Justin & Deb Traver: January 2009

30 days: November 23 - December 22, 2008
297 miles
14 people
7 Rafts & 1 Kayaker

It was a great time! It is hard to believe, in a way, that we did it and now we are back. I will try to sum the trip up.

The first thing most people say that hear about this trip is "Isn't it cold?" Yes, it can be. We wear dry suits and propper clothing to keep ourselves comfortable in the cold, rain, wind, etc... The first half of the trip was warm fall-like weather. Some days were up to mid 70's. The second half was more winter like conditions. More rain and cold weather. But it didn't stop us from enjoying the experience, it just added to it. I did use hand warmers with my neoprene gloves a few days.

We hiked a lot. We did 3 rim hikes:

Eminence: 5hrs round trip, 3,500ft gain
Hance: 8hr round trip, 4,500ft gain
Phantum Ranch: 17 mile round trip, 5,000ft gain

My legs were beat after the 3rd one. That is a lot of elevation gain over a weeks time.

2 rafts flipped: Kat @ mile 209 & Us, The Travers, @ mile 281

The rapid that flipped us is called Pearce Ferry Rapid. It wasn't there on the last trip. Lake Mead has and still is dropping. Dropping so much that new rapids are being exposed. (If you live in S. Cal & have a green lawn, shame on you!) We didn't scout it & we definetly underestimated it. Trey & I scrambled back into our drysuits (we were on the lake section, no way to get wet here, right?!). I did not want to get splashed on this rapid. I threw my booties/water shoes into our cooler bc I would be out of my drysuit in a couple minutes. I double checked the boat for loose items, tightened straps, & buttoned up lose ends. Ready. 2 boats ran the rapid successfully. Brian&Emily were next, then Danny&Julie, and then us. Danny hollered at Brian about how we should run the rapid. Brian dropped his oars and two unknowing hands flew into the air. No help. The river is divided into 2 routes here. If you go right you take a 6ft waterfall drop and then have a big hole to punch through. Left, there are 3 big holes. We all took the left route and hugged the right side of it. Brian's boat made it. Danny's boat went. Not quite as right as Brian. They got a good ride. Neither had dry suits on. They REALLY underestimated the potential of it. Julie rode on the back to avoid any splashing. Their boat got so close to flipping. They are SO lucky. Danny fell out. He swam with his long johns pulled down to his ankles (the water is 40degrees). Julie heroically jumped down to the oars and guided the boat out and picked up her fiance. Good work Julie!

Our turn. Our line was a little less right than Dannys. We were headed straight for the first hole with a giant wave. I knew instantly that this was not good! The wave broke right on us. I have never felt power like that before. It tried to rip me of the cooler but my fists around the straps kept me in the boat. I held on. (My arms were sore from being jerked so hard by it the next day.) This didn't matter bc the raft flipped instantly. We were both under the boat for a moment and about 5 seconds later we popped up at the bottom of the rapid. I always wondered how I would behave in this situation. I stayed calm. It felt pretty peaceful under the water. I just held my breath and waited for my head to pop up so I could breath. When I came up I saw my flat basketball I found on the river and Trey. I grabbed the ball and floated the tail waves of the rapid with it.
We got the boat to shore and easily flipped it back over. We only lost a camping chair and a mug. Everything got a little wet: drybags, barrels, and buckets, but not ruined.
The flip was actually pretty fun and exciting. We were all pretty pumped after it happened and hoped to see the group that was right behind us have some carnage while we had front row seats. They scouted it and all dropped the right side. Not as entertaining as we hoped.

We just barely made it home in time for Christmas Eve with my family. We had to take a couple long detours to avoid storms and closed roads. 15 miles from our final destination in La Pine the drive line in the truck broke. Luckily Joey was able to get it off after an hour and a half on the side of Hwy97 in a blizzard. (Of course my husband was wearing flip flops.) We put the truck in 4 wheel drive and drove on the front wheels to our final destination..... almost. There is a small hill we had to go up to get to Joey's house. The truck couldn't get up it!!! 200yds away. No way. We tried for 30mins backing up to try and get some speed. No luck. Luckily there was a back way and we were successful there. It was 4:30am and we all went straight to bed.

It is so amazing to be down in the canyon. It is so refreshing to be away from society, technology, and materialism. Being away from this gives you a chance to put things in perspective and see what is really important and what you really need. It was great missing all of the holiday shopping. Happy New Year to all!!

some of my favorite pics (so hard to choose):