​You’ve probably never heard of Elzada Clover or Lois Jotter. But maybe it's time you should. 

Brave the Wild River by Melissa L. Sevigny, is the story of how these two intrepid botanists set out to map the plant life of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. The 43-day whitewater journey was a harrowing adventure, but their resulting work continues to influence science today, and has led to greater awareness and protection of that river ecosystem. 

In 1938, the two women set off from Green River, Utah, with four men and three small wooden boats: the Botany, the Wen, and the Mexican Hat. Hailing from University of Michigan, Clover was a 42-year-old botany instructor, and assistant curator of the botanical gardens, and Jotter a 24-year-old graduate student working on her PhD. 

The Colorado was considered to be an unruly and dangerous river, where many had died in the attempt to run it. The news reports of the time focused on the novelty of women on the river, and the general consensus that women did not belong on that river. Rather than covering the botanical intent of the trip, reporters drummed up the perils of the Colorado, and wrote about the women applying their make-up and cooking for the men

It is true that Clover and Jotter were up every morning well before the men. They did cook breakfast, and they did apply powder and lipstick. But their time was also spent gathering plant specimens. The plant gathering was a tedious process. They needed to get the entire plant, including root, stem, leaf and flower. The specimens were flattened and arranged carefully and placed in a plant press, consisting of layers of newspaper and thin wood strips. This was all carefully strapped down. For cacti, the pulp had to be scooped out, and the specimen laid just-so to preserve the spines. From their work, four new cacti were identified. 

After hunting plants up steep climbs in the desert heat, they’d go run some serious rapids. The women were not allowed to paddle the rapids (thank goodness that’s changed: currently women make up roughly one-third of Grand Canyon river guides). Sometimes the boats would go through the turbulent water blunt stern-first. Sometimes they’d line the boats - difficult work to climb over boulders on-shore while keeping the boat on a line and walking it down in order to skirt the more burly rapids. 

Ultimately the crew, with a few changes in personnel, floated into Lake Mead alive and well. Clover and Jotter’s work made it back to the University of Michigan, and the two continued to contribute to the field of botany for the rest of their lives. 

In 1994, Jotter made another trip down the Colorado with a group of scientists and other “Old Timers” who’d studied the river ecology prior to the construction of Glen Canyon Dam and the creation of Lake Powell. Their observations led to the 1996 policy of the dam releasing large amounts of water in order to stimulate spring river surge and restore some of the river life to the way it was.

Though Clover and Jotter are not household names, their willingness to literally risk their lives to gather botanical information is a fascinating story, and their work has impacted anyone who recreates in or cares about the Colorado River.  

Just upstream from Lake Powell, at the confluence of the Green and Colorado, begins a 41-mile river section known as Cataract Canyon. It was so-named by Powell because of the canyon’s 14 miles of gnarly rapids - so gnarly in fact that Powell and his men did not run a single one of those rapids. When Glen Canyon Dam was built, and Lake Powell filled, over half of Cataract Canyon became impounded, slow water. In recent years, as the water level in Lake Powell has dropped due to overuse and evaporation and drought, the impounded water in Cataract Canyon is diminishing, and is starting to flow again. This has also resulted in some side canyons reemerging. For river runners familiar with this area, two of the side canyons are affectionately known as Clover Canyon and Jotter Canyon, within a stretch known as Botany Aisle. 

Learn More/Sources
The primary source for this blog post.
Brave the Wild River by Melissa L. Sevigny

A short version of the story of Clover and Jotter, with some terrific photos.
University of Michigan Heritage Project: River Rat

American Rivers: Changes in Cataract Canyon

​
​Cooler nights. Darker mornings, with frost making an occasional appearance. Colors all around: gold, orange, crimson, purple. Fall is here. And in Steamboat, that means another long winter is soon to follow. 

I love summer. I love open windows, sandals, and the fact that it doesn’t take me an hour to get dressed before leaving the house. I will miss my after-work and weekend hikes perhaps most of all, feeling the lush grasses and shrubs brushing my legs, forearms, even the tops of my shoulders. I will miss looking up at the green aspen, smelling the sap of pine, spruce and fir, warmed from the sun. I’ll miss standing on a rock in the creek, gurgling amber liquid swirling around me.

The good news is that there are still after-work winter walks. Though the lush foliage will be buried under several feet of snow for months, walking is still a win-win. I walk to clear my head, to get my blood pumping the sludge out of legs that’ve been standing all day, and to feel movement in my entire body. My digestion and respiration certainly benefit. But there are even more perks to walking.

