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Even The Riffle Can Be Exciting
by Thomas F. Elliott
83 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #06-1452; ISBN 1-4120-9696-0; US$10.92, C$12.56, EUR8.97, £6.28
Life doesn't get any better than this, desert one-mile above, sitting on beach in lawn chair, sipping martini's, steaks heating on barbecue - then we heard a blood-curdling scream from upstream!
About the Book
The geologists have declared that the earth's age could not be measured in thousands of years, but in millions, tens of millions, and even hundreds of millions. If we use a mere on million years in human terms, that is equivalent to fifty thousand human generations. Most people can grasp, with considerable effort, the world of their great-grandparents three generations ago. One hundred generations brings us back only to the birth of Jesus, while a hundred and sixty generations to the birth of King Tut. To look back tens of thousands of generations is truly hard for one to conceive and more than the human mind can grasp. By geologic standards, ten million years is quick- one million years is in the blink of an eye.
On a timeline where the history of the earth is compressed to a single year, dinosaurs roamed the earth in mid-December and vanished on December 26. Humans make their appearance during the evening of December 31. Columbus discovers America at three seconds before midnight.
The rocks of the Grand Canyon, you might say, are very old. In fact, the rocks that the canyon reveals are billions of years old, but the canyon itself is very young. Think of it in these terms- a tree may be hundreds of years old, but the axe cut that reveals the age rings might have been made only yesterday. The Grand Canyon itself is between four and six million years old. Geologically speaking, to be a mere five million years old is to be barely out of diapers. In that short time, the Colorado river has carried away all the rock and sediment that had filled the canyon from rim to rim. Before the Hoover and Glen Falls dams were built, the Colorado River carried away an average of five hundred thousand tons of sand and silt past a single point every day. Now, that I think back, I don't feel bad about drinking all that red and muddy water on my 1969 adventure.
The river barely visible from the rim, seems tiny and insignificant. The Spanish conquestadors were the first white people to look down 5000 feet or more, upon this river. They estimated it was a mere six feet in width and as motionless as a lake. We know today that the river is three or four hundred feet wide, and not as calm as the Spanish had thought. Powell in his daily journal, wrote that the "Waters are furious".
About the Author
Born and raised in West Los Angeles, Tom graduated from University High School. He attended the University of Oregon on a football and track scholarship, but because he was a Marine Corps reservist, his education was interrupted in 1950 at the outbreak of the Korean War.
On active duty in Korea, Tom participated in the amphibious assault of Inchon, South Korea, and later he survived the winter operation at the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. After fourteen months of active duty, he was discharged from the Marine Corps and returned to his studies at the University of Oregon where he graduated in 1954.
He joined the management training program of the union Oil Company of California and was soon promoted to Supervisor of Retail Sales in Portland, Oregon. He transferred to the San Francisco division where he was responsible for retail operations north of the Bay Area.
Tom was presented with an opportunity to change careers, so he left the petroleum industry and joined the Transamerica Life Companies in San Francisco. Over the next forty years of his careers, Tom held positions as Assistant branch Manager in San Francisco, Director of Salary savings Sales for the U.S. and Canada, Branch Manager for the State of New Mexico, and General Agent in San Diego County.
His writing includes a number of magazine and newspaper articles about the Korean War and life insurance sales. His interest in California history and his travels and residency in the state created a dream to write a book about the little known historical events of early California.
The first book was titled Argonauts of California, published in 2002. His second book, titled Clipperton: The Island of Lost Toys, was printed in 2005. The current book, 2006, is titled Even A Riffle Can Be Exciting.
Tom and Dolores, his wife of thirty-five years, live in Escondido, California.
Reviews
What, you may ask, is a riffle? Author Thomas F. Eliot won't keep you in suspense for long. In the first paragraph of the Introduction, he explains that it's "rough water, but not enough to be classified as a white-water rapid." This is Colorado River language, and specifically for this book, the more than 100 rapids that punctuate the stretch from Lees Ferry to Lake Mead, straight through the Grand Canyon.
Eliot made his 200 mile trip in 1969, but he gives his history a little perspective by weaving in the adventure of John Wesley Powell, retired Union Army Civil War major. Wesley and his team of nine were the first white men to "travel down a river through uncharted canyons, rapids, waterfalls, lava beds, and unknown life-threatening obstacles." That was in 1869, and Wesley was minus his right arm, having lost it in the Battle of Shilo. Eliot, himself a veteran of Choisin Reservoir in North Korea, dedicates his book to handicapped war veterans, and includes a chapter, "Impaired Mobility" on how to travel the river with disabilities.
For the most part, however, Even the Riffle is a tribute to the Grand Canyon and a guide to the river that runs through it. Liberally illustrated with photographs, graphs, and even the covers of brochures available from different expedition services, the book also has the charm of being small enough to tuck away in a pack or a pocket.
And that's what travelers will want to do, as the guide covers everything from the building of the Glen Canyon Dam - which can seriously affect the flow through the Grand Canyon - to a list of the major rapids, their histories and classification. Other chapters describe an infamous airline crash into the Canyon in 1956 - the wreckage remained in plain sight until the late-1970s - and the pleasures of the only cold beer to be found (with hope) at the bottom of the Canyon, at Phantom Ranch.
Even the Riffle Can be Exciting is a well-organized, informative and completely readable guide for both the adventurer and dreamer. While more than 16,000 adventurers make their way down the river every year, Eliot closes his book with some great ideas for how the Federal Government could spend some useful dreamer dollars: build an air-conditioned cable car!
Reviewed by Heather Shaw
Four Stars
Excerpts
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