(Excerpt)
By Laurel Archer
(from Paddle Quest: Canada’s Best Canoe Routes)
We’re not stopping as we close in on Hopi’s Hole, Class III+/IV. My mouth tastes like a desert. The kayakers are yelling, “Just keep left! The hole is on the right, but don’t go too far left! There’s a ledge … blah, blah, blah ….” I can’t hear the rest over the roar of water rushing down a canyon. There’s a mass of waves taller than me, numerous boulders, and one big drop as far as I can see. I’m backpaddling hard to avoid Hopi’s Hole, which is the size of a truck, when I encounter a herd of boulders. “Where did they come from?” I ask myself. I try to cheat by going to the left side. Big mistake. I get turned sideways, and just barely make an eddy, where I regain my composure.
Everyone’s gone and I have to make a tricky ferry to get out into the main flow. I catch Brad and Matt, who is in the rescue kayak, a long minute later. Brad suggests that I just head down the guts of the rapid the next time. I nod in agreement and look down at my knees to see if my bailer is going to be big enough.
We run some fun, technical stuff for several kilometres. I can feel saliva in my mouth again. Still, I’m concerned about keeping up to the rafts. They don’t need to eddy out and bail or stop and get refocused. I wish we had Roy all to ourselves.
The continuous Class III sets get tiring. My eyes feel strained as a result of constant vigilance. One small error in judgment and I’ll be upside down. Since Brad is following Matt, an expert kayaker from New Zealand, I follow them. This helps my confidence.
Suddenly, just before a crucial manoeuvre has to be made, my bow kicks out. I’m heading for a big boulder with a large hole behind it. I back-ferry with all my might and make it safely into the eddy, where I bail like a paddlewheel. I think I’m the clown in this rodeo.
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