The Carbon River traverses a wide valley before tumbling into Class V Fairfax Gorge. The stretch contains many logjams and is not run by local paddlers. On April 29, 1987 two teenaged girls launched a cheap raft and set out to run the stretch with a single paddle. After capsizing in a log jam they clung to a rock for hours. At dusk they slipped off the rock into the river. The older girl survived; the younger one did not. The body was spotted and recovered the next day. Source: Takoma Morning News Tribune Analysis: Inexperience and inadequate equiment are a potentially deadly combination. The surviving girl is lucky to be alive.