Do I have a first descent?
Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2014 1:57 am
OK,
This will seem like an appeal to my Vanity, but actually it isn't. As some have read before, I am working on a non-fiction book about my 12 years as a whitewater canoe guide/instructor, and I've just finished the rough draft. The book is primarily humorous, (or its supposed to be) and one of the chapters I talk about all the ways to attain fame in the whitewater world, and how I have managed to avoid all of them. I then go on to tell a funny story about how many times I went into the drink on a really bad day of paddling an open boat on a very technical class III-IV run with some kayakers.
I let a friend read part of the story and he said I might have been the first open boater to ever try that particular run in an open canoe. It would be funny to put in the story that I actually did attain a 'first descent' but did it so sloppily I didn't want anyone to know.
So, in April of 2000, I took a Dagger Encore through Box Canyon on the Upper Sacramento River. Does anyone know of anyone else who did 'The Box' (not merely the Upper Sacramento as they are different runs) prior to April of 2000? Is there anyplace online that keeps track of first descents? Incidentally, I still talk to the kayakers who watched me get creamed that day, so they can back me up as to the dates.
Oh, and as a final note, if you ever make it out to the 'Box'...take a shorter boat.
-Rob
This will seem like an appeal to my Vanity, but actually it isn't. As some have read before, I am working on a non-fiction book about my 12 years as a whitewater canoe guide/instructor, and I've just finished the rough draft. The book is primarily humorous, (or its supposed to be) and one of the chapters I talk about all the ways to attain fame in the whitewater world, and how I have managed to avoid all of them. I then go on to tell a funny story about how many times I went into the drink on a really bad day of paddling an open boat on a very technical class III-IV run with some kayakers.
I let a friend read part of the story and he said I might have been the first open boater to ever try that particular run in an open canoe. It would be funny to put in the story that I actually did attain a 'first descent' but did it so sloppily I didn't want anyone to know.
So, in April of 2000, I took a Dagger Encore through Box Canyon on the Upper Sacramento River. Does anyone know of anyone else who did 'The Box' (not merely the Upper Sacramento as they are different runs) prior to April of 2000? Is there anyplace online that keeps track of first descents? Incidentally, I still talk to the kayakers who watched me get creamed that day, so they can back me up as to the dates.
Oh, and as a final note, if you ever make it out to the 'Box'...take a shorter boat.
![:oops:](./images/smilies/icon_redface.gif)
-Rob