ARTA guide Steve Perryman running Bailey in an old 7-man raft

Military surplus rafts were bread and butter boats for rafting in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This one was a 7-man raft (holds 5 for river running) and was very heavy, but that didn’t get in the way of having fun. It was taken by a photographer commissioned by ARTA (with a free trip…); the eventual story in American Express magazine brought this comment from boatman Steve Perryman: “The writer who captioned the photo said that a young family (Yalson’s wife, the boy, and yours truly) were being taking through the rapids by 2 professional guides. HA! There was NO professional guide in the boat….” (the joke being that Steve had all of 6 trips under his belt at this point…