Jimmy Hendrick

I had met this person: she was in the anti-war movement when I was in the Marine Corps, and I found that quite amusing, listening to her stories, and her talking about politics and things like that. I ended up seeking her out after I got out of the Marine Corps, and tried to find her. I ended up going to Havasu Canyon with her on a little backpacking trip. I thought that was pretty ridiculous, because when I was in the military, you avoided carrying things on your back, and you tried to avoid walking long distances. But I went with her, and discovered this place, Havasu Canyon. I went down there one day, and I was swimming in all the pools and stuff, and we went down to the river and we're hangin' out on the river, and the big old boat pulls up, a motor rig, and it drives into the mouth of the canyon, and it just blew my mind. I looked out at the river and I thought, “I can't believe there's people down here with boats! I want to do this!” I think it was like the fourth time I'd ever been to the Grand Canyon in my life. I just saw this boat, and I said, “That's what I'm gonna do.” It wasn't like a big, traumatic decision or anything, it was just I saw a boat. I had no idea there were boats like that. I didn't know there were boats on rivers, and I was gonna do it. So I went down to the boat, and it just so happened that I knew the guy driving the boat. (chuckles) The guy was working for arta, my first employer, [American River Touring Association] and he was way generous. He thought it was great. I was out of the Marine Corps, and he just goes, “Okay! You want a trip?” (chuckles) I'm just like, “Well, ah, yeah!” It was that easy. So he gave me directions on how to find the boss. “You must go to the boss.” So I set out hitchhiking from Havasu Canyon to Oakland, California, where the most honorable boss was. And he was—I'll never forget it—1016 Jackson Street, downtown Oakland, California. And I couldn't understand how the hell Oakland, California could relate to the Grand Canyon. Why was I going to Oakland, California, to get into the Grand Canyon?! You know? So I hitchhiked to Oakland and here I am hitchhiking downtown Oakland, (chuckles) and I was going, “I can't believe this!” And they had their office in like this rundown, ramshackle part of the city of Oakland, and I was not used to being in big cities. We all have to pay a price, [though], so that's what happened.
Steiger: And who was the boatman?
Hendrick: The boatman? His name was Steve Dupuis. I met him in California—when I was in the Marine Corps, I met him.
Steiger: Let's back up. Tell me just a little bit more about your family. What was your dad like? What was your mom…
Hendrick: My family. My greatest remembrance of my dad was the day we went out to hunt pheasants, and I was really young—must have been around seven, I think, and I had a 4.10 shot gun. My mom would always rant and rave about how it was too dangerous for me to be running around with this shotgun. So this is the thing I remember: My dad had a few nips of Irish whiskey, he was part American Indian, he was mostly Irish. He liked whiskey. He always had a drink of Irish whiskey on the way to pheasant hunting. So we're in a 1949 Mercury, which is an awesome ride—this car was really fun. I remember, seven years old, I'm holding this 4.10 shotgun, scared to death that my father would see me do something wrong besides what he had taught me on how to handle the shotgun. I was supposed to hold it a certain way, it couldn't be loaded, the safety…. Dah, dah, dah, dah. Everything had to be just right, or he'd speak. He'd never ever hit me or touch me like that, but he would have to speak in a tone of voice which would scare me. So I didn't want to be scared, so I tried to handle the shotgun perfectly, and I'm trying the best I can. He says, “Step out of the car now, with your shotgun, Jimmy.” And I open the door, and I start to step out, and here's my father, who's had maybe a few more nips of whiskey than he should have, grabbing his shotgun and blows a hole the size of…(chuckles) the hole in Upset, through the roof of the '49 Merc, and I'm goin' (look of astonishment)…. And I realized right then that maybe authority figures and adults and maybe everyone else doesn't always know what's best for you. He's a well-meaning gentleman, but he just blew a hole through the roof. That could have been my head or his foot. So I then began to doubt authority, I think, at an early age. But my father wasn't really an authoritarian figure—he was just a happy-go-lucky guy who lived in a small town and owned very small businesses. And if it wasn't for the Native Americans who came through to buy stuff, they would have all starved.
Steiger: That was in South Dakota?
Hendrick: South Dakota, yeah. And they were just really cool people: they were farmers, they were hard workers.
I'll tell you one more story: My father took in pheasant hunters, and he'd take 'em out hunting. So I guess you could say, in a funny way he was a hunting guide. No offense to bird hunters, but I see hunting guides where I live now [Alaska] that hunt grizzly bears, and it's hard to equate being a hunting guide on a pheasant. When you're used to hunting moose and grizzly bears, it's hard to, (in deep, brave voice) “Let's go hunt a pheasant!” It's like, it's just a little bird. I mean…
I forgot what I was going to tell you. Oh shoot! Pheasant hunting…. Oh, my dad goes…. See, all these pheasant hunters get in line and walk across a field. So they're walking across this field, and this guy walks up to my father and he gives him the keys to his pickup and he goes, “Barney, here's your keys.” And Barney turns bright red, “What the hell are you doing with my truck keys?!” And the guy starts to tremble, you know. Barney says, “How's anyone supposed to use the truck if the keys aren't in it?” He goes, “Jimmy, take these keys back and put 'em in the truck!” And the poor guy's totally confused. My dad's furious. He's like, “What if one of my neighbors, what if one of my family members needed that truck?!”…. So it was a different world than we live in now. So anyway…
I had a mother. (laughter) She's French-Canadian Catholic—very, very into the religion thing, which I totally rebelled against. Her firmest purpose in life, once she saw me pop out of the womb, was I become a priest. She failed miserably, and she's always been unhappy about that. She blames me. But a priest's life was not for me.
***
We used to call him “Jimi Hendrix” and Jimmy kind of encouraged that. It fit the bill. He didn't play guitar, was not a rock star, wasn't even black, but he was out there; one of quite a few wild men and women who were on the scene through the '70s and early '80s. He was—and probably still is— one of those people who until you did a trip with him seemed pretty flamboyant and full of himself; but after you got to know him became a friend for life, somebody you'd never forget and would always be glad you'd known. He started with arta, worked in Idaho; went to Africa with sobek; wormed his way into one of the sweetest little companies ever: Wilderness World; and after that sold ended up with Expeditions for a few years before migrating north to Alaska, where he resides today, running dog races in his spare time and otherwise keeping busy with an outdoor gear store “Denali Mountain Works” and a river company
Too-loo-uk River Guides (P.O. Box 106, Denali, AK 99755 ~ akrivers.com ~ 907-683-1542).
***
I wonder if people join the military because they have a lot of confidence, or they join the military because they don't. You know? I think it's kind of a mix. I could have gone off on my own. I wanted to go into a logging camp. I always wanted to do that, I wanted to be a logger. So I told my parents when I was sixteen that I was going to go become a logger immediately. My dad talked me out of it.
So I did…I just—it was crazy. My brothers were in Vietnam. I had a brother in Vietnam at that time who wasn't doing well. And I felt like…my uncle was in Iwo Jima, and he was a big-time part of my youth. You know, as a boy I loved listening to my uncle tell me stories about the old Marine Corps of the World War II era. Those people were bad. They would be on these islands, a hundred days in a row, under intense fire from the Japanese. I mean, everybody knows about the Marine Corps in World War II. Here was my dad's brother, telling me stories about it, and geez, it's like other people in my family always seemed to end up in the Marine Corps. So it was kind of…it was kind of like an adventure, but when I got into the Marine Corps I realized that I was overwhelmed by it, and I couldn't imagine—even imagine. And I would try, because I can certainly, always imagine awesome sex acts with beautiful women—things like that. Or imagine cold swimming pools on a hot day. You know, imagine jumping out of an airplane with a parachute when you're flying in one. But not…I had no idea that people could be so hard on each other.
Steiger: As people were in that situation?
