Chapter 18

August 24-29, 1999
Grand Canyon Trip 7

Before they got under way, Crystal called them all together and went over the plan for the day, again mentioning some safety rules. "It's already pretty warm, so it's gonna be hot today," Crystal told the customers. "You'll probably want to have on swimsuits and T-shirts. Watch out for sunburn on yourself and on others. Wear sunscreen. A bad sunburn can take all the fun out of the trip. We'll probably run Soap Creek without scouting, but House Rock, we'll want to stop and get a look at. It's the first tough one we come to. If anyone wants to get out and walk, I won't blame them; it's fine with me. But, we should get through all right. All right, let's head 'em up and move 'em out."

They did just a quick boat scout of Soap Creek, a couple miles away. Once again, Scooter was running in the lead, and she glanced back over her shoulder to see Randy make a clean run of Soap Creek. Must be he has the touch, she thought.

Several miles later, they reached House Rock. Scooter pulled her raft off to one side and tied it off on a rock, and one by one, the other rafts joined them. The shores of this rapids were a talus slope, and Randy joined the rest of the party climbing up to see what was ahead. House Rock was always the first really tough one they came to, but this crew had run it several times, so the idea of the stop was really more to let the passengers have a look at what they were in for.

"Shouldn't be too bad," Crystal said. "Randy, if you were running the raft, how would you do it?"

"Pretty obvious," he said. "Start to river left, then pull to the right."

"Yeah, that's about the best choice," Crystal said. "That stopper coming in from the left is the problem. People better hang on or we might get some swimmers."

Slowly, they worked their way back to the rafts. "OK, make sure everything is tied down, and hang on," Crystal told everyone. It shouldn't be too bad."

Scooter, then Al, then Dan, then Jerry made reasonable runs, but Crystal got on the oars for this one. From below, Scooter could see that with the line Crystal was running, it was going to be rougher and wetter than the other runs, and so it proved. She got the raft washed out pretty good, and well up on its side in the stopper. Thrill ride, you cowboy, she thought as Crystal rode out the wave train. That ought to perk Randy up a bit. As their raft drifted close, Scooter could see Crystal smile as she said, "That was pretty good, but wait till we get to the big stuff."

Early in the afternoon, they pulled into a wide sand beach just before reaching North Canyon Rapids, the start of the "Roaring Twenties" -- twenty miles below Lee's Ferry. The next ten miles didn't have the most difficult white water on the river, but it had the first big concentration of more difficult water. "We're going to take it easy this afternoon," Crystal told the group. "Big day tomorrow. We're done with the shakedown, now. Tomorrow, it gets serious. Those of you who want to explore a little, we've got a nice hike up a side canyon, nice view. We'll eat lunch, and then I'll take those of you who want to go for a walk up into it."

It was hot, now; most of the group was down to swimsuits. Scooter noticed Karin, sitting and talking with Al, too far away to hear. She was wearing a dark blue two-piece -- it would be a reach to call it a bikini, but not all that big a reach. After lunch most of them started up the side canyon, Karin included, still wearing her swimsuit. Al made no secret of his bad leg, a remnant of Vietnam, and for once Scooter decided to stay back and keep him company. They found a shady spot in some tamarisks; Scooter offered him a beer from a drag bag; he took her up on it. She really wanted to talk about how he was feeling but didn't want to approach the subject directly. "Boy," she started. "That sure was wild about Crystal's mom showing up out of nowhere, isn't it?"

"I was surprised," Al grinned. It was good to see him grin again! "Crystal just about stunk up her panties, though."

"Sure looked like it to me," Scooter grinned. "You rarely see Crystal speechless, but it happened that time. I get the impression that you and Karin remember each other from that trip she was on."

"Yeah," Al said, "You'd think she remembers me better than I do her, 'cuz there have been so damn many customers go by over the years. But Karin stuck out even back in those days." He let out a sigh. "Scooter, I know you talk back and forth with Crystal a lot, but there's something that her mother should tell her, and not you. And she may not tell her, so if I tell you this you'll understand a few things, but you'll have to keep your mouth shut."

"I can do that if I need to," Scooter told him. "As good a friend as I am with Crystal there are places I try not to go with her. But you don't have to tell me."

"Maybe not," he smiled. "But I think I will, just because I want to work it out a little for myself. I was just a little pissed with Crystal when Karin stepped off that bus."

"Pissed? Why?"

"Back when I was a young stud and Louise was still married to the guy she told to go to hell, I, well, I had a few Canyon romances. That's part of the reason that I've never got down on boatmen for having one now and then so long as they keep it pretty low profile. Maybe it ain't right, but it's not easy for me to say, 'Do as I say, not like I did.'"

