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OUTDOORS
Brothers Share Experience, Inspiration Through River Running
Rivers are special places. They’re dynamic. The constant pulse of the current makes a river different from moment to moment. Spending time in a place that changes so much can’t help but change a person, too.
For whitewater raft guides Chris and Dan Wallen, the river has kept them coming back for over 25 years. What started as a summer job for the brothers became a way of life. The lessons they learned- hard work, trust, friendship- flowed out of the banks of the river itself, and into their lives forever.
It was a combination of the right place, the right time, and the right people. The brothers grew up as neighbors to West Virginia’s New River Gorge, the lifeblood of whitewater in the state. In the fall, adventurers’ eyes would turn The Gauley, the New River’s tougher, scarier sister. But it would be years before the Wallens would see any rapids at all.
At the time- the early eighties- running whitewater was still relatively new. The brothers had no idea rafting even existed until a friend recommended Chris come up for guide training. No experience necessary.
They actually preferred it if you didn’t have a clue,” laughs Chris. “That way, they could mold you.”
The mold, in this case, was Wildwater Expeditions. Wildwater had the distinction of being the first commercial rafting company in West Virginia. Carrying that title, they set the bar- for safety, for professionalism, and for the way they thought a river trip should be run. The brothers were up to the challenge. They knew right away that they had found a home.
“It was kind of like the military at first, actually,” says Dan with a smile. He followed in his big brother’s footsteps as soon as he was old enough to train. “Whatever people’s expectations were about goofing off as a river guide for the summer, well, Wildwater was the opposite of that. Everyone immediately saw that it was a chance to step up.”
The main reason Wildwater set such a high standard was because of Jon Dragan. Jon, the company’s founder, was a strict, no nonsense guy. He ran the company with his brothers Tom and Chris, and they changed the way rafting was done. There was a system for everything, and Jon’s methods usually involved as much hard work as they did logic. He was the kind of man who took his fun seriously.
You knew exactly where you stood with Jon,” says Chris, “and it gave you the feeling that, if you were alright in his book, you were really worth something. You could be relied upon.”
That was the name of the game on the river- trust. Guide training always took place in early spring, so the cold water would separate the people who really wanted it from those who didn’t care. The first day Chris showed up it was snowing. At Wildwater, they went anyway.
Conditions weren’t always going to be 70 degrees and sunny,” says Dan. “The owners and the senior guides needed to know how you’d react when things got tough. What kind of guide would you be? How would you take care of your guests? They needed you to be the best.”
It was that kind of relationship that formed the foundation of the Wildwater community. If you were a Wildwater guide, you’d measured up against a pretty stout yardstick. And if they worked hard, they played harder. Rafting, climbing, biking, the whole outdoor experience- nothing was ever done in small measures. It was fun club to be apart of.
They’re the best people in the world,” says Chris. “We were all together, doing something that was challenging, and as a bonus, it had that element of danger that we looked for when we were young. We worked really hard to be the best, everyday. It meant a lot to be close with people like that.”
As the river seasons rolled by, the brothers began to live the other parts of their lives. They were graduating from college, starting businesses of their own, having families. But they always came back to the river (mostly the Gauley). With almost 50 years combined experience, it’s in their blood.
I never wanted to stop guiding,” says Dan. “It’s like I have a dual life- I’m a financial advisor on the weekdays, but my clients would never guess that I run big whitewater and sleep in a tent a lot of the time. It’s great. I’m really thankful that I get to live the way I do.”
Chris agrees. “The river will always be there. Every time I go back, I’m refreshed. I always think to myself ‘I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to get to do this!’, but I am.”
Everything the brothers learned on the river goes into their “alternate” lives, as well. For them, the river was more than just metaphor- it was, like Jon Dragan said, a system. A system for living a fulfilling life.
Everything I do I can relate to what I did on the river,” says Dan. “I look back on those first years of guiding as an absolutely golden time in life, and that comes from more than just guiding a raft. I love whitewater, but I wouldn’t be tied to it like I am without Wildwater- those people, that place.”
My work ethic, my expectations, my standards, all come from there,” affirms Chris. “I always tell my brother that my river experience is the crucible into which the rest of my experiences are poured, He pauses. “Not trying to make that sound poetic or anything.”
Like the river, it’s not trying. But it is.
Wildwater Expeditions is celebrating 40 years of commercial whitewater adventures thanks, in part, to their outstanding staff, including the Wallens. Join Wildwater this September and October on the Gauley River, one of the top ten whitewater rafting adventures in the world.
For more information about Wildwater, or to book a trip, call 800-WVA-RAFT or visit www.wvaraft.com To register to win a vacation with Wildwater, visitwww.big4oh.com.
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