Braving the Riffles
This is as close as I got to getting a photo of any of the rapids while on the Colorado. Even floating through a minor riffle like this, you could get your camera soaked from splashes. Whenever we were approaching even small rapids, I had to put the camera away into a dry sack or it would surely have been doused like we always were.
This image illustrates why there are rapids at all at the bottom of the canyon. The pile of boulders on the right side extends under the bottom of the river and sort of dams it up. The water flowing over the debris makes for rapids. And why are there these piles all through the canyon? They have been washed down from the numerous side canyons where significant erosion is continually taking place with the assistance of the violent monsoon rains that come in the summers.
Braving the Riffles
This is as close as I got to getting a photo of any of the rapids while on the Colorado. Even floating through a minor riffle like this, you could get your camera soaked from splashes. Whenever we were approaching even small rapids, I had to put the camera away into a dry sack or it would surely have been doused like we always were.
This image illustrates why there are rapids at all at the bottom of the canyon. The pile of boulders on the right side extends under the bottom of the river and sort of dams it up. The water flowing over the debris makes for rapids. And why are there these piles all through the canyon? They have been washed down from the numerous side canyons where significant erosion is continually taking place with the assistance of the violent monsoon rains that come in the summers.