For the past few days at 10:00 a.m. Caroline and I get to board our virtual raft and head down the Yampa River for some digital adventures during this time that none of us get to travel in real life. Our whitewater guides Chris and Charles reached out to a bunch of former clients who’d been on river trips with them in the past and asked if anyone would be interested in a bit of an experiment. Without hesitation, we signed up. The premise was that we’d explore what it would be like to venture down the river using Zoom and segments of the river trip itself that Google captured with StreetView some years ago.
On Saturday, May 16th we joined with Chris, Charles, and fellow guests Jen and Steve and headed over to the virtual put-in. A couple of guests didn’t show sadly so it was an intimate trip, but we understood that it took a different breed of brave souls for this first descent down the Yampa River at near flood stage. The put-in was familiar to all of us as Jen and Steve had also traveled the Yampa, but have been lucky enough to run the Gates of Lodore up the Green River too. On each day the guys took over the virtual oars and took us into a story about the river or engaged us to share memorable moments from our own river trips. Along the way, we learned a bit more of the history and refresher lessons about particular aspects of the river and the geology that the river flows through.
This photo is from the Yampa trip Caroline and I were on back in 2014; was our virtual journey as spectacular? Of course not, but the interesting aspect of this undertaking is that we spent nearly 4 hours with this group of river enthusiasts who, like us, love rivers. That commonality between us allowed the six of us to share moments of the magic found on river trips and reminded us of our own specific adventures in years past. Listening to the passion of each person was a potent reminder of the effect rivers have on people. So in that sense, the boatmen succeeded in creating a memorable moment that took us outside of our comfort as we had to quickly adapt to a situation that involved others we didn’t know beforehand as we navigated a process and path that was unique to all of us.
We’d gladly join another virtual river trip if for no other reason than to support boatmen who are out of work during what should be the busy season but also because river trips are all about finding it deep within us to see things differently. I would be a fool to scoff at the idea that this wasn’t valuable as first and foremost it was the passion of Charles and Chris and their need to share from their experience that is one of those human traits we should all aspire to. Thank you guys for the effort and for getting us out of our stay-at-home routines during these difficult times.