Day 2
“Then the sound of motors.
“Baloney boats,” says John. We look upstream and see a huge
silver-gray rubber raft come charging around the bend, bearing down
on us. Swarming with people, it looks like a floating anthill. John
pulls our dory aside to let it pass. Waves and shouts. At full
throttle the baloney boat roars by. Followed a minute later by a
second and a third, all stacked with yellow crates, pink bodies,
red fuel tanks. Those passengers sure get a ride – from Lee’s Ferry
to Lake Mead in as few as six days. The wilderness mass transit
system in operation.”
Days
14-18
“Glen Canyon Dam must fall. Must soon come
tumbling down. All old river rats dead and gone and yet to come
will understand. The spirit of John Wesley Powell will understand,
high in his haunt on the rim of Great Thumb Mesa. Listen to his
words, still whispered by the
wind:
We have an unknown
distance yet to run;
an unknown river yet to
explore
“Night and day the
river flows. If time is the mind of space, the Colorado is the soul
of the desert. Brave boatmen come, they go, they die, the voyage
flows on forever. We are all canyoneers. We are all passengers on
this little living mossy ship, this delicate dory sailing round the
sun that humans call the earth.
“Joy, shipmates,
joy.”
* Ed Abbey, from
The
Hidden Canyon, A River Journey
Sometimes
photographers take pictures that glow with life. The color photos
of rapids in The Hidden Canyon: A River Journey, a reprint of a
book first published in the 1970s, almost spit spume from the
Colorado River. In fact, they might be the next best thing to
paddling through the Grand Canyon
yourself.
Starting in 1971, former river guide
John Blaustein took the 100-plus color photos in this 143-page
paperback reissued by Chronicle Books. To capture the river in
motion, he housed a camera inside an ammo can, then cut out windows
and fitted them with Plexiglas. That way he could keep rowing while
triggering the camera with his foot.
Along with
visual treats that include everything from waterfalls to geckos,
the book features a diary of the 18-day trip by Edward Abbey.
Though thousands more people boat the river through Grand Canyon
every year, Abbey was already angry at the commercialization of one
of the world’s glorious places a quarter century
ago.
Abbey writes vividly about getting dumped
into the river when his boat swamps. He also shares his awe at the
bravery of explorer John Wesley Powell, who took his men down a
river that nobody knew.
John Blaustein’s book is
$19.95 and includes an introduction by Martin Litton, founder of
Grand Canyon Dories.
* Betsy
Marston
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The river rules a hidden canyon.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
