Friday, May 21, 2010

The Dolores River

May 5th, about 2 pm, on the Dolores River in Utah was the most incredible hour of my life. I almost drowned under a boat, lived through a harrowing journey down a raging rapids and then immediately had to plunge into a lengthy rescue mission.

So what is the most incredible hour of your life? Coming out of the womb?

I feel close to Jy because he went down the same rapids I did, and had to work hard to survive his passage. Meanwhile, G leaped astonishingly to safety.

G is an American hero of mine, an amazing mountain man. You would want this man in your foxhole! His late father went on combat patrols in Normandy in 1944 and walked by German patrols in the dark.

Yeah, not much matters to me anymore. So how was your summer vacation?

3 comments:

Obi-Run Kenobi said...

Incredible story! I've been reading your entries the last week with great interest.

I had a similar, although less intense to be sure, experience several years ago when I went on a rafting trip in college on the American River out in CA. At one point early on, another boat got snagged on some submerged rocks and several people fell out. Our guide navigated the boat alongside a classmate of mine who had fallen out.

However, the current started to drift both us and her towards the rocky shore so I reached over into the water, grabbed her life jacket with one hand and had to use the other one to wrap around her upper thigh to get some leverage and pulled her into the boat just before it collided with the rocks. She was badly shaken up. Later, I apologized for the undignified way I got her out of the water!

Then later in the same day my own boat got turned sideway and ran against a huge rock sticking out of the water. I was in the back on the outside so my side immediately went underwater and flooded. I remember thinking, "I need to get to the other side of the boat right now," but the current swept me under the boat before I could do more than complete the thought. It was really fast, and looking back, I now realize just how dangerous those 15-20 seconds were.

Unknown said...

Man, what an experience!

peter said...

You acted and made it go down alright for others (as did your guide). My my friends were helping out that day which made all the difference! Your story of being swept under the boat is harrowing to me, a single minute underwater can make all the difference in this life, I'm glad you made it out alright!