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Show 191 Miles Down The San Juan and Colorado Rivers. &INCE my last writing I've done a bit of exploring in the Western part or QUr Fa~1sh,and as it would take many days to tell the story to each of my correspondents, I'm using this means-.whic,h I hope you'll forgive-- to let you in on the high-lights. r TAKE your map of southern Utah; find the San Juan Riv~rJ Bluff,Mex-ican Hat--- then run your finger down the Ri ver ,~ r "'to ~ l) t.o the Junction of the SanJuan and Colorado (,:t-.~"~ '''... ".~ R1v-ers as far as Lee -' s Ferry,or Marble Can - AJ" o,=,"'~<.) lIb(/r"~ yon, whichever 1s marked. That I s the extent of ~ \"':.'-Cc .... o(~\) ~Jt. the trip. \: ...... L~e',> r.« ~ FRIDAY, the 16th of June, Br Jun1per,Fr Clement, Br Nichael took me dovm the Mexican Hc.t in the pick-up. Here the intrepid Ri vew - Runner, No~man Nevills, had gathered a group for the boat-trip; it consisted of: Mr and Mrs Francis Farquar of San Francisco, experienced mountain-climbers, he an accountant, and tfdaddy" of the NPS; Messrs Alfred Bailey and Fred Brandenberg of the Denver Museum and the former's deughter,Patriciaj Mr Rowland Henderson,Editor of l)ese'rt (not Deseret) magazine, Major Weldon Heald, of Altadena,Cal., engineer;-C11matic s~ecialst for the Ammy, and mountain climber extraordinary; Mr and Mrs Frank Cook (hereinafter known as the Honeymooners, he so much an expert in lenses that Polaroid 1s sending him to Mount Wilson Observatory (via Colorado Riverl); Mr Wayne McConkie, oarsman, botanist and expert egg-fryer of Moab,Utah; Donald Bondurant oarsman, engineer of the War Department a~ Albuquerque,N.M.; Norman and myself. Friday night we got the four boats into the water and moored to firm rocks on the shore, and the supplies assembled near by; the Hone1mooners and I slept in the sand and guarded the stuff. Cra:ck-o-dawn Saturday we we re off. You know these crack-o-da,wn ' ,~ ; " starts. First,Norman had to measure the height and sw'iftess of the River,then we had to eat and do a few things, but about ten we really got off. The Honeymooners had their own boat and the bride got washed overboard within eight seconds of the launching. She scrambled aboard none the worse in ~nother eight seconds or less. At The Hat the River runs 1n a narx.Ow gorge, with a te l'rific current. Sand waves·--are a new experience to those of ,~; .. S from the East who .thoug~t we knew row-boats and their ways; sand-waves may pop up right under ~o~ boat, or they may be visible as you ~pproach so that you can ride them,but at uny time they may wash over gunwales and decks. It was QOe of the$e that took off the bride. AS you will see by your map, a tew miles down-stream from Mexican Hat is-"an int~rnationa,ll: " --,"," -T ' ;~~~: -~' \ ~- ... famouS" iJQQJ.o&ical phez:~on known as The;:) ,i,- "f~~ '~" ,. . ______ ~:, ~. Goosenecks. To 'S001entlsts, an intr~nched me- ,:). ~~ . \.\~ 1' \1 \ \ 1'1 ander. Here the River makes perfect snake- '. ... ~!:~.:~// . ~" ' ...... / like twists for several miles in a bed of -i "'~ c..-i."C5~ 'i' ~(\<<? solid rock. An aut~~le Boad (of a sort)leads to a vantuge point f~om which one can see the River make four or five appearances and d.1sapp.ear ~aoes.. To this point several members ot our party went by car, so as to photograph the a ~ ' pro D. ching boats; then they elarr.hered down the precipitous aonicker TrQil and joined us at the l 2;,nding at about two in the afternoon. We all drifted dovm stream, now resting on our oars and now fighting for a comparutively safe posi tion in the rapids until about six, ' when Norman ccclled out "Slick Horn Canyon!" and we moored our boats 2t c.n exquisitely bec;utiful spot. It was Saturday night, and while the others busied thems e lve~ with grosser detCiils such as preparing food and malcing camp, I hunted for an altar.It was notdidrficult--except to ehoose from many ider.:.! spots ,~ I |