C-Forum

... a lot. His longest scout was two hours standing in the rain contemplating Granite Rapid, to which he can only say: What a rapid. What a line. Lava Falls was a quick 15 minute scout and didn't hold much of a candle to Granite. He never did see all the flat water people talk about in the Grand ...

'Twas a "Grand" experience, swam Lava- not by choice thou. Our trip was lucky with weather, and all the hot spots for hiking, etc we had to our selves. It was a great 60th B-day present to myself!!!

Love the Lower Salmon, we've done it twice (with raft support) once at @3500 cfs, 2nd time @ 7500 cfs ...

Jim,

Just to be accurate, I talked to a few of the others on the grand trip and best we could figure the level at lava is between 7000 and 13000 cfs.

Roy,

The cross sections you pulled from an earlier post are cross sections from my wind c2. I do plan to take lines from pépé at some point but just ...

Jim,

This is what Lava looked like when I was there. We think it was about 12000cfs, but not sure. Our trip leader, the guy in the red race kayak in the front, has done the grand 20 times and said he's never see Lava this chaotic. In the picture, I had not flipped yet. I was driving left as hard as I ...

Excellent - I'm quite jealous, my next trip is September next year but I want to be there now!

Lava Vee wave seems to be the luck of the draw whether it backloops you or not, but getting flipped closer to the cheese grater must focus the mind somewhat!
Last time I was there it was low and there was ...

... gel coat is used. Overall after 16 straight days of paddling I think durability of pépé is good.

It was a trip of a lifetime.

Matt

This is hermit rapid below. On lava, I was able to punch through the v-wave hole but was flipped by an even bigger crashing wave just above the cheese grater rock.

... of worry and just an annoyance which spurs you on!

Getting used to the way the boat moves on the water - I had a disagreement with someone at Lava kind of stemming from that. I had got used to the way the boat bobbed as I got into it (9 or 10 days in the saddle), I had scouted Lava and it ...

... hitting rocks is really low so degradation is not a serious issue, it certainly felt stiff enough on the water and the one time we portaged it (Upset, I lined it down left of Lava).

Some people do seem to have unrealistic expectations on the value of their boats!

Are you able to look before you buy?

... There are a few trickier rapids depending on recent changes and levels - I couldn't visualize a line I had any confidence of making on Upset or Lava so portaged and lined them.

If you rent the Moenkopi boat I'd advise taking spare anchors and glue with you, a couple pulled off on me and there ...

25 Day trip on Grand Canyon. Dagger Caper tandem!
Oh, and my bow paddler has a broken fibula! No problem-we supported the ankle with inflated wine bags.
Get some!
http://vimeo.com/57340370

Doug finished his trip.

Here's his run of Lava Falls:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGjBtk2uZog


Here's what Doug says about his line:

"Yeah, the V-Wave filled me up. it shows better from the front, but it's when I disappear at the start of the run. From then on I'm full, and fighting to be ...

So was I... :o

I guess Lava has changed significantly in the last year or so, at least since the people who had previously run the river on our trip. It's a meaty line. Part of me would like to go back and clean up the mess a bit, and part of me never wants to be that close to the Ledge Hole and ...

Very cool Chris! I was leaning in my chair at Lava Falls.

... was huge! Hermit had a massive wave, Sockdolager was basically a mid river vertical wall of water, the hole in Crystal was a monstrous wave, and Lava Falls was chaos on the water (at least it felt that way, I spent most of it upside down!).

The total cost for the trip with permits, gear rental ...

Well, I converted a Noah Lava into a Magma, the kayak version. I know there is an unaltered Magma in existence in the SE, so if you can find it, you can convert it to C-1. But consider..... people who paddled the c-1 version, only 24" wide with rather sharp chines, tumblehome slab sides, and very ...