Sierra Mac’s Marty McDonnell in his element – Huck Finn, happy crew, leaving his camp on the Stanislaus River

Marty McDonnell was one of the very first people to raft the Stanislaus River back in the early 1960s. As a teenager he went to work for Bryce Whitmore and his Wilderness Waterways company and in the early 1970s took over the company from Bryce, re-naming it Sierra Mac River Trips. It is now one of the oldest river rafting companies in the West. Marty was an originator and a huge fan of the Huck Finn style rafts, shown here – the tubes meant no bailing, a rigid raft in rapids and the rowing point, he argued, provided unique advantages for a guide. In this great photo are Marty’s two sets of parents – Mac & Lois McDonnell, and Gerda and Willam (Frederick) Horstmeier.