Feel of Vision

Lonnie Bedwell, a former Navy Petty Officer turned extreme adventure athlete, became the first blind person to ever whitewater kayak the entire length of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in a solo kayak. After losing his eyesight in a hunting accident in 1997, Lonnie described his blindness as a wall that prevented him from moving forward, from living a full life. However, as he tells it, kayaking acted as a door in the wall that opened up to the whole world. Today, Lonnie spends his time engaging fellow blind paddlers in the spray and white foam of the Ohioplye and Yellowstone wilderness. He’s driven to lead more men and women to the doorway so that they too can create their own vision of the life ahead of them. (Big Sky Documentary Film Festival)