On June 12, 2025, 15 year old Tasia Linwood set out to kayak 310 miles down the Klamath River, from southern Oregon to the coast of northern California. She went with several other young Indigenous kayakers, from different tribes who live along the river. Their journey marked the first descent of the Klamath after the removal of four dams, which her community had fought for for decades.
On June 12, 2025, 15 year old Tasia Linwood set out to kayak 310 miles down the Klamath River, from southern Oregon to the coast of northern California. She went with several other young Indigenous kayakers, from different tribes who live along the river. Their journey marked the first descent of the Klamath after the removal of four dams, which her community had fought for for decades.
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Tasia Linwood:
Kayaking is physically demanding and it hurts your shoulders and your core and your elbows and you just got to keep going. And sometimes on kayaking trips, nothing is going to go the way that you expect it to and plans will change and you'll miss your take out or you'll go down the wrong path on a rapid and it's just not everything is going to be perfect and you just got to go with the flow.
Shelby Stanger:
On June 12th, 2025, 15-year-old Tasia Linwood set out to kayak 310 miles down the Klamath River from Southern Oregon to the coast of Northern California. She went with several other young indigenous kayakers from different tribes who live along the river. Their journey marked the first descent of the Klamath after the removal of four dams, which her community had fought for for decades.
Tasia Linwood:
It wasn't a choice to do the first descent or to not do the first descent. It was something that I had to do not only for myself, but for my family and for my ancestors and for the people who went before me and didn't get to see the river undammed. And that's why I was doing it and that's why I kept going.
Shelby Stanger:
I'm Shelby Stanger and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living, an REI Co-op Studios production presented by Capital One and the REI Co-op Mastercard. The Klamath River has always been a big part of Tasia's life. She learned how to swim in it, how to drive alongside it, and she even dances on its banks for a tribal ceremony every year. Her community has long caught salmon in its waters. A few years ago, Tasia's godbrothers participated in a camp with Paddle Tribal Waters, an organization that teaches indigenous youth how to kayak. After seeing their experience, Tasia's aunt encouraged her to try it out.
Tasia Linwood:
My aunt was like, "Tasia, you should do this. It's awesome. It's only two weeks if you don't like it. You'll get to learn how to kayak. You'll be on the Salmon and Klamath River. It's really amazing." So I did it. Me and my older brother went on this program and at the time my other older brother was a junior counselor, so it was awesome. And I got to learn how to kayak on the Klamath River.
Shelby Stanger:
What'd you think of kayaking?
Tasia Linwood:
What did I think of kayaking? Oh my God, it was actually so scary.
Shelby Stanger:
Tell me about that first time.
Tasia Linwood:
Yeah, it was the first time I'd ever kayaked. So that first two weeks was pretty easy, but it was my first time ever whitewater kayaking. And I mean, kind of kayaking in general, I'd kayaked a couple times before that, but it was not professional kayaking. I didn't have a spray skirt or a helmet or anything.
So during that two week program, the last three days you go on a kayaking trip. So it's a three-day overnight. You go and you camp along the river bar and are raft-supported and you go kayaking.
And on the very last day of this two week program, I flipped really bad and I forgot my training. When you flip, you're supposed to roll, but I didn't know how to roll. So you're supposed to pop your skirt because you're wearing this skirt that keeps you in the kayak and keeps the water out. And so I forgot my training and I didn't pop my skirt and instead I kicked myself out of the boat. I hit my head, which I was wearing a helmet, I hit my head just on the back of my kayak and I got super bruised up really bad on my leg because I kicked myself out of the kayak and I got really scared and I was like, "Oh my God, I do not want to kayak ever again." But I did anyways and that's on having brothers and I probably wouldn't have if I didn't have them there, but here we are and now I kayak and it's awesome. But that was really, really scary and it hurt pretty bad. And I had a very physical reminder for a very long time after that.
Shelby Stanger:
Yeah, there's so much there. One, brave of you and awesome that you did this. Also, what a cool thing for kids to do, this sounds like an incredible organization. Also, yes, having brothers, super annoying, but they push you, it sounds like.
Tasia Linwood:
Yeah, they do.
Shelby Stanger:
And they got you back out there.
Tasia Linwood:
Yeah, I am very grateful for them actually. You just can't tell them.
Shelby Stanger:
At the end of the two-week camp, Tasia and the other young kayakers were offered a very meaningful opportunity. They were invited to apply for a chance to join the first descent of the Klamath River. For years, the river had been blocked by dams, but by 2025, most of them were finally removed. It was a historic moment that local tribes had been advocating for for decades. Tasia understood how important this was for her community, so she applied and then trained hard for two years.
