By Chris Oberlin (listed on Richard's "Paddle Pals" page as having accompanied him on, amazingly, 307 trips):
Richard led week-long trips on rivers in the Southern Appalachians for many years, and it was on one of these trips that I first met him, in 2004. I went on many of the annual trips through 2019. These trips were the best time I ever had paddling. They also were a wonderful experience getting to hang out with and getting to know Richard.
In 2018, Richard invited me to travel to the Pacific Northwest with him. He found my lack of organization a bit maddening, telling me on that trip, "Chris, in most ways you're a great traveling companion, but you're never riding with me again, because you're just too disorganized!" (an assessment with which I could only agree). In defiance of the laws of probability, however, that trip was followed by three more lengthy, wonderful trips cruising with Richard—California in 2021, the desert southwest in 2022, and upstate New York and the maritime provinces of Canada in 2023. Sometimes he was introducing me to places near and dear to his heart, and sometimes we were both exploring. We both liked to mosey around small towns, look at a different way of life, and look for interesting, quirky things. Richard particularly loved county courthouses and would sometimes plan a route to hit a county seat. He also loved the offices of local newspapers and would always take a picture of any he found.
His health didn't allow him to hike as vigorously as he would like to, and we would often start a hike together, chat for a while, and then he would say, "Go ahead, I'll see you at the van in a few hours." He'd hike at his pace and quite generously encourage me to hike at mine. Usually, when I got back to his van, he would be comfortably situated, reading a thick book of some interest to him.
Most of all, he was wonderful company. Over thousands of miles, we always found plenty to talk about, and his good humor and sometimes sharp wit never let him down. He always slept in his van, I always slept in my tent, and I almost always made coffee for the two of us in the morning. For a year or two there, the weightiest topic of early-morning conversation was that day's Wordle puzzle. Of course, he had a technique that he would fiercely defend and which, in all fairness, served him quite well.
He was virtually always good-natured, kind, forgiving, generous, humorous, witty, and insightful. I'm sure anyone reading these words would say the same thing about him. It's hard to imagine a better traveling companion. As all who knew him will say, he was one of a kind.
Richard was still going hard until his final days. Nothing in his last posts indicated that he thought he was suffering from anything worse than a bad cold or maybe the flu. He was planning on going to the North Carolina Week of Rivers in July, where he would see dozens, maybe hundreds, of old friends. A couple weeks before he died, he asked me if I wanted to join him on a trip to the Dakotas and points west of there. Of course, I said something like "Heck yeah!" It is no surprise that right up to the end, he was living life to the fullest and enthusiastically looking forward to the future.
By Sheila Chapelle:
Twenty-nine years of friendship, a friend who impacted our family's paddling and traveling trajectory. Richard Hopley, thank you for all the days we shared in the places we love and for all the travel our family will yet do to places your photos and posts have introduced us to.
We met in 1997, sparring often as we represented opposite points of view in so many areas. I was a semi-conservative, Christian, homeschooling mom of six. Richard, a liberal, single, atheist. At first it seemed the only thing we had in common was paddling on the right side of a canoe. But we quickly discovered that we actually had much in common: a deep love of the outdoors, joy in each day on the river, a passion for exploring the lesser known parks and sites across the country, a love of travel.
To the surprise of both of us, Richard quickly took my kids under his wing, sometimes taking one of them for the weekend and introducing them to rivers I didn't have the skill to paddle then. He was known to declare that he didn't like kids, especially homeschooled kids, with our family being the exception!
We shared many joyous days on the river, and many long conversations on rides on his van. Richard's commitment to safety matched my philosophy born of years as an outdoor professional.
One of the many great things about road tripping with Richard was his willingness to follow interests not in his usual scope. Because I was excited about children's splash pads when we were out west together, we would find the main street, courthouse, usually the library (as I loved those), and then we would cruise past the town playground and splash pad. At the time my oldest daughter was hoping to get funding to build a splash pad at one of the Jefferson County parks. (She is still hoping for the funding.) Many years prior to our western trip, Richard had taken her when she was 16 on the Lower Gauley for the first time. He voluntarily took her for the whole weekend on that trip.
Rest easy, my friend. I will be consulting your travelogues for as long as they exist in cyberspace. I will be following your tracks across southern Arizona and New Mexico and so many places across the West. I will miss you but will feel your presence as I drive the main streets of small towns off the interstate and at scenic viewpoints, watching the sunset and drinking day-old, cold gas station coffee from a thermos.
From Chris's Facebook page, July 2: "Richard Hopley's remains, in a hand-crafted wooden urn, were laid to rest yesterday, being buried on a rocky shoal in the Tuckasegee River near Dillsboro, North Carolina. He is already missed by all that were lucky enough to have known him."