Cataract Canyon rafting

When Samantha Derbyshire experienced Cataract Canyon at spring flows for the first time, she fell in love with that wild and untamed stretch of the Colorado River right then and there. Learn more: http://bit.ly/2xRwEet

The river was running at 42,000 cubic feet per second, and she recalls it was the biggest adrenaline rush of her life. That was 2011. She’s now a snout guide for OARS—a critical job in Cataract Canyon, especially during high water in late spring and early summer. This nerve-wracking position isn’t for the faint of heart, especially when it means plowing through 30-foot waves and running some of the biggest whitewater in North America.

In the spring of 2019—on the front end of one of the biggest whitewater years in history—we had the opportunity to follow this fearless, lipstick-wearing river guide downstream to watch her in action in Cataract Canyon. This is her story.