Tasia Linwood:
We did this part as a celebration and part as a form of protest and activism. And I also did this a lot for my family and for my ancestors. I'm Karuk, Okanagan, Ojibwe, Wampanog, and Tohono O'odham. Specifically right now, I'm talking about the Karuk people who are from ... where the Salmon River and the Klamath River meet is right where I'm from.
Shelby Stanger:
So I don't think everybody understands the significance of removing these dams. Why were they there in the first place?
Tasia Linwood:
Yeah. So the dams got first put in over a hundred years ago. They were put in for hydroelectricity, which isn't a good energy source, kind of just in general, period, because of its effects on both the land and the people and because hydroelectricity is obviously like taking water and water is called a renewable source and that's why dams are considered a renewable energy source, but water isn't going to be here forever. It's not a renewable energy source. So it's actually, it's not really clean energy as much as people think it is.
Shelby Stanger:
So for people like me who, we're in San Diego, I've never seen this dam. I've never even been in the Klamath River. Tell me about the significance of removing them, especially for your community.
Tasia Linwood:
Yeah. There's this thing that happens a lot with dams and is a direct cause of dams called eutrophication. And essentially that means that there's too many nutrients and toxins in the river and so that can mean like a bunch of algae. And what it does is it takes oxygen out of the water and that makes fish die because fish also need oxygen in the water and the algae, so essentially it suffocates the fish and the fish die.
In 2002, a lot of the fish died and there was just so much fish washing up onshore and just covered in algae. It was really gross and traumatic because the fish are a part of who we are, not just as Karuk people, but as native people. Almost every single native person I know eats salmon and our people relied on salmon pre-colonization. And so that was one of the direct effects of the dams. And along with that, it's an invasion of our space and our people and it's one of those things that was taken from us, like our river, and putting the dams in, it's a form of colonization and pain and heartbreak and that's what comes from it.
Shelby Stanger:
The first descent would require 310 miles of paddling and take a month to complete. Not all of the kayakers would paddle the whole thing. Many would join the group for sections of the river that matched their skill level, but Tasia was keen to complete the entire route. To prepare, she completed two semester long programs over the course of two years, learning how to safely navigate everything from calm lakes to powerful rapids.
What was a typical day of training? What types of rivers are you doing? What kinds of things do you have to know? What sort of skills do you have to learn? Like you went from kayaking three days to you're going to kayak for a 30-day paddle on class four, class five rapids.
Tasia Linwood:
Yeah.
Shelby Stanger:
And to be the first, this is a big deal.
Tasia Linwood:
Yeah, the first is a big deal because no one had ever seen the river like that in over a hundred years and the river changes and the water changes and no one totally knew what it was going to look like and how the water was going to be and how the rapids were going to be.
But anyways, you have to know how to roll. That's really important. There were some sections of the Klamath River descent where you had to apply to different sections and so not everyone would get to go to all the sections because of how either physically demanding it was or how challenging it was. And so if you were like, "Yeah, I want to do all the river and I want to do as much as the Klamath River as I can," you got to go and work harder and you got to go put in the hours and show the instructors and our teachers that you are ready and that you can do it. We're going to do it in a couple months, lock in, go practice in the lake, bro. Come on now. Because there's also the lakes on the Klamath River that were horrible and torturous and pretty much just like living hell.
Shelby Stanger:
Why?
Tasia Linwood:
Well, for one, they're flat water so it doesn't help you get anywhere. Well, actually it's not flat water, there's waves and they don't go in any particular direction because it's not a river and it's not just flowing downstream. And it was also windy and the wind was blowing in the opposite direction and it was really gross and really algae and really stinky.
Shelby Stanger:
Tasia, I'm learning so much from you. I think it's so interesting. I want to go back because one of the most important things you had to do is know how to roll. How long did it take you to learn how to roll?
Tasia Linwood:
I might sound like a badass, but I'm actually really scared of a lot of things. And so rolling was actually really scary. I absolutely, I locked in so hard and I was just like rolling on rolling on rolling, and I was like, that was my prime kayaking so far.
Shelby Stanger:
What else was really beneficial that you learned when you actually paddled?
Tasia Linwood:
Yeah. I think just perseverance and just, you just got to keep going. Like Dory says, "You just got to keep swimming."
Shelby Stanger:
Dory from The Little Mermaid?
