{"id":19296,"date":"2019-03-26T10:00:45","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T17:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.nrs.com\/?p=19296"},"modified":"2019-10-09T11:23:56","modified_gmt":"2019-10-09T18:23:56","slug":"herm-hoops-last-stand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2019\/03\/26\/herm-hoops-last-stand\/","title":{"rendered":"Herm Hoops Last Stand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anyone who is familiar with Dinosaur National Monument and the Green River has likely heard of Herm Hoops. He has become the proverbial troll that sits at the Jensen bridge, demanding the boaters that wish to access Desolation Canyon<\/a> below to listen to his stories.<\/p>\n

Herm has always been a mentor leading a willing younger generation into a purposeful life of river stewardship. His professional work is most recognized in Dinosaur National Monument, where he worked as a ranger, educator and interpreter. There are still remnants of his time there in the form of educational signage and his lyrical storytelling. He has long since retired but remains close to his first Western love, Echo Park, and returns repeatedly to Desolation Canyon in search of the heart he left behind as a young man.<\/p>\n

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I first met Herm when he was kind enough to play a role of support as a resupplier on a river trip I was on. We were doing a recreation survey along the entire length of the Green River\u2014a 32-day float trip from Yampa Canyon in Northwest Colorado to the Hite Marina of Utah\u2019s Lake Powell. He showed up in a beat-up pickup, grinning from ear to ear, which barely showed from behind the bushy beard he often keeps. Still smiling, he hollered at us to jump in the back of the truck and took us to the gas station in Jensen to get milkshakes. He spoke loudly and deliberately offensive\u2014a personality perfectly suited for environmental advocacy.<\/p>\n

The next time I saw Hoops was three years later, his body was betraying him, and his battle against prostate cancer was taking everything he had left to give. It\u2019s hard to identify if the lifestyle of being a river guide or living in close proximity to fracking and oil extraction sites caused the cancer. How he managed to still be his boisterous self, amazed me. We were being reunited for a specific purpose: The film crew of Rig to Flip<\/a>, a river-focused media company, and I were setting out to take him on what he had told us was to be his last river trip through Desolation and Gray Canyon.<\/p>\n

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The Creative Director and co-founder of Rig to Flip, Cody Perry, knew Hoops was going to be receiving recognition by the River Management Society for Outstanding Contribution to River Management<\/a>\u2014he was singled out and honored among his peers. To commemorate the events leading up to the award ceremony, Rig To Flip had been collecting interviews with Herm about the place he lovingly refers to as Desperation\/Play Canyon. It was his 123rd trip on this stretch of river\u2014although Herm would be quick to tell you he doesn\u2019t keep count. You could see in his eyes how many intimate memories the canyon and Hoops held together.<\/p>\n

We embarked on this trip to honor an elder in our community\u2014to help fulfill his wishes to experience the river the best way he knows how. We were representing our generation and sharing this time with an elder who will come to be remembered as a fixture in this canyon\u2014an unforgettable character who has become as ingrained in the canyon walls as the petroglyphs and wren nests.<\/p>\n

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When the time came, we met up with Herm at Sand Wash the night before we launched. He was chatting with the Rangers, warm inside the ranger\u2019s cabin, reminiscing about old times and talking about current camp conditions. The river peaked at 13,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) this year, low in comparison to any previous year. The rangers empathetically talked about the stress on the fish and how they only found them cowering in shady holes\u2014for the first time in history, the government established restrictions on fishing, swimming and irrigation. It wasn\u2019t said, but one could tell by the weight in the room this could be expected to be the new norm.<\/p>\n

Herm wanted to rig and row his own boat the entire length of the five-day, four-night trip. When we arrived at the boat ramp at Sand Wash, Herm\u2019s boat was rigged and ready. He didn\u2019t want to go down any other way. We can only assume the years of routine served him well as he slowly rigged his boat in his garage over the course of days, perhaps even weeks. The only new additions were the five oxygen tanks and the jerry-rigged lawnmower battery which powered them that he had never previously needed.<\/p>\n