I'm glad I came across these videos. I'll have to practice the assisted re-entry method you guys use. Any tips or lessons learned from hitting those huge waves?!
Hitting the big waves pretty much follows the same "square it up" adage that the rafters live by. If you hit the wave slightly left of square, you will get "surfed" to the left (*if* you successfully resist the pivoting effect), and vice versa. That's why I think some of the best practice we had was surfing in the whitewater park. The only difference the biggness makes is that slight errors in angle, produce ever bigger results ( . . . or wipeouts). Like with surfing, "where you go" is more a function of angles and edging, than pointing and paddling. Both of us practiced and got proficient at that "rodeo" reentry technique. In my opinion, being proficient at wet reentry is probably more important than rolling for a GC trip. The "T" assist just ups the odds of success, a lot, especially when you're tired. This is part of what makes the GC so fun: this would not work on a lot of other rivers.
Luke ran a "technical;-)" left line through Granite. I wasn't going to post that because of a bad camera angle, but I think I will. He made it, but scary AF! Firehose . . . or stoning?
Great video, thanks. I ran the right side in '00 in a guided raft, and it was plenty terrifying! Lava is no joke and you guys did the right thing on this line. The trip inspired me to get a Mohawk Probe 12 a year later.
Thanks! It was a heartbreaker not to run Lava via the standard right line. It stinks when you really want to do something, but know that the better judgement is to respect your limitations. Hopefully, I'll get another shot at it someday!
Thanks! When you live in a place where the most common question you get on rivers is, "What kind of kayak is that!?!" there's no complacency about how important it is to share your love of the sport😅
I think that would have been my line. It looked perfect to me. But now, having seen you get bogged down in the edge of the left eddy, I think I should try to drive back right into the center of the current to avoid the left eddy.
You may have noticed that the rafts got *really* stuck in that eddy; for that reason, Pres. Harding is remembered contemptuously by that part of our crew. This one will probably look very different. Normally, it has a huge, house-sized boulder, but here, it's a house-sized pour-over. Once you get stuck in one of these massive eddies, you become more "courageous" in flirting with the main flow.
@@ericforsman4348 It seems like everyone goes left of the huge rock, but who knows? This one was easy though. Since I know you're planning a trip . . . there are some sections that I can't find the footage for. One you may want to look at that we're missing is 24.5 Mile Rapid. Not a big name, but it wasn't trivial--some huge holes that are hard to see until you are on them. I'm also missing House Rock, for now. The main thing I remember about it is that the sheet flow to the left is incredible--paddle right like nuts!
Did your son go farther left? It's hard to tell if there's a less turbulent zone on the left edge of the wave train that doesn't get you right onto a turbulent eddy line. That's a tough one for an open boat, for sure.
I'm not sure. I don't remember this one as being too bad, though. Maybe a slightly harder version of Soap Creek. The annoying thing about trying to ride the sweet side of the eddy line (as you may have noticed), is that a rogue wave can upset the plan by knocking you into the eddy . . . then I had to speed up the video to edit the swearing;-)
Other than tying up to the rafts for a floating lunch, we paddled the whole way. The muscle part was no big deal. The hard part was knees, ankles, and especially chafing/rash. It really helps to have a boat that's stable enough that you can sit up and straddle the gunwales with your legs. I could in the big Covert, but the Extasy is way too unstable.
@@nazoc1263 Right. When I start thinking about my knees and ankles, it almost makes me want to bring a boat with an old fashioned canoe seat, so I can kneel for the rapids and then stretch my legs out on the flats. But then I think about wanting to be able to roll it up and not swim....
It looks like at the entrance the water was sheeting really hard towards the right bank. And it looks like the left eddy was rather tame. I have made a note for myself to stay left!
Our experienced friends told us, "We've never seen it like that before!" As I understand it, at most flows, Specter is nothing out of the ordinary. Here, it rivaled Hermit for Buh, Buh, Big.
A while back, I found this resource: www.keelhauler.com/river-ratings It ranks various popular runs around the country by relative difficulty. I'd agree with where the Grand Canyon falls on their list, based on my experiences with the other rivers on the list that I've paddled.
these canoes doesn't look very stable. looks like it's floating above of the water like inflatable kayaks. I have Grabner Hype inflatable whitewater kayak, it's been thrown around massively in Lee Valley Whitewater Centre UK. solid kayaks just go through with an ease. Good skill to stay up, thanks for sharing
Horn is a lot steeper and more clearly defined at 14,000, with a distinct left side and a right side. The locals I was paddling with called the right line “Land of the Giants.”
To be honest, I don't know the exact flow. I've been saying 20,000 cfs because the ranger who checked us in, said that (because of the big snowpack) the plan was to release a steady ~20K for the entire trip duration. That seemed to hold true because we didn't see much evidence of the usual "tides" during the trip. I'd love to go back at low or normal flows to see what it's like in different conditions.
Ha! No. Our experienced rafter friends told us that line was the easier one . . . not sayin' they'd sandbag us! In any case, I had no intention of hitting that eddyline. I failed to square in time to that lateral and got surfed in there (hence, the "Oh Sh--!").
I took notes, and called it "Lower Ruby." You did a great job of navigating first the inrush of water sheeting from the left, and then the swirlies between the wave train and the eddy to the left. I was peeping the right, which seems to have no eddy line to contend with, though it did seem to have a couple 'features.' Also: Thanks. I am loving your videos.
What I'm really looking forward to is when the Durango WW Park comes up in the spring. The plan is to start taking some intentional rolls in the holes into my onside so that I'm forced to learn how to use it. In theory, it should get easier when the current is in its favor.
It looks like the current rebounds hard off of that left wall, such that the wave train is kinda like a series of laterals, and there's no way to avoid the big waves on the left. I like the Extasy's line, entering right and pushing right to stay just to the right of the big waves.
I'd agree, Luke had a nice line running the edge of the "lateral funnel." I/we found that can be surprisingly hard to accomplish. If he'd erred too far to the left, he coulda wound up getting surfed into the center by a lateral. If he'd erred too far to the right, he could have been kidnapped by the boils. Even on the sweet-spot line, it's easy to take a glancing blow from the shoulder of a lateral, and have it careen you into the boils.
Agreed. I can't do a side wet entry (unassisted) into any of the HDPE boats I own. But my son is really good at getting back in "rodeo style." I can sometimes pull that off in this boat, but it's way harder than in my Agent--so much more stern buoyancy makes it harder to do the initial muscle-up. Here, I was tired: we started this day from just above Phantom Ranch.
