It was the summer of 2005, the Yukon Canoe and Kayak Club had a family-oriented trip planned down Primrose lake to the adrenaline-inducing Primrose River. As we scouted the canyon it was obvious from the number of logs entangled at the entrance rapid that we were going to have to portage to the next canyon access point with our rafts and kayaks. Impeding this portage was a few kilometers of the previous year’s forest fire, with the resulting blowdown making for a grueling bunch of trips back and forth.
Dustin Shewfelt and I thought we would work smarter, not harder, by rolling a raft around an oar and then propping the oar on our shoulders and sharing the load between us. This proved to be extremely painful, awkward, and slow. We were stupefied when Bob trotted past us with that big grin of his, no doubt internally laughing (rightfully so as we were a sad sight to see), an entire 160lb rolled-up raft on his back making it look like no big deal.
The American author and playwright David Mamet has a saying “Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance”, while Bob certainly had a mischievous streak, in this case, I’d replace this with “Experience and strength”. He sure had a surplus of those qualities. Bob was a great mentor, on and off the river. I will cherish the skills and memories he provided and will miss him greatly.
