Pushing the Next Generation of Women Dory Guides
We pull up to our first camp in Grand Canyon, and I try not to look nervous as I rush to set up an unfamiliar kitchen. I’m working as a baggage boater, my first time rowing a boat in the Canyon. Legendary dory guide Cindell Dale, better known as Dellie, saunters over to me as I set a table down in the kitchen. “Want to cook with me?” she asks, smiling. I blink at her, confused. This tiny, sassy, badass senior guide wants to cook with me? Dream come true! “Absolutely,” I say, grateful for the instant inclusion in the crew.
Over the next 16 days, Dellie coaches me through the maze of a Grand Canyon dory trip. She gives me beta for rapids, stows my big straw hat in her dory on big whitewater days, and teaches me the secret of how to wash your hair in Grand Canyon (hint: do not use the silty river water). Dellie’s been down this stretch of river over 150 times as a dory guide, yet she still has the patience to coach a newcomer like me.
As our trip progresses, we trade boating stories, and I learn how differently our paths to guiding have been. Dellie clawed her way through a system that was less welcoming to women, paving the way so that more than three decades later, women like me could glide into the rowing seat without resistance. Eight years into my guiding career, I’m still so grateful for Dellie. Here’s a bit of her story:
How did you get started boating in Grand Canyon?
That was October of 1981. I met Roger Dale at a social event, we always like to say. He went boating that next summer in ’82. I was a senior in high school. And then, the summer of ‘83, we were still together. So I was like, well, do I get to go boating? Of course I was able to go, but I went down as an assistant cook.
In the 80s, we had to cook in order to row. That’s how most women from our generation slid into the rowing seat of a dory for Martin Litton—if you wanted it and if you were capable. In today’s world, that would not be acceptable.
How did you transition from cooking to rowing?
As cooks, we got put in pretty much all the wrong places. One day, I went left at Bedrock [with an inexperienced rower]. I was just like, “That’s it. It’s time.” Jan Kempster was the one who really pushed me. She’s like, “Just get on sticks and start rowing a boat.” So I think a bunch of things came into play.
I got a lot of great experience in that decade of cooking and rowing. We got to be on the dories a lot as cooks, if they weren’t full. They liked us to be there to highside through rapids like Lava Falls. That’s just one of those places where they didn’t want the passengers in their boats. As a cook, I did three laps one day at Lava Falls, just supporting and highsiding for the dory guides.
One of the trips, dory guide Moki [Mark Johnson] is like, “Dellie, you’re coming with me today.” And I go, “Oh, you want me to highside?” He goes, “Yep. When I go down there and flip, you’re gonna help me right this boat.” Those were great experiences as a young guide in a dory. So when I did flip the first time as a guide in House Rock, I was like, “Okay. I know how to do this.”
What was it like being a woman in the Canyon in the 80s?
You know, the dory guides really supported the women because we were a team out there. And you can’t isolate gender. You can critique skill sets, but you can’t isolate gender out there, and they did not.
Those old school river guides, they tested me. Absolutely. They wanted to see what I was made of. And every time I was tested, I’d say, “Is this where you want this boat to go?” They’d be like, “I can’t believe you made that happen.” I’m like, “Okay. Next.”
The words and behavior can either build you or break you. And it’s up to you to make sure it doesn’t break you. The words that came across to me, or the flips and hits I’ve had, could’ve stopped me from boating. Unless you have that grit, you know?
Who were your role models when you first got started?
I really enjoyed being around Ote Dale. She’s my sister-in-law. She taught me everything, including how to go big at Hermit at 18,000 CFS. Still to this day, she is one of my biggest role models.
And Ellen Tibbets, that soft, quiet, confident person. When she told the men there’s not enough water, they waited. You know, they were very sensitive because they wanted women to be successful. And, Jan Kempster pushed me to be where I am today.
What was your most memorable trip?
That first dory trip I rowed was an all women’s trip that Jan Kempster and Alice Walker put on in ‘97. We’re at Crystal, and we’re running empty. Back when we ran empty, we used to always take a highsider with us. I went down with Ote. She was high-siding for me.
“She’s like, ‘Whatever you do, don’t pull in too early and hit that marker rock at the top.’ So what did I do? I pulled in too early and I hit that marker rock.”
She’s like, “Whatever you do, don’t pull in too early and hit that marker rock at the top.” So what did I do? I pulled in too early and I hit that marker rock. She says, “Now you know where that marker rock is.” Then we go downstream and patch the boat.
On that trip I rowed the Ticaboo. Jan said, she’s yours now. That’s part of About Damn Time, the documentary that OARS put out, carrying on the legacy and handing your boat over to somebody, whether they’re male or female, who is going to embrace the spirit of that boat.
What advice do you have for new dory guides?
Every day, you’re tested…even after forty-some years of boating. It’s the tools in your toolbox that make a difference, and they come with experience.
You’re never really ready to row one of those boats, and it’s a beautiful thing when rookie guides have a really good trip. Because something tough will happen eventually, and we have to teach young guides to point positive.
What’s your proudest achievement in your guide career?
Making About Damn Time. It’s a very proud moment to represent our world as females in Grand Canyon.
It’s really important for female guides to have a successful experience down there. I hope that I’m a good role model for them, and that they can see that if I can do it, they can do it. We still struggle with getting female guides to boat in Grand Canyon. We’re working on it. It’s a long trip, 250 river miles, and you don’t get a day off. So that is a challenge to some people.
It’s nice to be able to look over at the boat next to me and smile that there’s a new generation of women coming up into the system. They have that grit. They haven’t been beaten down. And that just proves that our culture is really, really supportive of all walks of life on rivers.
What has kept you coming back to Grand Canyon ?
You just never stop thinking about it. It’s one of those places that is hard to give up
Also, I am an adrenaline junkie. I have pushed myself my entire life. The challenge of rowing in Grand Canyon is great. You better start doing your pushups and your pullups because you know the wind’s gonna blow in April, and you better be ready.
And watching our clients be like kids at a playground because they’ve never been there before and it’s the dream of their lifetime. Sharing those experiences with them is special.
As long as you can keep that in your heart and spirit, and not get burned out, then you’re doing right by your position down there as a river guide. Every trip is a journey.
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