Hendrick: As in the Marine Corps. It was like “Holy Toledo!” And I kept my mouth shut, but whenever I'd see somebody be abused, you know, or obviously an injustice is being done to a fellow boot in boot camp, or a Marine later in my career as a Marine, I would want to interject and stop them from doing whatever they were doing to this person, but then you wouldn't be with the rest of the group, you know. So I learned how to live in a group, how to become controlled, and all these horrific things—I mean, things that I was totally unrespectful of…
I thought probably the war in Vietnam was a political mistake, and that militarily the military couldn't function there as they did in other wars, because the political mess it was in. So I knew that I wasn't…. I took the attitude as a seventeen-year-old growing into an eighteen-year-old, that, “Hey, this is all too much for me.” You know? All I know is that my two brothers are in the military. I just know if I'm going to go on with my life, I've got to get this military thing behind me. Let's just knock it out, you know? Let's just do the job, get it done, and go on and become the President or whatever. So I just wanted to get through the damned thing. I don't know. I don't know, Lew. Gee willikers, what was I thinking?!…
I was in a helicopter squadron in a Marine Corps air wing. This is in California, close to San Clemente, where Nixon had his home in California. So he would land in Air Force One, we'd put him in our helicopters and we'd fly him and support his group to San Clemente. I'd been reading this book, it was by this guy Jerry Rubin, and it was pretty ridiculous, but there was this thing that he talked about that I liked where this guy Mario Something went up to Berkeley and started the free speech movement by writing an obscene word on a wall, “‘Blank' War!” He just didn't like war, he thought war was a stupid concept. So that was what he wrote on a wall at UC Berkeley, and it became this big deal…. So I had that on my mind, and I knew Nixon was coming. Well, I was very insulted, because these big airplanes came in, full of caskets out of Vietnam, through Hawaii, and into our thing, and they were unloading these caskets and I was just moved emotionally. I thought, “This is too intense. Each one of those boxes these guys are moving around have a man in 'em. Each one of them have somebody's father or brother in each box.” I was imagining how many people were affected by that box? How many people did that one box make sad, for how many years? And I thought, “Who's responsible for this?” You know, who is responsible for all of this sadness? Well, all of a sudden, all these officers are running around, they're all hyped up, “Air Force One is coming in, Secret Service are coming in. Let's go, move this mess!” You know? It's like, these are dead Marines. “Move this mess.” So (swoop) we move 'em all out of the way, and they go, “Air Force One is coming!” So while everybody's running around, I go and I put on this guy's uniform that doesn't exist, and I grab this red paint, and we climb up onto this tower and we write, “Fuck War!” in giant letters on the tower. And we run down the tower, and out to our job site, and look up, and that's right where Nixon's gonna be, and he could see it, for sure. We were just kids, we were like eighteen-year-olds and we're like, “Uh-oh, we're gonna get in trouble.” So we go back to work. The next thing I know, I'm standing there in this line and here comes the Secret Service guys. You know, they're all landing in their jets, and Air Force One comes in. The Secret Service guys come down, and here we are, Marines with our weapons, and they come and search us, and they clear our weapons to make sure we have no rounds in them, and then make sure we have no weapons or other grenades or anything like that. And then they walk away and I'm thinking, “Well, what if the assassins come? What'll I do? Hit 'em with the end of my rifle?” It's like, “This is ridiculous, man!”
So then Nixon came and he was cute, he was a crack-up. What a guy! He liked Marines, and he'd come down and he'd pat us on the head and shake our hands and slap you on the back, you know? And then there was Kissinger and Agnew and the whole gang. Mrs. Kissinger was very nice, long legs, very good-looking. She was delightful. The rest of them, ugly. Ugly old men. None of the Marines looked at those guys and thought, “Oh boy, there's our leaders.” We looked at them and went, “God help us!” It was scary.
Steiger: Did they ever find out who wrote “Fuck War” up on the tower?
Hendrick: No, they didn't. They did not find out, because we weren't dummies.
Steiger: They probably noticed that, though.
Hendrick: They definitely noticed it. They hustled old Dick into the cars and off to the helicopter pretty fast. Before you could say, “Jack Robinson,” they had a big old sandblaster up there just (imitates sound of sand blaster) into the walls of the big water tank there. It was pretty wild.
***
The first time I ran the Grand Canyon, I flipped at House Rock Rapids, so I think that was good to be humbled from the beginning.
Steiger: The very first time you flipped in House Rock?! What kind of boat was that?
Hendrick: Or was that my second trip? (chuckles) It was a snout rig, one of those arta snout rigs, those big, heavy…. It wasn't a snout rig, actually, it was a flat tube rig, but it was still a twenty-two-foot boat, a huge thing, must have weighed tons. Then they got better boats, they modernized and went to the snout boat, like people still have the snout boats down there today. But I'll never forget…. I thought the boat was big enough, because after running Idaho rivers, I thought it was pretty good, and I'd run the Middle Fork and the Selway, so I figured the Grand Canyon couldn't be that hard. And I saw that big hole down there at the bottom left of House Rock, and I figured since the boat I was rowing was so big—it could run that hole, but it didn't have a chance and so I turned over. A very good feeling. I just remember being under the boat and under the water, the power of that river was incredible. And I'll never forget it, the smell, the feel, of being under the river. It was just that feeling, and only the Colorado River has that. Every river that I have flipped in and swam in the deep water and through rapids on purpose, has its own taste, its own smell, its own feel, and its own visual stimulations too: you know, the sensations of seeing the color of the water when you're underwater. Ever since that flip, every time like I'll go swimming in the Colorado River and just go underwater, just take a bath and go underwater, I always have that same feeling and sensation in that same river. It all goes right back to that first flip.
I remember David Lowry a boatman for arta, he was on the boat. I just remember him laughing.
Steiger: He was riding with you?
Hendrick: Yeah.
Steiger: What, was he supposed to be training you or something?
Hendrick: Well, we were like both just starting out, so they just gave us a boat. We didn't have commercial clients the first trip. I did the second trip. Third trip I ever did in the Canyon I had commercial clients. Like the Middle Fork of the Salmon, first trip, I had a full complement of commercial clients. A lot of rivers in those days you could just jump on and you either could make it, or you couldn't. Now you have to take all these little tests and have so many trips. (chuckles)
Steiger: Yeah, boating in the nineties. When was that thing?
Hendrick: I was just thinking of a trip in the fall of 1972, an arta commercial trip. Who the heck was on that thing? Dave Lowry…. This is interesting, let me think back to that. Who the heck was on that old arta crew? It was Don Briggs, of course, the guy we were talking about last night. Louise Hoaglund…Louise Teal who was then Louise Hoaglund, her husband Roger was on the crew. Then there was some fellas who don't run anymore. I can't even remember…his name was Gary Something. He was a guy from California. Steve Dupuis from California. A lot of these guys never hung around for a long time—probably 'cause their backs were so sore from rowing those big boats.
Steiger: Those snout boats…
Hendrick: Not a snout boat. They got snout boats later and considered that real modernization.
Steiger: You hit that hole straight?
Hendrick: Yeah, I went down there, straight down the left side. But remember, House Rock was different in the early seventies. It was a different rapid. I don't know, maybe a big old alluvial thing came in on the right out of the canyon and pinched it off a little more or something, I don't know, but it was a little different.
Steiger: It was gnarlier, wasn't it?
Hendrick: It was gnarlier.
Steiger: How many times have you flipped on the river on Grand? Or flipped all together?
Hendrick: Well, in Grand Canyon, I'll try to simplify it. I think in private trips I never flipped a raft on a private trip in Grand Canyon, but I've gone out of my kayak, had my kayak stuck in holes and swam out of the hole while the boat's stuck in the hole. That happened to me in House Rock in the same hole, left side, 1975. I'll always remember that first flip, so I wanted to just kind of not really mock the river, but just show her that I wasn't terrified of that bottom left hole, and so I did a really wild run, and I'm really glad I did it. I backpaddled against the left wall the whole way, with just kind of sitting up very erect and just doing a real deliberate backpaddle stroke. So I backpaddled all the way into that hole, then dropped into it. And then I did like this endo and came up. I went to throw my brace, and I went from a low brace to a high brace immediately. I just cranked my right shoulder big-time. So I swam out of the hole, and if it was separated or trying to separate, this shoulder, I know that just being in the water must have fixed it, because by the time I swam to shore, I don't even remember the shoulder pain. All I remember is lookin' back and seein' my boat still stuck in the hole.
Steiger: Wow.
Hendrick: And so me and Dick Hertzler, this guy from Prescott College—you know him, you know of him. We were sitting there and watching it, and he rolled up and smoked two drum cigarettes while we were watching the boat.
Steiger: It sat in that hole.
Hendrick: It sat in that hole that long. And then it spit out just as the rest of the kayakers on our trip showed up. It was really kind of a nice coincidence that they came paddling up and I was able to yell at them and signal to them (laughs), “There's my boat.” It spit out of the hole, was takin' off downriver, I'm sittin' on shore.
Steiger: Did Hertzler have a raft, or…
Hendrick: Hertzler was kayaking too.
Steiger: You guys were going to go rescue your boat?
Hendrick: No, he was too busy doin' what he was doin'—watching. (chuckles) He was good at that.
