Oregon Rafting Trip - Meet Your Staff - WetPlanetWhitewater.com

TEAM WET PLANET

Christopher (Hootie) Boucher

That's right, Hootie's back! Those of you that were asking for Hootie last year will be happy to hear that, after missing most of last season due to a broken foot in a mountain bike accident, Hootie is healed and back in action at Wet Planet.

Alright, first things first ... Hootie's nickname has nothing to do with those silly Blowfish. While "Hootie and the Blowfish" may have become famous with their music, this Hootie is the original!

Christopher (Hootie) Boucher grew up in Natick, Massachusetts, home of champions and the dreaded Natick Mall. With a father who was a high school biology teacher, a mother who was a nurse, and recovering injured hawks and owls as pets, Christopher developed a strong appreciation for nature and a genuine desire to help others at an early age. Of his early years, Christopher states, "if it isn't weird enough having hawks and owls as pets growing up, then perhaps being nicknamed after the owl is." When he was 12 years old, for reasons that have mostly been forgotten, his peers named him after one of the owls. The nickname Hootie stuck.

With a loud voice and an ability to remember camp songs, it was a natural progression for Hootie to become a summer camp counselor. In a life-changing experience, Hootie became a camp counselor for a unique camp program designed for children and adults with special needs. The compassion, patience, and desire to help others that Hootie developed during summers as a counselor is still evident in his current work. Hootie now works three days a week at an assisted-living group home in Hood River, Oregon, working as an advocate and care-taker for individuals with special needs. The other four days of the week, he plays and works on the river with us at Wet Planet Rafting and Kayaking.

Hootie's career in whitewater began at an early age when his father first took him on a whitewater rafting trip in Maine. Several years and a few whitewater adventures later, Hootie found himself looking for a summer job in Colorado after graduating from college. Working as a raft guide seemed to be a natural calling. Living in a tent in the Arkansas Valley with an incredible view of the Collegiate Peaks and working on the river four months out of the year, Hootie developed one of his greatest passions... river travel.

Hootie believes that the time he has spent on rivers has changed his life in positive ways, providing perspective and helping him to focus. Working as a raft guide has provided Hootie with the opportunity to share his passion for whitewater with others, while learning to kayak has allowed him to experience rivers in a much more personal way.

Hootie spent several years migrating between the summer rafting season in Colorado and winters in a small mountain ski town in the Eastern Sierras. In 2002, prompted by the suggestion of a friend, he moved to the Columbia River Gorge. An avid whitewater paddler, skier, and mountain biker, Hootie found equilibrium in the Gorge working at the group home three days a week and deciding which way to have fun with the rest of his week. These days Hootie is easy to spot around town or at a river put-in with his truck loaded with boats or bikes and the unmistakable license plate "River Zen."

Hootie was recommended to Wet Planet by Stephen Helfenbein (another team Wet Planet member), as the two had guided together in Colorado. The fit is perfect, and Hootie is in his third season with us. With seven years of commercial raft guiding experience, skills in both paddle rafts and oar rafts, and a kayaker, Wet Planet is lucky to benefit from his experiences. He has this to say about spending time on the river with Wet Planet Rafting and Kayaking, "I love the opportunity that guiding offers in that I get to meet new people and share with them something that I am very passionate about. I also feel very lucky to have come to work for Wet Planet. The diversity and experiences of my fellow staff has helped make it an ideal work situation. We all like to have fun and enjoy sharing that with others. See you on the river! We're just glad he isn't still trying to fit that cast on his foot inside a kayak.