Old school raft bailing on the Stanislaus River in 1963

Basket boats were used in early Stanislaus River rafting trips and they would take on lots of water in rapids – which meant a lot of bailing with whatever buckets were available, including tin cans! In the left photo Ty Childress watches while Johnny Litton bails (Ty would soon become a guide for Bryce Whitmore’s Wilderness Water Ways, whose trip this was – one of the very first commercial trips on the river; Johnny was the son of later to be legendary Grand Canyon Dories owner and environmental hero Martin Litton). More photos from this June 1963 trip here.