Bumper Boat

Today was the day we paddled through the canyon and I was a bit nervous, as usual, about whitewater. Our boats are very heavy with all the gear piled in the middle. We stopped a couple of times to scout ahead. The first part of the run went well - some Class III waves and we took on water and had to bail.

Then we hit a big rock just below the surface and got stuck. I was bailing the front, wondering why the level didn't go down; then I saw that water was pouring over the back on Barbara's side. We finally got loose after I crawled to the back and bounced with Susan and Barbara to dislodge the raft. We had to paddle hard to a gravel bar so we could stop and bail - the boat was at least 1/2 full of water. After bouncing off a couple more rocks and paddling hard, we made it to shore where Ramona's boat was waiting.
We had lunch, then Susan and Ramona scouted out a campsite downstream. Barbara and Sue and I were getting cold - wet feet, wet socks, wet long johns, wet jacket.

Our campsite was a little tricky to get to, and Ramona and Susan had to pull the boats up a channel.