My family and I have been to Powell many times over the years. I remember my dad saying we had to go in 1981 because he wanted us to see the water under Rainbow Bridge and that we would probably never get another chance to see it again like that in our lifetime. We left So Cal on a trip that summer to stay at Bullfrog for a week camping in our 1975 Chevy Van and launched our Galaxy TriHull Boat and headed for Rainbow Bridge. There were so many people and boats there it was unbelievable. People were swimming under the bridge and people walking on top of it. I took my boat back to Powell in 2021 and couldn’t believe how low the water was and how far we had to walk from the limited dock space back to Rainbow Bridge. My dad was right when he said it would be a once in a lifetime event to see the water under Rainbow Bridge. I am glad I got to see it. Watching this video brings back many great memories of my parents and of the 1980’s. I miss that that time an my parents very much.

Dang that looks like a meat grinder 😮

Great adventure! Fantastic memories!

"Burp" (We flipped a 1.2 ton raft in Crystal 2021 😋😬)

I fully thought those two passengers were crash test dummies at first.

That's nucking futs

Isn't this supposed to be for fun that guy seems like an ass

Was a boy scout at Phantom Ranch that summer.

Epic

Man, not a good boatman are you? 🤡

Kayaked it in the first high test flow March 1996, it was a lot of fun.

Just finished reading the Emerald Mile. Awesome book! This was the troublesome rapid that took a life.

Is Bear still around? He was a cool guy.

A GREAT piece of work, this vid! Talk about memories revived. I'm glad I "didn't know better" (or whatever it was) in my younger days. Thank you!

From an old East Coast river guide-- you got to have balls that clank to run at those flows!

fantastic music selection mate. Great vid and pics. Great bit of history here :) Thank you for the work

That does not look like Lava Falls. Wrong side canyons.

Do you think that could be Karen Byerley (Kazan) running that snout right at the end?

I recorded this guys stories in 2009 great story telling

Fabulous video! I've been talking about this for years but seeing it is just....,...........wow

Sleeper waves.

Way to run it, Jeffe! That's my goal run this time, or perhaps for my daughter.

Hi Jeffe, I saw this come up the other day that it had broken out. When I looked the other day the wind was heading to the north east across the Hwy and river and into the other planned burn area. Knowing roughly where your place is I was wondering how you were fairing. Hope all is going ok. I saw your fire video of some yrs ago some time back.

Having experienced this first hand with 35+- trips '79-'84 from CFS in the teens to highest recorded (1983) since the dam was built I truly appreciate this incredible piece for which those who created it clearly spent countless hours. Thank-you. Runoff following winter '82-'83 required Glenn Canyon Dam spillways to be raised. As to not blow the spillways out entirely as the concrete in thos spillways was not holding up. Working along Georgie at times collecting her crew and gear following another notch in her history of numerous flips over the years. She was not only a trend setter way before her time she was a warrior and legend that quickly gained respect of everyone that met her. Sun up to sun down, rarely was she seen without an open coors in hand. Times working along side Martin Litton, a true gift to behold. Another legend and wealth of knowledge. Gart Bundy-RIP Cowboy! truly missed and never did he meet one that didn't become an instant friend. What a joy he was to work with. All that met him were blessed by his keeping all as safe as possible and his light hearted & friendly spirit. There were certainly other along the way. Somewhere there are pictures I hope to see again one day of our crew, 4 boats gently backing down each rapid to slow our down stream movement as we hauled and successfully delivered a Jeep CJ, a generator, a dump truck and a backhoe to Phantom Ranch so that a water and if memory serves, a waste water plant could be built. Memories to extend for lifetimes.

2:28 that boatman, rondo, now has a bike shop in western colorado, i worked for him for a summer. Great dude. He's a real chill guy these days, if you spent your 20s battling that river i get it. Thanks for uploadin!

You make it look so deceptively easy - when in reality it’s a very scary tightrope walk without a net!

Chundered!

My father was on the 1983 flood run. Wally Rist. Ran the whole thing in like 40 hours.

