Honeymoon Rapid

 

I always like an interesting story so here’s another one: part true, part theory. At mile 232 (371km) also referred to as Honeymoon Rapid is the location where Glen and Bessie Hyde likely disappeared in the early winter of 1928. Newly married, the couple set out on their honeymoon adventure trip departing from Green River, Utah. When they reached the Grand Canyon, they hiked out for supplies and stopped at Emery Kolb’s studio to have a photo taken. Emery offered them life vests but they declined.

When they didn’t arrive at their destination on their scheduled date, Glen’s father organised a search party. The Kolb brothers who assisted in the search found the Hydes boat with all the gear intact but without the couple. Amongst the gear was Bessie’s journal with an entry indicating that they cleared the rapid before Honeymoon Rapid and then no further entry. So, what happened to them? 

Their disappearance was never solved but some theories took hold. The first one was by Georgie Clark, a well-known river runner, declaring some 40 years after the event, to fellow rafters that she was the real Bessie Hyde and that she stabbed her husband after a disagreement. She later recanted her story and upon her death her home was inspected. Several dubious items were found but once investigated it was decided that the evidence was inconclusive. 

Another theory that floated around was that after Emery Kolb died, a skull with a bullet hole in it was found amongst Emery’s belongings. It was theorised that it might have belonged to Glen Hyde. Thanks to advanced forensic science it was concluded that the skull belonged to an unidentified suicide victim who died in 1933. 

 

The final theory and one that seems most plausible was that the Hydes hit submerged rocks and had fallen out of the boat into the freezing cold water (it was winter). Having declined the life vests Emery offered earlier, they were possibly swept downriver and drowned. 

 

Their bodies were never found and the case remains a mystery.

PS. Experience our virtual challenges in real life - The Conqueror Adventures

The team at The Conqueror Challenges
https://www.theconqueror.events

Lava Falls Rapids

 Now I can imagine that in 1923, when Emery Kolb “upset” his boat (a term used back then meaning flipped) by hitting a steep hole in the centre of the rapid, he indeed might have been upset. Lucky for him, Frank Dodge, another boatman and great swimmer jumped in and retrieved the boat. Since the rapid had no name, it was immediately bestowed with Upset Rapids.

After so much murky water, the milky-blue Havasu Creek tucked within Havasu Canyon was a welcome sight. Havasu Creek is the second largest tributary of the Colorado River and home to several spectacular waterfalls and a multitude of pools to swim in. The incredible blue colour was such a contrast to the brownness of the Colorado. Even more fascinating was the defined line where the two rivers met, with pale blue on one side and murky brown on the other.

A gentle cruise followed for several miles with a few mild rapids until I came across the most advanced one on this journey in the form of Lava Falls Rapid. In the centre of the entry point was a huge ledge hole with turbulent waves crashing into the hole. The strong current pushed around the sides of the ledge. Fierce lateral waves seethed and frothed seemingly ready to gobble me up.

 A feeling of trepidation hit me as my raft headed straight over the ledge into the hole. With the raft tilting to the right and partially submerged, the force of the oncoming wave was enough to flip the raft over and launch me into the river. The raft, caught in the water’s turbulence, was tossed around and around like a spit roast on speed. In the meantime, I surfaced and bobbed up and down, riding the waves, letting the current carry me forwards and out of the rapid. Once the raft cleared the hole, it followed me downstream where I was able to climb back onboard. As adrenaline coursed through me making my ears ring, I was delighted to have come out unscathed. This rapid may be super short but it packs a punch in those few seconds.

PS. Experience our virtual challenges in real life - The Conqueror Adventures

The team at The Conqueror Challenges
https://www.theconqueror.events

Walteberg Rapid

Way before the Grand Canyon became an organised tourist destination, it attracted some very colourful characters but none more interesting than Emery and Ellsworth Kolb. They were brothers, professional photographers, daredevils and major contributors to the Grand Canyon’s designation as a National Park.

On 19 December 1911, the Kolb brothers launched their wooden boats, Edith and Defiance, onto the Colorado River with the intention to photograph and film the interior of the Grand Canyon. Five days later on Christmas Eve, each with their own boat took a chance on the Waltenberg Rapid. Choppy, moody and referred to as “bad” by Ellsworth, the end of that day was possibly the best pre-Christmas Day present ever.

When they approached the rapid, each took a different course – Emery chose the right and Ellsworth chose the left. It didn’t take long for Emery to find himself stuck. He wrote, “I scarcely started when I found myself on a nest of jagged rocks, with violent water all about me, and with other rocks, some of them submerged, below me. I climbed out on the rocks and held the boat…The greatest trouble would be to hold the boat if she broke loose."

Ellsworth on the other hand found himself in a whirlpool “bouncing back and forth like a great rubber ball”. As his boat filled with water it sank and overturned with Ellsworth still holding on. Once he let go, the strong current pushed Ellsworth through the rapid, bobbing up and down, submerging with each breaking wave.

As Ellsworth was barely kept above water by his life vest, Emery pried his boat loose off the rocks. Launching in the centre of the rapid, it wasn’t long before he hit rocks once again. His boat broke “like egg-shells” and left a gaping hole on its side. His rescue effort was done for.

Fortunately, Ellsworth was drawn out of the centre of the whitewater into a calm part of the river. Knowing he had limited time before the current would push him downstream into another rapid, he mustered what strength he had left and dragged himself out on his hands and knees. Emery eventually reached him and helped him out of his frozen clothes and into dry blankets.

Their companion, Bert Lauzon, was spotting the pair from shore. Seeing Ellsworth’s boat caught in an eddy he swam out and rescued it before it entered the next rapid. The next day the trio celebrated Christmas by repairing the gaping hole in Emery’s boat and continuing with their adventures.

PS. Experience our virtual challenges in real life - The Conqueror Adventures

The team at The Conqueror Challenges
https://www.theconqueror.events