I ran the Colorado River for the first time in the spring of 2000. The folks who started my family in the river-running craze-- the Hares-- had scored a permit. Dusty Hare was going to be at the bottom of the Grand Canyon for his fiftieth birthday! Originally, only my parents were invited (there was limited space) along with Pam and Dusty Hare, and two of their three children, Mike and Jessica, and a handful of people whom I didn't know. As time went on and the launch date was coming up, both me and my brother were invited. He would run the upper half from Lee's Ferry to Phantom Ranch and I would run it from Phantom Ranch to Diamond Creek. It was perfect. He had to get out early and take finals anyway.

I had to tend the ranch for seven days before Mike Hare and I had to hike down to Phantom Ranch. In the meanwhile, we met one of our trip-mates: Danny-- one of the outfitters Dusty had met a week before at Lee's Ferry. He rode up with us to Grand Canyon National Park and early the next morning we hiked down the Kaibab trail to Phantom Ranch. We met our other trip-mate on the trail: Brian. A friend of Dusty's from California. We had met him before on our very first river trip years ago.

We only had about an hour's wait before everybody floated up. We were introduced to those we didn't know: those leaving and those staying. My brother Jeff was hiking out and he gave me and Mike the lowdown on everybody else. Joe and Eva we only met for a moment before they hiked out. There was another guy we never saw, David, who left too. We had to take their words for it that he even existed. So that left everybody else. We knew Pam and Dusty (neighbors and friends for years), their thirteen year old daughter Jessica, my Mom and Dad (Debbie and Frank to everybody else), and Kevin McClure (another neighbor and river-compadre). Those we didn't know were Greg Korn and his daughter Jessica (friends of Dusty's and Kevin's), Diana (known to most as "Snookie"), Laura (a co-worker of Pam's who lost her job by staying on the river), and Red and Jodi (more friends of Dusty's and Kevin's). They were good people.

Here's a picture of my Mom and Dad at Vasey's Paradise.

From there, we headed down the river. It was a good time, of course. I really can't say much more than that-- it was just too intense. So, I'll share a few pictures and a few strange highlights. Trust me, though, if you've never gone down the Colorado River, give it a try. It will change your life.

Here's my Mom near Christmas Tree cave.

This is me, Laura, and Jessica diving from the falls at Havasupai.

Here's a typical camp scene.

This is the motley crew I went with. And yeah, that's me with the skull face.

We painted our faces, screamed through monstrous rapids, and explored sublime side canyons, like Elves Chasm, Deer Creek, and Havasupai. I cut the end of my finger off with a vegetable slicer and both Jessicas tried to kill me with rocks. An unforgettable trip, let me tell you. And I just want to say one thing: Lava, man... it was as monstrous as they say. And Hermit was the best ride on any river I have ever been on in my life...