wellness

    When Melissa DeMarie found herself side-lined with a shoulder injury four years ago, her dream of getting more women on the water finally found the right time to come alive. She founded California Women’s Watersport Collective and kicked it off on a shoe string budget with a few meet-up paddles and one weekend clinic for women’s kayaking on the South Fork American River. Once the first clinic’s registration overflowed onto a waiting list and people starting asking what else was available there was no turning back. Instigator, Melissa DeMarie. Photo: Adam Walker Since then, CWWC (aka Cali Collective) has gone from a few women with big ideas to an inspiring all-inclusive community on and off the water. A woman’s experience of the world is different from men’s and that holds true on the water. The way women face…

In the second edition of our Paddler Profile series, Grand Canyon guide, kayaker, teacher, and dedicated yogi, Heather Snow shares her experiences of life on the river, and how to stay strong in the face of adversity. Heather’s life on the water began at age 13 with her first river trip. From there, she spent her high school summers rowing boats down the Klamath river on the California-Oregon border, working for her mother’s rafting company. Heather moved on to work on various wild rivers throughout the U.S. and abroad. In 1999, she competed in the Camel Challenge international rafting competition in South Africa with the U.S. Women’s Raft Team. As a kayaker, she’s rallied the steep creeks in the Sierras to the big water jungle rivers of Ecuador. Zero-60, Hospital Rock, Kaweah river California Photo: Barry Tessman These days, it’s common…