Mom: “It’s a beautiful day! Why don’t you ever play outside?”

Teenage son: “Outside? We don’t have that game.”

Mission: Family rafting trip

Target: Engage a surly 16-year-old gamer

Weapons: Hope, humor, and a healthy dose of the great outdoors

Difficulty: Extreme

Level 1

I’ve spent the better part of the last decade speaking to the back of my son’s head.

Like many teenagers today, Colden is a gamer. He got his first GameBoy at age 6 and has been increasingly sucked into the virtual worlds that he now prefers to the real one.

Our “conversations” often involve me yelling loud enough to penetrate his earphones. I even leave meals on top of his keyboard so he’ll remember to eat.

It’s not a lifestyle that I would have chosen for my son. But at some point I decided to stop fighting it and accept that video games are what define him.

Still, as Colden’s 16th birthday approached, I realized my gamer boy was well on his way to manhood and would soon be out the door. As Colden had lost interest in the outside world over the past few years, I was truly desperate to reconnect with him in a meaningful way.

We had been on a one-day O.A.R.S. trip several years prior and I hoped that another O.A.R.S trip would give Colden a look outside his gaming world, where the adrenaline is real and joy can be found in contributing to the group effort.

Level 2

The negotiation started early. I knew that a five-day rafting trip with no computers and no Internet was going to be a hard sell. But I was prepared.

I started using phrases like “family vacation,” “together time,” and “road trip,” to which most teenagers just roll their eyes. Colden may have done just that. But I’ll never know because I rarely see his face.

Colden dodged these word bombs as skillfully as his zombie-killing alter egos until I mentioned “camping,” “rafting” and “rivers.” Perhaps it was then that he realized that The Great Outdoors was not some lame game that I wanted to buy him, but an in-the-flesh interactive adventure … in nature; with me and his sister.

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and declared, “I won’t be going.” Teenagers can be such jerks.

Level 3

I switched tactics. Persuasion led to pleading. (“We haven’t spent much quality time together and you and your sister are going to be off to college in just a couple more years!”), which led to bribing (“Just say you’ll go and I’ll never ask you to go on another family vacation again”) and finally good old parental strong arming. (Get in the car, NOW!)

Level 4

We left right after school let out for Colorado for our Yampa/Green River adventure. The two-day car ride was uneventful, almost fun.

The first morning after we arrived Colden was amenable; pleasant even. He watched with interest as the team of guides loaded the rafts with an almost military-like precision. He waited until his sister and I chose a raft (and, of course, then chose another).

Within minutes of starting down the river we spotted a majestic Bald Eagle. Colden smiled. And I let out a sigh of relief. Perhaps I’d get a glimpse of the little boy still hiding out in the young man he was becoming.

Level 5

Colden was an enthusiastic participant the entire day. He even helped himself to three servings of the incredibly delicious fresh salmon we had for dinner that night. I declared myself “Mom of the Year.”

My title was short lived.

The next morning we woke up to a glorious view outside our tent and to the sound of the morning “Coooffffeeeee!” revelry. Colden’s mood had grown dark overnight. Surly even.

After an amazing breakfast of pancakes and bacon, the boats were loaded and ready to take off. Colden stood on the banks of the river, arms crossed, staring down at the 24 other guests, and refused to get on a boat.

I was mortified, but decided to ignore his ornery ways and let the group dynamic take over. With a lot of good-natured prompting from our guides and the other guests, Colden began to see the folly of staying behind.

Level 6

Colden continued to be grumpy for the next few days. The other teenagers on the trip attempted to engage him, as did our guides. They were mostly met with the monosyllabic grunts that make up the unique language of a teenage boy. I was annoyed, but thankful for the help, and glad that this “language” was not only reserved for me.

Then, on day four, all six rafts and both duckies started a water fight. Our guides called it “one of the most epic water fights” they had ever witnessed.

Colden stood at the helm of his raft, water cannon in hand looking very much like one of his video game characters. His main target? Me, of course.

And he smiled. A lot. Maybe even let out a laugh or two.

That night, the guides brought out a lighted bocce ball set. Colden jumped at the chance to participate.

More smiling and more laughing.

