An option comes to mind but I reject it. Skip isn’t going to share his sleeping bag with me, so there is little sense in pursuing that one. The next solution seems ridiculous in hindsight. Our sleeping pads are thick and provide good ground insulation. I might be able to use one as intended, and the other as a cover. I drag both of the pads from the tent and try out my idea. The pads are so firm that the top one won’t stay in place and just slides off my body. I lie on my back and realize that if someone were to see me they would mistake me for an ice-cream sandwich.

My best words of advice to a new guide is to show up ready to do anything. Always stay busy and never ask if there is something to do. There is ALWAYS something to do. Other than that having a team attitude and a good set of rain gear always helps.

Together we love these places. Together we will float the wild rivers. Guides interpret the songs of the river, the language of pines. Anybody can go there. It takes special people to keep us there. To keep us there. To keep the rivers alive. To keep what’s out there in here, in our hearts. This is the work of guides. You and me.

I think about the guides around me. They seem to complete this place with their smiling faces and wild eyes. They are strong, genuine, and friendly. Their lives, in many ways, reflect the wild and scenic river they work. As the season turns to spring they emulate the Chinook salmon and make their way back to the river, year after year.

It’s important to remember that guiding doesn’t necessarily need to be synonymous with complete life upheaval once a year. Continue to explore all the different ways “guide life” can manifest.

One early season private trip on the Main Salmon I was running my own boat for the first time. I came around the corner at Big Mallard and see Telly on the right bank dancing around and pointing left, left, left! The Big Mallard rock was out and Telly, being the strong, amazing boater that he was, thought he'd try going right. He ended up plastered on the rock and swears the only reason they didn't flip was he had two big farm boys wedged under the table up front. They peeled off and he made it to shore in time to point everybody following him to the left. He was an incredible leader for many reasons but one big one was his ability to make mistakes, share them and make you feel fine about making your own mistakes. I think of him every time I sneak between those big Big Mallard rocks. And lots of other times too.

A guide may not have the traditionally well-built resume of a campaign organizer, policy changer, or non-profit employee. But helping people to care about a place or issue enough to take action is as much about affecting their heart as it is about appealing to their logic or wallet. And when a guest watches their child open in joy after a big rapid, or eats dinner while the sun set over a pastel pink river, or sleeps out on a sand beach with their loved one, it touches a heart place. When a guest sees how their guide loves their place like they love a limb attached to their body, it touches a heart place too.