Steiger: He didn't care.
Hendrick: No, he was havin' too much fun. There were other boaters out there. We knew they could take care of it.
***
Steiger: So suffice it to say, it's not a big deal to be flipping—a big old traumatic thing.
Hendrick: No. The way the Wilderness World rig was, with the really low, deep-into-the-tube frame, to where the boxes and all your objects were, our whole goal was to keep all the boxes and all the objects below or at the tube level. So you could have an upside-down boat rippin' down through Crystal and you could even swim under it, and chances are you're not gonna hit anything except the oar locks. Chances are, things won't get wet. It's really an awesome design. Old Vladimir [Kovalik] set up that rig so you could do that.
Steiger: There was that, and also the life-lines were really good on his boats—on those Avons I remember—maybe not so good on the Havasus. But they were a pretty bomber rig.
Hendrick: Yeah, and you could, you know, people make such a big deal of flippin', 'cause the boats they have, if they flip the boats they have, they really are in deep trouble, 'cause a lot of the boats shouldn't be turned over…
Steiger: So I guess it's not being afraid of flippin' that kind of freed you up to be so experimental with all these other runs that you used to do. I mean, you're probably known for doin' unusual runs—not the tried-and-true, safe things. You know, like the right in Hance and…
Hendrick: I think that a lot of it had to do with Vladimir's optimism and his positive attitude and the fact that when I was rowin' for Wilderness World, specifically, I could relax and know that as trip leader, if I decide to run a certain route, I got all the rest of the crew backin' me up. All the rest of the crew is there in like what we called—to inject a little bit of fun into what could be an overly-serious event—is we're there to protect each other and we're on “safety alert,” which means that someone's doin' a run that isn't your normal run, and the likelihood of turnin' over or some other reason, puttin' someone in the water, the likelihood has risen, so everyone gets ready to rescue that person's boat. And it's kinda fun…but everyone knows, anytime…. Yeah. I just really have to say that Wilderness World was a big positive reason why we could do things. I mean, he [Vladimir Kovalik] gave us a lot of support. We never ran in fear down there, we never thought, “Well, when we get back, we have to explain everything to the boss.” It wasn't like that at all. It was a very trusted, positive relationship with him. And we never had any fear of something going wrong and having to explain it to him. There was no fear of that. We knew that if something actually did ever go wrong—and that, to us, meant someone got hurt—that he would know that it was totally an accident or fluke. We ran as safe a trips as anybody.
Steiger: What gets me is you have this reputation. I mean, on the one hand, you're one of the wildest guys around, and one of the wilder, more fearless boaters that ever ran down there commercially. But on the other hand, what everybody remembers about you—and me too, included—is how you used to drill that whole safety thing. I mean, there's a lot of guys where it's like, if you talk about that, you're bein' a wienie. You know, you're not supposed to get into…just 'cause you're scared or somethin'. But I remember the trips I ran with you where you were always talkin' that up. “Now God damn it, let's have everybody tight.” You made sure that the whole crew was really aware that it was a team sport, and they're supposed to be together. Where the heck did you come up with all of that?
Hendrick: Where'd I pick that up?
Steiger: Yeah.
Hendrick: I picked that up because—without naming other companies that I've been around and worked for—well, I would say even more exactly is the experience of you come around a corner and you're the first person on your trip on the river, so you're the lead boat, and you come around the corner and there's some guy who's flipped from another company, or a private trip, and he's like he's in chaos. And you go, “Where's the rest of your trip?! How come there's just you and this other boat right there downriver?” Or, “How come there's only you here?” And he'll say, “Well, the other guys are downriver.” “You mean to tell me that the other people on your trip are gone, they're already downriver, and they're not even here to help you?! I mean, what, you guys are just all on your own?” And they totally act like it's normal, “Well, yeah.” There were a lot of people runnin' down there who were like, they're on their own trip. As though each boat is its own little entity, you know. I found that to be…my attitude was the lead boat should be able to help the second boat, the second boat should help the third boat, and right on down the line, 'cause anything can happen at any time. And I know a lot of times people thought, you know, that was kinda wimpy…(chuckles) It's a selfish thing, because I don't like worryin'.
***
Steiger: What was your recollection of 1983, where the water came up and the speed run passed you?
Hendrick: That was the high-water trip. When they dropped our first note, we were at Nankoweap. This is like, if you look at the positioning that we were in, you know, we were pretty lucky. Okay, our first note's at Nankoweap, “Camp high, be safe. Water's comin' up to 60,000 tonight.” “Sixty thousand?! Surely they jest!” I said. And as we moved the kitchen about three times, it was great to watch the river, like the kitchens, you know, our traditional campsites, to watch them go underwater. That was really cool, but it unnerved us a little bit. But then just to jump ahead, the water came down at 220 Mile. We take out at Diamond Creek—this was a traditional Sierra Club chartered Wilderness World trip. We take out at Diamond Creek, so at 220 Mile when we woke up, the boats were high and dry. I mean, like they were a long way from the water.
Steiger: So you guys got the whole peak?
Hendrick: We got the whole peak. It was something that was really troubling my ego, was that I wanted to know that no one, no one was on the river at higher water than me. That I was on the river at the highest water. And so knowing that the water was now going down made the take-out welcome. But I was very disturbed about that. I was really concerned that I was gonna take out, and the next day the water would come up even higher, and then I would have missed it. So I was delighted that the water came down. I think the thing that I remember most, personally, that worried me, was we were camped at Unkar on the right. There used to be a really nice camp right on the right above Unkar, above all the ruins and stuff…but the place was trashed really bad by that flash flood down that little side canyon there, which hopefully still doesn't have a name. So we were at that camp, and I remember hearing Unkar just…. You know, you can usually be around Unkar or Cardenas, and sometimes you might hear it, but it's never menacing. But you could hear like this just, “Mawr,” this roar, you know. The helicopters came over and dropped another note, just before dark. Another note came in and this was, “It's comin' up.” Seventy [thousand cfs], or was it eighty?…. It was awesome. It was incredibly awesome.
Steiger: Was it scary?
Hendrick: Yeah, it was the night before. Before we entered Unkar, there was a real feeling of dread that I had that night. I didn't sleep well that night, and I just had this immense feeling of responsibility, 'cause I had no idea what it would be like. I was tryin' to imagine Hance and Sockdolager. I was like, “What will Sockdolager be like? What kind of constriction will be in there?” And you know, what I always think of, is I think of the worst case scenario. What's the worst thing that could possibly happen? Worst thing that can possibly happen is a lone swimmer is separated from the rest of the trip.
Steiger: Out in front.
Hendrick: And what kind of shit is that person gonna swim into? What does below Sockdolager look like? What does the right wall in Hance look like? What will happen? What kind of eddies are there? Are there eddies? I've already noticed that upriver there were eddies that you would see, a person could swim into, and you couldn't get in there in a boat, and you'd go by 'em, and you couldn't pull in for maybe another two, three miles. So by the time you pulled in, that person could have already been lost. You know? So that was an awesome feeling, and I considered helicoptering everyone out at Unkar.
Steiger: You were actually already thinkin' about it?
Hendrick: Oh yeah. I considered hikin' everyone out at Red Canyon out of Hance. And then I considered Phantom…. But once we got through Unkar and we ran Nevills…Nevills was tremendously powerful, like the surges and everything, it was just so awesome. There's also another side of me that didn't want to deny this experience to these people. We had people like Billy Pritchett and the doctor and Dirk Pratley's mother, Margaret. I mean, here's Margaret Pratley, a middle-later-aged woman who's like…. You know, she's not Jane of “Tarzan and Jane” fame, she's an average woman of America today, and she's like totally positive attitude, “Let's go!” You know, “I'm responsible for my own life! Don't deny me this opportunity! It's not just because I paid for this trip. You're my friend now, you know me, how can you deny me this?” That was her attitude.
Steiger: Who was Billy Pritchett?
Hendrick: Billy Pritchett was a young man who organized the rest of the clients into expressing exactly the same thing Margaret was trying to. “We're your friends now, we've known you for four or five days. We thought you liked us. We thought you were sincere in the way you related to us. Now you're gonna deny us this experience. That's not our friend. That's just someone who we bought a trip from—you don't really care.” And they got me by the heartstrings with that line. It just totally overwhelmed me. I said, “Okay, you guys are goin'!” And three of 'em were minors. So, you know, not to say these rapids weren't awesome, but they were kind of washed out, and they were less intimidating than I thought they would be. So I got a little cocky then. I thought, “Well, then I can handle the other stuff.” But the thing is, there were a lot of things about the flood that were easier, but the repercussions of something going wrong during the flood were massive. And again, I get back to those eddies that you're not gonna get to people. If you turn a boat over, the boat may end up in one of those eddies. You're not gonna get to it, forget it. And the water was cold. So just the same old worries we always have, concern for our clients' safety, magnified by 100,000 cfs…
[Then we get to Phantom Ranch and the ranger there tells] me not to go on. He says, “You need to hike your people up Pipe Springs.”
