Revelations ~ May 2018

This is a monthly column helping us to get to know our friends and members in a deeper way. We thank Monte High for taking the time to do these in-depth interviews for our newsletter.
 
     Andrea Tanner’s first raft trip down The Canyon was in the spring of 2016 (the Grand Canyon). For 28 days in April and May, the Colorado River escorted her into the soul of the American West. It was a small group, three rafts and four people. She navigated solo in her 18 foot cataract. They put in at Lee’s Ferry, Lake Powell and would travel 282 miles to the take out at Pierce Landing, Lake Mead.
     The river meanders and surges through a desert landscape and ecosystem that will take your breath away. Remember to breathe. The phenomenon of heightened awareness is well known within the river-boating community. River tripping does strangely wonderful things to your mind. The river delivers a profound gift; it reaches into the heart of you, and all of your senses become more fully alive. This is what Andrea loves about her time on the river, how you travel back into another time, or more precisely, how you step out of time and into the present moment. The experience takes hold of you; it knocks you your knees in gratitude. Many in the rafting community refer to it simply as – “Church”.
     River tripping is about more than navigating a waterway. Each trip brings a different experience, often with a different group of people. The bonds that form along the river are strong. The group shares in the experience of heightened awareness, and soon begins to experience each another with this same sense of charmed awareness, creating an intimacy within the group that is not often found in everyday life. It starts to happen as life slows down and the river captures you, enthralled. Some in the boating community use the term river-listening. River listening – listening without judgment, criticism or advice, and attending so closely that you can repeat back in your own words what is said. Attentive, caring listening may be the greatest, most healing gift a human being can give another.
     This particular trip was unique because of its smaller size. Most of The Canyon rafting caravans are larger, to provide a higher level of safety. Many of the mighty Colorado’s rapids are very challenging and require scouting – where the rafters go to shore and plot the best line through the rapid before continuing. Experienced boaters call it “big water”. Andrea was fortunate in that her three companions were experienced Canyoneers, each with over 10 previous trips down The Canyon.
     Andrea particularly enjoyed boating (and hiking) alongside Joe, the geologist. It was like having a personal tour guide. He provided information on the history, the fauna and the flora, as well as the geology of the Canyon. As you gaze upward at the canyon walls, at the layers of Old Earth marked as if by crayons, each strata represents millions of years in the history of the earth. Who could dream up such a thing as The Great Unconformity, a layer of strata where no rock is preserved and no one can explain why, dated back to the time of the earliest life on earth?
     And, because the river flows through a deep-walled desert landscape, an uncommon variety of wildlife abounds on and near the water. You, the blessed witness, float silently by. Snakes! And behold the plant-life, showing-off, with the thirstier flowers on the verdant shore and the spring-time blooming cacti thriving out beyond the reach of the River. Suddenly, the strangest creature appears before your bewildered eyes – a blooming Ocotillo cactus – the flaming-fingertipped/sun-worshiping octopus of the desert.
     And, a rich human history dating back to the ice age is interwoven among the vertical walls and projecting plateaus of the Canyon and the series of interconnecting side canyons. With the eerie echoes reverberating off the Canyon walls it’s as if the Ancient’s conjured ghosts walk alongside you, as you make your way amongst the ruins, absorbing the significance of the petroglyphs and the pictographs.
     The bizarre, abstract elemental rock sculptures, and the waterfall that disappears into the gravel, wild orchids flourishing, in the desert. So many sights to behold! So many trails to explore! For the first 14 days of the “raft” trip, the group hiked more miles than they floated. All in all, two hundred and eighty-two miles of river, and the surrounding countryside. A fierce and challenging watercourse, and an otherworldly beauty. Impossibly improbable, mysterious, miraculous, magical. Snakes!
     Andrea was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado. She grew up outside – out-of-doors, sort of like a slightly more civilized Tarzan. The family lived in a cabin in Sunshine Canyon during the summer, only going to town when it was time to visit the dentist. There was no electricity. They had a water tank that filled from a nearby spring. She and her two older brothers had the run of the land.
     During her teenage years, Andrea spent six weeks every summer at the Anderson Camp on the Sweetwater Ranch, horseback riding, backpacking and of course rafting, which was her favorite. It is located on the Colorado River, where the River bends away from the interstate, 7 miles North of Dotsero. (All of Andrea’s children would attend the Anderson Camp in the coming years.) Andrea’s afterschool activities were ski racing and showing quarter horses. Andrea also grew up in the ritualized, sacramental Episcopal Church.
     After high school Andrea went to Europe for a year. She stayed in Vienna, Austria for a while, and then worked and ruminated at the L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland. L’Abri is an evangelical Christian organization founded by Francis Schaeffer. He emphasized the humanness of the spiritual experience. It was very practical and down to earth, grounded and real. He believed that true spirituality is lived with a grace that is free to be fully human, as opposed to trying to live on a higher spiritual plane. Andrea let go of the evangelical dogma, yet many of the principles she learned at L’Abri remain an important part of her faith.
