March Madness

Which of the DTB Cousins would have been most interested in March Madness? If you said Brady, you're wrong. The correct answer it Devin. He would have filled out a couple of brackets - one with his favorite choices, and another with his "expert" opinion. He would have tried to convince his cousins to fill out brackets too. Brady would have done it, but wouldn't have paid much attention after his favorite team was out - unless it looked as if he might actually beat Devin in the bracket challenge (a dubious possibility at best). Trey would have agreed to fill one out, but would have been too busy to get around to it. Devin would have been highly invested in the whole tournament, trying to pick up helpful hints on how to improve his game. How do I know this? I'm one of the few people who have read the sequel to The Narrows Escape.

The second book of the DTB series, Drake's Treasure, takes place during the boys' first year of junior high. Devin and Brady both attend Prospector Jr. High, while Trey attends rival Foothills Jr. High. Devin tries out for, and makes the basketball team - his favorite sport despite being vertically challenged. Although not the major plot line in the book, his involvement on the team is one of the subplots in the story.

2013 excursion

Although I have hiked the entire trail twice, I have only hiked sections of the trail (the bottom portion) since writing my first draft of The Narrows Escape. Although I tried to hike the entire trail again for research purposes, on each occasion the flash flood warning was "moderate" (the same classification as that of our ill-fated trip), so I limited my explorations to short excursions while keeping a sharp eye on the weather and key signs of flash floods. Here is a picture of a sign on the Riverwalk Trail that describes what to look for:

My latest venture into the Narrows was last summer (2013). I went with my brother-in-law Darin, my nephew Spencer, and my daughter Erika. It was the first time into the Narrows for each of them. We hiked up to Orderville Canyon, then we went up that branch for a little bit before hiking out. It was late in the season, so the water wasn't as high, but it did get up to our waists at one point. Here are some pictures from that trip: