We leave on Friday for a 5 day trip on the Yampa River thru Dinosaur National Monument. It's the last free flowing tributary of the Colorado River and it's been a high water year. It's very hard to get permits in the lottery system but a friend of mine picked up a late season permit. I was going to canoe it with my daughter but since she dislocated her thumb this week, that plan got the kybosh so I picked up a 16' Avon Pro raft to row. It's been 24 years since I last paddled it and I'm really looking forward to one of the best river trips in the USA. Here's a link to a raft run of Warm Springs Rapid this spring at high flow. River is a lot lower now (3500cfs compared to about 15,000cfs). This raft was doomed from the start as he was on the wrong line entering the top of the rapid and made no attempt to move further right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQNnFYJJffM
I'm taking along a copy of Ed Abbey's biography which I just picked up. Nothing like a little eco-anarchism in the canyons. Made my daughter read the Monkey Wrench Gang for the trip.