Behind the Stories
The Jarbidge: A true wilderness river!
By Bruce ReichertJune 30, 2009
We’ve all watched wilderness video that, frankly, seemed pretty darn tame.
Well, you won’t be saying that about this footage!
Earlier this month, John Crancer and Chuck Cathcart joined up with outfitter John Barker, for a trip down the Jarbidge and Bruneau rivers. It was for a program we hope to air in 2010, on the newly-created Owyhee wilderness area.
But it turned into the trip from hell. It rained the entire time. Rocks broke free from the cliff, creating a new difficult rapid that ate one of the rafts. As Chuck describes some of the action, “I ran down the trail to see if the others were safe, and I saw John standing on a rock in the middle of the river. The raft he had been riding in was now wrapped around a rock.”
“The river was running fast and everything was crazy,” recalls Chuck. “I saw the second raft go into the rapids, and the oarsman was thrown into the churning water. My heart was pounding.”
You can watch the crew try to navigate the new rapid and Jarbidge Falls in this short video clip. (This video is also on our Outdoor Idaho Facebook page, with comments from viewers.)
Behind the Scenes at the Special Olympics World Winter Games
By Marcia FranklinMay 15, 2009
Like many Americans, I had heard about the Special Olympics since their establishment in 1968. But I had never been to any competitions. When it was announced a few years ago that the Special Olympics World Games would come to Boise in 2009, it seemed like a natural fit for an “Outdoor Idaho” documentary.
On a visit back to Washington, DC, though, I met with representatives of the Special Olympics to learn more about the scope of the event, and I started getting a little nervous about covering it! With thousands of athletes from nearly 100 counties, how would I narrow down who and what would I feature?
Initially, I had hoped to follow a foreign athlete to Boise, but that eventually seemed impractical. I decided to concentrate on some of the Idaho athletes. We’ll include several of their stories in the program, as well as video of athletes from other countries. Editor Jay Krajic will work his magic on the footage, shot in four different locations and by nine videographers. I hope you are as inspired as we were by the tenacity and spirit of not only the competitors, but also of the families, trainers and volunteers who devote countless hours to helping the athletes achieve their dreams.
View a clip of the upcoming show.
Hi-bandwidth: Play here 
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Snowboarder Alicia Paulin of Caldwell smiles after completing a run down Dollar Mountain in Sun Valley. Alicia, who is both cognitively challenged and sight-impaired, is a student at the Gooding School for the Deaf and Blind.