Robert “Bus” Hatch fit the ideal image of a river runner as crusty and rough around the edges, his face line by wind and weather.  Few men have had such an impact on the history of river running on the Green and Colorado Rivers.  He was a natural river runner.  He had reflexes like a cat, and knew absolutely no fear.

His place in the history of river running is firm and lasting.  Bus was one of the first hundred ever to float the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.  He and his companions “The Dusty Dozen” were the first to ever run the Impassable Canyon of the Middle Fork of the Salmon (1934).  On their first excursion through the waters of the Grand Canyon, Bus scared the living daylights out of the crew’s photographer Fred Jayne by taking their boat within inches of jagged rocks in one of the rapids.  “How can you do that?,” Jayne asked.  “Well, I’m a carpenter by trade,” Bus replied.  “When I cut a board I just wonder if it’s going to fit.  When I run a rapid like that, I just wonder if I’m going to make it.”

He and his son Don were the first to ever run the powerful, dangerous Indus in Pakistan (1956).  The love of river running was a shared experience in the Hatch family.  Bus’ brothers Tom and Alton participated in many of the early excursions in the ‘30s.  All of Bus’ sons Gus, Don, Frank, and Ted helped with the family river expedition business even before they were big enough to row boats.  There are now third generation Hatches running the rivers of the West.  In all of them Bus Hatch instilled his deep love of the outdoors and the beauty and thrill of running the river.