Remembering Rodney Davis: Friends and family reflect on the life of a true mountain renaissance man

The body of Rodney Davis, an Eagle County local who went missing in Mexico on Oct. 25, was found outside of Loreto, Mexico, last week and was positively identified Friday, Nov. 11, based on medical records. A confirmed DNA match is pending. Local police in the area have arrested multiple suspects believed to be involved in Davis’ death on charges of aggravated kidnapping and homicide.

Davis was reported missing around 48 hours after departing from his campground at Juncalito Beach on the Baja Peninsula, where he has spent the last 10 winters with a group of retirees. Davis was driving his truck toward the nearby city of Loreto for supplies, accompanied by his dog, Rio, and never returned to the campsite.

Rio has not been found. The family is offering a $1,000 reward to anyone who finds the springer spaniel and returns him to the Baja Safe Humane Society.

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A criminal investigation involving the FBI and the local police force is ongoing and further details about the circumstances of Davis’ death have not been released.

In the aftermath, family members and friends of Davis are taking this time to celebrate the rich life that he led in the valley, full of adventure, outdoor recreation and widespread community bonds. 

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A memorial service will be held at Rancho del Rio resort on May 7, 2023, on what would have been Davis’ 74th birthday.

Living for the moment

Rodney Davis, known to most as Rod, found his greatest joy and solace in nature. Born and raised in Westchester, Pennsylvania, Davis learned how to hunt and fish with his father at a young age and was always drawn to outdoor recreation. After completing a degree in business at Bucknell University, he and his first wife, Anne, packed up and headed out west to create a life in the mountains.

Davis arrived in Vail in the summer of 1973 and found a lifelong home in the valley. He sought out work that enabled him to be outside as much as possible, spending winters on the mountain as a ski patroller, summers as a river rafting guide for Timberline Tours, and shoulder seasons doing construction and remodeling for clients up and down the valley.

Meryl Jacobs, Davis’ younger sister, followed him out to the valley after college and said that they all lived the true mountain lifestyle together, working multiple jobs to fuel endless wilderness adventures and experiences. Bow hunting for elk was a particular favorite hobby of Davis, and Jacobs said he was considered to be one of the most adept bow hunters in the area.

“He’s just a through and through outdoorsman,” Jacobs said. “He loved skiing, he loved hiking, he loved fishing, he loved backpacking — anything outdoors he was amazing at and just loved it.”

Jacobs said that early on in Davis’ time in Vail, the tragic death of two close friends solidified his philosophy to live for the moment, an intention that he embodied for the rest of his life.

“It was like a turning point in his life where he realized: live for the day, live for the moment. I think he was already leaning that way, but this just pushed him right over to that sort of outlook,” Jacobs said. “He wasn’t tied to anything. He did what he wanted to do every single day.”

Charlie Ebel, a close friend of Davis for over three decades, said that even at 73 years old, Davis continued to seize each and every day, always active and always involved in one project or another.

“Rod woke up in the morning, and it was like, ‘What are we going to do today?’” Ebel said. “Even as he got older, even though he wasn’t moving around so well before he had the knee surgeries and stuff, it was always something to do: we’re going fishing, we’re going into town, we’re driving over to the Pacific Coast to look for a new place to launch the boat. There was always something going on. It was inspiring.”

Davis met his second wife, Dagmar Huber, when they were both working at Timberline Tours. On their first date, he fittingly took her elk hunting with him, and she saw how powerful the experience of hunting and being in nature was for him.

“I was just really struck by this look of serenity and peace, and I was just like, ‘Wow, I’ve never seen a look like that on anybody’s face before,'” Huber said. “Some people get really involved in all these activities to show off or to enhance their egos or whatever that is. It’s about them. But I never really got that with Rod. It wasn’t about his ego. It was about a true desire to enjoy the outdoors and to connect with people.”

“And to take people with him,” Ebel added. “Rod was just the guy who wanted you to come with him. That’s how I always felt about him.”

A mountain renaissance man

Friends described Davis as the quintessential renaissance man, able to build, repair, and create anything with his own two hands and meticulous about doing things the right way. 

Davis and Huber founded R&D Outfitters together in the late 1980s and spent years managing Piney River Ranch and Black Mountain Ranch in McCoy, where Davis updated infrastructure and worked as a fishing and horseback guide.

Animals were one of Davis’ greatest loves, and he always had a dog or two by his side, with all but the first being his favorite breed: springer spaniels. Huber said that Davis often had a grumpy exterior — friends commonly referred to him as a curmudgeon — but it coated a soft heart, and nowhere was that more apparent than when he was tending to the animals in his care.

A memory that stood out to Huber was from their time at Piney River Ranch, when she and Davis built a new corral and transferred the animals over from the old one.

“There are only a couple of times I’ve seen Rod cry, but one of the times was when we let all the horses and mules into the new corral,” Huber said. “He was trying to be all macho and he just turned into a puddle because the horses were just so happy. It meant so much to him to get them out of that muck.”

