How’s it going? Suddenly Troy was walking at my side. I tried to dwell on the good times as I walked, but those pictures, those voices, only intensified my feeling of loss and left me staring once again into that black tunnel. All my happy images lay in the past, all the happy scenes with my dad when it was just the two of us. I saw no images there, no hopes, only blackness. I could see nothing but the frightening dark tunnel that was my future.

Hike, freeze, starve, break out the ropes and carabiners and risk your life every day-for what? He’d only reply with a wink or a knowing grin. for what? He would never say when you asked him. Al called his program Discovery Unlimited, but we called it Hoods in the Woods, the name we inherited from the previous waves of misfits who’d come through the place.Īl kept us marching all day under heavy packs, grinding us down in preparation for . . . There were eight of us, four guys and four girls including me, all serving nine weeks in this outdoor education school from hell. The going was always either straight up or straight down-we rarely followed trails. October in the mountains, Al said with a grin. I couldn’t believe my dad had done this to me.įor five days Al had been leading us into the most rugged corners of the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado, coaxing and pushing us over the passes and into the peaks, through good weather and bad weather, mostly through bone-freezing rain and sleet. I still couldn’t believe this was really happening. Flailing for balance, with the pack working against me, I slipped in the mud and almost went down. I stumbled on a rock that was barely sticking up, my legs were that tired. This riveting novel includes an author’s note about his own rafting experiences and has been ranked by the American Library Association as a “100 Best of the Best” for twenty-five years-a testament to the enduring popularity of the action and adventure that await in Downriver. What will be the consequences of their reckless adventure? But when they’re pursued by helicopters, they boldly push on into the black-walled inner gorge, the heart of the Grand Canyon, only to encounter huge rapids, bone-chilling rain, injuries, and conflict within the group. Floating beneath sheer red walls, camping on white sand beaches, and exploring caves and waterfalls, Jessie and the others are having the time of their lives-at first. After fifteen-year-old Jessie gets sent to Discovery Unlimited, an outdoor education program, she and six companions “borrow” the company’s rafting gear and take off down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon on their own. Will Hobbs’s classic tale of whitewater adventure is back in print with an exciting new look.

Never Say Die by Will Hobbs