Making Riversense has taken me down a really long road and a lot of incredible rivers. It started on an Outward Bound raft trip on the Green and Yampa rivers in Utah and Colorado. One of the guides (Frank McCann) told me I had "riversense." I liked the sound of the word, it seemed to have a kind of mystical quality to it, like "the force." I guess I filed the word away somewhere, and then it resurfaced when I started thinking of a name for this monstrous project, life journey, river trip I was about to take on.

Initially all I was sure about was the name. I had met a few cool boaters in California one spring, I went out to Coloma, CA to shoot some footage for Tom Hicks (co-founder of the Headwaters Institute) and interviewed Martin Litton, Orea Roussis, Wendy Keller, Lars Holbek, Sharon Hester, and Beth Rypins. It was the first round of interviews for a project that hadn’t taken shape yet but I knew from talking to these people about boating that this project was going to be an adventure.

On that trip I also had my first experience in a kayak. I’d like to say that it was awesome, that I was hooked, and that I immediately wanted to go out and buy a boat, but my instructor insisted that I not start by learning how to wet exit (he didn’t want me to get cold). So about five minutes after I got in the water I found myself upside down and I had no idea how to get out of the boat. I still don’t remember how I got out, I just remember the panic I felt. Later that summer I took a weekend course at the Nantahala Outdoor Center and got back on track. The first thing we learned… how to do a wet exit. Lesson number one in boating, get good instruction.

Two years later, after saving up enough money to buy a camera and sound equipment I started shooting. My first interview was with William Nealy. I spent three days with William and his wife Holly at their home. I really cherish that time now, and editing William’s footage has been both painful and at times peaceful (knowing that more people will get a sense of who he was from his interviews). I loved William’s gallows sense of humor, and I especially appreciated how he made it okay to feel like a big dork on the river. Visit williamnealy.com for remembrances of him.

After shooting hundreds of interviews, traveling down a lot of different rivers, and learning to kayak, I can honestly say this is the hardest and most rewarding project I’ve ever done.

If there’s one thing I’d like people to think about when they see Riversense, is to keep an open mind and an open heart. It’s about life just as much as it is about running rivers.