{"id":16015,"date":"2026-07-29T20:43:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T20:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=16015"},"modified":"2026-07-29T20:43:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T20:43:30","slug":"how-cricket-zarn-learned-to-build-boats-for-the-wests-biggest-rapids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=16015","title":{"rendered":"How Cricket Zarn Learned to Build Boats for the West\u2019s Biggest Rapids"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"justify-start\">\n<nav class=\"align-left col-span-full mb-base\" data-pom-e2e-test-id=\"breadcrumbs\"\/>\n<p>How do you design a wooden dory strong enough to handle Grand Canyon whitewater? If you\u2019re Zarn, you start by crashing a lot of boats.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-body\">\n<p>Published July 29, 2026 11:43AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Cricket Zarn couldn\u2019t stop staring. Despite years as a river guide, she\u2019d never seen a wooden boat in the Grand Canyon before\u2014and yet here was one now, bobbing down the Colorado like it owned the place. Its old-school paint job caught the light, and the gorgeous arch of the bow sliced through ripples like skis through powder.<\/p>\n<p>The boat\u2019s captain noticed the look on her face\u2014he\u2019d seen it before\u2014and invited her to come aboard.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI climbed in, and I got in the captain\u2019s seat, and I got goosebumps,\u201d Zarn says. \u201cI thought, \u2018Okay, this might be the rest of my life.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s Colorado River dories are descendants of the first known vessels to ever run the Grand Canyon, in the 1860s. Over the years, boatbuilders fine-tuned their approach, strengthening the hull and flattening the bottom to make the boats easier to pivot in big rapids. Then in 1971, Jerry Briggs perfected the design, broadening the back of the boat and pulling up the bow in a sweeping curve. The shape lets the dories surf big waves, not just cut through them.<\/p>\n<p>Zarn couldn\u2019t get the dories out of her mind. She started asking around, and soon stumbled across Brad Dimock, a master boatbuilder and owner of <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"article-content-link text-brand-primary underline hover:text-brand-primary\/85 break-words overflow-wrap-anywhere underline-offset-[3px]\" rel=\"sponsored\" data-afl-p=\"2\" href=\"https:\/\/fretwaterboatworks.com\/\">Fretwater Boatworks<\/a>, a Flagstaff outfit that specializes in wooden boats. The first day Zarn walked into his shop, Dimock set her to work on a dozen sets of oars. By sunset, he\u2019d offered her a job.<\/p>\n<p>Zarn threw herself into the work. Soon, she was learning the art of boatbuilding, helping with the designs, and quality-testing the product\u2014in other words, crashing boats.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe run \u2018em hard,\u201d she says. \u201cMy first crash, I missed my line and hit going about 40 mph, and I put a hole in the boat you could throw a cat through.\u201d She repaired it on the spot. Then, she came right back into the shop and tweaked the design to prevent that kind of damage going forward.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2746694\" class=\"pom-image-wrap photo-alignnone\"><figcaption class=\"pom-caption\">(Photo: Morahan Visuals)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This constant iteration has taught her to pay attention to every detail and to build boats that last. It\u2019s a good thing, too: Ever since Kevin Fedarko published his popular Grand Canyon epic, <i>The Green Mile, <\/i>in 2014, dories have been making a comeback, and Fretwork has had its hands full with orders, guided trips, and boatbuilding workshops. Zarn isn\u2019t surprised; it had always felt like a matter of time before other people started waking up to the magic of wooden boats.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe running of the craft is kind of sensual\u2014it\u2019s a seductive dance,\u201d she says. \u201cIn a raft, you\u2019re sitting on top of the water, but in a dory, you\u2019re about a foot deep into the current. You can feel the water and the waves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These days, Zarn is constantly on the move, driving equipment to boatbuilding clinics in Arizona, Oregon, and Maine and hauling dories to far-flung put-ins.<\/p>\n<div class=\"slideshow\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-col items-center justify-center py-base-loose\">\n<div class=\"relative flex w-full flex-col items-start\">\n<div class=\"relative w-full touch-pan-y pb-base-tight select-none\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"block h-auto w-full object-cover\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/morahan_visuals_outside_tv_nissan_frontier_08718.jpg\" alt=\"Woodshop to Whitewater\" draggable=\"false\"\/><\/div>\n<p class=\"min-h-[48px]\"><span class=\"text-left font-utility-3 text-secondary\">2026 Nissan Frontier<\/span><span class=\"ml-1 text-left font-utility-3 text-text-disabled\">Morahan Visuals<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex w-full justify-center gap-2 pt-base-loose\">\n<div class=\"flex cursor-pointer flex-col justify-center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/morahan_visuals_outside_tv_nissan_frontier_08718.jpg\" alt=\"Woodshop to Whitewater\" width=\"120\" height=\"80\" class=\"max-h-10 object-cover transition-all duration-200 hover:opacity-80 border-4 border-brand-primary\"\/><\/div>\n<div class=\"flex cursor-pointer flex-col justify-center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/morahan_visuals_outside_tv_nissan_frontier_05579.jpg\" alt=\"Woodshop to Whitewater\" width=\"120\" height=\"80\" class=\"max-h-10 object-cover transition-all duration-200 hover:opacity-80 opacity-60\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s nice to have a vehicle like a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"article-content-link text-brand-primary underline hover:text-brand-primary\/85 break-words overflow-wrap-anywhere underline-offset-[3px]\" rel=\"sponsored\" data-afl-p=\"2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nissanusa.com\/vehicles\/trucks\/frontier\/unleash-the-power.html\">Frontier<\/a> for that kind of thing,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019ll hold still on a steep boat ramp, even with a heavy trailer. You take it out of park, and it doesn\u2019t get pulled back an inch. And going fast on crumbly dirt road, it just floats.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In between all the driving and shop time, Zarn still spends upwards of 200 days per year on the water. She spends a good chunk of those days in her own dory, <i>Peekaboo<\/i>, building on the legacy of wooden boats in the Grand Canyon, one descent at a time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love it,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s like being a part of history.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><i>Nissan North America, Inc., headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee, delivers innovative automotive products and services that inspire and move people. As a global leader in electric vehicles and advanced automotive technology, Nissan offers a full lineup of vehicles, highlighted by the new <\/i><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"article-content-link text-brand-primary underline hover:text-brand-primary\/85 break-words overflow-wrap-anywhere underline-offset-[3px]\" rel=\"sponsored\" data-afl-p=\"2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nissanusa.com\/vehicles\/trucks\/frontier\/unleash-the-power.html\"><i>2026 Nissan Frontier<\/i><\/a><i>. Driven by a commitment to sustainable mobility and thrilling performance, Nissan aims to transform the way people live and drive. For more information, please visit <\/i><i>Nissan USA<\/i><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/outdoor-adventure\/water-activities\/woodshop-to-whitewater-how-cricket-zarn-learned-to-build-boats-for-the-wests-biggest-rapids\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How do you design a wooden dory strong enough to handle Grand Canyon whitewater? If you\u2019re Zarn, you start by crashing a lot of boats. Published July 29, 2026 11:43AM Cricket Zarn couldn\u2019t stop staring. Despite years as a river guide, she\u2019d never seen a wooden boat in the Grand Canyon before\u2014and yet here was<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wild-living"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}