Classic. Been blessed with 7 kayak trips down this magic from 12 to 40K. Please, please, bless us again! and again, and again!

It must have been horrifying to see the pink sandstone slurry coming out !

The green mile is a must read for this event and an overview of government mentality and engineers failure to work with geologists

The national parks service never warned those of us on lake powell houseboating, nor the rafters below, government agencies to not not be to blamed, repeat in Lahina

Holy shit!

Happy Boat’N

Was on a commercial trip during that week. our 30+ foot motor rig flipped in that hole after the guide thought it was a good idea to ram the boat in front of us that was stuck in it. Sat on rock alone for 3 hours while family swam for miles. A bit much for a 15 year old. But it was memorable.

Ahh yes that was something to see at 95,000 CFS!

Did they make it out?

Taking a bucket boat down Crystal at 60k….ahhhh…the good ole days

Just watched, 7/7/23. I was there with Grand Canyon Dories (now absorbed by OARS) in June, 1986, same big water and all our dories got through upright, what a ride!

Insane!

Crazy, what a time to live through Jeffe, thanks for posting this up.

Have a fun flush drown

Oh my word. That is great. I love seeing old video like this. I would be mortified to run it at that level.

Well done saving your place. Preparation during the yr is a big thing, then trying to keep embers out by sealing things up.

i freakin love how the dude apologized to you like he steered you into the ledge hahaha

Awesome! Just finished reading the Emerald Mile. I've rowed the Grand a few times but was a Cataract boatman back in the 90's and saw 50-70k many times in an 18' oar rig. It hit close to 70k this year and I can honestly say I'm not sorry I missed it!

awesome!!!!!

We launched either the same day as McCallum or next day. But we were there when he called the Superintendent and told him basically "you show me a ranger whose had more experience under different water levels for so many years than I and I'll wait." So we managed to weasel our way into going (private trip) because we were already there and mostly ready. The NPS closed the river for about a week after we launched so we had lots of privacy. River was so fast we hardly scouted many rapids, they were mostly covered over, and we had longer days in camp, after getting there so fast. We didn't have any issues. And when we got to Crystal the ranger gave us the same spiel about passengers walking around and we just laughed and said we're all passengers and all boatmen (it was a relatively small group) so he let us all ride in rafts. I back-ferried into the big lateral close to right bank and made it fine, but then the current swept me and passenger towards the big waves which we just rode over the edges of and enjoyed that. One of our rafters blundered into the middle but did fine. When we got the helicopter sand bag note it was our first night I think. So we all got excited and moved our stuff too far, but the river was pretty wide there and didn't actually come up that much. That was my third full GC trip but I'd been rowing commercially on the Animas in Durango which isn't much of a river experience but the point is that that constant exercise and reading the water helped me on the Colorado. I went on to complete 12 full GC private trips in the 80's and early 90's, plus a half trip with some geologists in 1980, from Phantom Ranch down to Havasupai and we hiked out there and hitched back to Flagstaff. Prior to that I managed to ride on a commercial with snouts from below the LC confluence (on a backpacking trip) down thru Hance, stayed overnite with the group, and hiked back out the next morning after eating too much! Chuck Zemach has given a bunch of dialogue to (?)Tom Martin for the history of 1983, and he did make one boo-boo when he said that I portaged my raft thru Hance, when I actually lined it down the left bank until past the first nasties, then we jumped in and continued safely. Anyway, enjoyed the video.

Cool footage. It seems to me like boat three was intentionally aiming for the meat but that’s just hindsight I’m sure.

I was on one of the baloney boats (Georgie’s Royal River Rats) that flipped that summer. I was 14 years old. The fatality was a woman on our trip. Very sad. Strength of the current and thrashing of the rapids tore the clothes off her lower body. Life jacket kept her body afloat and she was recovered. Greatest nature adventure of my life, despite the tragic component. Rags Ragland, I’ve always remembered you and became a firefighter myself 6 years later.