summer 03 / 16:2 - Grand Canyon River Guides

Back of The BoatThe Whale Foundation Presents: Transitioning CareersHow Veteran Guide Mike Boyle Found A Dream Job in the RealWorld And His Way Back To The RiverWork Hard, Pay Attention,and do the Best Job You CanThis credo has served me well throughout mostof my life, especially as a guide in Grand Canyonand on other rivers around the world. It’s notprofound or inspirational yet it embodies simple traitsthat almost any trip leader or manager would love to seein his/her boatmen or employees. Anyone who has everpaid me to do a job has gotten this in return, and it’s allI ask of the people who work for me. When asked by theWhale Foundation to do this article, I jumped at thechance. Having been forced to experience it first-hand, Iknow how difficult the transition from guiding to somethingelse can be. This transition is particularly challengingbecause nobody wants to quit guiding.Graduating from college in 1973 started me off witha career in business. Having moved to California frommy roots in Ohio, a new world opened up to me. Afterabout four years I decided I didn’t want to work the next40 odd years or so only to wake up one day wonderingwhat I had done with my life. I had a burning passion toexperience the outdoors. So I left the business world andtook off into the mountains. It wasn’t long before Ilanded a job with oars as a shuttle driver for river tripson the local California Rivers. That was short livedbecause I realized the place to be was on the river, notdriving the truck. I started as a regular guide in 1978.In 1979, the opportunity came up for my first GrandCanyon training trip. Needless to say, I was hooked onthe Grand Canyon after that first trip. During the sameyear I was hired by Sobek Expeditions to run WatutRiver trips in Papua New Guinea. What a year that was!An incredible world of adventure that I had onlydreamed of was now mine to explore. I was 29 years old,embarking on an unstoppable journey to spend my lifein the outdoors, running rivers, and meeting some of themost unforgettable people of my life.I had a great run for fifteen years as a full-time guide.My schedule towards the end included working inAlaska during the summer, Chile in the winter, andGrand Canyon in the spring and fall. Usually, I was ableto squeeze in plenty of time off and every so often even aspecialty trip like an exploratory river expedition. It wasa glorious and rewarding life. Along the way I evenmanaged to marry my best friend and make a longdistance marriage work. My life was adventurous,exciting, and fulfilling beyond my wildest dreams.In my late thirties, my body was feeling the effects ofa hard-driving athletic lifestyle, and I started to experiencesevere pain in my left hip. This was outside therealm of normal bodily aches and pains, so I sought outthe opinion of an orthopedic surgeon. He diagnosed meas having the hip joints of a 65 year-old man and facingjoint replacement surgery on both hips. In completedenial, I went off to run another river season thinkingthat I just needed to get in better shape.The following year the pain in my hip had escalated,so I sought out a second opinion. The results were thesame. My state of denial continued as I left for yetanother river season thinking that I could overcome thisthrough fitness. That year I realized that my fitness levelwas irrelevant, as the pain was getting worse. The realityof my physical condition was starting to look all toounavoidable. I went on to guide for a few more yearswhile getting two more opinions from doctors. After fiveopinions and several years of denial, I had my first hipreplacement in May 1993. My perfect world had stoppedspinning.I bounced back from my first hip replacement, andafter eight months I was about 90 percent recovered.That was a long period of introspection and soulsearching,with no idea of what to do with my life.Guiding was over, although there were brief periodswhen a return to that career seemed possible. Shortlyafter my recovery all hopes of a return to guiding weredashed when it became evident that my other hip wouldhave to be replaced. Two years after the first, I had mysecond hip replacement. This time there were complications.Inserting the prosthesis had split my femur lengthwisecausing muscle spasms that would prolong myrecovery and leave me more debilitated than the firstsurgery.This several-year period of being carved up and putback together was incredibly depressing–but not spentidly. After much thought, I returned to college in pursuitof a degree in geography and a teaching certificate.Substitute teaching at local high schools helped mereason that my best opportunity at a second careerwould be as a high school geography teacher. After all,as a guide I had traveled all over the world, related topeople from all walks of life, and had assimilated all ofthat knowledge and experience. It seemed like a naturalprogression.page 8grand canyon river guides