The Wild Ones

December 4, 2019 6:46 AM

People said that women had no place in the Grand Canyon and would likely die trying to run the Colorado river. In 1938, two female scientists set out to prove them wrong. [SL Atavist Long Read]
posted by ellieBOA (7 comments total)

Women have suffered long and hard for finding their rightful place among the roomful of men. But strive they must and do.
posted by Lazylord at 7:46 AM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

Great read, wouldn't normally care to read that long of a story about damn boats on a river but that was a really cool journey. Is grand canyon dammed to high heck now or was there a successful push to restore it?
posted by GoblinHoney at 8:31 AM on December 4, 2019

I've been down the Grand Canyon twice now, Lee's Ferry to Diamond Creek in winter. My hat is off to anyone that runs it but damn -- to do it in a dory, with out the awesome maps and resources available now, that's some impressive gumption. "Hooey" indeed.

I've also paddle a week's worth of flat water on the Green during summer and never sweat so much in my life.

Goblin: There are some releases to do super high flows, but it's dammed to heck.
posted by now i'm piste at 8:42 AM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

Grand Canyon is controlled by Glen Canyon Dam upstream, GoblinHoney. Water releases are dictated both by a planning schedule and power needs. It's not the wild river it once was, but the current is still very strong and the rapids range from mild to terrifying. When I'm at the bottom of the Canyon, I don't ever go more than knee deep into the river; many people have been swept away in the river. If you'd like some reading that's not only informative, but quite an engrossing read, find "The Emerald Mile" by Kevin Fedarko. I really really want to take a raft trip through the Canyon.
posted by azpenguin at 8:44 AM on December 4, 2019 [4 favorites]

I wouldn't say dammed to heck, compared to what was planned; but damned to hell if Glen Canyon Dam didn't really foul things up (as noted in the article).

Wallace Stegner's bio of Powell, "Beyond the 100th meridian" is about half-full of the trip down the river. It's a good read.

[this is good]
posted by notsnot at 9:40 AM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

That was quite the adventure, especially in the day, but "the most dangerous river in the world"? No, not at all, not even close. It had a lot of mystique at one time because of the lack of access, but today it is just a fun, medium difficulty river. Not particularly dangerous.
posted by JackFlash at 3:27 PM on December 4, 2019

The Colorado River used to have yearly spring flows of over 100,000 cubic feet of water per second down to a couple thousand in late summer. It carried so much sand and silt that the water was red- hence the name, Colorado. Today the largest flows are 25,000 cfs. All the soil that used to color it is trapped behind dams. It's an entirely different river than it was in 1938.
posted by oneirodynia at 10:53 PM on December 4, 2019