"Al," Scooter said, the light dawning, "Are you telling me you had a Canyon romance with Crystal's mom?"

"Yeah," he admitted, "Back before she was married. Like most Canyon romances, it blew hot and heavy for a few days, and then broke off, and I never heard from her again. Well, I can't say never; I did get a Christmas card once, and she included a note that she'd gotten married. And then nothing until yesterday." He let out a sigh. "Scooter, the reason I remember Karin so well is that she was my last Canyon romance before I took up with Louise."

"I will be damned," Scooter grinned. "You're right, Crystal doesn't need to know that and I won't tell."

"The reason I was pissed was that I figured that Crystal knew about it and had set me up," he said. "And you can take that just where you want to. But no, it looks like it was a pure accident. Karin mostly took the opportunity of having her husband in Japan to get her stuff out of the house, and she came here to try to put things back together with Crystal."

"They have been a little ouchy," Scooter reported honestly. "But I think they're trying to work it out."

"Good," Al said. "Thing is, too, Scooter, I'm glad Karin is here, even though it was an accident. She stirred up some memories."

"Not bad ones, I hope."

"No, just old ones. Good ones, mostly. What it was like to be young and full of shit. Good times with Louise, too." He let out a sigh. "I'm just having trouble remembering that the good times really were good, but Karin sort of reminded me of it a little."

"Al, good deal," Scooter said. "We've been worried about you. All of us, on this team, Jeff and Michelle, and they tell us the other teams, too. It's good to see you pulling yourself together."

"You and Crystal was right," he replied. "I needed to get back down here again. Thanks, Scoot. You're a damn good kid, and from everything I hear you're doing damn fine. I'm just damn glad that Crystal thought of you to call last spring."

The next morning they started down through the Roaring Twenties. Though there would be worse to come, it was an exciting time, even for the boatmen -- they felt that now they were getting into what the Canyon had to offer. Scooter was of the opinion that the scenery from North Canyon down through about Buck Farm Canyon was her favorite of the whole thing -- it was much more intimate than a lot of the rest of the Canyon, and in a place of spectaculars, it was particularly spectacular.

The first part of the Roaring Twenties was tough enough that Crystal rowed her raft, rather than let Randy do it. Scooter didn't pay much more attention than that since it was a busy time, and she liked to soak up the scenery in the spare moments. Some day, she promised herself, she was going to run this with another boatman at the oars so she could just relax and enjoy it.

The heart of the Roaring Twenties is the part between miles 23 and 25 -- the miles numbered from Lee's Ferry -- where five pretty serious rapids came one after another. Things went well most of the way through, but in 24 Mile Rapids a rogue wave knocked Scooter's raft a little sideways, and caught her a little off balance. A sweep stroke she attempted with an oar didn't have quite the power it needed, and they went through a big stopper wave cornerwise. One of the passengers, a quiet, late-thirtyish guy named Dallas, had either not been holding on too well or was caught by surprise, for when the boat lurched and the wave came over the bow, he went with it. He swept sideways past Scooter's feet, made a wild grab for the lifeline that ran around the edge of the boat, and caught it with one hand. Scooter made a strong stroke to straighten the raft out, let go of one oar, reached out and grabbed his life jacket, and by some combination of pure strength and adrenaline, helped by the boat's movement, the way the waves were working, and the customer's effort, her big heave brought him back onto the floor of the raft. She grabbed the free oar, stabilized the boat, ran out the wave train, and pulled into the eddy below before heaving a big sigh of relief.

"Thanks, Scooter," Dallas puffed from excitement. "I should have been holding on better."

Scooter realized that she'd been getting a little complacent and should have been more ready. It was the first serious incident she'd had in the Canyon, the first washout, and just sheer damn luck had kept the customer from becoming a swimmer. "No big deal," she replied with a calm she didn't feel, "Just goes to show you how quick the devil can come to lunch down here."

Since Scooter had been on point again, everyone in the party saw the incident. In a few seconds, Crystal came floating up. "Everything OK?" she asked.

"Yeah, no problem," she shrugged.

"Want us to take point for a while?" Crystal asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Scooter grinned. "It'll take us a minute to wring this guy out, anyway. We'll take sweep."

"Thanks again, Scooter," Dallas sighed as he pulled himself together. "You have to be even stronger than you look to yank me back into the boat one handed."

"This raft weighs about what a midsized car does," Scooter grinned at him. "You row one of these things all day, every day, for months on end and see if you don't build up a muscle or two."