I always welcome anyone on the river. I will show anyone down anything I can run. If Im solo I will ask to tag along and visa versa on the river. Nothing really bugs me out there, Im just out there to have fun and excersize.

will you put on with anybody who shows up?
That depends on the difficulty of the run, and my familiarity with that run. If it's a class IV-V run, I'm usually only going to roll with people that I actually called up and talked about boating with that day. If there is one person at the put in looking to shoe horn in to the trip I'm typically going to grill them about their boating experience, but even then I'm not typically keen on that. It also depends on the type of run, For example super continuous, or more pool drop. Pilchuck is class IV but I would be less keep on showing someone down who claims they've "done some class IV".

do you have a criteria for judging folks before you put on with them?
   Well, the problem with this is, you're still taking them at their word, and you have no idea if they are hoest about their skills, honest about their experience, and if they are even experienced enough to effectively convey their skills in a way that you can rightly judge. Basically if you grill them enough their use of the whitewater lexacon is a good identifier of whether they know what's up. Basically it's a case by case sort of call.

have you ever had a situation where you had to tell someone to get out because they were in over their head and endangering you or your group? or maybe you were that person?
   No, but I know there are people out there who have had this experience.

whats your move if you meet someone paddling solo? or if you are paddling solo and meet up with a group on the river
   If I'm paddling solo and I run into a group on the river I will always ask if it's ok if I can paddle with them, I've never been told no, but I'm only ever soloing rivers like the sky or white salmon (rivers I know intimately and am comfortable paddling alone.
   I've never been in a group before and met up with a solo paddler, but if I did I'd let them join if they asked. At this point they're already on the river and there isn't much I can do to stop them from continuing to paddle, so you might as well have power in numbers.

With all that said, if someone adds on to my group at the put in and is not honest about their skills and is a total junkshow on the water I'm not going to put myself out there is save their gear. Whereas if one of my buddies swims I'll work pretty hard to get their boat to shore before getting destroyed in the river (once I know they are safely to shore). Additionally if they are a junk show and lose a paddle, I'll be more inclined to say "sorry dude/ette you might want to start hiking out" (assuming that is the safest option at that given point.)

Ultimately there isn't really a good set of criteria to follow beyond your gut.

I have less of a problem joining into other peoples groups than having people join into mine.... unless they are somehow bringing a good or service to the table. I can't remember ever turning down a rafter that carried frosties...

I can however recall quite a few times that people joined with a group I was in and despite warnings and repeated requests to reconsider they continued on, and often times got messed up, hiked out and lost or damaged gear and themselves...

Hey, I have a video of Rochelle boogie boarding down the Horsebend section on the NF Nook from a few years ago. She ran "Final Exam" (??) twice

And that paralysed dude on the Hood, I wonder if it is the same guy that I have heard about who runs the little white. When I heard that my mind just exploded with astonishment

Apparently the is a strong paddler and runs with a top notch crew

Sorry, did not mean to hijack this thread...

I will generally paddle with whoever shows up, unless I see for some sort of red flags that they are gonna be a liability. This only comes into play on class IV-V stuff. Local staples such as the Green, Sky, ect, I figure I can help them mitigate whatever might unfold, so I'm not so concerned. Robe, however, I'd like to know they can run w/ the varsity team. Any further flung washington adventure, such as during short, winter days, my concern is that I don't want to be running into daylight because of someone else's lack of experience/good judgement. Yeah, it may not endanger my safety, I don't want to get cold waiting around or get caught out in the dark. Its not why I'm going out there.

My criteria- they should be competent for the run they have chosen to join me on at the flows that are present. If they are "stepping up" to this run (gosh I hate that term), they should disclose it. It is their responsibility to disclose their experience. I shouldn't have to "grill" them, and don't. But I do probe a little. There are really subtle ways of extracting this kind of info. Ask them what they've been boating lately, water levels they boat on, ect. How informed they are about the run, and so on.

I have had to tell people to get off of a run. About 3-5 occassions over a span of about 2 decades. Once in Costa Rica I was safety boating for a single raft trip, and the upoer syretch was really continuous class IV. Some doctor from New York wanted to latch on. I politely tried to tell him that, since I was essentially being paid by the gringos in the raft to look out for them, I had ABSOLUTELY NO free reign to watch out for him. This is a very different scenario than having your entire group consent to letting someone tag along. He put on with us anyway, and the guide/ trip leader (who was paying me) was pissed. Dr. sh*tshow kept falling behind, gettin thrashed, ect. It was still near the put in, and Phil told me to tell him to get out. I did, and he seemed to be getting out. Later downstream, Phil asked/yelled " Did you see him get all the way out of the river?!" He had gotten out of his boat, but, no, I hadn't seen him move away from the bank up into the woods. Sure enough, 1/4 mi. Downstream he pops into view. In this case, he never took no for an answer, which was really bad since this was a commercial trip. Here's why: he later swam, appealing to my own sense of morality I had to hang back and mop up his gear and sh*t while the raft continued without me because they could not stop or pull over. Dr. sh*tshow inderectly endangered the safety of 6 gringos who paid for a guide and a safety boater. Phil is as veteran as they come though (he coined the term "squirt", BTW) so really it worked out, but still: NOT cool.

A more recent example was on Upper Icicle at highwater. Had a couple of oldschool boaters who are rock solid, but nevertheless because of their old school sensibilities, like things to be a little less "shoot from the hip" than the new school kids. Also I was to be leading a freind down who was gripped, but qualified. So I wanted him to be able to be in his own "happy space" for the challenges he was about to encounter. Well, the whole vibe got sabotaged by a person in an Alternative Craft, I will refer to it.
This person never directly approached me about joining the trip, which was lame. This person brought no "Goods or Services to the table" by joining, because that Alternative Craft is not contribute to rescues on Icicle. Pretty much need a good paddler in a creek boat to aide in any sh*t that may go down. This person did not demonstrate an ability to exercise good judgement, and I'd witnessed this on two other occassions, and heard about another. The person's fitness level was not up to the run, given the flow.
   After some odd glances from the oldschool couple, whose red flags were goin up, and then after my buddy's vibe was disturbed by the added variable of the Alternative Craft junkshow, it was too late. Again- THE ENTIRE GROUP DID NOT CONSENT to this person joining our trip. We're on the water. Above Log Limbo I forced the issue and after much agony persuaded the Alternative Craft to exit the river. Even along the bank, this Whitewater Enthusiast would not get out of the water. I had to tell the person to physically get all the way out of the water and go up to the road. After that, the trip had the group dynamic it should have had, but by then the run was mostly over. I felt bad for my Portland buddy, whom I knew would be challenged, but I wanted him to be as comfortable as possible. Rob had invited the Alternative Craft, then dispite my mention that HE should then be the one to babysit this person, did not. I mean, I was concerned this person might have a heart attack or something. Not good. Not OK.

There actually was one time and one time only where someone needed to step in and pull the plug on my adventure. Other than that, I've always been good at self evaluating. I'd tell this story if you wanted to hear it, might be a seperate, long post.

Ussaually its all good, but on more difficult runs, peeps better be qualified to be there and at least get down to the Take Out, or not put on.

I don't mind performing a rescue or two, but this gets more adventurous on IV+ or V water. Mainly I'm out there to paddle. Not to share someone's mis-adventure. If they are gonna drag me into it, I try to sidestep it. Sometimes though, you never know, so to some degree it just comes w/ the territory.

what was the alternative craft?