Sixteen Day Expedition Rowing the Grand Canyon, by Amy Dingle and Cassie Lane

Living as river nomads and moving their lives downstream daily, Amy Dingle and Cassie Lane – along with 14 other friends and strangers – rowed the mighty Colorado. Through huge whitewater, sweltering heat, freezing water and 50 MPH headwinds, the group paddled 226 miles in the beautiful, geological marvel of the Grand Canyon.  

Learn about their adventure and experience the beauty through the lens of a veteran and a first timer. Hear two perspectives on the same experience of rowing the Colorado River; a quintessential adventure of wilderness, of wildness, and our natural world.   

Speaker bios:

Amy Dingle – Amy Dingle is the Director of Outdoor Connections for Five Rivers MetroParks working to develop strategy as well as plan and implement public engagement efforts that support the MetroParks mission through environmental education, outdoor recreation, and conservation. She has been focused on recreation development initiatives since 2007 in the Dayton region and continues to advocate for additional amenities for users to have access and increase vibrancy throughout the community.

Dingle has been paddling since she was nine years old, learning from her father who taught outdoor adventure recreation skills at Ohio University. She was a member of the USA Canoe Kayak Slalom Team which provided the opportunity to paddle in many areas around the world. She did her first Grand Canyon expedition in a kayak in 2006, again in 2010 and this was her first rowing and Trip Leader experience. She has had several paddling expeditions including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Racquette River in New York, Desolation Canyon on the Green River and soon the Buffalo River. The next large multi-raft adventure is being planned for the Yampa into the Green River.

Dingle enjoys being outdoors doing numerous types of outdoor activities including all crafts of paddling, backpacking, mountain biking, cycling, hiking and skiing.

Cassie Lane – Cassie Lane is a Brand Manager with Bonbright Distributors and works to align with brands that promote outdoor lifestyles and sustainability. In this role she has been able to lead outdoor recreation trips that help get people immersed in the outdoor lifestyle that include kayaking, mountain biking and hiking. She has been able to collaborate with community partners and participate in river clean ups locally along the Mad and Great Miami Rivers and provided sponsorship dollars to events that promote being outside and living active lifestyles.

Lane has been participating in paddlesports since she was a teenager, involved with the Girl Scouts, and continued her pursuit throughout college learning about whitewater and sea kayaking. She has been involved in expeditions involving two, 10-day Boundary Water Canoe Area trips and a multi-day trip through the Raquette River in New York. She has completed several sea kayaking expeditions, including the Ten Thousand Island Range through the Everglades in Florida, Cape Hatters National Seashore in North Carolina, and several miles around Andros Island in the Bahamas. She spent one summer as a raft guide on the Nantahala River, but this was her first multi-day raft expedition and her first time ever seeing the Grand Canyon. The next large multi-raft adventure is being planned for the Yampa into the Green River through Dinosaur National Monument.

Lane enjoys other recreational opportunities in the outdoors, such as rock climbing, mountain biking, fly fishing, backpacking/camping, bird watching and all paddle sports.