Prove Me Wrong
No one was around the ARTA guide house in Salmon when I arrived this spring to start my season guiding on the Selway River in Idaho. I walked into the office to peruse the schedule.
“She did it, its finally happened”, I said out loud to myself at seeing the board. Cortni, our manager, had scheduled an all ladies crew for the second Selway launch on June 30, 2022. On the Selway River this was definitely a first at ARTA, although I had been on a couple of trips with a 3 female to 1 male ratio crew.
I immediately started to wonder how our passengers would feel. In my experience sometimes it’s our lady passengers who think they require a big strong guy to get them safely down the river. Over the years I have endlessly heard male passengers comment that they were surprised us little ladies could maneuver such a big heavy boat. I thought about how all male crews were standard in this industry until relatively recent times.
In my guiding career I have been the token female on the crew countless times.
In close to 30 years of guiding the only all women crews I have been a part of were on all women-chartered trips. This particular roster of passengers was a near 50-50 split between genders. ‘Well good, it’s about time, should be interesting’, are a few of the thoughts that went through my mind. I wondered how to introduce the crew.
Should I immediately draw attention to the fact they had all women guides or let it go until someone said something? ‘Hmmm, fun experiment no doubt’.
The four of us ladies piled into the rig truck bound for the Selway. We headed out of Salmon all smiles and laughter. We were celebrating this ARTA first and proud for the opportunity. It’s maybe not a huge deal, but then it kind of was to us. At the top of Nez Perce Pass we pulled over to take in the scenery and stretch our legs before dropping down into the Selway River drainage. A vast wilderness spread out in all directions. Since Lewis and Clark paved the way for settlers, this land’s history has been dominated by the presence of men pursuing the likes of trapping, prospecting, logging and more. It occurred to me that in all actuality this was not just ARTA’s first all-women Selway crew. Most likely we were the first all women crew to lead any commercial trip on this river.
Thinking about the outfitters who have held permits past and present I am 99% positive that we are the first! When out passengers stepped off the bus at the Paradise Creek put-in the following afternoon I gathered them around to introduce the crew. “Hi! My name is Billie Prosser and I am your trip leader. I am honored to introduce you to your crew. This is Kelly Asselin, Isabel Guthrie and Hannah Woods. We are the first all women crew to guide a commercially lead Selway River trip ever.
“How do you know that”? asked a man passenger. I answered with a huge smile, “I just do”.
So maybe it’s not that big a deal, but I think it is pretty cool and a little noteworthy. Please, if I am wrong I would like to know. And by the way, it was a fantastic trip
enjoyed by all.
-Billie Prosser