Reading the River
WORDS FAIL TO CONVEY the magnitude of the Grand Canyon—that abyss almost a mile in depth that stretches to the horizon in three directions, containing a world of side canyons, peaks, and cliffs of all colors, usually washed with the moving shadows of clouds. To get a sense of the place, you have to see it for yourself—and in 2017, 6.3 million people did. Most of them took a quick look and got back into their cars. Fewer than 100,000 people scored a permit from the National Park Service allowing them to sleep in the backcountry, and about 29,000 were authorized to float through the middle of the canyon on the Colorado River. The most common means of doing so is to buy a seat on a 30-foot motorized raft run by a professional guide, who also supervises the “swampers” who do the cooking, cleaning, and worrying for you.
But there is another way.
Twice, in 2014 and again last summer, I’ve gone on private, oar-powered rafting trips, in which passengers provide the muscle and manage the risks themselves, without paid help. In 2018, I was also the permit holder with overall responsibility for organizing the trip. Our three rafts were each 18 feet long and well over 1,000 pounds when loaded. Rowing them made for slow, quiet progress at the mercy of the currents. Along the way, we had plenty of time to admire the cliffs from below and anticipate the rapids that lay ahead, our emotions cycling from awe to fear to exhilaration.
The Colorado River is anything but wilderness. In fact, it may be the world’s most heavily regulated running water.
MORE THAN 1.1 MILLION ACRES around the Colorado River, not including several million adjoining acres that are also extremely remote, meet the federal definition of wilderness. The river, though, is anything but. In fact, it may be the world’s most heavily regulated running water. Famous (and a former river guide), likens the Grand Canyon to a municipal tennis court where people must make appointments and take turns to keep it from being overrun.
