As chief physician executive for Brookwood Baptist Healthcare, Williams spends hours behind a desk, in conference rooms and at all manner of meetings to manage five hospitals, 50 physician clinics and more than 1,200 physicians throughout Alabama. The heavy workload is not surprising, but Williams’ leisure time is anything but leisurely. He’s an outdoorsman to the core.
“It’s inspiring,” says Williams of the dramatic vistas intrepid trekkers find out west. “It leaves you with a sense of majesty at this powerful creation. It’s almost a spiritual experience in the beauty of nature. You start in an alpine environment where everything is really green and end up in a desert environment in the second biggest canyon in the U.S.”
An accomplished physician, lawyer and leader, Williams has spent more than 30 years honing his wilderness skills with river rafting, hiking and camping in one of the largest wilderness areas in the continental U.S. on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, an area described in a National Geographic article as “the ultimate white-water rafting experience.” Running from northwest of Stanley, Idaho, through untamed mountain terrain, the river rushes past verdant conifers and abundant wildlife to more stark, but equally spectacular canyon walls and rock outcrops.
“You’re rafting in a wilderness that has only been traveled by rafting or hiking,” Williams says of the remote areas he and his companions traverse. “Only about 8,000 people each year go to the areas where we go. It’s great hiking in the middle of the largest dead cell zone in the U.S. You’re really disconnected from the rest of the world. It frees you.”
Williams traces his love of adventure to his childhood when his father and three brothers participated in Boy Scouts and went on monthly hiking trips. When he was in college, he visited Alaska, further affirming his love for untamed spaces and prompting him to become a river guide for a time.
“The sheer size and beauty of the wilderness drew us to the west,” Williams said. “The south has some beautiful areas, but when you get out west, it takes on a whole new scale in terms of size.”
Williams feels an obligation to share the solitary beauty with friends, family and colleagues and has taken as many as 80 at one time on such trips. In June, the water is high and frigid, and rafting is an adrenalin spiking adventure. In September, the river flows more sedately to accommodate catch-and-release fly-fishing.
First timers on such trips are startled by the remoteness but rapidly acclimate to the unplugged lifestyle.
“When people go the first time, they are surprised. They never knew such a majestic scale and beauty existed,” Williams said. “It’s difficult for them to believe that they can detach from their everyday lives to enjoy the solitude and beauty in the company of friends.”
Williams guides rafting trips, floating about 120 miles downstream over a five-day period. As daylight begins to wane, the groups pull the rafts ashore on sandy beaches and set up camp in a different spot every night. On shore, the conversations are as lively as the July river currents.
“We talk about fun stuff or important topics,” Williams said. “We’ve actually presented informal and formal talks on issues like healthcare reform on these trips. You sit around the fire and chat, and it’s a whole different kind of discussion with a running river beside you all night long and skies so clear you can see satellites.”
Williams also shares the outdoors with others in the medical field. As president of the Southern Medical Association, he packed solar-powered batteries and iPads for CME courses, most recently on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River last September. The topics included a broad range of issues from the concepts of servant leadership to the changing science of cancer treatment. The classroom setting, complete with sound effects, was courtesy of Mother Nature.
“It’s the finest North American white water, and it’s been my family’s second home for 30-plus years,” Williams said. “You see rattle snakes and all kinds of different critters, but the animals want to leave you alone. In reality, the biggest danger you face is stepping out of the raft and slipping on a rock or falling out of the boat and risking hypothermia. We are very safe and have had no major accidents over the years.”
The outdoorsy set share the territory with black bears, wolves, cougars, birds of prey, deer, mountain goats and, of course, salmon, which migrate on their namesake river. In these remote areas, there are no nearby emergency responders.
“If something happens out there, you are completely isolated,” Williams said. “You have to be very self-reliant and take precautions, but I wouldn’t have taken my young children there if I hadn’t thought you could make it safe.”
Just as his father instilled an early love of nature in Williams and his brothers, he has shared that appreciation with daughters Jessica and Emily and sons Sloan and Jason.
Just over a decade ago, Williams and daughter Jessica were among a group of 18 who acquired coveted permits for a 21 day, 260-mile self-guided raft trip through the Grand Canyon.
“It was so staggeringly beautiful,” said Williams of the journey down the Colorado River. “It made you wish you could share the beauty in this place with others.”
It’s that need to share such experiences that has taken his close-knit family on so many adventures.
“All of my kids have spent a lot of time in the wilderness and on the various western rivers — Middle Fork of the Salmon, Selway and others — but Emily was the youngest on her first trip,” Williams said. “She was five years old on a six-day wilderness trip on the Middle Fork of the Salmon. Emily, Sloan and Jessica have been on about 20 to 25 wilderness rafting trips among them — and look forward to more.”
On some family trips, the Williams choose hiking over rafting and charter a small plane to fly into deserted Forest Service airstrips in the wilderness to camp and fish.
Williams’ enjoyment in the many activities is enhanced by an avid interest in photography, which has grown exponentially with the advent of digital images.
“I’m a digital photography technology freak and an Apple computer nut,” Williams said. “I got into sports and outdoors photography, and I like to share images with my friends and family. My wife and children and I have made some great memories spending so much time in the wilderness as a young family. It has helped us be closer, and the photographs remind us of great times.”
His sports photography includes action shots of his daughters, who grew up playing volleyball and of his sons, who grew up playing a variety of sports, including baseball.
Following his children with a camera on the field has been a lively hobby, and he keeps equally diligent photographic chronicles of the outdoor experiences. Williams is a self-described “decent fly fisherman” who enjoys tying his own flies and sharing the art of the cast and thrill of the catch with others.
“It’s fun to introduce people to fly fishing, and the water is so crystal clear, you can see rocks 20 and 30 free deep,” Williams said. ”It’s great to introduce others to so much beauty, and I’ve developed some great relationships due, in large part, to experiences on the river.”