In 1983, Mike Taggett, the founder of Chums, was embarking upon his third year as a boatman with Martin Litton’s Grand Canyon Dories in the Grand Canyon. A GCD trip down the Colorado was 18-22 days back then, and Litton ran his operation with beautiful, painted wooden dories – fast, responsive, and easy to right in the event of a flip. Spring of 1983 marked the end of a tremendous snow season, resulting in high and fast runoff from the Colorado mountains. Lake Powell was at capacity with the risk of overflowing, forcing the opening of the spillways from Glen Canyon. Downriver water ran at more than double its normal flow, measuring 40,000CFS and above – rates that had never been seen before. Most big rapids had washed out, creating large whirlpools and eddies, but Crystal Rapid had turned into a huge reversing wall of water, known as a hydraulic jump. And by the time Mike’s trip got to Lava Falls, it was running at almost 100,000CFS! The current ran fast all the way to shore, and it was hard just making it into the eddies for some of the camps. Throughout the trip, the Park Service dropped notes from helicopters with high water warnings and river closure notices. Passengers had no idea why the guides were a bit jittery, as most of the rapids weren’t big, but the water was fast. Not many can say they experienced those epic days on the Colorado in 1983, and Taggett is lucky to own a piece of history on that river that will likely never be repeated.