Bob made friends with almost anyone who had a shared passion for the outdoors, but he had a particular ability to connect with and empower young people. He was an excellent instructor but also let you learn through your own experience and mistakes. Bob purposefully created a culture of acceptance and teamwork at Tatshenshini Expediting in an industry and river culture that was more known for elitism and exclusiveness. He employed guides from all ages and backgrounds and did not tolerate cliques or anyone being singled out, even developing a hand signal (peace sign) for someone to flash around the campfire or any other time they felt they were getting overly picked on or just had enough teasing. I only ever saw it used a few times in my years at Blanchard Camp, and I may have employed it myself when Bob would not let up (understandably) about me running his van into a tree to “avoid a rabbit” on the Dalton Post road. His mischievous sense of humour was a constant source of entertainment and something he would use to raise spirits on cold trips or to bring someone getting a little high on themselves back to reality… which I believe is how one of my favourite memories of my years as a Tat Guide for my good friend Bob all got started.
In the summer of 1997, I was 19 and into my second year as a raft guide with Tatshenshini Expediting and got to join Bob and several clients on a 5 day trip on the Alsek River to Lowell Lake. As is the custom, we did a day hike up Goat-Herd Mountain with Bob packing a large daypack of supplies for a picnic lunch at the top. I guess I must have offered to take the pack from Bob one too many times as the entire group made our way to and up the start of the mountain at a painfully slow pace; as after a little while, he seemed eager to give it up. As he exchanged the pack with me he spoke in a hushed tone only I could hear and indicated I should keep the bag shut as it had a bear gun in it. Now, I had only known Bob for a short amount of time, but long enough to know that it may have been very possible he had a “modified” shotgun in that bag. I shouldered the bag noting its definite weight for some lunch and whatever else Bob had put in there and for the rest of the hike regretted having offered to take it.
As we got to the lunch spot overlooking the Lowell Glacier, I was still with the front of the group, but sweating and really feeling the weight of the pack on my shoulders and gladly removed it. As I carefully opened it to remove the lunch and keep anything else hidden, I discovered two large boulders Bob had managed to put in the bottom of the bag before handing it to me… and the lunch. Everyone had a good laugh at my expense and Bob gave me one of his looks that could say so much all at once. I was humbled, but also… it was ON!
It took me until the following rafting season to figure out a suitable prank to pull on Bob as retaliation, but Sam, Jeff and I came up with what we thought was a brilliant idea. The retired bus that Bob stayed in at Blanchard Camp was parked by the compound up the hill. During an off day at camp by ourselves, we used a working school bus, lots of rope, and a sketchy ghost-ride down the hill to move Bob’s camper bus from where it had been for years and hid it in the meadows at the upper put-in. Later that day I left to meet a group of clients in Haines Junction to start another trip on the Alsek River.
According to the other guides, Bob showed up just shortly before the day trip was scheduled to depart, rushed to get his gear and guide a raft, only to find his bus and all his gear completely missing. I wish I could have been there to see the payoff of Bob running around to find it or who knew where it was. It sounded pretty funny, maybe a little tense for a bit even. I would see Bob soon enough when he was scheduled to catch up to my trip with his kayak as our safety boat for the more challenging sections of the trip from Alsek Lake to Turnback Canyon.
As Bob paddled up to our camp on the Alsek to join us, the anxiousness and anxiety I was having about how he had reacted to the prank since I left were overflowing. He met my eyes with a coy look before he even got out of his kayak that I should have known meant this was not over. After briefly meeting the group he took me aside to let me know that he had indeed been out to camp and found the bus moved. While he was somewhat amused by it and the effort it took, he quickly filled me in on the difficulty they had moving the bus back to its location. In the process, the main bus used for the day trips had blown something and it was causing huge problems for the day trips and going to cost a lot of money to fix or replace. I felt awful that my prank inadvertently caused such a disruption to the business and a pain in the ass for Bob. He let me twist on that for the rest of the trip until we returned to find the day-trip bus was never broken and they had easily relocated Bob’s bus to its current location closer to the river, which he actually preferred. He had gotten me again and I didn’t want to know what either of us might do next, so I flashed him the peace sign.
Thank you for everything Bob. You were a great friend and mentor.
