RUNNING BEFORE IT’S GONE STEVE BAILEY AND THE ZAMBEZI RIVER BY JOHN ELIASON
RAPID #7 ON THE ZAMBEZI. // PHOTO COURTESY OF STEVE BAILEY
AN IRRESISTIBLE PASSION FOR RIVERS CONJURES LIQUID THUNDER IN STEVE BAILEY’S DREAMS. His whitewater kayaking expertise emerges from thousands of hours ascending
currents, catching eddies, boofing rocks, and dropping into hydro hellholes on flood-stage rivers. Recirculating waters have held him close to breathlessness, and Steve has been trashed in the roils and coils of winter froth. He has surfed the waves of opaque bluedom. Steve’s helmet cam videos on YouTube betray a stout courage and prowess on big water. He is a calculated risk taker who executes paddle strokes and body shifts that are aligned for joy in pools and drops and falls. Growing up in Spokane helped prepare Steve for the outdoor adventures he has launched in the far reaches of our watery planet. Despite a raft of commitments to his family, community, and 25-year career in the fire service, when Steve turned 40, he and his wife agreed: He needed to celebrate in a distinctive way. What follows is a sort of return to that distinctive flow.
Q: STEVE, WHAT’S YOUR BACKGROUND AS A KAYAKER?
A: A coworker took me to Liberty Lake to teach me to roll. Then we floated the upper 44
OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM / MARCH-APRIL 2022
Spokane from Barker to Sullivan. The next day we headed to the Alberton Gorge on Montana’s Clark Fork River, where I swam three times. I got beat up a lot, but just had so much fun. Soon after, I found out a high school friend was taking a kayak class at EWU. Then a group of four or five of us met up on the Spokane River, got hooked on the sport, and started going every day. Nobody had solid rolls, but we would help each other out with t-rescues and swims. We couldn't get enough. At one point I think I was putting down close to 150-180 days a year on the water.
Q: HOW DID THE ZAMBEZI SHOW UP ON YOUR RADAR?
A: When I started kayaking in the early 2000s, the Zambezi and Nile kept popping up. Guys from that area like Steve Fisher and Corran Addison heavily promoted those rivers in their videos and magazine articles. It was powerful water. There are different facets of kayaking: you can do big water, steep creeking, freestyle, river running, park-and-play. That big stuff was just so much fun. In those first few years, I just decided, one of these
