Rivers are Life-Changing

Monte Tillinghast, OARS/Grand Canyon Dories Manager | Grand Canyon

I’m told my first river trip was in 1965. I would have been three years old. [My parents] owned two river companies as I was growing up, but they retired out of it before I was old enough to really even have an interest.

1969 was the first time I ran the Grand Canyon, and I was looking at that through the eyes of a seven year old. Being brought up in it, you don’t have the appreciation for it that you do later in life when you look back. During those days, I thought I was just like anybody else growing up. It’s not until you reach some point in your life, as you get older, that you realize, “Wow. That was really neat.”

After a motorcycle accident [temporarily] paralyzed me from the neck down, that changed my life. It’s pretty much around that moment that I realized that I had a love for river running and I missed it. And so, that was the direction I went from there.

My own physical therapy kind of brought me full circle. It brought me back to the Grand Canyon. That place has always been special to me. It has a way of instilling an inner-peace. It has a way of grounding me. It has a way of allowing me to look at things with clarity.

To me, being on the river has always been a spiritual journey.

Why Rivers Matter: Stories from the People Who’ve Dedicated Their Lives to Them

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