Back to the pinned boat. As I was making my way back Ross and Phil were able to get the boat off of the tree but it was still hung up by a strap that was looped around a submersed branch. We ran a rope off of the bow grab handle and tensioned the other end to a tree. I was able to use the rope to pull myself up to the boat and after a fair amount of work cut the strap and freed the boat. We repacked and made our way down to my boat. The whole ordeal took about an hour. We went another mile or so down river and found a great island to camp on for the night the island was about a half acre very flat and sandy. We made 15 miles the first day with only about 3 hours of float time.

The next morning we woke to find one of the tubes on the previously pinned IK having a slow leak. With out a pump we decided to try to make it all the way out that day instead of the two more we had planned. We were on the water by 0830 and made our way quickly through very beautiful canyons of constantly changing rock types. We had a very good sense of how remote of an area we were in and didn’t see any evidence of mankind until we saw high tension wires crossing hundreds of feet above the river as we crossed the border into Arizona. We made it too Martinez Ranch at noon where we stopped for lunch. The ranch is working and would be your best chance for rescue if need be. Just before the ranch is a diversion dam that we all ran without issue. The ranch marks a notable change in the river. From here the canyons start to open up and are no longer walled in. The strainer hazard becomes much reduced and your ability to boat scout becomes better.