[at-l] Grand Canyon WOW!

[patv@falcon.cc.ukans.edu (Pat Villeneuve)]

gcpba NEWSWIRE - THREE WOMEN RIVER-BOARD GRAND
CANYON
December 18, 2001
Grand Canyon, AZ

On Dec 15, 2001, three women walked out of the Colorado River at
Pierce
Ferry Bay at the headwaters of Lake Mead, each carrying over 80
pounds of
personal gear. The three had just completed the first ever 300 mile
traverse
of the Colorado River from the base of Glen Canyon Dam to Pierce
Ferry using
river boards.

Thirty nine year old Julie Munger, the trip leader, was ecstatic.
"The journey took us 19 days, and we really really had a good time."
Ms.
Munger is a swiftwater rescue instructor from Colombia, CA. She
was joined
by 20 year veteran river guide Kelly Kalafatich, 40, of Coloma CA.
Ms.
Kalafatich was Meryl Streep's stunt double in the popular film "The
River
Wild". Rebecca Rusch, 33, of Truckee, CA, rounded out the team.
Ms. Rusch
has participated in 20 Eco Challenge endurance competitions. All
three are
members of the U.S. Women's Rafting Team.

The group had no raft support, but used two Carlson River Boards
each. "A
river board is 3 foot wide, 5 foot long and 4 inches thick. It's a stiff

foam board with hand grips. River boards are United States Coast
Guard
approved watercraft. We used one board for our Watershed river
bags
containing all our gear, while the second board provided each of us
with
165 pounds of flotation. We followed all the Park's non-commercial
river
runner
permit requirements, including using a canister system to remove all
our
solid human waste. We even brought along a fire pan and an extra life
jacket, as required in the regulations" noted Munger, who went on to
note
"We received no special consideration from the Park, but found the
rangers
to be very helpful and friendly."

The women wore polypropylene lined wet suits under an outer dry suit
along with a life jacket to stay warm in the 48 degree water. Munger
said
there was a learning curve to their journey. "It took us a little
experimenting to sort out how to rig our gear on the river boards
without
having them turn over when we swam out of eddies. We would let our
gear
float free in the big rapids, swim through, then catch up with our
gear."
Munger noted that at the canyon's three biggest rapids, Hance,
Granite and
Lava, the trio lined their gear down the shore of the rapid, then the
women
walked back up and floated through the rapids.

"I applied for a non-commercial river running permit 10 years ago, and
finally received a launch permit from officials at Grand Canyon
National
Park for the November 28, 2001 launch" Munger added. "We
wanted to go in the
winter when the trip would be more of an adventure. It was really fun
seeing
the river from the eyes of a duck."