Grand Canyon GigaView #18 Crystal Pano

In December of 1966, a historic storm sent debris flows, flash floods full of boulders with the consistency of wet concrete, down many of the drainages in the Grand Canyon. Crystal Rapid was changed from a placid riffle into an enormous rapid with deadly consequences. High water events in 1983 and 1996 further transformed the rapid into what we see today. Run properly, Crystal is the least dramatic large rapid in the Canyon. One mistake can easily lead a raft into the large hole visible in this image. Rafts in this hole often flip over, which sends passengers and gear downstream into the Class 4 rapid and boulder field below where safe recovery can very difficult. Rafters use a narrow channel on river right to bypass the two large holes in Crystal, but bumping into shallow rocks can send a raft back into the current towards the hole. Grand Canyon GigaView is a new school virtual tour of the Grand Canyon created with a collection of GigaPan images taken on a private rafting trip in April 2010 and geolocated in Google Earth. Explore the journey http://grandcanyongigaview.tumblr.com/ Search for it here on GigaPan.org or dive into the day by day trip report at the link above. Enjoy & please share with your networks! Thanks for your interest in my work. Thomas Hayden