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December 23, 2006
Rory and Earl's Todd River Rafting Tours...
It rained and stormed for a while the other day and rained a little bit more today. What happens with all that rain in the desert? Surprisingly, it doesn't all seep into the dry ground. The rain up north pooled together and for the first time that I've seen it, the Todd River flowed.
You may remember the Todd River from another post - the Henley on Todd, the dry river bed races. Today, the Todd was a far cry from the dust bowl that sported tug-o-wars and bottomless boat races. It was a meandering, flowing river, nowhere near full, but containing water. When I found out that it was flowing I was skeptical (it was only 4.5h after I'd gone to bed) but it was a sight I couldn't miss. I got up reluctantly and rode down the street with my camera in tow to catch the mighty Todd in action.
It was a semi-impressive (there are stories of much more raging waters occurring) and seldomly seen sight that turned out to be worth the wake up call. After riding upstream along the bike path to the telegraph station for some photos I returned home with an idea.
RIDE SOME TUBES DOWN THE TODD
It turned out that Rory was game for the adventure so we went and bought some inner tubes from a tire (they spell it tyre here) shop for $5 and got Nat to drop us off at the telegraph station.
With enthusiasm we rushed to the river only to find it too shallow. A few hundred meters downstream however, it deepened and the river rafting run began. It was never a complete run as the shallow stretches appeared occasionally. That said, there was more floating than hiking done and we considered it a successful trial run. Other conclusions arrived at were that larger tires (maybe tractor) were needed or several strung together to improve performance in the shallows. A floating esky was also determined to be a necessity for the next trip cause if you're planning on putting yourself up a river without a paddle, there might as well be a beer in your hands!
Posted by Dr.Unk at December 23, 2006 2:23 PM
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