Steiger: Oh, he did? He said, “The trip's over.”
Hendrick: Well, he said, “The river's closed…. Crystal Rapid's closed. I'm not saying I'm gonna arrest you if you don't, but it's recommended, and I'm asking you to hike your people out and cancel the trip, and wait for evacuation” and all this. That's when three teenagers…. See, I told these kids on my trip earlier, I said, “When we pass Phantom Ranch, as an ex-Marine, I always stand on my cooler and salute the flag.” Right? You've seen me do that? Maybe not. But always when I float by Phantom Ranch, I stand on my cooler and salute the flag at Phantom Ranch. That's a tradition. So I told the kids, “When we go by Phantom Ranch, you'd better do that, everyone better salute the flag. When you see Old Glory in those cottonwoods, I want to see some respect out of you people.” And they remembered that, because while I was at Phantom Ranch, arguing with the ranger, the ranger's advising me to hike all the people out…. The ranger says, “There's been a fatality at Crystal, there's major problems down there, Crystal Rapid is closed.”
Steiger: “Hike this trip out.”
Hendrick: “This trip should be canceled.” They didn't say adamantly, “You have to,” they just said, “It should be, and we recommend you hike your people out, and you wait for evacuation.” And so my question was, “Are there other people above us?” “Oh, no, only one or two trips.” And it turned out there were only one or two trips that they let leave the Ferry. One was Kyle [Kovalik] and Brad [Dimock] and Helen [Yard] and Fritz [Carol Fritzinger], alone on that Caligari [an 18-foot raft similar to an Avon Spirit]. And the other trip was the Expeditions trip, Dick McCallum confronting them at Lees Ferry and saying, “No way, we're going!” And that's the one Dan and Brian [Dierker] were on. And they got their taste of high water—although not as much as us! But they got some.
But what I want to tell you is: We pulled up to Crystal…. Well, wait, I want to get back to the story.
Steiger: How did you decide that you were going on?
Hendrick: Well, I'll get to that, but I want to tell you this really funny thing. The ranger says…. And then he goes stomping off, from the ranger station where the flag is flying…. He was pretty irritated, and he stomped away, very frustrated.
Steiger: Because you told him, “No, we're not gonna…”
Hendrick: I told him I would consider it, but that I wouldn't be hounded into making a decision, and that if he wished to represent the Park Service, maybe he would be wiser to put the Superintendent on the phone with me.
Steiger: The Superintendent?
Hendrick: Yeah. “Maybe I should go right to the top,” I said. “You know, as a Marine aviator, I think that I wouldn't waste time with you as a lance corporal. I want to see the colonel. And I'm not gonna take any verbal abuse from you. So you either be quiet or get your superiors here to speak.”
Steiger: As a Marine aviator?
Hendrick: Well, as a member of the Third Marine Air Wing. I flew in helicopters, I may not have flown them, but…
Anyway, so the kids were there at Phantom Ranch, the ranger walks away, and unbeknownst to me, the kids strike the colors. They take down Old Glory, because they know…
Steiger: Oh my God! Teenagers!
Hendrick: Two fourteen-year-olds and a sixteen-year-old on the trip, and they strike the colors, and they folded her up applicably, they did a good job. And I didn't know this, and this is a huge flag.
Steiger: They're doin' this why? Just because they don't want to salute?
Hendrick: They think I'm mad at the ranger, and they therefore don't feel the Park Service is worthy of flyin' Old Glory at their ranger station, so they pulled the colors down and folded 'em up, correctly, in respect to the flag, and stored it on the boat—unbeknownst to me. Big flag, property of nps.
Steiger: They struck the colors and swiped 'em, huh? (laughs)
Hendrick: Yes. Unbeknownst to me, three teenagers are stealing federal property at Phantom Ranch, under my nose.
Steiger: And stowing it away on your boat.
Hendrick: Right. So I stomp back to the boat and I tell the people, “This is not a good situation. The first thing we need to do is remove ourselves from the physical touch of these rangers.” So we loaded the boats and we took off. And the ranger's doing this scene (gestures) as we float by. He's very upset. So we float down to Pipe Springs, because I get a pang of paranoia that I might be in trouble with the Park. You see now, the big trip, ever since Unkar, has been, “As trip leader you're runnin' lead boat. You pull over, is anyone else gonna make the pull-in?” Maybe, maybe not. You never hardly on that trip saw every boat make the pull-in. So I was pretty tense about this one. I was getting very graphic, using tense body language, “Come on, try harder!” And everybody pulled over at Pipe Springs, except the baggage boatman…. But he had no clients, so, “Bye-bye!” And I saw him disappear in those big rollers below Pipe Springs. I just figured, well if he flips and drowns, he's only a baggage boatman. But I knew somehow he'd be okay. So my first responsibility was to the paying, commercial, Sierra Club charter clients. So they're all in there at Pipe Springs. I tell 'em, “Look, I really would appreciate it if each and every one of you good people would beat feet to the South Rim and disappear. Go. Go home. This is too much stress on me and the crew, and frankly, we just can't take it.” So this doctor on the trip, a wonderful woman in her mid-forties, a physician, she stands up and she says—in all respect to the Sierra Club trip leader who was this other person who was kind of dealing with their own fears at the time, she says—“I think I speak for the rest of the trip that none of us want to leave.” And so she was very professional and polite and she said, “Can we keep going? We'd really like to stick it out with you.” And I said, “People, if you want to go on, then you're goin' on. I'm not gonna make anyone leave, although I wish everyone would.” So they all just got on the boats. Here's our crew, standing on shore, the boats are tied up, and now…
Steiger: So I just want to get this straight and make sure I've got it. Basically the ranger's telling you, “Trip's over, you guys are outta here,” and you say, “Sorry, I'm not going to be railroaded into this. We'll just go downstream and think about it.”
Hendrick: Exactly.

Steiger: And then you put it to the people, and they don't want to go.
Hendrick: I put it to the people, but when I first put it to the people, it was like I want them to leave. I made it clear to them that I want them to leave, that I personally do not want to be this mentally overwhelmed with responsibility for people's lives, and this was beyond what we're being paid for, and they should all leave…
But I wanted to tell you about this thing with Kim Crumbo [ex-nps ranger]. The next day I pull into Crystal, and Crumbo's on shore there, he says, “Let me see your lifejacket.” Now I'm waiting for him to say, “You defied the ranger at Phantom, you're outta here!” But he does say very subtly, something to the effect of, “You've pissed some people off. And you'd better be careful. And if I was you, I would get out of here as quick as you can.” 'cause there were two helicopters in the air when we were there. And one of them definitely was rangers, and he was implying something, that “you need to get outta here.” You know, “As a friend, if you hang out around here, you could be in trouble.” So I go, “Thanks.” And he goes, “But I can't let you go on.” And I go, “Why?” And he goes, “Well, look at this.” And he's holding up my lifejacket, and he says, “I can see the color of your eyes through this thing. You can't be serious! What are you doin' wearin' this?” “Hey, that's my lifejacket.” “Well here, put mine on.”
Steiger: Wow!

Hendrick: He tried to make me wear his brand new Park Service jacket. And you know, when I look back at that, I don't remember—I believe I took it, but I may not have, or something. I think we swapped life jackets. Or he got one from someone else or somethin', but the point of the deal was, he wouldn't let me go on with the lifejacket I had, which was my jacket I'd had for like (with mock tears) thirteen years or something! It was totally worn out.
So okay, so now here's Kim Crumbo and the other Park Service people are workin' in the helicopters and they're walkin' around the area, and outta nowhere… these three teenagers walk up, and they go “Tah-dah!” and they hold up the flag! And they're all proud, and everybody's written on it!
Steiger: Oh my God!