Tasia Linwood:
No, no, no, that's from Finding Nemo.
Shelby Stanger:
Dory, "Just keep swimming."
Tasia Linwood:
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming. And that's what you got to do. You just got to keep going and-
Shelby Stanger:
Just keep paddling.
Tasia Linwood:
Just keep paddling. And it's hard. Kayaking is physically demanding and it hurts your shoulders and your core and your elbows and you just got to keep going. And also just going with the flow. Sometimes on kayaking trips, nothing is going to go the way that you expect it to and plans will change and you'll miss your take out or you'll go down the wrong path on a rapid and it's just not everything is going to be perfect and you just got to go with the flow.
Shelby Stanger:
After two years of training, Tasia Linwood and a group of indigenous youths set out to make the first descent of the newly undammed Klamath River. They began in Southern Oregon at the headwaters of the Wood River, a tributary that feeds into the Klamath. This area is especially polluted because it's located above the two dams that still remain.
Okay, take me to day one of this first descent. You guys, there's a crew of how many people, where are you and when exactly was this?
Tasia Linwood:
There was so much going on. I was kind of scared. I was confused. I'm like, "What's happening right now?" And there's just like so many different boats and so many different people and I'm trying to find my boat and I got to adjust it so it fits my legs and my hips and my back, just taking in what I'm doing and where I am and also making sure I'm staying present in the moment.
Shelby Stanger:
Where were you?
Tasia Linwood:
We were camping at the headwaters of the Wood River and so we did 19.2 miles that day and I want to say three of those miles were on the lake and the lake was horrible and when we go off the lake, the nasty lake might I add, no showers and the bathroom was bad. And then as we were kayaking down the Wood River, it turned into a lot of agriculture and so the river which was pristine at the headwaters was like really kind of gross at the end of the river and there was some bridges and there was mud and it smelled like cows and it smelled like farm and it was muddy and there was these bridges and the river and there was grass and sticks.
And there was also really good Uncrustables and also one of the instructors, he had Twizzlers and they were really yummy and there was really good snacks and we were kind of just meandering because it was really slow water because the river is just like back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and it was slow and it was like very serendipity or something like that.
Shelby Stanger:
What did you do for food? You had some Uncrustables.
Tasia Linwood:
So every day during breakfast and right after breakfast we would make ourselves lunch and it was really sweet, sometimes my best friend would make me my lunch and she'd put little notes on it and she'd make me little hearts on my little sack lunch.
Shelby Stanger:
It's fun having a bestie that does something hard with you or did something hard with you and you have that shared experience.
Tasia Linwood:
Yeah.
Shelby Stanger:
So where would you sleep?
Tasia Linwood:
I slept with her in her tent.
Shelby Stanger:
So every night you guys slept in tents and you would kayak to a place, get out and you'd set up your own tent?
Tasia Linwood:
Yeah, sometimes, but sometimes we were kind of tired and lazy and just didn't set up a tent and instead just like slept on the ground, like on a tarp with our blankets and pillows and each other.
Shelby Stanger:
Not a sleeping bag?
Tasia Linwood:
We had sleeping bags, but we also brought an abnormal amount of blankets to make our living situation as comfortable as possible. We did use sleeping bags, but the blankets were the memorable part and they ... Dude, it was like so cozy. Sometimes it looked like an actual bed because we would just like stack these blankets on top of each other and then have sleeping bags and then have other blankets on top of it and it was like really cushiony and comfortable.
Shelby Stanger:
Tasia appreciated when she could use her cozy sleep setup, especially because the days on the river were long and often grueling. Between the heat from the sun, motion sickness from the lake waves and muscle strain from paddling long distances, she was wiped by the end of the day. But there was always something to look forward to. Throughout the trip, the young kayakers had visitors from home and from indigenous communities around the world who all came to witness their journey and be part of this historic event. Some of Tasia's family members were even watching during one of the most intense moments of the paddle. Do you remember the biggest rapid you took?
Tasia Linwood:
I believe the biggest rapid I've done was Big Ikes, which is on the Klamath River and it was actually, there's a really funny story about this is that my best friend was in front of me. Her name's Tay, by the way. So Tay was in front of me. There's these like two rocks and there's water going in between the rocks and then on both sides of the rocks and we're supposed to go on the absolute right side. We kind of went middle right, and we went over the rocks. Tay got stuck in a hole and your kayak can just keep circulating until it flushes you out. And I was behind her. I also flipped. I pushed her boat out and my boat didn't get stuck and so both of us got pushed out at the same time.
