GoPro Family member Shon Bollock recently set out to document he and his father Steve's journey to recreate a Grand Canyon rafting trip that they first embarked on in 2005. Sixteen years-and a whole lot of adventures-later, they were able to rally two other boatmen from the original group to execute what could only be described as the bookend trip of a lifetime. In fact, embracing the time we have on Earth became a main theme in the video, titled: GoPro: Impermanence | Rafting the Grand Canyon.
The short documentary, shot 100% on HERO10 Black + MAX, follows the four rafting veterans on a 24-day, 280-mile trip down the Colorado River as they battle not only the elements but Father Time, too. Between sharing fond memories of life on the river-and making new ones-one of the boatmen, Marty Sochet, openly wonders when the three 70-plus-year-old boatmen would become liabilities rather than assets on trips like this. (Spoiler: As you you'll see in the video, this won't be any time soon!)
We caught up with Shon, who is a former professional kayaker in addition to filmmaker, to hear more about what went into the making of Impermanence and all the feels that come with watching it. Here are 10 questions with the creator:
1. How many of the original crew from the trip were there?
Shon: From the original crew on our 2005 trip, we had four of us, which happened to be all the boatmen. I was the only raft guide on our trip that was under 70 years old, and given how tired I was, if my fitness level is half of what the other boatmen had going, I will consider myself lucky. It was truly impressive to watch them navigate the river with grace and with minimal mistakes.
2. How did the dads' (a.k.a. the subjects of the video) meet?
The Dads all met through being river rats oddly enough. My dad, Steve, was guiding for Turtle River Rafting company and met Marty while he was kayaking on the Owyhee in the early 1980s. Marty and Rick were already kayaking buddies and my Dad was the first person to let Rick row on Lower Klamath. Rick was invited on their Grand Canyon trip in '85, which ended up being the first time he had ever rowed his own raft for a whole trip. Eventually, Rick was the owner of Turtle River Rafting company where many in our river circle cut their teeth learning how to guide. Fast forward a couple decades from '85, and they all had children who grew up together eventually joining forces for our first Grand Canyon trip together in 2005.
3. How long did prep take for the trip? And did you always know you'd want to film this reunion trip?
The Grand Canyon permit lottery is a complicated system, one where your odds of winning decrease every time you go on a trip. Our boatmen, not including myself, have nearly 40 private trips down the canyon under their belts. Given those odds, we were fortunate that Gareth Plank, one of our local friends up here in Mt. Shasta, won the permit lottery and extended us the opportunity to jump on his permit. This means we had about 8 weeks to get all of our logistics, gear rentals, shuttle and transportation situated for the trip.
If you ever get the chance to go on a private trip down the Grand Canyon, it's an opportunity that you literally drop anything and everything to be a part of, and I mean anything quit your job, rob a bank, sell a kidney, whatever it takes.
4. Did you raft the exact same section of the river?
We had the same put-in at Lee's Ferry as my first trip but this one was longer. Our 2005 trip was 16 days, and we took out at Diamond Creek but this trip we took the full 24 days and went through the entire canyon taking out at Pearce Ferry, 280 miles from our put-in. Since I was a teenager the last trip, my awareness of the place and the magnitude of the endeavor was pretty lost on me. The effort our fathers put in to get us down that stretch of river at such a young age was nothing short of amazing. Pretty sure I called them all psychopaths about a week into our trip because it became very clear how difficult it would be to bring a pack of teenagers down there for such a long stint in the wilderness.
5. They call it grand for a reason.' What a great quote at Mile 52! Were you starting to get loopy out there? Or what day did the I haven't seen civilization in X days' brain start to kick in?
Not quite yet, haha. At that point you are not even 25% into the expedition, so you want to pace yourself. I think if you have visited the rim of the Grand Canyon you are in awe, but the magnitude of the geological time you float through really expose how tiny and insignificant we are. Despite all the struggles I had during our trip, I really wanted to be as present as possible, trying hard to not look at the map or count days. Once you pass Diamond Creek, the character of the canyon really changes, and in those last few days you become overtly aware of the drought happening below by the towering silt banks.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Shon Bollock (@shonbollock)
--
6. Around 9:21 there is an epic view of the camp from the ridge above. What time did you usually get on and off the river for the day and was there a lot of hiking in those off hours?
That was actually a view from the Patio, which was a day hike. We ended up camping just downstream of there since camping isn't allowed at spots like this on the river to preserve the more heavily trafficked areas.
We had a very diverse range of experiences and hiking desires on our trip, which led to some challenges around making time to hike but also creating reasonable hours on the water.
Our crew was made up of early risers which lead us to getting off the beach around 8 a.m., but we weren't usually getting to camp until around 4 p.m., which set us up for some long days.
Full transparency, I had a lot of hiking amb
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
10/06/2026
DAZN-owned digital-media company launches three fan-first series leaning into cr...
10/06/2026
Clear-Com has announced the appointment of Jason Dino as Southwest Regional Sales Manager USA, covering Southern California and the Southwest region. Dino joins...
10/06/2026
An 11% decrease in number of global broadcast deals reflects the organization...
10/06/2026
The Women Without Boundaries Awards recognize women whose work is advancing the future of media, broadcast, AV, workplace technology, digital experience, and re...
10/06/2026
Today is match day minus two for FIFA and HBS. On Thursday, there will be two ma...
10/06/2026
SES is supporting broadcast distribution of the world's biggest football tou...
