Scotty’s words are still echoing in my head: “Whatever happens, don’t go in the hole.”
It is too late. We are in the hole. A towering wall of water engulfs the kayak and flips it around. Suddenly, we are pointing upstream and being sucked backwards. I glance around to discover my brother is no longer behind me. He has been washed out but has managed to grab the rope at the back. Somehow he hauls himself back in and we paddle like madmen, crashing through a series of huge waves to make it to calmer water.
Scotty is waiting there, smiling and shaking his head. “I told you not to go in the hole.”
The rapid at mile marker 209 might only be a grade five on the Grand Canyon’s white-water rating system of one to 10, but I feel as though we have just paddled through Niagara Falls. I am not normally a high-five kinda guy but I can’t stop myself from shrieking and pumping my fists in an explosion of adrenalin and relief. It is quite simply one of the most thrilling things I have ever done.
Rafting through the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River has become one of those life-changing, must-do-before-you-die travel experiences.
Read the rest of this article on the Sydney Morning Herald’s website here.
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