Scott Dillard
This month, we're excited to spotlight Scott Dillard, one of our club's founders, who has not only shaped the Roaring Fork Kayaking Club but also carried his passion for community across the country to support hurricane relief in Western North Carolina. Scott’s story reflects resilience, dedication, and an unwavering love for rivers and the people who paddle them.
Scott racing the Green River Narrows in 2023
Scott, along with Ben West and Mat Dumoulin, came up with the idea for the Roaring Fork Kayaking Club together in 2020. Scott’s inspiration for co-founding the club came from a desire to create a supportive community that would make kayaking more accessible.
“I was hearing stories of how Mathieu and Francois grew up in clubs in France, and I was super jealous,” Scott explains. “When I started kayaking, my progress was inefficient because I didn’t know any kayakers. I wanted to lower the barrier of entry for people like me.”
What began as a group of friends volunteering their time has evolved into a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with its first employee, dedicated to fostering a safe and fun environment for all skill levels. This vision came full circle this summer when Scott paddled Gore Canyon with a club member who learned to roll with the club only two years prior.
Racing the Green River Narrows had been a long-held dream for Scott, sparked two decades ago when he first began kayaking and later encouraged by marriage to Vida, Tommy Hilleke's sister. Tommy is a Green Race legend. But as he put it, “The idea of running all of those rapids at race pace always scared the crap out of me.” Despite these fears, he rose to the challenge, training for the Green Race in 2022. The day before the race, however, he sustained a rib injury at Gorilla and he was unable to compete.
Scott stayed persistent, and finally posted a time at the Green Race in 2023. One of his most memorable moments? “Overcoming my fear of running Pencil Sharpener through the slides—all of which I unintentionally did upside down the day before the race.” A bad rehearsal made for a great performance, as he had great lines on race day.
Just shy of a year later, Scott and his family were heartbroken when Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina, transforming the very river he had raced. The Dillards had purchased a home at the takeout of the narrows in 2017. Buying that place had been a dream come true for them. That home was now destroyed along with the land it was sitting on, as well as 20 other houses downstream. “The Narrows is completely scoured, with all the rapids changed, including new mandatory portages,” he explains. “The Lower Green, where our board member Jules Campbell learned to paddle 30+ years ago, is unrecognizable. It looks like the river just puked mountains of debris, sand, and trees.” What began as a dream realized quickly turned into a mission to rebuild the community and river Scott holds dear.
When Scott saw the urgent need for communication equipment in North Carolina, he jumped into action, bringing multiple Starlink devices to help restore connectivity to fire departments, community centers, and hospitals. “We have one for our RV”, Scott said, “so I figured I could at least donate that one. Quickly I found 3 more from local Roaring Fork Valley friends and flew out there without much of a plan”.
Through a fortunate connection, Scott coordinated the arrival of 140 more Starlink units, which he and local volunteers distributed to remote areas via helicopters, four-wheelers, and on foot. One of his most memorable moments was delivering the final Starlink to a remote church near the Rocky Broad River. There, he met a rustic man who had driven six hours to volunteer, content to sleep in his truck each night. The man gave Scott a hard time about his politics, assuming he was a city slicker. Asheville is a liberal hub in the very conservative south. But in the end, it didn’t matter, because they had the same goals- helping others. “For a few weeks, it didn’t matter who we were or where we came from”, Scott remarked, “People were just helping people, and that was a beautiful thing.”
Scott was especially moved by the resilience and camaraderie of the kayaking community. “Kayakers were some of the first on the scene due to our ability to navigate harsh environments,” Scott says. “Green River Cove lost access from both upstream and downstream, but kayakers came from everywhere to hike in supplies and chainsaw downed trees.” He was particularly impressed by the local kayakers organizing through HurricaneHeleneWNC.com, coordinating up to 90 relief missions a day. Scott’s fundraising efforts helped supply generators, heaters, and other essentials that were deployed by this group, and he encourages our club members to support their ongoing work at HurricaneHeleneWNC.com.
Reflecting on his experience, Scott says he’s gained an even greater appreciation for the kayaking community’s strength and humility. “Kayakers somehow are always the nicest, most humble, hardest-working group in a crisis. They come together and overcome adversity with a smile.” The experience has also taught him to appreciate the fleeting nature of wild places. “I assumed the Green River Narrows would always be there, ready for the next challenge. Appreciate the wild places you love, because they are wild and will change.”
Scott’s dedication to rivers and community—whether in Colorado or North Carolina—is a reminder of what makes our club special. Kayaking clubs like the RFKC, broaden the circle of the river community- a community where challenges are faced together, and, when disaster strikes, support flows as naturally as the river itself.
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