Wild River Life Column Vol. II: How we Made it Happen
Words Susan Elliott | Images Adam Elliott
Linking together river trips for a nationwide dream paddling tour requires equal amounts of pre-planning and serendipitous encounters. By the end of our Wild River Life tour, we will have paddled at least 50 Wild & Scenic Rivers (including a few soon-to-be designated rivers) on both East and West Coasts and everywhere in between, all before the end of 2018.
Seem like a lot? Well, it is. Timing flows, releases, festivals and our own work schedule around these adventures was not easy. So how do we piece all these river trips together?
First, we began scheming on tour routes, paddling seasons, river event timing, and more as early as 2014. We began to see the map of Wild & Scenic rivers in our dreams as we connected the dots. With so many flows dependent on spring snowmelt, winter rains, or even upstream dam releases, we had to not only connect rivers by proximity, but also by seasonal timing.
We started checking off rivers close to home as soon as we set the goal in 2016. Living in Oregon, with its 59 designated rivers, made this easy. As I finished grad school, we snuck away on weekends to the Deschutes, North Umpqua, Clackamas, Illinois, White Salmon, and a few more.
We noted which rivers could be paddled over the winter. This inspired us to head to Northern California’s Smith River watershed and nearby Trinity River over New Years to kick off the official road tour in early 2017. By this point we had 15 rivers crossed off and a general itinerary for the next 20.
We retained a healthy dose of flexibility even as we traveled. A good year for Idaho’s Jarbidge to Bruneau classic multi-day? Add it to the itinerary! John Day River hidden under massive sheets of ice? Nix it. Surprise flows in Zion’s Virgin River? Load the boats! Richter flows on the Tuolumne? Prego-Susan sits out while Adam charges on.
And of course, none of us can paddle without friends. Since we didn’t know paddlers on every river, we reached out to our network of river family in nearby areas. We learned of festivals on designated rivers and found ourselves at the annual Packrafter Round-Up near the Snake River Headwaters. Borrowing packrafts, we paddled with a handful of inspiring individuals on Granite Creek and the Hoback River outside of Jackson, WY. We reached out to paddling characters from our social media channels and joined Arizona’s river heroine Dannie Keil for a float on the Verde.
But what about the hard-to-get permitted runs? We had help here. Having worked as raft guides and kayak instructors for so many years connected us to multiple outfitters. Turns out, many outfitters want to do more for protecting rivers and are excited to get behind a mission when they can. These outfitters get it. When we float on a free-flowing river, we are more likely to want to protect it. Susan joined Canyons rafting company for a float down the Main Salmon River and Adam swamped for NWRC on the Middle Fork Salmon. ARTA also helped Adam tag along for a trip on the Tuolumne.
Finally, to learn more about proposed Wild & Scenic Rivers, we coordinated our tavel with the schedules of American Whitewater Stewardship Directors Tom O’Keefe and Kevin Colburn. No better tour guide than these guys. Tom took us around the Olympic Peninsula in search of rivers for the filming of our Wild Olympics video and we followed Kevin down several proposed Wild & Scenic rivers in Montana.
Now, we sit at 40 rivers. Only 10 to go. Even though it has taken years to fit together these rivers trips, it has been worth every moment spent reading AW’s river descriptions, mapping driving routes, and connecting with paddlers. Structuring a road trip around a single goal provides a really cool way to see new rivers, especially when that trip can contribute to the protection of those places.
