Cody Redmon - Photoblog

I remember not too long ago writing about how the Boulder River had risen above 3,000 CFS and that I was excited to go see if the Natural Bridge falls were spilling over.  Well, yesterday the river spiked to just above 5,400 CFS and so it was back over the mountain for about the fifth or sixth time in as many weeks.  I can’t say enough about how massive that river is right now.  Granted, the Boulder isn’t a big river as one might imagine it to be…currently it’s running at 1/5 the rate of the mighty Yellowstone.  But it’s the geography that makes a river and the Boulder runs a tight, fast course down some rugged mountains.  If you look back at the previous post I mentioned above, you’ll see that the water comes over the edge and drops straight down, the foaming in the lower pool is moderate and scene looks rather tranquil.  Now…have a look below.  Big, fat water, folks, water with unimaginable power and zero mercy.  But that’s not where today’s post ends – I was doing a bit of moseying around on Google before heading over there and came across a blog post where a fellow decided to drop over these falls IN A KAYAK just four days ago.  Say what?!?  That’s 105+ feet of pure, pure madness.  As the post says, the world record is apparently 107 feet and with the the water level being so high on the Boulder right now, there’s a very good chance we have a new record to consider.  Major props to that lad for his bravery and for surviving.  The only “bummer” is that I was there the day before and two days after…I would have paid money to see him do it.  Sell tickets next time, man, I’ll buy a dozen and load up my compadres for the show!!

For just one extra ounce of perspective, here’s a photo I took less than two months ago, since which the river has grown 27 times in size.  The falls in the linked image are essentially a fraction what you see below as the lowest of the three spouts, way bottom-left under the cliff face.