Rocky Barker Copyright 2005
At the center of the myth of the American West lies the lone hero.
It's trapper Hugh Glass, struggling to reach civilization after a grizzly
mauling. Mountain John Colter outruns a band of Blackfeet in a race for survival. Gary Cooper stands alone
against the murdering gang in "High Noon."
Historian Robert Hine identified the legendary
Western hero as self-reliant, an individual with a competitive spirit,
challenged by the forces of nature. "Alone against the wilderness, wrote Hine, "he is supreme."
To writer Ron Watters of Pocatello, his friend Walt Blackadar
fit Hine's description like a wet suit. Blackadar was the remarkable surgeon from Salmon who rose
to the top of the whitewater kayaking world at an age long after most athletes
are resting in retirement.
In 1971, at the age of 49, Blackadar shocked the
outdoor world by running the boiling, deadly rapids of Turnback
Canyon on the Alsek River in Canada and Alaska. This
country doctor ignored the warnings of the best kayakers in the country and
made his remarkable run in the isolated wilderness alone.
It was a feat as significant in the boating world as scaling Mount Everest
was in the climbing world. It was accomplished by a man who started kayaking
only four years before.
The story of Blackadar's journey through Turnback Canyon and through an extraordinary life is told
brilliantly by Watters in his book "Never Turn Back," published by
Great Rift Press in Pocatello. Watters describes how Blackadar's lust for danger and excitement pushed him and
his sport into the national limelight and eventually into the more lofty
regions of Western myth.
Western rivers were only beginning to get the interest of kayakers when Blackadar arrived on the scene. The sport had primarily
been limited to smaller rivers in the East and in Europe. He had long run the
Middle and Main forks of the Salmon River near his home in rafts and wooden
boats. He guided several of the nation's top kayakers down the Middle Fork in
exchange for lessons and soon was joining them on trips to places like the
Grand Canyon.
There his "brash, western style of boating," was setting him apart
from his more technically-skilled companions. Where they would portage around
giant rapids like Lava Falls, Blackadar would
"roll and paddle" his way through the treacherous waters.
Once, Blackadar heard about Turnback
Canyon he became driven to conquer it, recognizing he might not make it out
alive. His seven children grown, he took out an insurance policy, instructed
his wife on how long to look for him before declaring him dead, and headed for
the Alaska outback.
After his successful journey, Sports Illustrated Magazine published excerpts
from his diary that captured the excitement and the significance of his feat.
Later future trips down similarly, turgid rivers like the Susitna in Alaska and
through Cross Mountain Canyon in Colorado put him on ABC's American Sportsman
and added to his growing legend.
Meanwhile, the gun-toting conservative Westerner became one of Idaho's leading voices for preserving wilderness. In 1973 he hosted the state's leading conservationists at his home as they mapped out a 2.3 million wilderness proposal for his treasured Middle Fork Country. Seven years later the River of No-Return Wilderness bill was signed by President Jimmy Carter with roughly the boundaries drawn on maps hanging on Blackadar's walls.
Blackadar's stunning rise hit rough water in 1974
when a young kayaker was drown on the West Fork of the Bruneau
River while kayaking with him. The death left him heartbroken and he nearly
quit kayaking.
His health also began to fail him in the late 70s. A shoulder injury from a
horse's kick weakened him and affected his kayaking style. Still, he
persevered, running more big rivers and adding to his legend
That legend and his life came to a climax on the South Fork of the Payette River
in May of 1978. Blackadar drown, pinned beneath a log
in the middle of rushing rapids.
"Walt Blackadar was truly alive, a man who
knew how to live with determination and courage and boundless uninhibited
joy," said Curt Gowdy, the host of American
Sportsman.
Today, towering Mt. Blackadar dominates the Alsek River Valley where Blackadar left his mark. The rapids where he died also carry his name. Many people are alive today because of his care as a doctor and surgeon.
Despite this remarkable life the International Whitewater Hall of Fame left
this pioneer off its initial list. His absence only diminishes its credibility.
Blackadar, like the West's other folk heroes will live on in the hearts of river runners, explorers and others curious about what's around the next bend and brave enough to run through restless waters to find out.