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PRESS RELEASES Row from Green River, Wyo. to Yuma, Ariz. The goal of this epic journey was to travel from Green River, Wyoming to Yuma, Arizona in a 14-foot raft to document and explore the Green and Colorado River systems in the legacy of historic explorers John Wesley Powell, the Kolb brothers, and Buzz Holmstrom. The two remaining group members, Josh Mahan and Jennifer Sauer, took out at Lost Lake Resort, 30 miles north of Blythe, California. The duo is the first to physically row that distance, solely human powered, since the 1896 Flavell and Montez descent, passing all the take-outs of the above-mentioned explorers. www.gcroa.org/Pages/history.htm (Colorado River History Link) Many changes have occurred to the river ways since the descents of the early explorers. The addition of five reservoirs (that Down the River rowed across), new pipelines, interstate highways, and exotic species, are just a few examples. Meanwhile, much has stayed the same, like the goose and crane migrations; October storms; and wilderness whitewater. In many ways the group mirrored early descents. A boat wrecked in Disaster Falls. A crew member dramatically dropped out of the trip in Vernal, Utah. The whitewater of the Grand Canyon wreaked havoc. Finally, the trip was abandoned after an attack on the Colorado River Indian Reservation. Still the 1,400 river miles were documented by word, photo, and uploaded to the internet. Historic parties burned large driftwood fires, and even released homing pigeons to communicate. Modern dangers that early explorers didn’t face included: a near capsizing on Lake Powell by a double-decker tourist boat; dodging sloughing silt beds from retreating reservoirs with water levels at record lows; and braving wind storms that threatened to upend the boat in the large reservoir basins of Lake Mead and Lake Mohave. Missoula, Montana journalists Josh Mahan and Jen Sauer were the driving force of the expedition, but were joined for 1,000 miles by environmental activist Mike Roselle. Legendary river historian Dr. Roderick Nash, Colorado River Keeper John Weisheit, and environmental author Howie Wolke, among other notable river runners and interpreters, joined the trip for shorter distances. The journey took the crew past six states: Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California; across five reservoirs: Flaming Gorge, Powell reservoir, Mead reservoir, Mohave reservoir, and Havasu reservoir; and through four of America’s famous permitted canyon sections: Lodore, Desolation, Labrinyth/Stillwater, Cataract, and the Grand. The crew is happy to give interviews. Writings and photos of the journey are available on downtheriver.org , updated during the three-month descent. Downtheriver.org was sponsored by many. Namely Lowbagger.org, Brunton, and Mountain Hardware. For more information contact: PRESS RELEASE Vegas Update Three journalists are close to completing their 1,000-mile journey from Green River, Wyoming to South Cove, Lake Mead, retracing John Wesley Powell's historic journey and documenting the state of environmental affairs along the waterways of the Green and Colorado rivers. This will be the first human powered descent of the rivers since George Flavell's 1896 expedition. At noon on Wednesday, November 14, 2007 the crew will arrive at South Cove, Lake Mead for a short break before continuing on to the Sea of Cortez. The team will be available for interviews and photo opportunities at the take out location. The Montana-based team is made up of Josh Mahan, Jen Sauer and Mike Roselle. The expedition has rowed across the Flaming Gorge Reservoir and the Powell Reservoir in addition to hundreds of miles of ranch-lands, reservations and classic canyon wilderness. The team has been posting stories and their findings to their website, www.downtheriver.org, and their sponsor's website, www.lowbagger.org. Adventures have included a severe boat wrap in Lower Disaster Falls during the Gates of Lodore section, 55 m.p.h. winds and a near capsizing caused by the wake of the motorized house boat, The Canyon Explorer on Lake Powell. The team has also been witness to history, running a brand new rapid in Cataract Canyon, and negotiating record low-level flows at every reservoir they have encountered. The team will continue its expedition from South Cove, rowing across Lake Mead, and continuing downstream. The hope is to have enough water to ride the river to the Sea of Cortez. "People say that it can't be done, but they have been telling us that since we started in Wyoming and we've made it this far," says Josh. For more information on this historic river expedition visit www.downtheriver.org and www.lowbagger.org or call Josh at (406) 239-7355.
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The Expedition Missoulian Newspaper Article click here |
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