Agreeing with MC2's post, and with my elaboration.
Huh. Well to start, it's possible to do without a guide. But you have to be pretty dam(n) experienced when it comes to whitewater. It's a wilderness trip. No roads nearby for a speedy rescue. You have a bunch of raft guides around (who don't really want to get involved in a rescue due to someone else's ignorance, but will) and the OK Slip falls trail that offers a 3.8 mile foot evac up the ridge the falls are on and out to rt 28.
If this guy actually knows anything about whitewater, he could pretty easily find out when the dam is open and when to find high water.
As far as carrying a raft for four people in an out, our rafts we use commercially are about 100+ lbs. Maybe they're all using their own vessel? Even carrying a packraft, ducky, ect, is going to be super heavy and especially cumbersome to be carrying 4+ miles.
So, say this guy does know what he's doing as far as navigating a raft goes and has proper equipment. He could probably get down fine without too much issue. But why the hell is he hiking it in via the Blue Ledge trail and out on the train tracks if he can save himself TONS and TONS of work by using the regular put in and take out? Because he wants to go hiking, too?
Say this guy only knows about these places because he went rafting with a commercial outfitter a few years ago. He heard the safety talk, and knows not to stand up in a river. Maybe he knows about hydraulics and strainers. Great. Has he figured out how much of a bitch it is to hike in and out of the river yet? Maybe he got a lighter "Raft", something like
this. Great, he can get into the river. But the thing will pop within the first rapid or two, and he's up [the Hudson] without a [raft]. Next foot trail out is OK Slip, about 2 miles down and across 1.5 miles worth of class III+ rapids. If he knows about the hazards, does he know where they are and can he competently avoid them? What happens when he hits the Guide's Prison rocks and launches his 8 yr old son into Widowmaker, the keeper hole at the top of the narrows? Will he have the ability to do a live bait rescue with himself and his other son? Will he even have a throw bag? What about when he wraps his boat in Wrap Rapid? Is he able to find the OK Slip trail, Does he have the energy to get out?
The logistics just seem too complicated to make sense, and this guy is having troubles finding out the easiest information to get making me wonder what else he doesn't know. I'm hoping I'm not giving some 17 year old kid CPR while co-workers of mine are trying to stabilize his dad and searching for his 8 year old brother, that's for sure.
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