Jeffe Aronson, an experienced Colorado River guide, has put together a couple videos showing what the Colorado River looked like during high-water conditions in 1983. They are nothing short of phenomenal. There’s more great stuff on his website and vimeo channel, and he also has a multi-part book you can get on an Amazon Kindle.
Colorado River at 100,000 cfs: Part 1
Credit: 100,000 cfs Colorado River Grand Canyon 1983 Part 1 of 2 from Jeffe Aronson on Vimeo.
Colorado River at 100,000 cfs: Part 2
Credit: 100,000 cfs Colorado River Grand Canyon 1983 Part 2 of 2 from Jeffe Aronson on Vimeo.
Greg Page says
24 February 2019 at 7:56 pmVery cool vid. Scariest rapid in the canyon by far. I paddled a surfboard on the left side of the hole on a trip with Bill Skinner in 1984 i think. I made it but that was probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.
Mike Campbell says
28 February 2019 at 9:34 amGreg, thanks for sharing the story! Reminds me of this video I saw a while back of a stand-up paddleboarder in Grand Canyon. Depending on what time of year you were on the river I’m thinking that you would have had higher water in ’84? (As an aside: I’ve found the colorful graphic on this page to be a neat representation of the Colorado River volume at Lees Ferry pre- and post-dam.)