River Rafting

One of the things that Britt and I enjoy is rafting. It's a great way to get into some beautiful wilderness, and of course whitewater can be very exciting!

We have run the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon twice together, first in late June 1991 and again in early June 1995. This is a great trip because not only are the rapids challenging, the side canyon hikes are amazingly beautiful. (For other pictures of Grand Canyon river trips, see the Grand Canyon river runner's page.)

Grand Canyon rapid (uncropped and 2x size version of photo to right, 50132 bytes)
Floating by the Navajo Bridge (51883 bytes)

I'm the sort of person who hates to passively ride along, so naturally I always insist on doing some of the rowing. In August 1993, we did a family trip -- us, Britt's parents, my parents, and my two brothers, with Britt and I each rowing a raft -- on the Main Fork of the Salmon River, in Idaho. This was the first time I had to do all the rowing, and boy did it tire me out the first few days!

Navigating Salmon Falls, class III (uncropped version of photo to left, 44953 bytes)
Having a blast in another rapid (uncropped version of photo at top of page, 62979 bytes)
While we were on the trip, there were major forest fires in the wilderness area surrounding the Salmon River. It was pretty spooky floating through a burning forest! (30722 bytes)

Other rivers we have run together: Middle Fork Salmon, Green (Gates of Lodore), Upper North Platte, Upper Colorado, Dolores, San Juan, Colorado (Westwater and Cataract Canyons), and the Salt (before Quartzite Falls was dynamited). Britt has run a number of other rivers, but that was before he met me, so they don't count.

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