. Thrown into an environment of initially very cold, wet weather, intense physical activity and limited sleep, we began to evolve. A group of strangers molded into one cohesive group.

Written by Brita Olson

Raised on a small island in Northern Michigan, Olson's love for running water developed at an early age. This love drove her away from the Midwest to California to begin work preserving sustainability and delving into the O.A.R.S. segment of adventure travel. Brita enjoys learning about other people, spending time on the water, excursions on her road bike and - when at all possible - combining the three.

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A Lesson in Dutch Oven Cooking (#2)

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Vegetarian Lasagna

Written by Lauren de Remer

O.A.R.S.' Marketing Communications Coordinator & Waterblogged Editor

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It was a foggy night on the Tuolumne River, with average evening temperatures settling in the low 50s. We had decided to set up camp at Indian, just under a mile downriver from Powerhouse. My fellow rafting mates were finally asleep after a long night of sharing jokes by the campfire and enjoying a brewski (or three). I decided to hit the hay a bit earlier than them, along with my excuse to relax with a good book and the sounds of the river—too ashamed to admit how my angina occasionally controls my social decision-making.

I had been avoiding a trip to the groover for almost 15 minutes now, so slipped on my flip-flops and stumbled half asleep towards the eastern side of the beach. It had been a while since the others had gone to bed. The fire was lifeless and the wood had already turned to ash—or so I thought. As I was approaching it, I tripped on a huge pinecone and before I knew it, had seared my left forearm well and through. I let out a scream that sounded more like a shriek and our river guides came rushing out of their sleeping bags, headlamps glaring me in the face.

Written by Lauren de Remer

O.A.R.S.' Marketing Communications Coordinator & Waterblogged Editor

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Have you heard the one aboot the Canadian who migrated to California for the summer? That’s right, our California & Oregon regional manager has come down to foster the camaraderie of a tight California rafting guide crew and wow everyone with his off-the-charts Karaoke renditions of Sinatra. Avoiding the bitter cold each winter, James Rodger escapes to Patagonia to raft the wild Class V whitewater of the Futaleufu River. Having started river guiding in 1996, Rodger has worked for O.A.R.S. now for seven years. He loves to cook a variety of local, organic dishes and enjoys casting a fly rod into a river or stream on his days off. He is known for his friendly personality, can crack a joke in any crowd setting and takes pride in his Canadian heritage – still watching the Canadian news at night. Rodger has the confidence you want on a river trip; he is always happy to share his knowledge about a given area, and goes out of his way to make sure that our guests have a trip of a lifetime.

Written by Lauren de Remer

O.A.R.S.' Marketing Communications Coordinator & Waterblogged Editor

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The water has indeed risen. 75,000 cfs. Scuttlebutt has it going higher. I make a mental note to scout an uphill escape route as we float. Who knows? The dam just might blow. (I cross my fingers, actually preferring this option, but keep my mouth shut.) Six hundred vertical-foot tsunami. Should take a few hours to make it a hundred miles downstream, plenty of time to scramble to the perfect viewpoint and crack a beer.

Suzanne joins me at Phantom’s boat beach and we observe as the nervous clients pack. She watched a thirty-seven foot motor rig flip end-over-end against the wall in Crystal last week. Crystal is ten miles downstream. That’s a bit over an hour at current speeds.

Written by Jeffe Aronson

Jeffe Aronson rows dories in the Grand Canyon. His love of rivers, and evocative descriptions of wild places and the constant tension and nearness of death, has gripped travelers and readers alike for the duration of Jeffe's 36 years as a river guide and story teller. Jeffe is currently seeking an agent for his book, River God—a riveting collection of adventure narratives that reveals nature at her wildest and most beautiful, or as Jeffe says, "River God takes readers places they yearn to glimpse, but dare not go."

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