In recent years, Davis spent the warmer months living and working at the Rancho del Rio resort at the headwaters of the Colorado River while migrating to Mexico for the winter. Lauren Quinn, Davis’ landlord at Rancho del Rio, said that he was a steadying force on the grounds and someone who could be relied on to undertake any project asked of him, even remodeling 14 cabins in the span of six weeks.

“He was just somebody we all looked up to, trusted his opinion, respected him,” Quinn said. “He was like this little magic carpenter guy who would just come in and knew how to do everything — I mean, everything — and we worshiped him.”

Beyond being good with hands, Davis also read constantly, and though he was not outspoken about his ideas, he was always ready to engage in intellectual conversation over a whiskey or a campfire.

“He was very smart, so smart,” Jacobs said. “I mean, I could look to him for an answer on anything. He was the go-to guy.”

During his time at Rancho del Rio, Davis continued working for Timberline Tours and was responsible for training young, up-and-coming guides on the water. Quinn said that despite his tough exterior, Davis found a connection with people young and old, rich and poor, and used his position to pass on what he had learned about living in and respecting nature.

“Rod really took seriously his role as a mentor, not just on the river, but in life and work in general,” Quinn said. “He was the person who was training 20-year-olds on the river to be decent humans, to be good stewards of the outdoors. He was training the next generation of river people.”

Throughout a lifetime seeking experiences in nature — whether hunting, rafting, fishing, skiing, horseback riding or otherwise — Davis made close friendships throughout the valley and around the world, and has left a mark on countless lives. Anyone interested in sharing a story or memory of Rodney Davis can email cpaletta@vaildaily.com to include in the digital copy of this article.

Remembering Rod

Ken Gassman:

Rod was a great friend and very much  loved by all of our beach community here in Juncalito. Rod first rolled in with his shiny Toyota truck and his old pheasant hunting trailer and fit in perfectly with our beach life living. We always had happy hours and celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and Super Bowl with big potluck dinners and or snacks Rod had all of us hooked on his two favorite dishes, Granny’s dip and Granny’s beans. He was always joking in his early parties here how we kept granny locked up in his trailer after she made one of these favorite dishes, and one occasion, some newbie overheard Rod joking about Grannie being locked up and she was horrified that he would do such a thing. Of course it was a good joke to all of us, and we laughed about it to this very day. We will all dearly miss you, Rod, but you’ll always be remembered as just a great old beach boy.

Mike Dziekan:

Since 1974 when Rod and I first started working together at Christy Sports in Vail, we have shared hundreds, if not thousands, of camps together, not only in Colorado, but all over the west.  Our friendship was lived as much out-of-doors as in “civilization”.  We skied, hunted, backpacked, fished, and whitewater rafted together. 

We both grew up hunting small game in different eastern states, so it was natural for us to start hunting grouse together. It turned out they were a different bird than the ruffs and pheasants we knew. As we were out and about figuring them out, it became evident that Rod was angling for us to go after bigger prey…elk! 

This was a daunting task since we had no mentor.  But that same year, we included another friend, Mike Mann, and were soon teaching ourselves and each other not only how to hunt big game, but also how to camp comfortably in the Colorado high country on the cusp of winter. From that first year until our last hunting camp together in 2011 when Rod’s knees no longer allowed long hikes, we seldom missed a season together.

After about the first ten years of rifle hunting, we switched to archery. While we had been discussing that possibility, Rod surprised me one day when he purchased a bow. I went out immediately and did the same. While Rod preferred elk hunting, and became one of the best elk hunters I know, I started branching out more, and over the years we bow hunted many other species together in Colorado and several other states, including a 2008 trip to Kodiak Island I arranged, that also included Mike Mann. Of course, there were also many forays for waterfowl and upland birds.

In 1980, Rod also helped facilitate a bucket list trip for me when he included us on another friend’s private Grand Canyon raft trip. They helped me choose my own boat and fast track me to becoming a boatman. In the following years, Rod and I led many trips on several western rivers, including another Grand Canyon trip on my own permit. Our last major river trip together was in 1985 but Rod continued rafting and became a commercial river guide. We were able to get together this past August for a short float on the upper Colorado. That now seems bitter-sweet. 

You are missed my friend.

Jim Potter:

I arrived in Vail January 1975 and applied for a job in the rental and repair shop at Christy Sports and Rod was the manager of the department.  Rod looked over my application and said “you are overqualified” and I replied that I was between jobs and was just here for the rest of the season to ski.  So I worked for Rod and he introduced me to the mountain.  Led me down Windows, HairBag Alley and Way the F— Over.  The last two trails were not on the trail map.  Rod was always looking for untracked snow.

Well I ended up getting my real estate license and one of my first customers was Rod and his wife Anne when they purchased a lot in East Vail where they built their home. Over the years Rod managed several remodels for me and for my customers.

I will cherish the years that I knew Rod and will surely miss him.