Hendrick: Everybody's written on it…. The last thing I said to the people when we pushed off at Pipe Springs was…. They were so cute, because they all went down and got on the boats, and the whole crew is standing on shore. We're on shore and the people on the boats, and they're going, “Come on, let's go!” You know? And I'm lookin' at 'em and they all go, “Speech, speech! Speech by the trip leader!” You know, “Give us a moving speech,” someone yelled, or something. I think it was Kimmy Kovalik—Vladimir's daughter was on the trip and she said, “Yeah, Jimmy, give us a real spirit-rousing speech!” So the place became dead quiet, and they're listening, and I just looked at them and I said, “This might be dangerous.” And we all got in the boats and we left. So we were there at Crystal, and on top of the U.S. flag in the white part of the flag, it says in big letters, “This Might Be Dangerous.” (laughter) And then there were notes from every client on the flag. “Great way to go! We love you!” and all this stuff, you know. And every one of them had signed it. “We'll all go to prison together!” “One for all and all for one!” you know. And just a great attitude, and it was hilarious. But Crumbo goes, “What is that?! Is that the Phantom Ranch flag that was reported stolen yesterday?! Get that out of my sight, I don't see it!”
Steiger: Ah, so you guys camped below Phantom that night, before Crystal.
Hendrick: Yeah. I believe we camped on the left above Granite, or maybe…. You know, I'd have to think a minute where the hell did we camp—I know we camped, because it was the next day, that they pulled out the flag. Those kids were awesome, how they did that. That was just a really funny thing.
Steiger: Well, now when you saw Kenton and those guys go by [Kenton Grua, Rudi Petschek and Steve Reynolds in a single dory, setting the world speed record through the Canyon], what did you think?
Hendrick: When I saw Kenton and those guys go by? Well, I thought it very odd. I was like, “Where's the rest of the trip?” (chuckles) I'm like, “Where is everyone?” I kept looking upriver, wondering where the other trip members were, where the rest of their boats were, because they were in a hurry, they didn't exactly explain what was going on. It was unbeknownst to us that there was only one boat in their trip.
Steiger: So you didn't figure out right away that they were doin' a speed trip or anything.
Hendrick: Not at all, no. I thought it was a dory trip just cutting through our trip. I thought it was very strange. It's like, “What's your point? And where are the rest of your people? And why are two boatmen together?” (laughs) “What is going on?” But I don't actually recall, unlike the story Speed [see the Christa Sadler, Red Lake Books publication There's This River], saying I said all these obscenities and stuff. I don't actually recall, I don't remember being unfurled about their presence at all like that.
Steiger: I forget where I got that. That must have been me embellishing Kenton. I think he knew you were mad at him for passing you. It seemed like what he said was that they passed you right at Hermit, and you guys were already pulled out, and you were gettin' ready to run the rapid, and they just kind of went through you.
Hendrick: Yeah, exactly.
Steiger: And you and those guys ran it right together.
Hendrick: Yeah.
Steiger: Was it big? Do you remember, was Hermit big?
Hendrick: It was big.
Steiger: Were you guys cheatin' it?
Hendrick: We were cheatin' it. That's the thing is, I don't know what people are tellin' ya', but most of the stuff we rowed away from. I mean, it was too big, it'd be ludicrous to row into. I definitely know we cheated in Hermit. (pause) Heck yeah, cheat it.
Steiger: So when Crumbo gave you this lifejacket, so then did you guys walk everybody around Crystal?
Hendrick: Definitely. Yeah, we walked people around Crystal.
Steiger: But the run wasn't that hard?
Hendrick: The run wasn't that hard, and the run was funner than hell, rowin' through the tammies.
Steiger: Not rowin' by that hole.
Hendrick: Rowing through trees, you know. Actually being concerned that your boat might get stuck on a tree on the right side of Crystal is pretty wild. The hole was so far away. I mean, it was a piece of cake. But you know, it was, what, two days earlier that the person had died [during a motor-rig flip]. The really remarkable thing was seeing the motor rigs, the crunched-up motor rigs, moored and stuck here and there. They looked like a grenade had gone off on them…. And it was wild to see those motor rigs like that. Here we had the Sierra Club, little Sierra Club oar-powered-loving trip. (adopting little old lady voice) “Those motors are so bad!” And here's this little rowboat going by at the biggest water, and this big motor rig totally destroyed and hanging there, limp, as we thrusted our way down the river. You know? (laughs) It was a lot of fun. High water was a gas, and it was fun because I got to also play—the first time in my life I got to play like a big brother kind of comforting role. We had my wife Debra, we had Howie Usher—these are people I distinctly remember, and they will probably very much resent me painting them in this picture—but we also had a little macho kid named Bill Wasley. And these are three physically tough people. And we also had the baggage boatman. His name escapes me right now, damn it. Four of them were overwhelmed with concern for the clients, and just a little bit of a lack of confidence. They were worried and they were scared, and I would try to comfort them.
Steiger: They were new, right?
Hendrick: Yes. And it's like, “Come on, you guys are gonna miss a few eddies.” And you know, like we pulled into Matkatamiba, for instance, and three boats missed the eddy. (pow, pow) And then I'm always the first in, so boom! I'm in there. Now to get out is about a fifteen-minute endeavor, to get the heck back out. And so they've already blown by. So I have this massive concern. I've got three boatloads of clients now that missed the eddy and have blown off downriver, and God only knows what's happening to 'em. So we had to abort Matkat and pull out after 'em. And we leap-frogged, literally, down the river like that. We'd try to pull into a camp or a lunch spot, (chuckles) and a couple of boats would miss. We'd always end up inevitably in some awkward place that we never intended to be…. But if we could all get over at the same place, fine, let's perform our function there, because by God, we're all here at once, so let's don't blow it. The only place everybody made it was Havasu. That was the only place, it's pretty cool.
Man, it was exciting.
Steiger: Yeah. So how'd those people…. How was it at the end? How'd they do?
Hendrick: The clients? I got a letter…. Julie and I were just at Dirk Pratley's, visiting his infant and his wife, Fritz. He has a letter from his mother about the trip, and she just goes on and on. This letter was written years and years after the trip. She goes on and on about, “This is the most wonderful thing that ever happened in my life!”
Boselli: She had a whole photo album of it.
Hendrick: And you know, you can take it lightly, because we hear it all the time.
Steiger: Oh no.
Hendrick: But it's true. I mean, to those people, it's probably the biggest rush of their life, and one of mine too. I mean, it was incredible.
Steiger: Mine too.
Hendrick: As far as being guides, we want to give people an experience. There's a real line as to—you gotta stick your neck out a little bit, you gotta take a chance. You have to risk things—for them too. And if it works out, they have a trip that is so vastly superior, than they would with people…. Now, I don't want to point fingers, but there was a company that flew out at the Little Colorado. There were companies abandoning trips upriver of us, giving up and flying out. You know? And to me, that’s not right…. You know, money can’t buy it. And there’s nothing…lawyers and lawsuits and bureaucrats and all these things shouldn’t scare the industry away from trying to provide people with these kind of experiences.
Steiger: (whistles) That’s an amazing story.
Hendrick: What would happen today if the water came up to 100,000? The Park would probably close the river.
Steiger: Most likely.
Hendrick: They sure might.
***
Steiger: You have to tell that story about when Jeff Behan fell up there. That’s such an amazing story. I’ve never heard it from you, but I heard it from Behan.
Hendrick: Well, interject if something sounds in collision there.
Steiger: I’ll just shut up and let you start. Just start from the beginning.
Hendrick: Well, we were at the Ledges Camp, you know. We rowed down to the Ledges Camp and Jeff and one of the clients went off hiking downriver. So I’m hanging out on the boats. I think it was Debra and her brother and Geoff Gourley were cooking dinner that night. I was supposed to be cookin’ dinner, but.…I volunteered to clean up, because no one wanted to, and I’m the best guy to do dishes. So I was doin’ dishes, they were cookin’. We’re sittin’ there, and the client who had gone hikin’ with Behan…. I had had one beer, so I was sittin’ on the boat with that one beer, and I remember I was just finishin’ it, and this fellah came running up, and he’s screaming in a total panic sense, “His bones are sticking out! His bones are sticking out!” We thought he was referring to Jeff, ’cause they had gone off together. So I was waiting for this bad situation. So he then ran up into the kitchen, and he was in a state of shock. So my instructions to the crew immediately were, “Debbie, Gourley, treat this man for shock, don’t leave him for a second, maintain his airway, stay with him, just treat him for shock.” There’s no sense dealing with him any longer, he has nothing to offer, he’s freaked. He’s babbling now. He’s babbling, he’s totally out of it. So then it’s like, “Okay, let’s go.” So I know Howie’s a surfer, he can carry…. “Howie, grab the backboard. You are the backboard man, bring the backboard.” We don’t know where Jeff is, we don’t know where we’re going. But we know every hike in there, so it’s a process of elimination. So then it’s like I’m going with nothing, I’m going to be the first person there, I’m going with nothing, I’m carrying nothing, because I want my hands free to do cpr. I don’t need anything, I’m going for cpr. So I take off runnin’. Then I yell back, “John Markey, John Markey!” I have to run back again ’cause I know I’m not quite organized. “Markey, get in your boat, right now, row to Havasu, hike like a son-of-a-bitch to the phone. Call the Park Service, tell them to get a helicopter into the Ledges Camp.” Once again, I don’t know, maybe I’m totally blowing it. Maybe he’s not injured bad enough. But the thing is, I’m coverin’ every base, right now, while I have a window of opportunity to do it. So Markey rows away, there he goes.
