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
North America Stories
08/05/2026
For the second straight year, Miri Technologies Inc. has been honored with a pair of coveted awards at the broadcast, media and entertainment industry's pre...
08/05/2026
Nine Alumni Nominated for Tony Awards More than 20 alumni contributed to this year's Tony-nominated productions.
May 7, 2026
By
Tori Donahue
Boston Co...
08/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/05/2026
Liberty University on why broadcast technology isn't just a technical invest...
08/05/2026
COW Jobs: UGC, On-Camera Video Content
Brie Clayton May 7, 2026
0 Comments
UGC, On-Camera Video Content
April 17, 2026Documentary Editor - US,......
07/05/2026
Multi-year partnership positions Victory+ as a free home for Dallas Cowboys orig...
07/05/2026
From sideline reporting to directing and producing, the talented sophomore is building a well-rounded foundation for a career in live sports production
In the ...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital has received two Future Best of Show awards at NAB Show 2026. The COBALT blueCORE platform was recognized by TV Tech, and the COBALT PACIFIC ULL-...
07/05/2026
ESPN analyst Mina Kimes will host the televised semifinals and finals of the 202...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI, the global film streaming platform, has selected Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner. Bitmovin's encoding infrastru...
07/05/2026
NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and the U.S. Soccer Federation have announced...
07/05/2026
Angel City Football Club (ACFC) and Victory have announced a regional broadcast partnership bringing live match coverage to fans across the greater Los Angeles...
07/05/2026
Spiideo has announced the launch of AI Highlights inside Spiideo Play, its automated sports production platform. AI Highlights combines video, event data, audio...
07/05/2026
Leostream Corporation has announced a unified remote access ecosystem for high-p...
07/05/2026
The Atlanta Dream has partnered with Victory to stream all locally broadcast Dream games for free, expanding the team's digital distribution strategy and g...
07/05/2026
Riedel Communications has announced the appointment of Marc Engroff as Chief Fin...
07/05/2026
SES and ARD, Germany's largest public broadcasting network, have announced a long-term extension of their satellite distribution partnership through 2039. U...
07/05/2026
UpLight Technologies delivers a flexible video and lighting system for a new televised sportLaunching the Pro Cheer League required more than creating a compell...
07/05/2026
Full Day Productions and GSE Worldwide have announced Spikes Under the Lights, a...
07/05/2026
Two multi-role L3Harris products - the Red Wolf launched effects vehicle and SK...
07/05/2026
L3Harris will be developing key features of a secure and resilient digital infra...
07/05/2026
Alysa Liu and Shohei Ohtani Help Drive Viewership as 91 of the Top 100 Broadcast...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show
Manufacturer Recognized by TV Tech and TVBEurope for Innovation in signal processing
Cobal...
07/05/2026
Software and hardware platforms, AI power and user-friendliness on show...
07/05/2026
Intinor will demonstrate its latest technical enhancements for the Direkt series at BroadcastAsia 2026. With a continued focus on reliable contribution and remo...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI has chosen Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner, replacing MUBI's legacy on premises encoding setup to improve scalab...
07/05/2026
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2026 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
07/05/2026
Strategic three-year partnership marks delivery phase of BFBS' next-generation media vision
Media organisation and military charity BFBS (British Forces Br...
07/05/2026
Amagi, the agentic industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, today announced the availability of its In-Content Ads offering v...
07/05/2026
Lightware Visual Engineering has developed Rack Taurus for rack-based environments such as education and corporate training spaces. It enables clean and simple ...
07/05/2026
Jigsaw24, the UK's leading media equipment supplier and systems integrator, will showcase its expanded end-to-end workflow capabilities at MPTS 2026, signal...
07/05/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company, today announced that it has been granted a US Patent for its proprietary graphical overlay technology, the foundation for interact...
07/05/2026
Test & measurement innovator Leader Electronics of Europe will present an extensive range of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix test and measurement solutions at...
07/05/2026
At Broadcast Asia 2026 (Stand 5H3 8), LiveU is redefining live production with its most powerful IP-video EcoSystem to date built to help broadcasters and con...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Recreating the 1974 Doctor Who Time Tunnel in After Effects
Graham Quince May 6, 2026
0 Comments
The Time Tunnel from Doctor Who titles is one of th...
07/05/2026
AI will help build the energy it needs.
That's the case U.S. Energy Secreta...
07/05/2026
Back to All News
Red Chillies Entertainment and Netflix Present the Trailer of ...
07/05/2026
Less typing, more tanking.
Faster logins mean more time in the gaming action - and this week provides GeForce NOW members with a smoother path straight into th...
06/05/2026
Gravity Media Chief RF Communications Engineer Glenn Willems uses Wisycom RF over Fiber and wireless solutions across major cycling events and international mar...
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. 
