I was a gangly and awkward 13-year old seeing the great rivers of the American Southwest for the first time in 1972.
Growing up in the dusty Texas panhandle, about as far removed geologically from rivers anywhere as one might be, seeing the canyons carved through the desert sandstone landscape by the mighty Green, Yampa and Colorado Rivers was a genuine revelation, and dammit, those don’t come around very often.
Little had tempted the wad of hard-earned lawn-mowing cash in my pocket so far that trip, but when I spied Belknap’s original edition (1969) waterproof Grand Canyon River Guide in the Grand Canyon NP shop, I knew I had to have it to plan my eventual run down the Canyon.
The guide still sits on my bookshelf today, along with the updated versions and the other in Westwater Book’s guide series – Dinosaur, Desolation and Canyonlands. (We drew our first Grand Canyon permit after 7 years on the list by the way.)
Westwater’s Belknap Waterproof River Guide Series are works of beauty, still considered essential on-the-river-tools today, and worthy reads for river lovers everywhere even if you’re not planning a float anytime soon.
The Escalade Boondoggle
The team at Westwater has put together one of the best resources on the looming Escalade Project – the harebrained scheme to build a tourist development at both ends of a tram at the confluence of the Main Colorado and the Little Colorado just outside GCNP.
That’s their map image above (used with gracious permission from Westwater Books) that friend of Chi Wulff Sinjin Eberle of American Rivers tweeted sometime last week.
Lovers of unspoiled rivers everywhere need to take 10 minutes and learn about this idiotic, ill-placed development and toss your two cents in to help stop this one before it gets any further.