Steiger: So you’d already started runnin’, and you stopped, turned around…
Hendrick: I turned around and went back, ’cause I knew I wasn’t ready. There were knots untied behind me. We need to get the 9-1-1 thing moving. Markey’s the one. “Go, by yourself, bye-bye.” He’s gone.
Okay, Chuck Carpenter’s there. “Chuck, get a bunch of ropes. Get ropes. Come up with ropes, enough to belay a backboard.” Who else was there? A couple of other people. “Bring up the first aid stuff. All you other people…” Clients that are responding, athletic clients that I think can be trusted to do something, “Come with gear.” So all the first aid gear, I said, “I don’t care what it is, everything we have, bring to the base of the wall. If he’s up above that wall, just stop there and we’ll come down and get it.” So I go (swish), I’m runnin’ now.
Steiger: Now you’re at the Ledges, and he went up to the falls there?
Hendrick: Yeah, the one downstream. And he’s up, all the way up—all the way, as far as you can go, and then there’s that big Redwall, sheer wall. Huge sheer wall of Redwall. And he’d been free climbing up there, and what happened was, he wedged his right foot in a crack, and his right hand peeled, the slab peeled. And so he went with the slab and twisted. Anyway, compound fracture, dislocation, and ripped his foot off, basically. So I don’t know any of this. All I know is there’s bones sticking out. So actually, the ironic thing is, while I’m running up there, looking for Jeff, I’m thinking, “Am I gonna get in trouble? I’ve instigated a rescue, and I don’t even know if I have an injury yet.” (chuckles) You know? Markey’s gone to call the Park Service, he’s going to. There’s gonna be a helicopter. And I just decided on that old defiant nature, I just had this defiance like, “Hey, I gotta do what I think is right,” and I’m already thinking of the repercussions, the arguments, the criticisms. You know what I’m sayin’? And it made me understand what doctors must go through, and emergency room personnel. It’s like you make these decisions, and you already know someone’s gonna criticize you. You know, you can’t win, basically. You can’t please everybody. So I’m runnin’ like hell, I’m sweatin’, and I’m doing these climbs that normally I don’t do, and when I do do ’em…
Steiger: There’s a bunch of climbs, it’s hard to get where he is.
Hendrick: There’s a bunch of climbs. Yeah, and I usually don’t go up there. I’ve only been up there like once, and it scared me, and I never went back. I’m just screamin’ up this wall.
Steiger: So this ain’t no “walk in the park”…
Hendrick: No, no, no, we don’t take clients up there. We never, ever—this is the first time I’ve ever heard of a client even goin’ up there…. And Behan made a mistake. He’s rowin’ a baggage boat, he’s got no business on his first trip, takin’ a client up there.
Steiger: Did he know where he was goin’ even?
Hendrick: No. He’s just walkin’ with a client. He was totally innocent. I mean, he’s a good person, and a very good boatman, but he made a mistake, he shouldn’t have taken a client up there. But anyway, point bein’, I didn’t know where he was. So I’m doin’ all this stuff and thinkin’, “I’m pretty awesome!” But I’m scared to death. “Bones sticking out!” plural! I’m waiting for this multiple fracture. So I get up there, and I don’t see anybody. I’m like totally amiss. It’s like, “What the hell is going on?” And I hear this groaning, and I look behind this rock, and there’s Jeff laying there, and his calf muscle is about the size of a fist, and his foot is sticking out at an oblique angle, pointing to the outside. He’s in a lateral position, and it’s way up his leg. The majority of the lower leg bones are exposed, totally. There’s no tissue or whatsoever on ’em. They’re just exposed bones.
Steiger: “Bones are sticking out.”
Hendrick: The bones are sticking out—to the ankle. But there is no ankle, and there is no foot. The ankle and the foot are way up the leg, attached to this muscle and tissue that’s as big as a fist, and hard, and the foot’s sticking out.
To me, as I looked at it, I said in my mind, “Amputation, fractures, he could die of shock. Work on the shock.” And there was no blood loss, there is no flowing blood! You know?! And I can’t take credit and say that it’s my great medical experience that did this for me, but I simply felt his foot, and it was pure luck that I felt the dorsalis pedis pounding.
Steiger: What’s the dorsalis pedis?
Hendrick: The vessel in the top of his foot had a massive pulsation to it. I mean, I could palpate it and feel it. I had no intention, that wasn’t even what I was looking for. I was just kind of in shock myself, feeling his foot, to see if it was really attached to his leg, or was it just stuck there. So I kind of grabbed his foot and pushed on it, and pulled on it a little bit to see if it was literally amputated, and just a piece. You know what I’m saying? But it was not only attached, I could palpate the pulse. So I knew right then that his foot is still attached, and it’s alive, it’s perfusing, I’ve got a pulse, in this awkward, incredible position! That went by real fast as I went to do my survey. Of course I first went to the foot, but then I got my head together and went for the survey, and I went for his head. You know, does he have any head injuries? No, no, he was coherent, he was conscious. And I just gotta get over this one little hurdle right now and say that Behan is one gutsy guy. He is a strong, brave, gutsy person. I was so impressed with his demeanor. So he’s laying flat, his head’s flat on the ground, and he won’t even let me palpate his spine. You know, he won’t let me move his hips or anything. He’s like, “Let me go, I’m okay, I’m okay! My head’s fine, my neck’s fine. Look! Look at me move my neck!” And he lifts his head up, and I go, “Stop it, Jeff! Okay, I believe you!” And he’s going, “Look, my arms are okay.” He’s flapping his arms. “Stop it!” He’s scaring me. “Don’t try to get up!”
Steiger: So he’s already…
Hendrick: He’s already done a survey on himself.
Steiger: “It’s just my foot.”
Hendrick: Yeah, he goes, “My foot’s gone. I’ve looked. My leg’s gone and my foot’s gone.” That’s what he said, and he kept saying, over and over, “My foot’s gone.” You know, like, “Do you see it anywhere?” And then I grabbed his foot and I go, “Can you feel this?” And he goes, “Oh, my God!” And he kind of sat up and looked, and from his point of view, because now I’ve stuffed my shirt and some stuff under his knee, trying to get a little bit of a view of his leg by elevating it a little bit, so he feels the sensations in his foot, but as he lifts up—because he’s flat on the ground—and as he lifts his head up and looks down, all he sees is his bare bones, with no foot attached.
And then he drops his head in utter terror, I’m sure, and fights the shock that must be just rollin’ over him. The pain and the fear and the shock must be just rolling over him, and he’s just so strong, he’s fighting it, you can see it in his face, you know, his fight. He was fighting, man, it was so impressive. And like, “No, Jeff, your foot is here, man. It’s still attached to your leg.” And he’s like, “Don’t fool me, don’t mess with me, Jimmy, I know it’s gone, I see it’s gone, my foot is gone. You’ve gotta find it.” And I go, “Can you feel this?” And he goes, “That feels like my foot!” He must have been confused, you know. “Where is it?!” It’s like, “It’s right here, it’s under your knee.” Then he starts slippin’, ’cause like he’d go, “Oh, ahhh, ahhh,” and then he’d begin to cry a little bit, then he’d toughen up. He’d just cowboy up and grit his teeth and fight. He wouldn’t weep and he wouldn’t scream, but every now and then he’d have to just yell. Every now and then he’d just go “Ahhhhhh!” So I’m tellin’ him, “Okay, I got your foot, do you feel it?” And he’s goin’, “Yeah, I do feel it.” And I said, “This is your foot, man, and you have a pulse. And you have color. Your foot’s pink. And your pulse is beating. You still have a foot. And then he began to like disbelieve me, and he said, “I know I don’t.” And he laid there. So the first people started arriving. I don’t know who gets credit for this, but someone on the crew—it might have been Debbie—told the clients, “Does anyone have any pain killers or muscle relaxers?” So about a half-dozen bottles of pain killers and muscle relaxers, all prescribed to someone else—so this would have been all illegal—came to me from the clients. So my first concern was, we’re gonna lose his foot because of constriction of vessels. He’s going to lose it because of his loss of perfusion, and that at all costs I’ve gotta save his foot…and his life. But, you know, right now, let’s…
Steiger: So there wasn’t much blood?
