One Degree of Separation

December 26, 2017 10:22 pm

Finding my River Family.

The Hook

I found out early in my guiding career just how small and connected the river
rafting community is. It all started when I returned to college after my first summer
guiding in Moab. I moved in with a couple of other raft guides, and that whole school
year was full of random river guides coming to town. In between them denting our
couch at night, we hiked peaks, skied powder, and drank beer. The one constant was
spinning yarns about high water, crazy adventures, and the big river personalities.
School breaks during spring and fall were spent either on river trips or on desert
adventures. Each trip included fun and debauchery, with ever more river friends of
river friends. And so my river family grew.

The Line

My final credits needed for college were earned from a summer-long internship
with a nonprofit river company called SPLORE.
Through the smiles and trials of taking hundreds of people with disabilities on rivers,
and living communally in a small house, deep river bonds were formed. I only made $150
dollars that summer, but fortunately still count some of those guides as my closest friends.
As we all dispersed back to our homes around the country that fall, we all knew our web of
river friends was larger and stronger.

The Sinker

A couple of years later I took a gig floating boats in Idaho. I didn’t know any boaters in
the whole state, but as I migrated north, I wasn’t worried. I already knew how it was to
be part of the river community, and new partners in crime would be easy to find.
While driving shuttles, rowing boats, and drinking beer around campfires, we found
many more examples of the tightness of the river community. It turns out that we all knew
someone who knew someone… Soon we were all thick as thieves, and the good
times rolled.

The Bob

My time between the river and the ski seasons was spent adventuring around the west or
adventuring abroad. Linking together visits with river kin and playing various sports until
the snow fell or melted was the goal. A random phone call or email could lead to a fun
day hike, as easily as a three-week river trip. Meeting a river person in the “big
ditch” led to uttering the nickname “Gasman” to a Nepali guide, which led to another
three-weeks of boating in the Himalaya. Drinking a beer at a river take-it-out in
Mexico with a buddy (I met in Nepal) led to a week spent in a paddleboat providing
“safety” for a river guiding course. A connection from that trip led to a phone call
that began “Can you be at Lee’s Ferry in 5 days”? Around and around the
connections went and through it, the web of river people grew larger and
stronger.

The Big Fish

Throughout the years I have “grown up” a bit and now even have a non-boating
career. Yet still, I seek out regular escapades with river people from my past. I now
treasure my time spent hanging out in my river web more than ever. Even
nowadays my web still grows with every trip and campfire. Even though I don’t
need to be reminded, quite regularly some random interaction leads to a laugh, and once
again an old story is repeated. The smiles around the circle of friends remind
me of how small and tight the world of river people is… Rivers are amazing things that
help you get to the soul of things and of people. The bonds they create are strong and
lasting. I am so proud and humbled to be a part of the river people tribe. I always look
forward to the next call from an old friend, as I know it will always lead to good times,
smiles, and most likely a couple more additions to my river family…

Tyler Knibbe
River Guide