This is Mollie, one of the guides, in
Lava Falls. Remember that she's in a raft that's 18 feet
long. You can see the hole just up river and to the boat's
right. This hole could easily flip raft this size and bigger and
keep it spinning over and over. Even the guides (who run this
river often) were nervous about this rapid. Part of the problem is
that the drop is steep enough that it's hard to see where to enter the
rapid to get on the nice bit of tongue that Mollie is on and to avoid
going too far to the center and getting munched in the big hole.
We all made it through this - thanks to
the guides.
All
this paddling and excitement and exploration of side canyons took its
toll. This is one of the last hikes that we made on this
trip. Angie can be seen in the lower left corner of the
photo. You get an idea of how big this canyon is and it's just a
side canyon.
Sitting
around starts to seem like a good idea after a while. You should
see the way we all eat! It's pretty much pack as much in as you
possibly can. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, the operation was the
same. You burn some serious calories out here. I like not
having to worry about what I'm consuming because I know I'll burn it off
shortly.
