Herm Hoops has spent his life running rivers and protecting the places he ventures.
When Hoops revealed he had been diagnosed with cancer to filmmaker Cody Perry, the fellow rafter knew it was time to capture the legacy of Hoops in the river community.
Perry would go on to direct “The Salad Days,” screening Friday at the Sunflower Theatre.
The documentary centers around Hoops making another trip through Desolation Canyon on the Green River, an area loved by Hoops that he has advocated for and rafted most of his life. This time, with oxygen tanks by his side, will likely be his last.
Perry says shooting the trip brought intimate moments of Hoops contemplating mortality.
“I can only guess, a little bit, what it’s like to reflect on one’s life when you’re on the edge of the arc that Herm is,” Perry said.
Both Hoops and Perry will host an audience Q&A following the screening of “The Salad Days.”
Perry joined KSJD’s Daniel Rayzel to recall the first time he met Hoops and the moment he wanted to make a documentary on the river runner.
See “The Salad Days” at the Sunflower Theatre in downtown Cortez at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 12. A Q&A with Cody Perry and Herm Hoops will follow. More information can be found at sunflowertheatre.org.