We reached out to Doom and Liz again with our concerns about putting kids on packrafts and bikes who have never ridden a loaded bike. The Navajo nation lockdown orders still allow for exercise within five miles of our residence. It made sense to build some background first. They lacked the proper bikes, equipment, know-how and I was throwing them the wolves (Doom). Sitting at the drawing board that evening, I remembered how hard it was to properly outfit the bikes the community youth were bringing, it just didn’t seem possible. We revisited this again at a Swift-water rescue course and just weeks prior to a phone conference solidified the plans. The idea of getting Navajo kids on pack rafts. We kicked around a bunch of ideas and I remembered a conversation I had with Steve and Liz from Four Corners Guides at Moab brewery after a day packrafting the Animas River. Although we are still in the red with permit fees, commercial insurance, lawyer document reviews, and all the obligatory expenses with starting an outdoor recreation business, we wanted to go ahead do something anyway. We are involved in many other outdoor and bike projects on Navajo and the kids still ask us when they can go bike packing with us. Parks and Rec are the issuing authority for permits. The COVID pandemic resulted in all non-essential businesses being shut down including the Navajo Parks and Recreation department. Whether it be creating routes or mentoring native youth.
Dzil ta’ah Adventures LLC was created to offer sustainable cultural experiences in the backcountry via bikes and bike packing with most of the commercial tour proceeds helping to build a bikepack community on the Navajo Nation.
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