Where do you call home?

While I have been living in Australia for 17 years now, I probably feel most at home–the most at ease and comfortable with myself and my surroundings–when I am a few days into either a river or backpacking expedition. That being said, my two boys are Australian and, of course, my heart is with them, so they are where my home is, with them. But, I grew up in the mountains of Colorado and have also spent over 20 seasons running rivers in Southeast Alaska and in Patagonia, and my heart loves serrated mountain peaks, pine forests and glaciers…

What do you love most about multi-day trips?

It is around day three when the digital detox really kicks in and those who were previously strangers begin forming a well functioning team. The days spent among nature adapting to the rhythm of the day, the sound of the river, the fresh air, the quiet at night under the immense sky and bright stars … combined with the disconnect from news cycles and concrete and screens and outside problems and distractions … serve as a balm that soothes my soul and brings me peace.

When did you start working for Water By Nature?

Goodness… let me see, a long time ago… late 1990s? Though I am not sure of the year, I do remember that the first trip was on Turkiye’s Coruh River, high water… Goodness, that was a helluva trip!

Your best river meal you like to prepare?

Hmmm… Mexican night. Though I do make a mean batch of Blueberry Pancakes, and French Toast.  Anything with bacon, really 🙂 (just don’t ask me to make chips/ French Fries…)

Favourite Rapid?

That’s a funny question, as it seems like it should be an obvious one. As I started to consider the question, a few amazing rapids passed clearly across my brain: God’s House and of course Flip n Strip (at high water!) on the Karnali river. Then you have the Lava Series, Lava Falls on the Grand Canyon, Lava North on the Alsek, and of course, Lava South on the Bio Bio River in Chile, but then when you think of Lava South you have to think of all the other Class V rapids that came before and after it on that same day Jugbuster, Milky Way, Lost Yak, Cyclops… And then you have Terminator on the Futaleufu, as well as all the rapids in Inferno Canyon … Just thinking of them causes me to pucker up! And I almost forgot the Zambezi: #5, #7, #18, Ghost Rider, Upper Moemba! I still do love running rapids, for sure… There is no sense of clarity greater than that which I feel when, after having scouted a rapid, the rope coiled and pushed off shore …  the raft still in the green water–the Rubicon crossed–the chaos and impending tumult clear before me… Those moments of focused, distilled concentration…there ain’t nothin’ else like it.

Most important piece of equipment you take on every adventure?

My Garmin InReach and my handpowered Espresso maker.

What do you do when you are not on the river?

Raise two beautiful boys, and I deploy as Head of Emergency Operations leading the International Red Cross’s responses to large-scale humanitarian disasters around the world (i.e., Floods in Pakistan; conflict in Ukraine; Ebola outbreaks/ civil war/ and volcanic eruptions in the (un)Democratic Republic of Congo, etc.)

Favourite band?

Bob Dylan, though I really enjoy music from Mali and the Sahara…

Best River story?

I’ve got a couple: one that happened on the Upano River in Ecuador when one of the guides was shot (by a local who thought we were there trying to buy Tzantza, the shrunken heads, of the Jivaro people). And the other was about an incident on the Marsh Fork of the Canning River (Alaska) when our rafts almost got swept into/ under an ice tunnel in the Auf Ice that covered the entire river. Thank god Mike Speaks told me to bring my ice screws otherwise we’d of been done for… But in both instances, it all turned out well 🙂 And then there are two stories which I wasn’t a part of, but they are the stuff of legend: Pearl Harbor on the Omo River, and the infamous “oar through the thigh” incident on the Bio Bio’s Lost Yak rapid.

Favourite rafting trips?

The Watut in Papua New Guinea is straight out awesome, and the Alsek River in Canada/ Alaska…

Anywhere still on the rafting ‘bucket list’?

Oh yeah, there are two rivers I hope to yet to see while I still have a little kick left to my step: The Ghizar River in Pakistan and the Chaktal River in Krygyzstyan/ Uzbekistan…