First, someone asked about high-water descents. Then Pete Chatelain asked “if anyone out there in the wide world has heard of anyone else floating the Paria??” I realize the Paria is not a technical canyon, but …
I walked the Paria sometime around April 1 of 1981 on the day after it had snowed in Page and at the Paria ranger station. I had just enough sense to postpone my trip a day after getting to the roadend in the snow. On the following day the flow was right at 40 cfs, which at the time was the level above which the BLM said one shouldn’t go. In a section just above the Buckskin junction, the water was up to my armpits and the current picked me up and carried me maybe 10 meters before I touched bottom again. I camped that night just below the Buckskin confluence, and reached Lees Ferry early on Day 3. So my question to Pete is, does 30 feet count as “floating” the Paria? Sort of like the first descent issue, eh?
By the way, school friends of mine in 1975-77 talked about having kayaked the Escalante in rubber duckies every other year or so when the water was high enough. So they had probably run the Escalante at least as early as 1972. They never suggested they thought they were first, either, or that it was any kind of a big deal – just a ton of fun. I never knew until reading the recent post that anyone had claimed either a 1975 descent *or* a 1949 descent.
Pete Chatelain
David? It certainly counts to a degree, but it is much more fun in a small raft and wetsuit. When I floated in April 6-11, 1979, we had around 100 cfs(usgs paria gaging station flows) we had good weather and an outrageous time. There is a 2 mile portage for the sane boater around Bush Head. When I floated in March 22-27, 1980, we had a heavy snowstorm(6 inches in the canyon) that hit 8 miles below the Buckskin confluence. When the sun came out that afternoon and the snow started melting(flows up to 150cfs) off the walls…. words cannot describe what was seen and felt. It has been long time but the incredible mechanism of memory allows me to experience those days at will. Any other boaters?? Pete — davidianmarcus dmarcus2@mindspring.com> wrote: > First, someone asked about high-water descents. Then > Pete Chatelain > asked “if anyone out there in the wide world has > heard of anyone > else floating the Paria??” I realize the Paria is > not a technical > canyon, but …
I walked the Paria sometime around April 1 of 1981 > on the day after > it had snowed in Page and at the Paria ranger > station. I had just > enough sense to postpone my trip a day after getting > to the roadend > in the snow. On the following day the flow was right > at 40 cfs, > which at the time was the level above which the BLM > said one > shouldn’t go. In a section just above the Buckskin > junction, the > water was up to my armpits and the current picked me > up and carried > me maybe 10 meters before I touched bottom again. I > camped that > night just below the Buckskin confluence, and > reached Lees Ferry > early on Day 3. So my question to Pete is, does 30 > feet count > as “floating” the Paria? Sort of like the first > descent issue, eh?
By the way, school friends of mine in 1975-77 talked > about having > kayaked the Escalante in rubber duckies every other > year or so when > the water was high enough. So they had probably run > the Escalante at > least as early as 1972. They never suggested they > thought they were > first, either, or that it was any kind of a big deal > – just a ton of > fun. I never knew until reading the recent post that > anyone had > claimed either a 1975 descent *or* a 1949 descent.
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