Level 7

On the final day, a dear guide named Ben said to Colden, “You know, outside isn’t for everyone.”

“It sure ain’t for me,” Colden grunted.

I hadn’t expected our trip to change who Colden is, but I did hope that it might ever-so-slightly change how he sees himself and his place in the real world; and that one day, maybe – just maybe – he will remember the trip “mom made me go on” and smile. “In theory, I shouldn’t have had a good time,” Colden said, gazing at the ground when we got home. “But I kinda did.”

Good enough for me.

Mission Accomplished.

The post Gamer Kid Rafting Trip appeared first on River Currents.

Working primarily in Dinosaur National Monument, she gets to enjoy the Yampa River, Green River through the Gates of Lodore, Split Mountain 1-day trips and many more! Zollinger has a spunky personality, mountains of geological knowledge, and sheer flower power on the river. Get to know this easy going Utah native in our regular series of guide interviews!

What water level do you enjoy rowing most, and what makes Utah watersheds unique?

I think the coolest thing about Utah, is that you have a scale of Class I to Class VI all within a 150-200 mile radius. You have extreme desert where there’s very little vegetation, to the Gates of Lodore where it’s a narrow stretch with clear water and tons of wildlife so you can kind of pick and choose. What’s really great about being here in Utah is starting in one place, and through your whole season you bounce around to different rivers and then come back to that same place. You can go from Cataract Canyon to Westwater, to Desolation Canyon to the Green River, to the Yampa River to the San Juan and meet a lot of different people because they’re choosing that adventure. When you’re always on one river, you’re seeing that same group of people, but when you’re bouncing around from a lazy river to a Class V river, it’s cool to see the variety in people.

What does the job mean to you?

The biggest thing for me is meeting a bunch of people and being able to have a lot of conversation that provides you with connections all over the world. It’s really cool to say that you have friends all over the place and that you’ve all shared a connection on the river. What keeps me going is running a rapid and having the adrenaline completely fill me up, there’s nothing better; it’s free drugs, it’s awesome! I think that’s what keeps me going as well as just being very physical all day and having that challenge and just working really hard, being at the end of the day completely exhausted — it (weirdly) helps me keep going.

What individual thing would you say inspires you the most?

I had a brother pass away approximately 12 years ago, he was an outdoor enthusiast who loved and seeked adventure; he was an extremist. When he passed away, I vowed to myself that I would live the life that he would’ve lived. So when I’m on the river or when I’m out hiking, climbing, biking, (things like that), I just consider him and think that he’s with me and we’re both able to do what he would’ve done if he were alive. We both live his life, it’s kind of cool.

What’s something you can’t leave home without?

My flowers [laughs], I’ve got a bouquet of flowers that I started doing my second year [guiding], and it sits on the front of my boat – it’s a maiden head. And it’s progressed from a bouquet of bird of paradise to a bouquet of carnations to — a couple years ago — changed to poppies. I’ve found that poppies are my power flower! And also turquoise [shows her turquoise pennant]; I always make sure to wear turquoise on the river.

Can you share a story where you’ve had a unique interaction with wildlife while on the river?

‘Skunkito bandito’ got us one night. We’re sitting there asleep on the boats, and the skunk travels up to the cooler and hops off on one of the guides — checking him out, looking him in the eye — until the guide was fed up with it. So we got out our water guns, so next time we’d be ready. An hour later he comes over and we get the water guns and squirt him, but he flips into the front of my boat and gets into the front hatch! I then open up the hatch, and there’s this pink sphincter looks right at us, we thought he was going to spray, but he didn’t, he was scared. Then I got a stick and tried to get him out, but he kept nuzzling up against it like a cat. I realized he probably didn’t know how to get out, so I made him little steps. He then went up to shore, so we went back to sleep, but woke up with him still there only to find that he pooped all over the front of my boat. We tried to wash it out, but the poop just went to the sides and into the back. The next day my whole boat stunk, and since we were in an eddy, the whole boat next to us stunk, too, so we got shunned a couple miles back from the rest of the group because we smelled so bad [smiles].

The post Meet Natali Zollinger, Utah & Colorado Rafting Guide appeared first on River Currents.