In May, 1982 Bob Brewer attempted a first descent down the canyon of New Mexico's Embudo River with a his partner, Lyman Kellstedt. This turned out to be tough run down a very fast, steep creek. They got a very late start (4:00 PM), but made good progress until the rapids got tougher. Both men had mishaps. Brewer lost his paddler and Kellstedt punched a hole in his deck. With light failing, the pair hiked out. After spending a miserable night in the mountains they reached civilization and let family and friends know they were OK.
The next day they hiked in to get their boats. Kellstedt planned to hike out along a trail, running only the easiest sections, while Brewer intended to run as much of the river as possible. They eventually decided to travel separately because their speed and tactics were so different. Kellstedt finished the run, and waited for Brewer at the takeout until evening. The next morning he hiked up the canyon and found Brewer's boat, paddle, and fully zipped PFD strewn around various spots in the river. Realizing what had happened, he hiked out and notified authorities. Searchers found the body with legs pinned at the bottom of a big drop. It took a fourteen-man crew two hours to pull him from the river.
Several critical errors were made here, the first of which was insufficient preparation. The group did not have a good map of this unexplored river and did not carry a spare paddle, food, matches or other gear that would be needed if something went wrong. The second error was getting a very late start, which placed additional pressure on the paddlers. Even though they had problems with the river, with extra time for scouting and carrying they might have made it. Latly, splitting the party lead to a total breakdown in mutual support. Bob Brewer, by refusing to take a more conservative approach to the river, put himself in a position where he could not afford a mishap. None of these problems were fatal by themselves, but together they stacked the deck against brewer so that there was no margin for error. We don't know if the presence of another boater would have helped, but it very well might have.
