By Erik Dahl
Raft guides are commonly faced with diverse situations: rescuing a swimmer, cleaning up after a flip or coordinating the evacuation of a customer. As a guide, you expect these situations to arise and are ready for them. The afternoon of June 10, 2013 brought a situation that had not been considered as a threat to rafting – a wildfire consuming a large portion of the Royal Gorge.
This is my third season as a raft guide at the River Runners office out of Cañon City. During my short time here I have experienced multiple high- stress situations, but nothing so catastrophic or uncontrollable as a raging wildfire. Fortunately, for some reason I decided to bring along my phone to capture the moment through its mediocre camera.
As the water continued to rise, so did our motivation to be on the river. Three friends from Colorado Springs made the short trip to Cañon City to do some private trips or “play boating” through the Gorge. We went on a play trip with other staff and friends after they arrived Monday evening, a routine trip that went without any surprises. Our trip the next afternoon was different.
Getting a late start, we didn’t put on the river until noon, after all the commercial morning trips and a couple of hours before the afternoon trips – ones that were soon after canceled. The timing made our single boat pod feel even more deserted.
It wasn’t until we were floating up to the first major rapid, Sunshine Falls, when we noticed the first cloud of smoke. “What the hell is that?” said one of the friends. Trying to deny the worst-case scenario we rationalized it to be a planned explosion of some kind or a controlled burn. After we ran the rapid and fifteen minutes went by, we knew the fire was anything but controlled. The smaller gray cloud that we initially identified was now three to four times as large with black smoke.
The boat was loaded and headed downriver when an individual quickly came down the railroad tracks to warn the photographers on the opposite side of the river. With the deafening sounds of the large rapid, all we needed was hand signals to know that the fire was growing rapidly and that it was time to move. Not sure what was around the corner, we headed the only way the river would allow – into what seemed to be a smoky dark abyss.
As we moved down the river, so did the giant canopy of smoke above us. Under the sun, the different densities of smoke created these golden-brown tints that would engulf the surrounding areas for brief moments.
Once the fire was behind us, we decided to make another stop. The boats were tied up after the rapid called the Narrows (where the incline railway finished its decent). This spot has a great view of the bridge and the upstream rapids. As we waited, smoke billowed into this constricted stretch of river; colors of orange and red started to illuminate when we decided it was in our best interest to exit the Gorge.
After Exit Waves, the final rapid leaving the Gorge, we took one last stop to ponder the experience and take a couple more photos. A couple of kayakers floated up about ten minutes later sharing similar experiences. Unfortunately they were unable to document anything.
This trip is one I will never forget or live down. To the best of my knowledge, our raft was the last one through before afternoon trips were canceled. Being able to capture such a unique and thrilling experience and then share it with others is something I am very happy to do.
(Editor’s note: the photos shown were taken with an iPhone 4S. The iPhone is currently the best selling camera in the world.)
