NICHOLS EXPEDITIONS
Edward Abbey said the Green River is “one of the sweetest, brightest, grandest, loneliest of primitive regions still remaining. Chuck and Judy Nichols, who have been outfitters for adventure tours for twenty-seven years, agree. While kayaking through the sandstone monoliths of Labyrinth Canyon fifteen years ago, they decided to move their Denver based operation to Moab. In 1989, they opened the Poison Spider Bicycle Shop. From their headquarters above the shop they organize domestic and international kayaking and mountain-biking tours around the world.
Chuck and Judy love to do custom tours starting with as few as two. You just need to let them know the size of your group and preferred destination. They will make all the arrangements and personally accompany if possible. If they can’t go with you, all of their assistant guides are seasoned professionals who share their sensitive, enlightened approach to the way guests should be treated, and the great outdoors.
Their mission is to offer a variety of tours in the best locations about the globe at the right time of the year. Chuck and Judy were both river guides when the met working at Partner’s a Denver-based kid’s program for inner-city youth, and are both capable of teaching paddlers - at any level of ability - new tricks. They like to keep their groups small so guests enjoy lots of individual attention. They have a full support raft that carries supplies, so paddlers are free to hone river skills and take in heart-catching scenery.
I joined Chuck for the first leg of the annual multi-sport adventure he offers that includes four days on the Green River and three days mountain biking, in Canyonlands. The Green is flat water but the current is swift and strong as it snakes through a remote area with limited access. Anyone traveling here should be prepared to cope with desert emergencies and know the BLM River Regulations for low impact backcountry travel. Chuck carries VHF aircraft radios and Satellite phones for emergency communications. Once airlifted out of the High Sierras with a broken rib, I know how important these precautions can be. I was comforted to know that Chuck, Judy, and all of their assistant guides, have Wilderness Responder Training, and they carry a fully stocked medicine bag.
Before Chuck let us out on water, he demonstrated basic paddle techniques, and took time to check our equipment. He asked the group what they hoped to get from the trip. Our group was looking for lessons on how to “read the river.”
Once on the water, he showed us how to do a little eddy twirling, so we knew how to tuck in behind a rock sheltered by the eddy fence if we needed a rest. The sun-spangled river was glassy and calm. I slid into Chuck’s wake watching him rock rhythmically from side to side making metronome strokes in his tiny river kayak that appeared to be an extension of his body.
“Every time I get into one of these I think of the Aleut.” he says. “How connected they are to their world and have been for thousands of years. His favorite paddle trip is Alaska’s Brooks Range. Untamed by man, rugged, and wild this region must be floated to know its magnitude. For Chuck “It‘s the real Alaska.” In addition to rafting and hiking in the Brooks Range, he offers a kayak trip in the Kodiak Islands. Each year Nichol’s offers a few of their old favorites that include whale watching in Magdalena Bay on the Pacific Coast of Baja and sea kayaking in Espiritu Santo in the Sea of Cortez along with new options.
The Nichols enjoy stretching their own experience, while sharing good times with others. In the last couple of years, they have expanded their trips to include a Kenya Hiking Tour, Uganda Gorilla and Chimp tracking safari, trekking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, a bike tour in Slovenia, Spain and a multi-sport bike, hike and sea kayak tour of Turkey. Each year the schedule and destinations vary.
Read River Wise, a tale of one of my kayaking trips along the Green River with Nichols Expeditions.
