Run A Rapid
Granite Rapid, viewed from downstream
Some people wonder how a river as narrow as the Colorado could have created the
miles-wide [chasm] of the Grand Canyon. Truth is, it couldn't... at least not
alone. Sure, the river did (and continues to) carry away the rock, sand, and
mud carved out of the canyon, but the work of moving this debris to the river
is done by the [thousands of] side creeks, streams, and rivers that empty into
the Colorado.
Without these tributaries, John Wesley Powell's boat trip down the Colorado
would be similar to a lazy float down the Mississippi River. The reason is that
almost all of the Colorado's rapids occur right where tributaries empty into
the river, where they deposit their load. Some of this sand, mud, and rock
moves downstream, but a lot of it remains where the side stream meets the
river, resulting in a kind of bottleneck -- a bottleneck that forces the water
to rush over, through, and around the obstructions carried there from above.
In this feature, you're given the opportunity to scout then run Granite Rapid,
one of the Colorado River's more difficult rapids. It's not the most
difficult rapid (on the Grand Canyon scale, it's classified as an 7-8 out of a
possible 10), but it still poses some challenges.
A word of warning: be sure to carefully scout the rapid before you select your
route.
Onto the Colorado River's Granite Rapid.
Good luck.
Go to Granite Rapid
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