Guide remembered for ‘ love in her heart for the river’ and the people she cared about

Evie Hagan, a river guide who came to Haines for the summer to work for Alaska Mountain Guides, was involved in a fatal rafting accident in Canada. (Courtesy/Ava Lenox)

By Rashah McChesney

Chilkat Valley News

Just over a week ago, a group of employees from Alaska Mountain Guides went on a guides-only rafting trip down the Blanchard and Tatshenshini rivers.

One of the four rafts flipped and longtime whitewater guide Marin Pitt died.

Evie Hagan, 21, was also in the boat that flipped. Hagan, who is herself an experienced whitewater guide, sat down with Chilkat Valley News reporter Rashah McChesney to talk about her experience.

Editor’s note: This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity. It also contains graphic discussion of a near-death experience which may be triggering for some readers.

Rashah McChesney: How did you end up in Haines and working for Alaska Mountain Guides?

Evie Hagan: I have always wanted to spend a summer in Alaska guiding and I knew it was going to be Haines when I visited in 2018 and I just fell in love with it. I just kind of always had in the back of my head that someday, some summer, I’m gonna go and I’m gonna guide there.

There were multiple different companies and I reached out to all of them, but AMG got back to me, and they were looking for a rafting guide for the Chilkat, which was flat water, but I didn’t care because it’s the most beautiful water. It’s never boring and it’s incredibly technical, and honestly, a lot more difficult than I had imagined when I first got here.

Have you had much experience guiding?

Yes. I have been a whitewater guide in Montana for the past three summers. I guided on this river called the Gallatin River, which is class II-IV (a I-V rating system on rivers that ranges from beginner-friendly to advanced). I just do a lot of boating other than that. My brother works as a whitewater river ranger for the Forest Service and he’s the one that got me into it. When I was 15, I moved to Patagonia, Chile, to do this whitewater school for six months.

So I have a lot of experience in a lot of different places, doing a lot of different types of whitewater boating. I really, really find so much joy in the river.

How did you end up meeting Marin Pitt?

When I first got to Haines and got to AMG, Marin was off at a wedding, actually, in Jordan for a couple weeks, and so I didn’t meet her right away. But, I knew about her right away because she was so loved and also feared in the community, because she was so cool.

She has had this big red van, lifted with these big tires, and, this beautiful dog, and the best setup. I came into Haines and was like ‘yeah, I’m a whitewater guide from Montana.’ And turns out she was, like, the whitewater guide from Montana.

The very first day someone said, ‘you’re going to love Marin,’ and I did immediately. She was just such a kind person, and she’s so humble too, which is wild, because she had every reason in the world not to be humble. We were really fast friends.

How did you two prepare for the rafting trip in Canada? Was there anything about that night before or the day of trip that stands out to you now?

We came to Alaska knowing about this river, and, it’s funny, in my journal I made a bucket list for Alaska, and the very first thing is to run the Blanchard.

We knew it was kind of getting to that time because it was getting to be high water and every river was getting big. So when we heard, I think we were working together the day before, and that’s when I first heard that the next day was going to be the Blanchard day.

We were so excited. We we spent that evening packing our river bags together and eating chips and salsa and talking about what we think it’s going to be like, and what we should bring, and how rowdy we think it’s going to be, and just so excited to go.

Marin had this drag bag, which is just like a mesh back you clip to the back of the boat, and you just put your drinks in there to keep them cool. I was like, ‘Marin you’ve got to bring your drag bag.’ The [orchestrator of the whole trip] was like ‘no, you can’t bring that. We’re not drinking. It’s going to be high water, it’s going to be rowdy, and no one’s going to be drinking.’

So, we knew the night before that this was going to be a really dialed trip, a really safe professional trip.

How did that shape how you approached the river — or this trip in particular? Can you walk me through the safety plan for the day?

I was definitely nervous because I knew this river was a big deal. I wanted to go on this river forever, but probably the biggest reason was … it’s a challenging river and a technical river.

Before we left the next morning, everyone had to be checked to make sure they had a [personal flotation device], a whitewater helmet and a wetsuit. And if they didn’t have a wetsuit, they had to have something better, like a dry suit. Luckily, the company has a bunch of wetsuits and helmets.

It was a hot day, it was a super hot day. But when we got to the put-in, everyone was complaining that it was so hot — do we have to wear these wetsuits?

[The trip leader] said, ‘yes, absolutely everyone has to have wetsuits on because this water is going to be really cold.’ A lot of whitewater deaths come from cold water shock and sending people into cardiac arrest.

You mentioned that you rode out there with Marin. What did you two talk about?

We talked a lot about the river. I just loved picking her brain, because she was so intelligent and she just had lots of life experience. For how young she was, she lived so much life.

I just thought she was the coolest person ever, and I wanted to be just like her. I was so excited that I got to sit next to her and she wanted to go boating with me. I was on top of the world.

I was asking her what her favorite river was and her dream boat. And then we talked a lot about her sister, and we talked about their matching tattoos. And she had told me in the past that her dad made this really good rhubarb mash for breakfast when they were kids. She talked about her dad [and his] rhubarb mash and how she missed it. So that morning, I had gone to Chilkat bakery, and I got her a rhubarb fritter. We shared that on the bus. We each had our little fritters and we talked a lot about, like, just silly things.

Something that really sticks out to me about Marin, and especially that morning, is she’s just so joyful. She just had so much love in her heart for the river and the people she cares about.

I just really admired how secure she was in that.

How many boats were there? How did you decide what the boat order was?

There were four boats in total. Three bigger boats, so those boats were about – 16-18 feet long? They held five to eight people.