In the book Built to Move: The 10 Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully, by Kelly Starrett and Juliet Starrett, the authors explain how walking is a game-changer: 

• Better movement and less pain, because of tissues stretching, moving in ways that are the antithesis of a sedentary “C” position, and joint lubrication.
• Improved feet, because these are your foundation, and when you walk you load and unload the bones, muscles and connective tissues in the feet to build strength and resilience.
• Improved circulation, not just of your blood, but your lymph, which relies on movement and muscle contraction/relaxation to make its way through your body.
• Improved sleep, because walking calms anxiety and lowers depression, both beneficial for sleep. Even 30 minutes of walking a day has been associated with decreasing depression.
• Better brain function, because walking enhances blood flow to the brain (sitting for long periods of time results in less blood flow to the brain). Studies have shown that walking even benefits creativity.
• Decreased stress via improved mood. This is because moderate physical activity (like walking!) has been shown to decrease stress hormones and boost endorphins.

The Starrett’s advocate 10,000 steps per day (one mile is approximately 2,000 steps). This includes incidental steps. They are also clear that even if you aren't hitting that 10k mark, some is better than none.

I’m using time for my barometer, rather than a step counter or Garmin. In addition to my incident steps, my current goal is to get in at least an hour total of running and/or walking each day. My body and brain like this - it feels good. Whatever the season, I hope you’ll join me in walking more. 

I’m on one of my favorite trails in the deep-woods silence of late afternoon, my shorts soaked through from rain-drenched leaves. The rain has stopped but the dark grey clouds hover overhead, fitting for my state of mind. 

It's a few days before Charlotte heads off to college, and my heart is sore with the anticipation of how much I will miss her. Of course I’m happy for her to leap into her life. Of course I remind myself of how truly blessed we are - a thriving child heading to college is not every family’s good fortune. Still, I grieve. 

There are still plenty of flowers amidst the profuse growth of shrubs and ferns. I note the colors - purple, white, yellow - and the petal shapes - elongated, spiky, clustered - but the names are lost on me. Charlotte would know the names. One of her many passions is identifying flowers in the field guide she carries on hikes, snapping a picture, then drawing them later in her flower journal. Sometimes I call her Charlotte Muir. 

She must have gotten this love from my mom, who is another flower identifier. When I was around nine or so, my mom took me on a Saturday morning wildflower hike. The ranger leading the walk talked for at least an hour pointing here and there at the various plants, naming them and explaining their uses. I don’t remember a single flower name from that day. When we returned to the visitor’s center, there was a spider I was encouraged to hold. Harmless, the ranger said. Perhaps. But it was black and hairy and awfully large. It was a tarantula - that, I remember.

* * * * *
I’m now on the return leg of my hike. The trail wends its way between huge trunks, branches towering above me blocking much of the sky, and it is so quiet. I’m in the company of some very old beings, with their hardy roots snaking every which way, creating little stairs in the path. Just past this there’s a wall of dense shrubbery that is waist-high. Rising above all that olive green is a single magenta flower - fireweed. I know this name, because Charlotte pointed it out as we drove the Million Dollar Highway just a week ago. 
​
Fitting that fireweed should brighten my day. Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium) is the first blaze of life following a forest fire. Its rhizomes lay under the forest soil and begin to colonize territory that has been left open to the sky and sunshine due to fire. In post-World War II Great Britain, it was known as bombweed because the rosy purple plant grew in the remains of wooden buildings decimated in the fire bombings. It is thought that St. Anthony used the plant for healing, and thus also known as St. Anthony’s laurel.​

Patience, optimism, resilient spirit, healing. Fireweed is all of these things. It seems a hopeful omen and a Charlotte smile, this pink bloom - the only one around. Just then a ray of sunshine shines directly on the fireweed, and the fuchsia is vivid and aglow in nature’s spotlight. 

Smiling, I head down the trail, my heart and my step a little lighter. 


Learn More
Colorado Native Plant Society Article: Fireweed: the Fire Follower

​Exercise feels good and we know it is vital for our physical health. But just as important, exercise benefits our mental health. Check out this dynamic and informative Ted Talk by Wendy Suzuki: The Brain Changing Benefits of Exercise.

Physical exercise - great for increasing circulation, the strength and mobility in our muscles and joints, and helping to improve cardiovascular health and maintaining body weight, has corresponding effects on the brain. Chemicals like dopamine and serotonin are released, which improve mood. Anxiety is lessened, aiding sleep. Exercise supports both existing brain cells (neurons) as well as the environment to develop new neurons. Exercise has even been shown to lessen depression.

All of these benefits are immediately accessible when one begins to exercise. It is a regular exercise routine which extends these benefits, having a greater and longer-lasting impact on our lives. With brain health, there is a protective factor with exercise: the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, areas of cognition, are bolstered, staving off conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s. 

Exercise does not have to be costly or time-consuming. The general goal is 30 minutes, 5 times per week, but benefits can be seen if exercise is broken down into smaller time frames or crammed in on the weekends. A gym membership is not a requirement. Walking outside, exercising in your home, even turning household or gardening chores into purposeful movement can result in benefits for both body and brain.

Learn More
Scientific American Article: Exercise Helps Your Brain as much as Your Body
HelpGuide.org Article: The Mental Health Benefits of Exercise

Originally published May 9, 2024