River Rat Chapter 48

From Spearfish Lake Tales Wiki

Read this chapter River Rat

Location

• Grand Canyon - Park Service Trip

Characters

• Scooter
• Crystal Chladek
• Al Buck
• Karin Chladek
• Jim Griffin

Also Mentioned

• Norma
• Michelle Rawson
• Randy Clark

Time period

March 24 - April 5, 2001

Summary

Al drives Karin, Scooter, and Crystal to Lee's Ferry for the trip, and tells them "You three have fun. Just plan on washing that gas smell off when you get back." This was the first time any of the three of them had been on an 'S-Rig' (the term for a motor raft). They discovered that Jim was one of the guys on the trip.

They learned a lot on the trip, from the geology of the Canyon to Canyon Native American history and natural history. One of the instructors was an expert on the recorded history of the Canyon.

Since the group was all raft guides, everyone pitched in with all the work, including running the raft. Scooter thought that it would be straightforward, but the raft bounced off a sidewall and swapped ends on a rapid. It didn't help that the raft handled about like a hog on skates, and thirty-five horsepower was nowhere near enough to bully it. Randy had once likened an oar raft to driving a concrete truck on an icy road; this was worse. One of the guides from one of the motor outfits had a worse time of it, and messed up on several rapids, including Crystal. Anticipating trouble, many of the group, including Karin, decided to swim Crystal.

Although most raft trips are 4 to 6 days, this one took 10 because of the many stops for the long learning sessions. It ended up with a leisurely trip across 50 miles of Lake Mead until they got to the landing. On the ride back, Scooter and Jim agreed to meet at the Burro for a beer the next evening.