v) Ted Kayaking - Other than being in the raft during the storm, and one lunch that we took in the rafts on flat water, Ted kayaked the whole length of the Grand Canyon from Lee's Ferry to Diamond Creek. He did not swim at all. This would be a tremendous accomplishment for any kayaker, and it is remarkable that he accomplished it at the age of 13 on his first Grand Canyon trip. He flipped and rolled up in the storm, as I mentioned, once when a whirlpool got him (also mentioned above, similarly to how one got me), once below Havasu when he ran a hole just for fun, and twice in Lava when holes grabbed him. He did not take credit for one of the combat rolls in Lava. He said that after the river flipped him, the river rolled him up by itself while it also released him from the hole. Both the flip and the subsequent roll were end over end. We read Ted the descriptions of the rapids in the guide book and in Jim Michaud’s instructions for running the rapids in a canoe, and scouted all of the 8’s and above and some of the 6’s and above. He generally picked his lines from the scouts or by boat scouting. He was conservative in the harder rapids and exercised good judgment consistently. Although I never really got comfortable with it, kayaking in the Grand Canyon was a lot of fun. The waves were huge and it was not unusual to get some air when we crested some of the bigger waves. Ted got a lot of air a few times and had a lot of fun in the rapids. After the trip, Ted was interviewed by a reporter from Canoe and Kayak Magazine for an article about him and his accomplishment of kayaking the Grand Canyon.

w) Rafting – For both this and the prior trip, we made it through without flipping any 18’ raft. We had one person wash out of a raft on this trip. Specifically, when we were approaching Ruby rapid, rated 5 on the Grand Canyon scale, Michelle asked to take the oars so she would not get as wet as she expected to get in the front of the raft. Michelle and I were the only ones in the raft at that time. As we entered the rapid, we could see a big wave most of the way through the rapid that was tossing the other rafts around when they went over it. We saw David go over it upright in the IK, but then lost sight of him. We did not know it then, but David swam shortly after we lost sight of him and self rescued before the other rafts could get to him. Ted got David his paddle. As we approached this wave, we could see that it cycled, repeatedly building and then crashing down on itself. It was nearly flat after it crashed, but when we got there the wave was built into a vertical wall of water about to break. Michelle squared the raft up perfectly to the wave, and I expected the raft to ride up it like it had for other waves, but instead the wave crashed over the bow where I was leaning forward holding the ropes, but did not have my head tucked under. The water blew me back and it was only my secure grip with both hands on the two ropes that kept me from being blown backwards into Michelle. After the wave went over, I had a feeling of being alone and looked back to see that I was, in fact, alone in the raft. I scrambled back to the oars, glanced downstream at the remaining waves, and quickly decided to look for Michelle rather than try to square up the raft with the remaining waves. I saw her in the water with her cowboy hat still on and her head up in the air. She was too far away to reach so I yelled “SWIMMER” to the other rafts and pointed several times before taking the oars. Michelle blew her whistle. I should have thought about throwing her a rope, but didn’t think of it until she was too far away. Ted got to his mother first and pulled her back to my raft while Michelle kicked to help propel them. I pulled her in the raft. My brother Mike got in our raft and took the oars so I could get Michelle some warm clothes, food and water while she warmed back up. Unlike my swims, Michelle did not have a dry top or wet suit on.