Kaelan’s eyes were locked on Ted’s. Their faces were crimson, veins nearly popping out of their foreheads. Overhead, walnut-sized hail was hammering the riverside campsite as terrified rafting clients huddled under the onslaught.
Both river guides were committed to the safety of the clients in this sudden storm. Both had a strategy. Both were determined to be right.
Now they were ready to come to blows. Tent fabric was tearing and people were shouting as the storm ripped through camp.
Suddenly, Ted backed off.
“You’re right,” Ted said. “We’ll do this your way.”
Just as suddenly as the storm risen on the camp, the storm between these two men was over. They got to work.
Why did Ted back down?
Thirty more years of experience.
Maturity saved the day.
Ted Brownrigg, 73, is a senior lead river guide for Oregon River Experiences, an outfit based in Portland that specializes in older clients.
As he recounted the events of that day on the Owyhee River, Ted grinned. Such emergencies can be common on rafting trips. Guide teams need a calm presence to deal with them.
How did a Boomer end up as a river rafting guide at this age?
Most guides start in their late teens or early 20s. Their young bodies—male and female—can handle the 14- to 16-hour days, the incessant heavy work, and the demands of the clients.
Typically, from March to September, guides raft constantly in temperatures hovering near 100 degrees to freezing sleet, rain, and hailstorms such as on the Owyhee.
It’s not for the faint of heart nor the weak of back. It doesn’t sound like something a Boomer would rush to do. Unless you’re Ted Brownrigg.
Brownrigg is a lanky, affable man who grew up in Independence, Missouri. Active in the outdoors all his life, he jokingly refers to much of his highly successful corporate career as “I was good at it,” not that he was drawn to the work.
“There really wasn’t much of a plan,” he says. Brownrigg earned a college scholarship for pole vaulting and randomly chose a business degree. As soon as he drove home with his diploma in 1974, his father asked him:
“Got a job yet?”
Shortly after getting his first job, his father then demanded:
“So, when are you moving out?”
With strong motivation to be self-sufficient, Brownrigg found plenty of corporate work.
Through stints at Dun & Bradstreet and Westinghouse, his jobs took him all over the mid-American landscape. That’s until a position with Pitney Bowes brought his family to Portland, where this fisherman, climber, kayaker, and outdoors-lover was in heaven.
His days of moving were over.
By 2008, Brownrigg was working in a small partnership, doing millions in business. But like the storm on the Owyhee, he could see “bad things coming.”
“I was 57 years old. We were set. Why am I working?” he remembers asking himself.
He quit. He and his wife Carol moved to the lively sports town of Bend, Oregon.
A Stunning Third Act
For a while, he banged around trying to figure out his next move.
“I organized a trip on the John Day River in spring of 2008. We had a bunch of 50- and 60- year-old guys on the river. I realized I should know more.
“So, I signed up for an advanced wilderness first aid course. This was a ‘kid’s’ industry, but they were cool guys.”
Confident of his own outdoor credentials, Brownrigg was right at home.
When Brownrigg sought to improve his whitewater skills he met Craig Wright, then owner of Oregon River Experiences (ORE). Wright convinced him to take their river guide training.
On his first ORE day trip on the mighty Clackamas River, Brownrigg was hooked for good. That was spring of 2009. Then he graduated to multi-day trips, which are far more grueling.
Now by his own description, Brownrigg’s the “bull elephant” for Oregon River Experiences. His decades of business experience, lifelong love of the outdoors, and athletic endeavors have made him the perfect Grand Old Man on the river, a trusted partner, mentor, and team member.
“Road Scholar clients see themselves in me,” he explains, which is one reason that Road Scholar sends so much business ORE’s way. These days, Brownrigg has friends everywhere that he’s met on the river, lodge owners and fellow guides, many long married and off the river.
While the grueling nature of river rafting and guiding isn’t for most people late in life, Brownrigg does have some advice.
“You’ve got to have a plan,” he says, with emphasis. “You just can’t go into retirement without some kind of road map. You just fall off a cliff.”
Of course, if you do fall off a cliff on a trip with Brownrigg along, he’s sure to get you safely back up.
Julia Hubbel is a prize-winning journalist and author of two books. An adventure traveler, she thrives on exploring the boundaries of the heart, soul, spirit, and humor. Horizons beckon for Hubbel, who launched her passion to take on challenging sports in the world’s greatest places in earnest at age 60.