WHITEWATER RAFTING THE GRAND CANYON
280 Miles - June 01 to June 18, 2018
Cliff Schinkel, Kim Schinkel, Charles Kersch, Carlin Kersch, Kevin Lay, Gabriel Widman, MaryAnn Amann, Triorco Unanue, and Lara
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Rigging Day | Day 01 | Day 02 | Day 03 | Day 04 | Day 05 | Day 06 | Day 07 | Day 08 | Day 09 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15 | Day 16 | Day 17 | Day 18
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DAY 2
After breaking camp and re-packing our rafts, always in readiness for a flip or submersion, we started rowing down the colorful canyon again. Then around midday it happened.
It was called "House Rock" rapid, rated level-7, and it came upon us fast; we were not yet ready with the skill and attention it required, and took it lightly as a "read and run."
I don't have pictures of it, because it all went so fast and my hands were busy elsewhere, but I've included some images from the internet to give an idea of what we dropped into.
The wicked left corkscrew curl roared loudly as it flipped our one-ton raft over like a rose petal. Kim and MaryAnn went flying into the water and the raft landed atop of me.
Going from a 100º+ day into 42º water was quite a shock and almost paralyzing. As we rode out the rapid hanging onto the inverted raft, MaryAnn got caught against a rock.
She cracked a rib and punctured a lung. The rest of us began the difficult procedure of untying our soaked items and moving them to the rocky shore, while others dove under
and tied ropes around the raft such that we could all stand on top and pull it over with our weight. Yes, this threw us all into the water again. We shivered all the way to camp...
where the heat served us enough to quickly dry all our clothes and sleeping bags laid out upon the rocks. MaryAnn hurts and is contemplating whether she can continue the trip.
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