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 There
are a few rapids in the Grand Canyon that are just mind boggling.
One is Hermit. Every time I see Hermit, I get the nervous
giggles. In the middle of the rapid a wave builds and builds and
breaks up river. If you hit it at the wrong time and I think even
if you hit it at the right time you get inundated with water. You
see the raft in this picture is just a tiny slice of yellow. These
waves are 8 to 10 feet high from trough to crest. I mean they are
big. You head into a rapid like this with your heart
pounding. I was pulling hard all the way through. I was
breathing out through my teeth on the pull portion of each stroke.
I'm sure I sounded like some kind of steam engine. You pull, pull,
pull and whoosh you are under the water unable to pull your paddle
forward to put in the next stroke. You come out of the water and
it's streaming down your sunglasses. The world has turned into a
chaos of brown water. It's everywhere. Pull, pull, and
whoosh under you go again. And again and again and finally you are
on the tailwaves and the captain says stop. You do and breath hard
through a broad, broad smile. Then you turn to your partners in
fun and they are all looking at you with that same crazy stare you have
and they are grinning just a broadly. You laugh out loud,
whoop! Then recount it - "man you were buried under the
water." "How did your hat stay on?!"
Mix this with he grandeur and beauty of the place with obvious and hidden side canyons. Is it possible to have something better than this?
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