WILL STAUFFER-NORRIS: I first went on a Last Descents River Expeditions trip in 2013. Travis Winn brought a group of Chinese over to run a Grand Canyon trip with Arizona Raft Adventures, and he invited me along.

Travis’s goal was to show these Chinese clients how America does river recreation. In the Grand Canyon, the river has been protected from development in order to facilitate more of a wilderness experience through float trips, a model that China hasn’t fully developed yet.