Travis on right, 1997, about Mile 222. Photo by Cindy Appel
Will Downs has a been a bit of an idol of mine as long as I've been conscious in this world...maybe longer. He gave me my first plastic dinosaurs and taught me everything there was to know about whatever fossil I wanted to know about, really sparked a sense of curiosity about the world, especially about rocks (and women, of course :).
On June 19th I put in at Lees Ferry for a 16-day Grand Canyon trip as a baggage boatman with Grand Canyon Dories. Next to me in my ammo can inside an old leather pouch on a belt were a few small brachiopod fossils, and a vial of Will. Oh, before I get too far into this: Will's been the lead boat on the two private trips I'd done before I started doing commercials, as well as the lead boat on most of the other yearly trips I've done since I was 6 months old or so. He's the guy who waited around for my aunt (who'd never had her own boat before) the morning of Crystal in 1990, when everybody else just high tailed down to scout and run before the water came up any more. He also, genuinely good-hearted guy that he is, promised to run away with my mom to Costa Rica if she ever got tired of my dad, brought me out to sushi for the first time, and of course, passed me the tequila bottle when my mom wasn't looking on my first Grand trip when I was 13. A perfect uncle.
Anyway, the evening prior to running Granite we camped at Trinity on the right below Horn Creek. I informed Ote, the trip leader, that I'd be catching "Forever" Eddy the next day in order to spend some time with Will before relinquishing him to the wind and the water, where everyone really belongs, and that they oughta just take their time on the way down to Hermit. Well, for some stupid reason I thought Ote would have a soft spot in her somewhere...those old boatmen just get these damn conservative ideas that it's just not possible to row in and out of Forever Eddy intentionally in a heavily loaded 18 foot rubber doughnut. Well at least they don't think it's possible to row out intentionally. Anyway, lowly baggage boatman that I am, I held my tongue and smoldered a bit, realizing that if I'd been a smart kid I just woulda rowed in there myself without asking. The next morning as I pushed off, and surrendered my boat to the current, I sang a few words to Will, modified John Denver's "West Virginia" song to say a few words about Will and Forever Eddy and the canyon. Mostly I floated and looked and let Will and rocks and light and those slow eddy currents and maybe a few thoughts of China lead the way. I began to have second thoughts about rowing out of the eddy and decided that ultimately the river oughta make the decision. After all, I don't think Will ever went in there intentionally. I was last boat in line at Granite and happy for it. As Granite's roar drowned out the whoops and hollers of the dories, it seemed as if only the river and Will and I shared the dance of morning light in the canyon and gentle pool before the drop. Those two glassy laterals kinda angled towards the right just greeted the bow of my boat, offering no resistance, only an open view of the wide white beautiful maelstrom downstream. One gentle push on the left as Will took control and we squared up for the huge gleefully terrifying lateral coming off the right wall. Twelve boat-fulls of water (fortunately its a self bailer) and a infinite moment of chaos later the big yellow boat and Will and I washed out at the bottom, between the big crasher and the top of the eddy, and I took the oars out of the water, waiting for the river to decide. For a few moments I wondered, but eventually we drifted past and rowed in quick to the island, dove off the boat, tied it up, and boulder hopped to the top of the eddy for a few moments peace. Light shone in the eddy...I'd never realized in reality of the size of it...you could actually see end to end in it, somehow I'd thought it stretched beyond the horizon. The red rocks making up the island contrasted wildly with the black schist cliffs around the eddy and upstream smooth green tongue and turbulent falls of Granite, and then with a swirl of light and glimmer of breeze Will was gone, back to his eddy.
Anyway, thanks, Will, for being such a great guy and a great role model. We were supposed to do China, but I suppose I'll eventually catch you on the Flip Side.
Travis