Mr. Write's Page

December 9, 1998.

Dear Britt,

Here is some interesting follow-up to our recent rafting adventure…

After you and Terri and the others left the group at mid-trip, you were replaced by the two sons and the daughter-in-law of Rick, the lawyer.

Dan, the older son, is an aspiring actor. Matt, the younger, is a forest ranger. He and Ashley are newlyweds.

Rick is a veteran river runner, but the three kids had no idea what they were getting into. They had never even seen Grand Canyon before.

That first day of rapids sobered them up. The next day, all three traded their way off the paddle raft and into the oar boats.

However, the rapids trailed off after that, and two days later, they all reported back for paddle duty.

That was the day we ran Lava Falls.

About an hour upstream of Lava, Dan began wondering out loud about the wisdom of running Lava Falls at all. A person could get injured or killed in a rapid that size. Why not walk around the rapid and rejoin the group downstream?

For a time, Rick and Dan sat alone, heads together, talking quietly. Rick gave his all to convince Dan he could do this thing. It was high drama. Finally, Dan relented.

Then, about 15 minutes before Lava, Dan suddenly announced that he HAD to use the Daytripper.

The Daytripper was on the baggage boat – Moosh’s raft – but Moosh was ashore, using the Daytripper himself. One of the guides reluctantly dug deeper into the gear and hauled out the Groover. Dan rushed ashore with that. Immediate problem solved.

We reached Lava Falls. Dan summoned his courage, and our run was wild, spectacular, and without mishap. Dan was so proud of himself he was in tears, and that night he drank to excess.

Moosh also ran Lava successfully. Then he did a standing back flip in his raft.

Mary, the corpulent doctor who brought her own raft, ran Lava right behind us, but flipped immediately. She swam the entire rapid pretty much under water.

Below the rapid, we paddled out into the current and hauled her in. She landed on the floor of our raft, coughing and sliding around like a wet walrus.

She rolled over and yelled, “Whoooo-eee! That is a wild f*ckin’ rapid!”