GTS Land Session Finale

What can I say—the Guides Training Seminar (gts) land session was exceptional and we couldn’t be more pleased! We kicked things off on Friday with our Grand Canyon River Guides (gcrg) spring meeting including updates on serious issues of great importance—Colorado River Management Plan(crmp), Adaptive Management Program (amp), etc…plus board nominations. Friday night we switched gears to lighter fare, swooning over Martha’s culinary delights and laughing about the movie, Same River Twice. After we got acclimated to seeing all the “nekkid” people enjoying the river (definitely a different definition of the “river experience”!), we understood the bittersweet juxtaposition of the freedom and joy of the initial private trip in the 1970s compared to the rather mundane lives of those people decades later. It brought home some of the mixed feelings many guides have about transitioning out of guiding and living a “regular” life away from the river. The film was also a total hoot for those of you who know some of the subjects of the documentary, like Jimbo Tichenor.
Saturday morning bright and early we started with breakfast. Special thanks to Andre for driving up late Friday night with the coffee so we could avoid a caffeine-deprived riot in the morning! More great food was wolfed down, and we soon plunged into the talks of the day. And boy, what talks there were. We covered pretty much everything with fresh perspectives, new research and topnotch interpretive training across the board—basin hydrology, adaptive management, tribal perspectives, archaeo-astronomy, sediment, bugs, fish…. It was fun. It was interesting. It was thought provoking. Make sure you don’t miss it next year!
And the Whale Foundation Health Fair—first annual, totally righteous, “doin’ the guides a huge service” kind of thing. It wasn’t as well attended as it might have been, but maybe you didn’t get the idea of free stuff! Guides love free stuff. Guides live for free stuff. And this kind of free stuff actually helps you stay healthy, like vouchers for mammograms or prostate screenings. And if you stay healthy, you can still guide. Get it? They have all kind of “docs” available so you can ask questions in an informal environment, not to mention a dentist and a physical therapist. It’s too cool and a perfectly brilliant idea. So make sure you check it out next year and tell all your friends. We want tons of people heading upstairs at Hatchland next year to check it out.
Saturday night we scarfed more great food and boogied down to the bluegrass sounds of Bill Vernieu and his fellow musicians. Bill may be a mild mannered scientist in his real life, but his soul rocks hard and we were sure glad he agreed to play because it was a whole lot of fun.
Sunday—bleary-eyed Sunday. Maybe a few hangovers, but Martha and Thad, the dynamic culinary duo, came to the rescue with a fabulous breakfast and vats of Helen Yard’s delectable and oh-so-bird-friendly Toucanet Coffee.

Ok, got a little side tracked there, but her coffee is ambrosial! Sunday’s speaker line up was really strong—campground monitoring, vegetation management, wildlife projects, lots of geology stuff, a talk about Robert Benson, old boaters/boats and the rapids rating system. My, we covered tons of interesting stuff. One very sad note though—George Steck gave us a wonderful talk on fellow hiker Robert Benson and passed away a few short weeks after the land session. We extend our sincerest condolences to George Steck’s family. George was one of those incredible men who hiked Grand Canyon extensively (ala Harvey Butchart). We were fortunate to have him among us for the weekend. Hearing those hiking stories firsthand gave us insight into the beauty and craziness of Grand Canyon hiking. Thanks George, and may heaven look a whole lot like Grand Canyon.
Things wrapped up after lunch on Sunday. The break down was quick (guides are so good at that), and everything got packed up and back to where it belonged. We’d like to extend our thanks once again Hatch River Expeditions for giving us a “home” for the event, to all the commercial outfitters who have supported this event, to Teva for their continued financial support and cool free stuff, to Toucanet Coffee for donating the yummy coffee, and to the other vendors who came and offered to show us their nifty wares. The gts land and river sessions would also not be possible without significant assistance from the Grand Canyon Conservation Fund, a non-profit grant- making program established and managed by the Grand Canyon river outfitters. We’re deeply indebted to you all. And of course, many kudos to el presidente, John O’Brien for being a super emcee. It’s not an easy job to keep things moving along on schedule and wrangle those long-winded speakers! Our gts committee—John, Drifter, and Jayne also helped me to make the event a success. You guys are the best! Lots of folks pitched in to help haul stuff up and took care of other important details (and believe me, there are a million details). Everybody came together, and I guess that’s what it’s all about anyway. The awesome interpretive training is only part of it. The other component, and a necessary one at that, is the fact that the gts gives the river community a fabulous excuse to get together. That’s what Kenton wanted in the first place when he started gcrg. Laugh, learn, see old friends, and make new ones. Those things are what make us a community. So let’s keep it going strong.

Lynn Hamilton