Stories from the water

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The River of No Return (1954) - OTT and the Arts

The River of No Return Among other things, the offseason means finding other ways to slake our river-need, and one of the best ways to get that fix is through the magical world of film. Now, there are a number of great river-running-related films out there. A River Runs Through It (1992) is an obvious--and choice--example. Likewise, The River Wild (1994). Both are great films (from the river enthusiasts’ perspective, if not the film critics’), and if you haven’t seen them, we’d strongly recommend doing so. But while both of these films have and continue to enjoy relative notoriety (at least in th...

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Is kayaking in Oregon in the winter cold? Maybe. But it's awesome!

From Left to Right: Josh Makepeace (P.B.), Geoff Stewart (D-Dubs), Richard Alves (Pretty Richard), and Aaron Lieberman (Highside) A story of wintertime kayaking on the rivers of Oregon Recently, Me and three close friends--including OTT guides Josh Makepeace (photo left) and Richard Alves (center right), and OTT honorary fellow Geoff Stewart--set out to run an upper stretch of the North Santiam river, located outside of Detroit, Oregon. For guides in the offseason, the need to get out and paddle can become borderline pathological. This bears mentioning, because it helps to explain why four non-ra...

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OTT On the Press: Thoughts on “Battling A Sense of Lost Time”

The chorus of voices out there calling for people to “unplug and reconnect” is growing. The significance of that fact depends entirely on where you stand on the stance, so to speak. On the one hand, it’s clearly not always possible to “cut the cords,” and doing or not doing so ultimately comes down to personal value judgements. On the other hand, though, I think it good to be pressured to disconnect. Believe me, the irony of posting about taking time to not post is not lost to me. But hypocrisy would be a bad reason not to do a good thing. Because the thing is, there’s a whole world...

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OTT Outdoor Adventure Reads: Anything Worth Doing by Jo Deurbrouck

OTT Outdoor Adventure Reads Anything Worth Doing: A True Story of Adventure, Friendship and Tragedy on the incredible Salmon River In her 2012 National Outdoor Book Award winner Anything Worth Doing, Jo Deurbrouck tells the story of the famed Idahoan boatman Clancy Reece and his protégé Jon Barker, “two men who share a love of wild rivers and an unbending will to live life on their terms, no matter the cost.” (Deurbrouck, Preface, Anything Worth Doing) Beginning with what the two called the “Source to Sea” (a 900 mile descent from the headwaters of the Salmon down the Snake and the Columbia to t...

River Wisdom

River Wisdom Wednesday - Sir William Francis Butler