Hendrick: There was very little blood. And his calf muscle was as hard as a rock, so my feeling was that if this condition continued, and I’m moving him, eventually we’re gonna pinch off those vessels and he’s gonna lose his foot. So I made a major decision. There were two nurses there, and one nurse said, “Don’t you dare give him drugs.” And the other nurse said, “His life is more important than anything, give him the drugs, or we may lose him.”
Steiger: So they knew that he had to have drugs, ’cause the pain was gonna do him in.
Hendrick: He needed drugs, but there was no doctor there to prescribe the drugs, and there was no doctor there who could legally give him the drugs. So this one registered nurse—I won’t mention her name—was a registered nurse in the state of Arizona, gave him the drugs. And she said, “By God, I’m doing it.” Because I was scared. I said, “If I give him these drugs and he dies, I’m breaking the law.” We gave him Valium, and we gave him Percodans, and we gave him Flexorils.
Steiger: All of ’em?
Hendrick: All of ’em, at once. I mean, “Swallow these.” He was conscious, like, “Jeff, you’re gonna have to swallow. You know, if you choke to death, we could lose you. Don’t puke. Do you feel good enough to swallow these?” And he said, “I know what you’re doin’, I want ’em, I want ’em. Please! Pain killers, Jimmy, anything! Pain killers, anything man.” I remember him saying that over and over, “Anything! Pain killers! Anything! Pain killers! Please, please!” And then he’d scream, “Ahhhhh.” So I gave him Percodans, Flexorils. And you know Flexoril’s an amazing drug, because I was holding his calf muscle with both of my hands, and I could feel the muscle relax to a softer form, and his tissue mass literally started to slide down his lower leg a few inches, and it would stretch and it slid, and it stretched and it slid, and it got all relaxed, and I could move the foot around a little bit. Now understand that the foot is attached to the entire ankle bone unit.
Steiger: Because the break is above that.
Hendrick: Right.
Steiger: Good thing!
Hendrick: Yes, it’s a perfect thing, for him, long-term healing. So his foot and ankle are intact. The bones are simply broken out of the joint.
Steiger: Right.
Hendrick: Fractured out of the joint, broken out, in a very nasty manner, but he’s perfusing, the tissue’s still there, the bone’s still there. Okay, so let’s get rollin’, let’s get him the hell out of here. Plan A…
Steiger: And you’re way up this canyon.
Hendrick: We’re way the hell up there. Plan A is the helicopter’s gonna get him out tonight. But as rescues go, time was consumed…. Luckily for me, because I would have died of guilt if the helicopter would have been there, the helicopter couldn’t make it in that night, there wasn’t enough daylight for him to even try to come in. So he didn’t even come in until the next morning at first light. So that was good for my psyche, because if he’d have been down there waiting, and I couldn’t have produced Jeff by dark, I would have felt very guilty.
So everyone, it was a real classic Wilderness World team effort. Not one argument, not one complaint, just everybody injecting their skills and their knowledge to make it work. …I had a lot of Betadine, and I had a lot of sterile, clean dressings. So what I did is, I soaked the exposed bones with Betadine—straight Betadine, undiluted. ’cause my major concern at this point was bone infection. Bone infection [could] do two things: rush up his blood system and kill him, or lose his leg. So to avoid either of those, my main concern was infection. So I soak his leg with Betadine, wrap it in Curlex.
Steiger: Well, wasn’t that soakin’ his leg—I heard that somebody was sayin’, “Don’t touch it.”
Hendrick: Yeah, there was a nurse. The nurse who didn’t give him the drugs was constantly giving me bad advice. She suggested I reduce the fracture. I said, “I will not attempt to reduce the fracture. If I reduce the fracture and lose perfusion, we still lose the leg.” She argued against that. I told her, “I’m trip leader, I’ll take responsibility. Please stay out of the way.” And then she started doin’ the thing, “Don’t touch him at all, then. Don’t touch it at all.” Well, I heard all kinds of advice, but not in a negative…
Steiger: I heard that you cleaned it really good. You went ahead, so you Betadined the bones…
Hendrick: Let me put it this way, I had it elevated straight out. I had it elevated, and his knee was padded, so the Betadine was flowing over the bones, and the Betadine was flowing in and out of the “holes” if you will, or the surface of all the fracture of the foot and everything. Any exposed thing, or any crevasse in there that I could squirt the Betadine into it, I tried to just irrigate the entire thing with straight Betadine. Then I did wash it with an irrigating solution…
Steiger: Is that a saline solution?
Hendrick: A saline solution. Then I Betadined it again, and then I wrapped these three Curlexes. So what I did was, I wrapped the thing with dressings, almost in a cast-like, except very loosely.
Steiger: Clean gauze.
Hendrick: Clean, sterile dressing, all over everything. And I used up every one I had. And I used up all the Betadine I had, and I soaked it all. So it was saturated with Betadine. And then I covered it up with bandages—big triangulars and what-not.
Now, the whole thing of movin’ him was, now I’m puttin’ him on the backboard, and the whole thing of movin’ him was to have that leg loose and relaxed, so as not to pinch off the circulation to that poor, dangling foot. And then my concern was always circulation to the end of the extremity, circulation to the toes. He had it! It was wonderful! So I left his toes exposed so I could play with them.
Steiger: And they’re still…
Hendrick: No, they’re still mid-bone. They’re right where a normal calf muscle would be now, is where his foot is. And the end of his whole muscle system is about right here in the middle of the tib fib [tibia and fibula]. So now the thing is, Howie got really funny. Howie’s got this way he wanted to strap him on the backboard. You’re a horseman, you know, “running ‘W’.”
Steiger: Yeah, keep it simple!
Hendrick: I said, “What are you guys complicating…” That’s exactly what I was tellin’ ’em. “Why are you guys making this so difficult?!” About four people are like totally involved—Chuck Carpenter—and they’re climbers. “I’m a climber!” “I’m a climber!” “I’m a climber!” “Shut up! I’m used to pack horses. We’re doing a ‘running ‘W.’” “What’s that?” “It’s just this: voom, voom, voom.” “Oh!” “See, wasn’t that easy?” And they’re like, “That won’t work, Jimmy.” I said, “Yeah it will. I’ll bet my life on it, ’cause I’m gonna hold onto it when we go down the cliff.” So we put him in there, and the idea was to keep his leg loose and flexible—again, not to pinch that artery.
Steiger: So there was no way in hell you guys were gonna get him out of there if you didn’t have a backboard, huh?
Hendrick: If we had not had a backboard, we would have made one. Yeah, you had to have had a backboard. There’s no way we could have got him off the face of those cliffs without a backboard. Now I have to think, he’s been given these drugs, so he could be drowsy on the pain killer. Now I have to think about losing him from vomitus. You know, I’ve gotta keep his airway open. So I drop him off the cliff, head first, and so I think I’ve got that problem beat. If he starts to vomit, I can just roll the backboard.
Steiger: So he’s on there. You don’t have to tie his head? Well, did you have his head…
Hendrick: No, I had his head a little bit padded, but not much, ’cause he wanted…. I was communicating with Jeff the whole time, and he wanted to be able to move his head, he wanted to be able to look around. He didn’t want to be strapped down by his head. I said, “Well, I want your head loose, so if you feel like you’re going to vomit, you can turn your head and vomit.” He’s an amazing man. He’d have these waves of in-and-out, you know, where the pain would get to him or whatever, and he’d begin to weep and just go out on me—not unconscious, but out of communication. And then he could come back and he would just struggle. What a fighter! It’s like, “I’m okay, I’m still here. I’m still here, don’t leave me, don’t leave me.” “I’m not gonna leave you, man.” “What the hell are we doin’?” “We’re droppin’ you off the cliff.” “No, no, don’t! Bring the helicopter in here. Don’t drop me off this cliff! No, no!” “Jeff, we’re droppin’ you off the cliff and I’m goin’ with ya’.” He goes, “Okay, you won’t leave?” I go, “No.” “Don’t leave me.” “I’m not gonna leave ya’, I’m right here.” “Well, stay here.” “No, I’m gonna go down by your foot. I’m gonna ride down with your foot. Do you understand that?” And he’s like, “Yeah, I do.” “You do, don’t you?” “I do.” “This is incredible, you really do! Okay, I’m going down on your foot. So I’ll be here. Alright, here we go.” So we got Chuck Carpenter on one belay, and we got Howie and someone else on another belay.
