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Show Crews with Grand Canyon Dories. j ..; i Grand Canyon Dories End Spring Season on the Green t Grand Canyon Dories put their boats into the river at Sand Wash for their last trip on Green River Wilderness this summer. They will return in October for some fall trips, which are beautiful beyond telling in the superb Desolation Desola-tion Canyon, with fall colors on the sidehills and along the river. Grand Canyon Dories conduct con-duct trips on seven wild rivers in the North American continent. conti-nent. This is the only expedition in "hard hulls," or rigid boats; all of the other companies use some variant of the inflatable rafts. Quoting from their brochure: bro-chure: "Seeking craft that would be better than anything in use-stronger, more rigid, more maneuverable, and compatible com-patible with the natural environment in every possible way we decided on an adaptation adapta-tion of the fishing dories used at sea, in surf, and on the swift McKenzie, Rogue, Klamath and Deschutes rivers of the West. The resulting larger, decked-over, compartmented boats, first tested in the Grand Canyon in 1962, have become renowned not only for safety and comfort, but also for their graceful response to the thrust and lift of white water. In groups of three and four, the dories made only one or two small private trips through the Grand Canyon each year until 1969. Then we assisted in commemorating the Centennial Centen-nial of the first Powell expedition by re-enacting the entire journey from Green River, Wyoming, to the Virgin River in southern Nevada. Three vast reservoirs interrupted interrup-ted the run with long stretches of dead water, but oh the still-living river, where Powell and his men had labored to carry and line his boats around difficult places, the dories sped with ease. Shortly thereafter, there-after, our annual personal adventure 'went public with the establishment of Grand Canyon Dories, Inc." Grand Canyon Dories, Inc. are owned by Martin Litton. He developed the dories as a hobby, because of his love for the outdoors, particularly Grand Canyon. When the two dams were proposed in Grand Canyon, Litton, like all river runners and people who had been down the Grand, was appalled. However, he did something about it. He took his maps and information to Sierra Club President David Brauer and other conservationists, and spent enough time with them to convince the people who cared that boating on a lake was not the same thing as running the rapids of Grand Canyon. The Sierra Club backed his campaign, and lobbies were established to stop the Bureau of Reclamation Reclama-tion from putting in these dams. Since then, river runners run-ners and conservationists have vigorously protected the canyon, can-yon, and future generations can run the rapids with as much fervor as the river rats of today. Other than the Grand, the dories put on trips on the Owyhee, and Grand Ronde, Salmon tributaries of the Snake and the lower half of Hell's Canyon of the Snake, The Rio Grande and Green River Wilderness on the Green. A confirmed conservationist, conservation-ist, Martin Litton names his beautiful dories for some natural wonder that has been destroyed by man. Among the eight boats making the Green River Wilderness trips this summer are the Chattahoo- ; t ' chee, named for the river t which flows from Tennessee") t '"" south through Georgia and Florida to the Gulf of Mexico. ft It is marred by five dams and a j .' rj good deal of industrial pollu- f tion around Atlanta. ;! . Peace River from the : ' , Peace River in Canada which was ruined by a dam. Celito I ' Falls was on the Columbia--a f "1 small falls used by Indians for ; salmon fishing, which was j covered by a reservoir, j Hetchy was a beautiful valley north of Yosemite which was ' ! i put under water by a dam. ' t " Malibu Canyon was a lovely i river in California-dammed. ' i Ootsa Lake was named from a i ; ' chain of beautiful lakes in ' Canada which were drownedj ! by a dam at the lower end of j: the valley to raise water high enough to use for an aluminum , j company. ' The last two are Hidden i Passage and Music Temple, ; j V which local folk know are I under Lake PowelJ - and the . less said the better at this. point. I . Most of the Litton 's river L running is on the Grand, so hef : maintains a warehouse att ; Hurrican, Utah, where the ! boats and equipment are cared, '. for. Kenton Grua is head of this complex, and is head , boatman of the expeditions up ' ( in this area this summer. ' Other boatmen making the tript f are: Steve Dalton, Don Litton, : ; Rick Baker, Rich Turner, -Andre Potochnik and Ellen Tibbetts. Besides planning thet ' III menus, packing the food and ; helping rig and de-rig, Elleri, Tibbetts pulls an oar just like ; any average boatman. How- , ever, Mr. Grua makes it cleai ; that without her expertise his . ; job would be difficult, anc . ; j with her help, it goes along : C very well. ! i Each boat carries foui ; ' passengers and a boatman. AC ! night, the four boats camf ; together, and the boatmen sel s I up camp, cook, and make the ; people comfortable, as well as make the campfire sessions : meaningful and entertaining. , A layover of a day is scheduled at Rock Creek for hiking and fishing and other activities. : Many side-trips up the can-, yons to Fremont Indian sites at petroglyphs and pictographs, -as well as later evidences ol -activity of man in the canyons, ; make the trip memorable tc the small group of fortunate passengers. While in Green River, ; Grand Canyon Dories is.; t warehousing with Outlaw Trails, who because of alL : rivermen's regard for Martin Litton, is willing to accord his outfit every consideration. |