Exploring an epic Colorado River during record-breaking drought
On the third day of a six-day trip down the Yampa River, we started walking. A slurry of flash rainstorms had rattled our tents the night before and raised our hopes the river would rise. It didn’t. When our bottoms ground to a halt on the riverbed, we grudgingly rolled up our boats–inflatable one-person kayak-shaped pack rafts—shouldered our 60-pound backpacks and started lumbering down the naked channel. If we were going to reach the end of the river before our own food ran out, we had to keep moving.