News
ENLARGE
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Meeting Matt Dible stirs longings for the outdoors, freedom, and memories of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer tales.
Single, with no debt, and money saved from a job working in the natural gas fields, Dible rented out his Grand Junction apartment last fall and hit the water.
After Thanksgiving, Dible spent a few days floating the Green River in Utah, before taking his whitewater raft to Lake Powell where he and his dog, Pepper, spent the next two months motoring, rowing the lake, and hiking the secluded canyons surrounding the lake.
“There are so many places to explore,” Dible said.
Dible shut off his cell phone for the first month, and lost track of the days as he puttered along the perimeter of the lake, exploring remote side canyons accessible only by water. More than two weeks passed before he saw another human during one period.
“I ran into a Canadian guy near Hole in the Rock — an old Mormon crossing,” who was doing his own two-week solo trip in a sea kayak, Dible said. “We waved, that was it.”
Some days Dible was in his boat — an 18-foot, 15-horse-powered cataraft — only a couple of hours before coming ashore to explore canyons he'd check out on a map.
“It was really peaceful. I rarely saw people,” Dible said. “It was one of the main reasons why I did it at that time of year. Nobody else is there and you don't need ice.”
It was cold some days and nights — especially when Dible arrived to Good Hope Bay, with a 45 mile-per-hour head wind, and four-foot white caps on the water.
“It was the only time I re-thought the trip,” Dible said. “On days like that you pull into a cove, eat soup and drink some coffee, and wait a couple of hours. You just watch the big waves roll by.”
Dible spent Christmas holding up the walls of his tent during a giant wind storm. He's not sure where he was New Years Eve.
In some of the deep canyons, Dible never saw the sun — “which is all right, I'd just go for a hike.”
Dible and Pepper camped on land every night.
“Flash floods are rare that time of year so you can camp anywhere,” Dible said.
Dible was introduced to river rafting 13 years ago by friends John Burnham and Trish Solberg.
“I was hooked from then on out,” Dible said.
Since then he's navigated the entire Colorado River from the former Price Stubb Dam in De Beque Canyon, to Temple Bar in Lake Mead at one time or another, he said.
His first multi-day trip was down the San Juan River which empties into Lake Powell. One of the reasons for his Lake Powell trip was to revisit a waterfall he remembered on the San Juan.
“My favorite arm of Lake Powell is the San Juan. We went as far as we could up the San Juan arm and then hiked seven or eight miles up to see the waterfall,” Dible said.
Dible spent about a week in Page, Ariz. (the turnaround point and where the dam is located) to re-supply before heading down the other side of the lake back to Hite Marina where he had parked his truck. Dible continued hiking the canyons around Page where he also spent a couple of nights in a hotel to shower and do laundry.
That's when he also re-activated his phone and began keeping in touch with friends and family.
Dible read a lot of books while on the water, including (of course) Edward Abbey's “Desert Solitaire” and “Fools Progress.” He also read a number of outdoor adventure books like “White Fang,” “Call of the Wild,” “Lord Grizzly,” and “When Legends Die.”
After Dible left the lake Feb. 16, he came back to Grand Junction for a couple of weeks where he slept on the couch in the apartment he'd rented to a friend for the winter. Dible lives in an old 1800s warehouse near downtown that he converted into an apartment.
Then it was time for March Madness.
“Some people think (March Madness) is basketball, but to us boaters it's rafting Westwater every weekend,” Dible said.
“It's just starting to warm up; (in March) there are still ice chunks hanging off the sides of cliffs,” Dible said.
The next month Dible spent in Cainesville, Utah helping a friend clean up his ranch from flash flood damage that occurred last August.
Currently, Dible is settling back into his hometown of Grand Junction, where he's beginning to look for work.
Reach Sharon Sullivan at ssullivan@gjfreepress.com.
Single, with no debt, and money saved from a job working in the natural gas fields, Dible rented out his Grand Junction apartment last fall and hit the water.
After Thanksgiving, Dible spent a few days floating the Green River in Utah, before taking his whitewater raft to Lake Powell where he and his dog, Pepper, spent the next two months motoring, rowing the lake, and hiking the secluded canyons surrounding the lake.
“There are so many places to explore,” Dible said.
Dible shut off his cell phone for the first month, and lost track of the days as he puttered along the perimeter of the lake, exploring remote side canyons accessible only by water. More than two weeks passed before he saw another human during one period.
“I ran into a Canadian guy near Hole in the Rock — an old Mormon crossing,” who was doing his own two-week solo trip in a sea kayak, Dible said. “We waved, that was it.”
Some days Dible was in his boat — an 18-foot, 15-horse-powered cataraft — only a couple of hours before coming ashore to explore canyons he'd check out on a map.
“It was really peaceful. I rarely saw people,” Dible said. “It was one of the main reasons why I did it at that time of year. Nobody else is there and you don't need ice.”
It was cold some days and nights — especially when Dible arrived to Good Hope Bay, with a 45 mile-per-hour head wind, and four-foot white caps on the water.
“It was the only time I re-thought the trip,” Dible said. “On days like that you pull into a cove, eat soup and drink some coffee, and wait a couple of hours. You just watch the big waves roll by.”
Dible spent Christmas holding up the walls of his tent during a giant wind storm. He's not sure where he was New Years Eve.
In some of the deep canyons, Dible never saw the sun — “which is all right, I'd just go for a hike.”
Dible and Pepper camped on land every night.
“Flash floods are rare that time of year so you can camp anywhere,” Dible said.
Dible was introduced to river rafting 13 years ago by friends John Burnham and Trish Solberg.
“I was hooked from then on out,” Dible said.
Since then he's navigated the entire Colorado River from the former Price Stubb Dam in De Beque Canyon, to Temple Bar in Lake Mead at one time or another, he said.
His first multi-day trip was down the San Juan River which empties into Lake Powell. One of the reasons for his Lake Powell trip was to revisit a waterfall he remembered on the San Juan.
“My favorite arm of Lake Powell is the San Juan. We went as far as we could up the San Juan arm and then hiked seven or eight miles up to see the waterfall,” Dible said.
Dible spent about a week in Page, Ariz. (the turnaround point and where the dam is located) to re-supply before heading down the other side of the lake back to Hite Marina where he had parked his truck. Dible continued hiking the canyons around Page where he also spent a couple of nights in a hotel to shower and do laundry.
That's when he also re-activated his phone and began keeping in touch with friends and family.
Dible read a lot of books while on the water, including (of course) Edward Abbey's “Desert Solitaire” and “Fools Progress.” He also read a number of outdoor adventure books like “White Fang,” “Call of the Wild,” “Lord Grizzly,” and “When Legends Die.”
After Dible left the lake Feb. 16, he came back to Grand Junction for a couple of weeks where he slept on the couch in the apartment he'd rented to a friend for the winter. Dible lives in an old 1800s warehouse near downtown that he converted into an apartment.
Then it was time for March Madness.
“Some people think (March Madness) is basketball, but to us boaters it's rafting Westwater every weekend,” Dible said.
“It's just starting to warm up; (in March) there are still ice chunks hanging off the sides of cliffs,” Dible said.
The next month Dible spent in Cainesville, Utah helping a friend clean up his ranch from flash flood damage that occurred last August.
Currently, Dible is settling back into his hometown of Grand Junction, where he's beginning to look for work.
Reach Sharon Sullivan at ssullivan@gjfreepress.com.
