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The
Whitewater Dory
A
beautiful and unique way to travel down the river!
Whitewater
dories are a wonderful alternative to inflatable rafts! A dory is
a beautiful rigid boat, that tracks gracefully through the river's
currents and dances through whitewater for a thrilling ride. These
strong handsome crafts are custom designed for river running and
built with your comfort in mind! Each boat carries up to four passengers
and is rowed by one of our SUNDOG EXPEDITIONS guides. Ask any of
them and they will tell you that there is no substitute for the
graceful maneuverability of the dory.
A
BIT OF DORY HISTORY
The
modern whitewater dory has evolved out of a history of American
river exploration and adventure. Major John Wesley Powell used rigid
boats with round bottoms on his expeditions down the Green River
and through the Grand Canyon in 1870's. In the 1930's river adventurer
Buzz Holstrom rowed light-weight decked crafts on his solo explorations
on the rivers of the Northwest and Southwest United States. Martin
Litton, environmental advocate and founder of Grand Canyon Dories,
created the first modern dory when he adapted the McKenzie River
Boat design for whitewater by decking it over. Litton rowed these
hybrid boats on his early trips in the Grand Canyon and began to
run them on rivers commercially in the 1960's. At 88, Litton is
still rowing his boat the "Sequoia" and he recently joined us for
a spring fundraising trip down Oregon's Grande Ronde River! The
Dories of today are a link to the past and we are proud to be a
part of this continuing history.
ABOUT
OUR DORIES
Our
fleet of dories are named for stars in the summer sky! The Gallina,
Myrae, Shauka, and Rastabon were custom built by Sundog Expeditions
owner, Lonnie Hutson. Lonnie, who is a graduate of the University
of Washington Architecture program, an expert woodworker, and an
artist, built his first dory in the 1980's. He has been at it ever
since. These beautiful composite boats are made of wood or foam,
fiberglass, and epoxy and finished with a custom automotive paint
job. They are painstakingly crafted and one each takes several months
to complete. If you have never experienced a dory we would love
to introduce you to them on a very special trip through the Salmon
River Canyons... and if you are returning for another ride, we know
why!
JOIN
US ON THE SALMON RIVER
FOR
FIVE DAYS OF DORY MAGIC!
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