Henry boys go for a swim

There's nothing quite like being thrown out of a boat into the river, and letting the water waves brush over you. There's nothing like it. So why do it? I shared a raft on the river with Gary Henry (left) and Paul Henry (right) pictured below. One of the more exciting moments of the trip was our encounter with Tuna Creek Rapids (rated a 6). Paul was resting up in the front of the boat with me after successfully running Hermit Rapids (rated 9) and Crystal Rapids (rated 10). He was letting Gary and I share in the rowing responsibilities. This time Gary was at the helm and we were clearly coming upon some new rapids. None of us thought it was anything big, so Gary tried to position the boat in the tongue and run these next rapids.

Unfortunately, at the beginning there was a huge rock just covered with water and an even larger hole behind it and mountains of backwash flowing into it. Before we knew what hit us, we went in sideways and the boat nearly flipped over. Paul and Gary went kerplunk, kerplunk, into the raging river. I managed to hang on while the raft was mercilessly banged around, and nearly flipped again. I didn't want to come out. I only know one stroke. If I go in over my head, I get one. I had no idea where Gary and Paul went, all I knew is that large rapids lay ahead, they were Tuna Creek Rapids (6), followed immediately by lower Tuna Rapids (6) and no one is rowing. Finally I was kicked out of this huge hole but into the main portion of the rapids. I made my way back to the seat in order to row the boat through it all, and there was only one oar!!! The hole we were in literally swallowed the right oar, breaking the rope that attached it. I did manage to keep it fairly straight through both rapids with one oar but I couldn't get it over to the shore. Finally, Dorothy came over on her kayak and helped me get closer and away from the rocks until Val and Chad got over in their raft and helped me untie another oar. This wasn't the wildest ride I had, but it was a good one.

The Henry boys survived, and were picked up by the others. When we used to live in Memphis, we had a pool. I became wary of people who used it. When I filled it, I put in ten thousand gallons. Later in the year I emptied it and took out eleven thousand! I can only imagine what the Henry boys did in the river that day and what I nearly did on that boat.


A few days later, Paul let me run Fossil Creek Rapids (6). He said if I could run 'em with one oar, I should be okay with two. We were all a little nervous about it though.

One of my favorite times during the trip was in the morning, sitting around the fire and eating breakfast. Everything was usually dry, for the most part, and we could laugh about the previous day. Pictured here is Val, Paul, Jerry, and of course the coffee pot, and I think that's Norms foot.