Steiger: And is it startin’ to get dark?
Hendrick: It is almost dark. It’s almost too dark to see. So they’re totally cool people, man. Everyone was bein’ so cool. And everyone else was down below, and there was total quiet so we could all hear. And I’m like, “Slack…slack…okay, on belay. Let it go.” And they’re just inching us down. So the deal was, I’m not harnessed in, I’m not tied to anything. I’m holding onto this strap that’s holding Jeff in, and my attitude was, “If Jeff goes, I’m goin’.” And I know this is weird, but it’s like, “If I’m going to kill Jeff Behan and he falls out of this backboard, I’m goin’ with him. I’m not lettin’ this happen to him.” So with one hand I got Jeff’s strap that’s holding him, and the other hand is free so I can push brush and cactus away from his foot, because as the backboard’s goin’ down the cliff, we’re encountering brush, we’re encountering barrel cactus.
Steiger: So Behan’s upside down?
Hendrick: He’s upside down. And everything that comes near his foot, I’d push away with my hand. My hand is like totally destroyed, it’s all cut from cactus needles and brush and rock, ’cause I’m like (crash, crash), totally into it. I’m not lettin’ anything touch his foot. You know, I could say, “Whoa!” and they’d stop and then I’d inch the backboard over to avoid something, and it was a damned-long time. By the time we got him to the bottom, my hand was totally torn to pieces, and I was like…. I can’t explain it, I was totally exhausted. I was hardly able to stand up. We all got the backboard, and in pitch black, we carried him back to camp, where Mr. Geoff Gourley became the hero of the night, because I don’t even remember what happened next. All I remember is wakin’ up in the middle of the night, screamin’, “Where’s Jeff?! Where’s Jeff?!” I passed out. (laughs) I was done, I was toasted.
Steiger: So Gourley…
Hendrick: Gourley missed the whole thing, ’cause he was down there at the kitchen, organizing all that, and keepin’ the people there. So he kind of missed the big, exciting parts. So he was Behan’s best friend and his guest on the trip. And then he got to row his first trip ever from then out—Geoff Gourley did. So Geoff took over and stayed up with him all night. And so did the nurse.
Steiger: Did Behan sleep?
Hendrick: In and out, in and out. He did a lot of fist squeezing. He held someone’s hand all night. He did a lot of squeezing of hands. He did a lot of screaming, but he slept here and there, because I heard him yell once, and that’s when I woke up. I felt really like I had failed him, because I don’t even remember where or how I fell asleep. And then I went over there, and he was asleep, but he looked dead, and I just began to cry. And I guess it was like just finally emotions were coming through. I just remember standing there, looking at Jeff, and I thought he was dead. I just started crying, “I’m sorry Jeff, we let you down.” And Gourley’s goin’, “He’s not dead, he’s not dead, he’s sleeping!” So you know, I was just bawling away, and I looked down at Jeff and sort of like slugged him. Not slugged him, but whacked him in the side of the head, just wham! And he wakes up. “Are you okay?!” And he goes, “Oh man, you have no idea how much this hurts. It’s just really hurtin’. You guys have gotta give me more drugs. You’ve gotta give me more drugs.” And it’s like, “I can’t, you know. I can’t give you any more drugs. It’s just too weird, Jeff. I don’t know what the fuck’s gonna happen to you.” So I passed out again. I wake up to the sound of the helicopter.
Steiger: Dawn, Markey made it.
Hendrick: Markey made it. You gotta give a lot of credit to John Markey, the amount of time that he had. He was very efficient, because he’s not a distance runner at all. He’s a boxer, he’s a real stout, very thick-muscled person. He’s not a striding, long-muscled person. He has a hard time running, but he made it up there in the dark, and he called them in the night. And he did a good job. And because of him calling ’em, the helicopter was there at first light. And he deserves a lot of credit for that, because of the lack of infection.
Now, when I went to the hospital to talk to Dr. Lewick right after I got home, he said that he was astounded that there was no bone infection whatsoever. He said, “A situation like this, out in the field, and as long as he was in the field, ten out of ten times they’re gonna come in with an amputation or an infection—inevitable. And how the hell this guy didn’t get an infection, is just impressive to me.” And he thanked me and stuff. I was all scared when I went in there, like what’d I do wrong?
Steiger: Well, they say you’re not supposed to put Betadine on somethin’ straight, but…
Hendrick: They can say all they want. That’s all I had, was bottles of Betadine.…irrigation solution, the saline. But it wasn’t really mixed together.
Steiger: Well, we used to do it straight all the time, but lately they’ve said, “It’s better to dilute it, because it kills the tissue.”
Hendrick: Yeah.
Steiger: But whatever you did, it obviously worked.
Hendrick: It was a tremendous rescue, though, man. It was really fun and rewarding, and it worked out.
Steiger: Real challenging. A lot of opportunities to mess that one up.
Hendrick: Everybody was really awesome. You know, Howie? Think about what Howie Usher did—with the backboard under his arm, he does the climb.
Steiger: He makes this climb.
Hendrick: Yeah, and Howie’s not Mr. Total Mountaineer either. I mean, Howie’s a good climber, but he’s just like most of us, and he got up there with that backboard. (cry of elation) And Chuck Carpenter went up with two big climbing ropes over one shoulder. Just to make those climbs with that kind of gear. And somebody carried the first aid box up there. I don’t know who, but there was all kinds of heroes all day. It was a really tremendous team effort. It was way cool.
Steiger: That’s a wild story. And he doesn’t even limp, really…. Just a little bit, but not bad. I remember him wearin’ a brace around there, but you would never know that it was somethin’ that traumatic. Wild. (whistles) And that was an Expeditions deal?
Hendrick: No, no, that was a Wilderness World trip, 1983.
***
Steiger: Tell me about your race. You just did…the one with the sled dogs. Just describe it.
Hendrick: The Alaska Challenge—the Yukon Quest?.
Steiger: I mean, it’s not like you left the river and went and got a desk job.
Hendrick: No, I am…
Steiger: You’ve been on your track further out there than ever.
Hendrick: …It’s a thousand miles, there’s six checkpoints. The first check point is 125 miles, about, maybe closer to 155 or 160. The second checkpoint is 300 miles away. So you go 500 miles before you can really take a break. It’s a trip, you get really tired and cold, and you feel real achey and stuff. It’s a lot of hard work.
Steiger: And there aren’t any houses and there aren’t any telephone poles.
Hendrick: There’s nobody out there.
Steiger: There aren’t any roads, and there’s nothin’.
Hendrick: No, you’re in the bush—we call it the bush. (chuckles)
Steiger: Are there a lot of trees?
Hendrick: The whole thing about the Yukon is, the Yukon doesn’t really have much of an economy, so the population in the Yukon is pretty low. There just aren’t a lot of people, there are no jobs, so what the hell do you do out there for money? There’s some subsistence people around, but they’re usually natives, and they’re not hanging out on trails, probably like living in a village or whatever. But people just don’t live out in the wilderness—it’s too hard. It’s a wild, wild expanse. You know?
Steiger: Well, not really, because I’ve never seen it, but I can imagine.
Hendrick: Same kind of space, like at Shane Murphy’s house, lookin’ out the window at the Painted Desert, lookin’ clear across a good, 50, 60, 70 miles ahead of you. It’s a really wonderful thing about wilderness: in the winter up there you can see forever, and just—the space is immense.
Steiger: Yeah. Doesn’t have much to do with the Grand Canyon, but it’s what you’re doin’ right now.
Hendrick: Well, it has a lot to do with the Grand Canyon. It’s the Planet Earth. The Canyon is just part of the Planet Earth. The Canyon is not the world, it’s a part of the world. You know, I used to think that being on a frozen river with snow on it would be uncool. I only wanted to be on whitewater rivers and all this, but runnin’ sled dogs on a river is a real challenging experience, to say the least. The race is a thousand miles. You have to summit four mountains and you have to go along on the river for quite a few hundred miles. So I’ve been runnin’ that race. That’s what’s kept me away for so long.
Lew Steiger