Bail! Bail! Bryce Whitmore and the Birth of Whitewater Rafting - Ty Childress

BOOK REVIEW by Nancy Pearlman

Bail! Bail! Bryce Whitmore and the Birth of Whitewater Rafting by Ty Childress is a great reminiscence of the beginnings of commercial whitewater rafting in California, a biography of the man who created a self-bailing raft, and a history of the efforts to save the Stanislaus River from the New Melones Dam as well as other rivers. Pantheists are always encouraged to get out into nature.  Hiking, birdwatching, and exploration of caves and other natural and human-made features (such as old mining camps) are important and great ways to enjoy nature but traveling on a raft through natural canyons is a totally different experience as you look to the sides and see the geology and the plants and animals. In the 1970s I was instrumental in trying to get an initiative on the ballot to save the Stanislaus River (sadly we lost). And so I took my first wild river raft trip down the river with Mark Dubois, just one of the many guides mentioned in this book and a man who chose to chain himself to a rock and die if the river was damed. A nine-mile stretch could easily be done in a day but Mark and other guides on other rivers I rafted (the Snake, Salmon, Rogue, Kern, Grand Canyon, et. al) taught me to slow down in nature, stop and explore the caves, the plants, and the animals and have fun jumping into the river and swimming around. Bryce Whitmore realized that to be successful that the old rafts from WWII needed improvement so they wouldn’t fill up with water. He changed the design so they would be self bailing and this shape was adopted by other commercial companies. New guides learned how to guide by “getting wet” and learning how to navigate the rapids by just trying and which turned out to be named for what occurred in those waters. I enjoyed reading about old friends, activists, and the love of the wild via rivers. The 250 pictures are extensive and a pleasure to look at. By the time you finish this book you will want to go down a river sooner rather than later. I am so glad that Bryce, at age 97, was inducted into the International White Water Hall of Fame.