And so on that day, my dad and my brother and some of my aunts and uncles and cousins came to watch from the highway, from up on the cliffs and so they saw all this happen and my aunt was taking a video and she was freaking out. She was like, "Oh my God, that's Tasia. She's in the hole. She's stuck." It wasn't me though, so that's good. And they were all freaking out and I'm so glad that my uncle and my dad were up on the cliffs because if they weren't, they would to try to jump in and save me or something.
Shelby Stanger:
This sounds like a really adventurous trip.
Tasia Linwood:
It was something.
Shelby Stanger:
The hardest day was probably the day you did 19 miles or so.
Tasia Linwood:
Yeah, 19.2 miles. That was my first day.
Shelby Stanger:
And it was hard, why?
Tasia Linwood:
Okay, so it was hard for one, the river part, the Wood River part was hard because as I was saying earlier, it was just so twisting and turning and it was also really slow moving water. And so when the water is slow moving or not moving at all, it's really hard, it just doesn't help you in any way.
Shelby Stanger:
So what did you say to yourself on those days that it was really hard?
Tasia Linwood:
Well, in reality I said, "This is how you get muscles, so lock in because at the end of the day, this is how you get them abs. This is how you get them biceps." But on a more serious note, I also had to remind myself like, "This is hard and this is what I have to do." It wasn't a choice to do the first descent or to not do the first descent. It was something that I had to do not only for myself but for my family and for my ancestors and for the people who went before me and didn't get to see the river undammed and that's why I was doing it and that's why I kept going.
Shelby Stanger:
Tell me more about that, especially as you approached the final day, that had to have been emotional.
Tasia Linwood:
It was so emotional. On one hand, I was like, "Damn, I'm ready to go home. I'm ready to see my little sisters and just take a couple naps and just relax." And on the other hand, I was like, "Now I have to leave. Now I have to leave my best friend and I have to leave kayaking and I'm not going to get to kayak until who knows when."
We were staying at this RV camp type place and my grandpa was at the neighboring RV site and so he was waving and hollering and singing and so I got to see him right before I hit the ocean and I went down and you could hear everyone and my aunt and my uncle were there in rafts and canoes and then it was us, all the kayakers in a line next to each other and then behind us we were followed by the rafts that had these people from all these different places and we were all just hooting and hollering and singing and we were just ecstatic and then we got to the ocean and it was just like, the emotion just like hit and I was like, "Oh my goodness, wow, we're here. We made it. We did that." And it was an emotional day for all of us.
Shelby Stanger:
The first descent was a huge physical feat, but it also symbolized something greater. After decades of fighting for the removal of these dams, the kayaking journey was a celebration of indigenous pride, resilience, and sovereignty. I'm curious how your family responded to you, your mom, your brothers and sisters, your aunties, your grandpa, your community.
Tasia Linwood:
Yeah, everyone was just ecstatic and excited and proud. And there's two hands to this, on one hand it was fun and it was like this awesome experience and once in a lifetime and exciting and fun and those sorts of things. And then on the other hand, it's like, this is powerful and this is important because not only at the last day, but there was spots along the way all the way from Oregon to California where there were people on bridges and people at our put-ins and take outs just like, they were just so excited and happy and joyful. There's people crying tears of joy for this and for us and it was really beautiful.
Shelby Stanger:
Tasia's trip was captured by filmmaker Jessie Sears in the award-winning documentary, First Descent: Kayaking the Klamath. We'll link to it in the show notes. If you want to find out more about Paddle Tribal Waters, find them on Instagram at Rios to Rivers. That's R-I-O-S T-O R-I-V-E-R-S. We'll also include a link in the show notes to purchase merch that supports the organization.
Congrats to previous guest Chad Caruso for breaking his own record. He's skateboarded across the country in 39 days finishing June 8th and raising a ton of money for the organization Natural High. Chad, we're so impressed by you. Wild Ideas Worth Living is part of the REI Podcast Network. It's hosted by me, Shelby Stanger, produced by Annie Fassler, Sylvia Thomas, and Sam Peers Nitzberg of Puddle Creative. Our senior producer is Jenny Barber. Our executive producers are Paolo Mottola and Joe Crosby. Thanks again to our partner, Capital One and the REI Co-op Mastercard.
As always, we love it when you follow the show, take time to rate it and write a review wherever you listen. And remember, some of the best adventures happen when you follow your wildest ideas.