The Raft: A Journey Down South
Elliot rarely declines an invitation to an outdoor adventure. As an aspiring National Geographic photographer, he seizes all opportunities to expand his portfolio and explore new terrains. So when his boss, Nick, proposed a multi-day rafting trip in Westwater Canyon, Utah, Elliot accepted. He packed one change of clothes, a book, his pocket journal, all his camera lenses and drove 301 miles to his potential death sentence.
“Are you a good swimmer?” Nick Sutcliffe asked.
Nick is the Director of Communications for the Atlas Institute at the University of Colorado Boulder. Outside of his occupation, he resides in the rapids of America’s rivers. In October of 2020, he brought together a group of avid outdoorsmen to explore the Colorado River through Westwater Canyon. Nick provided Elliot with all the equipment necessary for a successful trip, including an unwieldy 10’-by-4’ inflatable kayak, as known as a ducky boat.
Elliot has summited some of the nation’s largest peaks, mountain biked thousands of miles and experienced the unforgiving, breathtaking geography of national and international landscapes. However, Elliot had no river experience and watersports were a new frontier for him. Nick informed him about the two class IV rapids they would encounter. This made for an uneven matchup between Elliot and his ducky boat versus a powerful rapid where, “risk of injury is moderate to high, and water conditions may make self-rescue difficult.”
The group arrived at the Westwater Boat Launch around 2 p.m. The afternoon winds began to blow upstream through the canyon. The calmer waters allowed Elliot to learn how to maneuver the boat and take pictures of his favorite subject, human and scientific endeavour. As he made his way, Muddy River by Johnny Rivers played in his mind.
Rolling on muddy river roll
Your dirty water cannot taint your soul
Rolling on, rolling on, till you are free
In the peaceful sea
As nightfall approached, they tied the rafts up on a river bank and set up camp. Over tacos, while Elliot shot photos, the group swapped stories of past adventures. That night, he titled his journal entry, “Passing Condiments and Sharing River Resumes.”
The next morning, the group continued the trek down the river. Nick led in his red, single-person kayak, two couples on two rafts and Elliot on his ducky boat.
Nick showed them the best line to take down treacherous rapids. One-by-one each vessel descended. Elliot and the group approached Skull Rapid, Elliot’s boat had no chance of staying afloat and Nick warned him he might have to swim.
Elliot was the last in the group to attempt Skull Rapid. A large rock in the center of the rapid split two potential lines. The line left of the rock would lead to safety, but the line right of the rock terrorizes rafters with two formidable drops and extremely strong, multi-directional currents. The current pushed right and Elliot surrendered his boat. Elliot was in the water, submerged, trapped and could not swim.
Skull showed no mercy. He clawed his way out of the current, just to be pushed back down. “I craned my neck for a breath of air as white came in roaring in over everything,” Elliot wrote in his journal.
He was able to catch a brief moment of air, then instantly engulfed by the power and pressure. “My survival alarms were firing,” he wrote. “I didn’t understand why I was still underwater.”
His skull was swelling with pressure, ten..eleven..twelve seconds underwater, “I thought about how long it had been. I thought about movies where I’ve seen people drown and wondered if this is how it felt. I wondered how close I was getting, do you know before you go? Do you get to finish a thought or does it just go black? I thought about my mom. ‘Be careful,’ she had said. What would she do? I received no answers, only oxygen.”
Elliot popped up near the end of the rapid to see Nick paddling towards him. Elliot reached for his kayak and Nick pulled him to safety.
After a few recovering breaths, Elliot sat in his ducky boat and assessed the physical damage. He only sustained a centimeter scratch on his left hand.
After this life-affirming trip, Elliot asked himself simply and directly: “What do I want to do right now?” The answer, a spontaneous 2,200 mile road trip across the Southwest to visit some old friends and new forest roads.
Rather than going back to Boulder and being drowned by life’s responsibilities, he decided to act on the lesson he learned on his trip: Do not delay happiness.
