Thursday, May 3, 2012

Julius jubilant

Julius survived his fourth Grand Canyon trip unscathed, through little fault of my own. I missed a few runs, slopped through a few others, but came out right-side-up and smiling. I was a training boat and blabbermouth on Arizona Raft Adventures's annual "Dories and Stories" trip. Last year I took down the Edith--my replica of the 1911 Kolb boat, for its 100th anniversary. This year I took Julius to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Holmstrom's solo run of 1937. (Next year it'll be a Nevills replica, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of that historic style.)






I shot a lot of video footage, although most of it was unremarkable. I'll post a few amusing ones. Here is Hance, where Alan and I violated each others' personal space for the entire run:
High res YouTube link


Sockdolager, where I tore an oarlock out and bent it:
High res YouTube link




Here we are hauling the potty to lunch, in lieu of the poo boat who had headed downriver early to exchange hikers. Buzz would be proud.



Horn Creek, where I actually made the run:
High res YouTube link



And a pause for beauty at Trinity Canyon:






Granite Falls: push hard left, get swept right anyhow--my standard run, but it seems to work:


Down the left wall at Crystal:



Another wander up Specter Chasm:



And one of the worst runs I've made at Bedrock since I was a greenhorn in the mid-70s. Angle, Brad. Angle! For the love of god, angle!


An ouzel posing at Deer Creek:


And what was most likely the most spectacular run, down the right at Lava Falls, hot on the heels of an upside-down dory--a huge ride, complete with a high-speed chase through Lower Lava, nearly flipping in pursuit of a runaway dory oar... and the danged video cam ran out of gas before we even got to the rapid. Ah well... have to do it again.

A consolation shot at Pumpkin Spring and a few closeups Julius's suntanned Port Orford Cedar glowing in the late afternoon light. 'T'was a fine expedition.




14 comments:

  1. Nice Blog - who knew you were filming everyone!

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  2. Let me know when you want to re-shoot Lava. I'll be glad to help on the dory again (-:

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  3. great to relive the trip and see the rapids I missed...too bad about lava...great footage!

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  4. nothin like messin about in boats.... thanks for the share

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  5. YAY, Brad! Great Photos and videos!!

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  6. Ah, Rockhouse.....that was pretty much the same line I took my first time. I said the same thing after pulling my guts out, "Angle Dammit!" LOL:)

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  7. Great trip and stories. Loved riding on the Julius deck and sharing canoeing stories with you.

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  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    Replies
    1. I'm sorry, did not mean to remove my first post. Just trying to re-edit.

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  9. well... it's a longggg story. SOme systems work some places, others work better elsewhere. We've been fine tuning it for about 150 years and still have a way to go. Especially some of us.

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  10. It had me puck'rd and I'm sitting in my front room.

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