{"id":22509,"date":"2020-03-24T11:00:37","date_gmt":"2020-03-24T18:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.nrs.com\/?p=22509"},"modified":"2020-03-23T17:59:35","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T00:59:35","slug":"going-boating-to-go-hiking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2020\/03\/24\/going-boating-to-go-hiking\/","title":{"rendered":"Going Boating to Go Hiking"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe considered it more of a hiking trip,\u201d said the mysterious raft guide. \u201cWe looked at the river as an obstacle to going hiking.\u201d
\n\u201cWait,\u201d I said. \u201cDid you just say hiking<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n

I was on a long-distance voice call with a veteran Grand Canyon guide who spent his off-seasons on an island in Southeast Asia. We\u2019d connected through social media after I read an article about his trip down the entire John Wesley Powell route, roughly 1,000 miles on the Green and Colorado Rivers.<\/p>\n

The previous February, I\u2019d won a winter Grand Canyon permit. Now I was in the early stages of planning my own explorations along the entire Powell route. So far, I\u2019d only glimpsed the route from land. My watery visions included serenely floating through scenic canyons, endlessly paddling flatwater, and white-knuckle-navigation through massive rapids.<\/p>\n

But now this mysterious lifer, maybe 25 years older than me, was claiming the river-trip-of-a-lifetime was actually all about the hiking?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Something did not compute here. I loved to hike, but I didn\u2019t think about footwork as the reason for a river trip. My friends and I went to the river for<\/em> the river. Any cool hikes along the way were just a bonus.<\/p>\n

Maybe this seemingly friendly guide was one of those crusty veterans who enjoyed blurting confusing aphorisms at younger river runners? Things like:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the easy rapids that are hard.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u201cYou need to forget what you know to find out what you think.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u201cPaddle in a circle if you want to go straight.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Often these declarations meant someone was stuck in an eddy again.<\/p>\n

I tucked away the mysterious guide\u2019s enthusiastic claim about hiking for future consideration, roughly translated as there are some nice trails on the Powell route worth checking out<\/em>. Then we set out on the trip, and I soon realized this by-foot fetishist was really onto something.<\/p>\n