We were actually a sweep boat, which means we were the last boat. That’s just like the safety boat because we were experienced and if people in the other boats swam, we could pick them up. [Before we went on the river], the two trip leaders came back, and one gave a very in-depth safety talk. That’s when someone, usually the trip leader, will usually get up on top of a raft and really scare you. And that’s the point.

I remember being like, ‘damn, that was a good talk. Because she there’s that line you want to go, especially on commercial trips, where it’s, like, you want to scare people enough to know what they’re doing and what they’re getting into, but you also don’t want to scare them so much that they don’t want to go.

Everyone there knew what they were going to be doing. Like, this was the Blanchard, it was kind of like a rite of passage sort of thing.

What do you remember about the lead-up to the accident?

Even if nothing had happened that day, I would remember it very vividly, because we were having so much fun…because the Blanchard was so fun. It was high water. The rapids were really rowdy. The five of us on that boat were just having the best time.

It’s a lot of adrenaline because you’re just getting pushed into big waves and big splashes. But you also have to really get yourself into those holes and those rapids, and you also have to get yourself out so you never stop paddling. It’s not like a roller coaster where you’re just along for the ride. You are 100% in charge of your destiny when you’re rafting.

When did you realize something was going wrong on the river — and how did you react in the moment?

We had just passed the confluence and were just on the Tatshenshini — right before all the rapids. We flipped at the top of the first rapid.

There was a moment for me but it was after the flip. That wasn’t shocking or really surprising. It is dangerous obviously. You want to get those people back in the boat, but it is very common. And I remember flipping and coming up and not being scared, because I’ve done this a million times.

Very quickly, I got pulled under into a hydraulic. You get sucked into big waves and hydraulics and rapids, but you’re wearing a PFD, so you pop back up. I remember that first rapid I got sucked into. I wasn’t coming back up on my own, and I had to actively get to the surface.

And I remember being like, ‘oh shit. Like, this is bigger water than I’ve ever swam.’

Could you see anyone else?

After we flipped and got into that first rapid, I popped up and Marin had just come up next to me. We linked arms, and I was hyperventilating and she just told me to breathe. She was so calm. She knew exactly what she was doing.

We must have been hooked together for maybe 15 seconds, I don’t even know, but we then immediately got ripped apart in the next rapid.

When she told me to breathe, it clicked for me that I needed to start timing my breaths. I would see the next big thing coming and get as much oxygen as I can, and then time my breath and make sure I’m holding my breath for the next time I’m going to get ripped back under.

Even doing that, I swallowed so much water even with timing my breaths.

Eventually, I got so exhausted. Every ounce of your energy is just trying to keep yourself afloat, and your whole body is just gassed. I remember making peace with it and just realizing that I was going to die and there was just no way I was going to come out of it alive.

I was weirdly calm about. I flipped over onto my stomach… which is something that they tell you never to do because people drown – your nose and your toes are supposed to be up. I don’t know if I lost consciousness. I just remember my hands were dragging and I felt I was kind of shallow. My fingertips were brushing the bottom. A rock came and I clung to it and then I was able to crawl onto this gravel bar in the middle of the river between two rapids.

Eventually, I came to and just started throwing up and kept throwing up for a very long time.

A big part of my survival was this stupid, godawful pink helmet that I was wearing that I hated. That morning, I had left it at home because I was like ‘I’m going boating with Marin today and I’m not going to embarrass myself with this really dorky helmet.’ Something told me to go back and I drove all the way back to my aunt’s house and got the helmet.

The crazy thing is, I learned that the helmet is one of the only reasons they found Marin – because of the hot pink. It’s very hard to see a swimmer in this river too, it’s just almost impossible and I stood out in the hot pink helmet and they knew that Marin and I were right next to each other.

Then what happened?

I sat up and I could see that there was a boat, like, 500 yards away downstream and it was tied up onshore. I could see that they were doing compressions on someone.

That just like struck everything in me to to get up and run to the end of this gravel bar to get the closest I could and just scream, and no one could hear me because the river’s so loud.

People at that point had been watching me and saw that now I was OK, and like, breathing and walking and alive.

I was stuck on that gravel bar for over an hour. The really cool thing about this is no one ever forgot about me on that gravel bar because I was, I mean, people were just trying to throwbag me from the shore, which was just impossible. And people were running, like, hiking upstream to try to get to me.

It was the most horrible thing that I’ve ever experienced. Just truly like a nightmare. Being able to see everything that’s going on but not being able to do anything. Just screaming and no one can hear you.

I watched them do compressions on her for like 45 minutes No one was giving up, and I just watched the whole thing. And I just knew someone died.

The two other boats were upstream of me. They got to me on the gravel bar and picked me up, and I had to be the one to tell them that someone is dead. .

Eventually this great company out of the Yukon called Tatshenshini Expeditions came and picked us up. They must have received an SOS signal. There was a SAT phone in every boat, so they must have received our signal and were able to come and rescue us. Thank God for them.

What has been coming back to you in the past few days? What do you want people to know as you’re thinking about this?

I’ve really been thinking about how calm Marin was and how while she didn’t physically save my life or die trying to save my life – she was thinking about me, like trying to calm me down.

If anyone knew what they were doing on that river, it was Marin. . There is nothing anyone could have done. It’s just the cruel reality of whitewater and the river. It will take you where it wants to take you.

I think about how she was helping me out. How calm she was. How everyone did everything they could – especially the trip leaders. Everyone on that trip was insanely professional. It’s hard for anyone to know what to do in that scenario, but they were so fast and efficient and just did everything right. That’s the only thing that brings me peace these days.

• This article was originaly published by the Chilkat Valley News.