10/06/2026
NDI has announced that BirdDog has become the first hardware manufacturer to achieve full NDI 6.3 compatibility across its complete lineup of cameras, encoders,...
10/06/2026
Vince Caputo and Scott Carter, winners of the 2026 Sports Emmy for Outstanding Post Produced Audio have been announced as presenters for the 2026 SVG Advanced A...
10/06/2026
FOX One today unveiled a slate of new product features and enhancements designed to elevate the viewing experience for fans on the official streaming platform o...
10/06/2026
Primary production partners Dome Productions and Raycom Sports once again played...
10/06/2026
The Women in Sports Filmmaking Experienceship is an immersive professional devel...
10/06/2026
The league has expanded its HSAN architecture for the NBA Finals to manage more ...
10/06/2026
The inaugural MoonPay X Games League (XGL) Winter Draft will take place Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at Cosm Los Angeles from 7-9 p.m. PT. The event will strea...
10/06/2026
The University of Oklahoma (OU) Athletics Department and Learfield have announce...
10/06/2026
The Video Services Forum (VSF) has released TR-06-4 Part 8, a new specification for RIST Satellite-Hybrid: Out-of-Band Method. The specification creates a mecha...
10/06/2026
Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, supporting live medical proc...
10/06/2026
A still from The Doom Generation by Gregg Araki (Courtesy of Sundance Institute)
By Lucy Spicer
Have you checked out our Sundance Film Festival 101 list yet...
10/06/2026
Get Hands-On with Interfaces & Mic Preamp Brands
If youre after a new interface or preamp, then GearExpo UK is the place to be! Well have a whole host of au...
10/06/2026
November 13-14 2026, The Midway, San Francisco
Following their recent rebranding, MONO Music Conference (formerly Music Expo) have officially announced thei...
10/06/2026
Debut instrument free for limited time
deFORM is the debut release from newly founded developer ebbandflow, and it's being offered as a free download fo...
10/06/2026
Alone Australia Season 4: Meet the Cast
10 June, 2026
Media releases
WATCH THE TRAILER
Smash-hit survival series Alone Australia drops its highly anticipa...
10/06/2026
DEADLY THEN, DEADLY NOW, DEADLY ALWAYS: SBS & NITV IGNITE NAIDOC WEEK 2026 WITH ...
10/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF advance laser-based drone defense with THORIS LCS Rohde & Schwarz is showcasing THORIS at ILA 2026: A sovereign, end to end counter...
10/06/2026
MAHLE and Rohde & Schwarz develop application for sensor testing of modern drive...
10/06/2026
Production and Development Funding supports the creation of compelling, commercially viable, artistic and culturally relevant South African screen content. Deve...
10/06/2026
Media buyers and sellers can now compare YouTube reach from computer, mobile, an...
10/06/2026
Accedo, Humans not Robots, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) have announced the launch of Ecoflow X. Formerly an IBC Accelerator project, ...
10/06/2026
Frequency, the engine powering the world's leading streaming television channels, today announced that James Smith has joined the company as General Manager...
10/06/2026
At the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for live medical procedures s...
10/06/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media, and entertainment managed services, today announced the launch of its Content Exchange platform powered by Or...
10/06/2026
Klvr will showcase how venues, integrators and production teams are rethinking disposable battery usage at InfoComm 2026 (Las Vegas, June 17-19, booth #N6311). ...
10/06/2026
The Video Services Forum (VSF) has further enhanced the Reliable Internet Streaming Transport (RIST) protocol by incorporating a new feature, RIST Satellite-Hyb...
10/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/06/2026
10 Jun 2026
VEON's Banglalink Brings Every World Cup 2026 Match to Football...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
How to watch every ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 match live on Sky Sports
Where is the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 availabl...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
P RLA brings first-ever Beautifully Clean Oral Care'...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
Sky reveals pulse-pounding first teaser trailer for upco...
10/06/2026
Wuppertal June 10, 2026
Riedel Artist at the Heart of the 14th World Live Neurovascular ConferenceAt the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Li...
10/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Showcases New Mobile Experience, Collections and Games Vision in APAC
Product
10 June 2026
GlobalSouth KoreaJapan
Link copied to c...
10/06/2026
Back to All News
Ready to Join? The Netflix Fan Club Arrives at Cannes Lions
Business
10 June 2026
Global
Link copied to clipboard
Download all assets
N...
10/06/2026
Chemists snap together complex 3D molecules from highly reactive radicals-without losing their shape Scripps Research team develops stereoretentive radical-radi...
09/06/2026
Kiswe announces an expanded long-term partnership with ONE Championship (ONE), t...
09/06/2026
SiriusXM will broadcast FOX Sports' English-language commentary for all 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 matches from June 11 through July 19, available to subscribe...
09/06/2026
EVS has announced it is changing its corporate name from EVS Broadcast Equipment to EVS, reflecting the company's expanded portfolio beyond broadcast equipm...
09/06/2026
Fox Corporation and the NFL have announced a multi-year agreement to bring NFL c...
GoPro Family member Shon Bollock recently set out to document he and his father Steve's journey to recreate a Grand Canyon rafting trip that they first embarked on in 2005. Sixteen years-and a whole lot of adventures-later, they were able to rally two other boatmen from the original group to execute what could only be described as the bookend trip of a lifetime. In fact, embracing the time we have on Earth became a main theme in the video, titled: GoPro: Impermanence | Rafting the Grand Canyon. 
