Primary Outdoor Sport: Kayaking
Age: 18
Favorite Beverage: Strawberry Lemonade Kombucha
Sunrise or Sunset: Sunrise
Non-Outdoor Hobby: Crocheting
Go-To River Snack: Bo's PB&J Bites
Favorite Season: Summer
Book Recommendation: Looking for Alaska
Three Words to Describe You: Quiet, Adventurous, Snacky
"I grew up going on multi-day rafting trips with my family. I never really liked sitting on the raft, I thought it was a little boring. So I just started with IKing. Then, we had some family friends a lot of the time on our trips with older school kayaks and stuff and I was like, 'That looks so sick. I'd rather be doing that.' So they just taught me how to roll and I kept going from there."
"I went to World Class for my sophomore year and that really took my kayaking to the next level. We traveled all over, Canada, Chile, New Zealand, Southeastern Europe. We were just paddling all the time. I had an amazing experience just being able to paddle and have a community of fellow high schoolers who were also super into boating. It was just awesome."
"I'd been dreaming about doing the Little White Salmon for a few years. Building up to it incrementally, doing the Orletta and then the Truss, and as I felt more comfortable starting to get on harder stuff.
I feel like I know this is towards the limits of my paddling abilities, but I feel confident yet scared at the same time. Just being able to be in those rapids and have that feeling of, 'This is hard, this is scary, but I know I can do this,' feels quite powerful at times."
"In Bend there's not a lot of people my age who kayak, so it's been difficult to find people my age. There's also not a lot of women who I paddle with on the daily. I'm kind of excited to find more community in college and meet more people my age. Everyone I paddle with is early to late 20s and I'm still 18.
Going to the Gorge or Banks, where I don't know the runs as well and I don't know the people as well, it's definitely more intimidating. I don't want to be perceived as weaker than everyone else, especially because of my gender and my age. I definitely try to look confident and prove that I deserve to be there. I don't know if that's more of an internalized thing, but it's definitely something I do.
When I am feeling conservative, that definitely plays into it. I'll make sure I do runs I know I can crush so I'm not the person holding the group back."
"I'm proud of how I can handle myself when I'm in a difficult spot. I do my best to not panic because you're kind of cooked once you start panicking. I'm able to compartmentalize my fear and take things one step at a time. If I'm getting beat down in a hole, all I'm worried about is getting out of that, and then I worry about the next thing, and then the next thing.
It can definitely be a little difficult to do that once I'm in something a little more tricky. I just have to really remind myself to stay focused on what's happening right now."
"Kayaking has shown me how to manage risk well. If I think about myself a year or two ago running what I'm running now, I would have been so much more scared. Trying to build my comfort zone and push it little by little in less scary situations has helped me do harder things now.
Down at the whitewater park there's this gnarly manky hole at the top of the middle channel, and I'll just try and take some hard beatdowns in there in my play boat because it's a chill run out. If you swim, it's okay. So if I'm getting beat down somewhere else, I'm just kind of okay with that discomfort and used to it. By building out my comfort zone that has helped me progress, and I can probably apply that to a lot of other places in life too."
"With climbing and kayaking there's a certain flow you can reach that you really don't see in basketball or soccer, or at least I didn’t feel that. I can really find myself living in the moment, in tune with how I’m feeling with what I'm climbing or what I'm kayaking, just flowing through it.
What I really love about outdoor sports is that despite being individual sports, there's still very much a crew or a team or a community that you're out there with, looking out for, making sure everyone is safe and having a good time. Without the community, I really don't think kayaking or climbing would exist."
"You really have to be respectful of the river and never feel like you are more than it. You can get kind of cocky with some runs and when that happens you're always going to get your ass kicked a little bit. It definitely shows you who is in charge. The river is so powerful.
I've been in spots where I'm getting pushed into something or just in a current I don't want and I'm like, 'Whoa, there's a lot going on here.' It's beautiful but it's really powerful."
"I love pushing myself and doing harder rapids. I find that really rewarding.
It's just that feeling of accomplishment. When you get to the bottom of something difficult and have that feeling of, 'I was able to do that.' It's been a long process to get to where I am now, and being able to have built my way up to that feels really cool."