     After returning stateside, Andrea enrolled at Covenant College, which is located in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. As it turned out, the school was simply a passage to her destiny. The nearby Hills began calling. She began to seek out the inscrutable rockface at Lookout Mountain Park, just across the border in Tennessee. Once Andrea got a toehold, the rock’s challenge could not be denied. More and more she began to pack up her ropes and pulleys, and embark to face the challenge of the rock.
     She moved to Iowa City to be near her brother – and took up sailing. Learned to use the wind to propel her boat. Then, at the age of 19, she met Hal, and a few years later (1982) they moved to Grand Junction. Always, always the outdoors calling. Andrea would continue her excursions into the sacred elements, where life was simplified, where she could live in the present moment like a prayer. She would become a rockclimbing guide, while continuing her other various outdoor activities.
     At 24, Andrea became a mother. She had three kids in four years – Jessica, Nick, and Stacy. Her principal focus in life became loving her children. Still, a homebody she is not. As the children grew she soon realized that getting outside was actually a good child-rearing strategy. At home the children often seemed to be in one another’s way – fighting and arguing. Camping in the great outdoors, the children were a team. They were more helpful, entertaining and kind. Andrea and three little ducklings, seeking a natural high.
     At 30, Andrea became a single mother. She took the children out among the rocks, along the trails and into the forest. They went camping, hiking, biking, boating, and they skied a lot. At 36, Andrea met James, and he joined in their excursions. As the children got older, they started to get into sports. Ski racing of course, most winter weekends were spent at Powderhorn; but, they also chose some of the more traditional sports. This kept Andrea and James hopping, yet she knew that the key to everyone’s sanity was keeping the children busy. And she loved this time with her children.
     At 36, Fiona was born. Fiona’s post-formative years were experienced more like a single child. Andrea and Fiona continued to pursue the various outdoor activities that the older siblings had participated in, but Fiona never got into sports. Andrea and Fiona spent a lot of time on the river. When Fiona was 12 years old, the two of them spent an entire summer on the river, leapfrogging from one river to another. They were only home for three days that summer.
     It was about this time that Andrea discovered the UUCGV. She’d been attending the Koinonia Church when she found out about the children’s coming-of-age program at the UUCGV. She introduced Fiona to that group and began attending Sunday services. Mother and daughter both connected with the UU culture, and gradually became more and more involved. Andrea appreciates how our Congregation challenges her thinking, how it sparks her curiosity. In recent years she has begun to volunteer more and more, and has jumped into leadership positions. Fiona is still very close to the group of kids that she met in Religious Education.
     It was also about this time that Andrea enrolled at Colorado Mesa University to finish her degree – Business Administration, with an emphasis in Human Resources.
     Andrea has been single for several years now and seems to have found her groove. She has six grandkids. She has a (big) boatload of friends. She has the Great Outdoors. Lately, she’s been getting into technical Canyoneering, which combines hiking off trail through slot canyons, and rock climbing. When a rock wall blocks your progress, no problem, you simply scale it and proceed. And she’s been boating to beat the band. She was thrilled to be invited by Dennis Myers to join the group on his yearly trip down the Salmon River. This expedition is unique because most of the river-trippers are gifted musicians. Bluegrass music echoes through the canyon – every night at camp, a concert.
     Dennis has an unfathomable wealth of experience immersing the oars. He is The Old Man of the River, having alighted, delighted, upon a multitude of rivers; rounding the rivers so many times that they now recognize his turtle-essence and call out to him by name. His blood is in the river; the river is in his blood. Andrea met Dennis and Mary McCutchan on the San Juan River in 2010. They were attending a women’s rafting/writing retreat put on by Sandy Dorr, writing down the river.
     A year ago, Andrea went through a traumatic, life altering experience. On her second trip down the Grand Canyon, a member of her group died on the river. He had 30 years of experience, yet inexplicably forgot to put on his personal flotation device after scouting a challenging rapid. It is not that uncommon for a raft to capsize, but a death on the river is very rare. Death is a part of life, but to witness it firsthand, to pull the body from the river and attempt resuscitation is almost unthinkable. Needless to say, this really shook Andrea up. She could not continue the trip and flew home with the help of the Park Service. She is grateful for the incredible support provided by the Park Service, and by her friends and family.
     This trauma shook her to the core. It shook up her belief system, her thinking about the river. She felt the need to get back on the water, so in the following months she took as many river trips as possible. She is coming to terms with the experience. She is beginning to think that perhaps the river simply is. The river flows within the contour of the land, the water’s friction and torrent shaping and reshaping the contour of the land. The river swirls and whirls, turns and tumbles, crashes and roils and surges and floods. It gurgles and burbles and babbles and ripples, trickles and clatters and plunks, splashes, pours and gushes, drips and laps, gurgles and seeps. It flows into a pool, the surface smooth as glass, reflecting yourself back as you are.
     This very moment Andrea is loading her boat and gear. By the time you read this article Andrea will be on The River again. She was lucky to receive an invitation to join the notorious Hilty gang for their raft trip through the Grand Canyon. Permits are hard to come by. Andrea’s hope is to experience ten trips down the Grand Canyon, sitting atop her 16 foot boat, conducting, One with the oars and the sound of the river. Singing...
My life flows on        in endless song      
despite life’s lamentations…
 
*Dennis Myers, Mary McCutchan, Sandy Dorr and the Hilty’s are all UUCGV members.