"On June 8, 1996 at exactly 8:50 p.m., three men launched a small, handmade wooden dory onto Idaho’s renowned Salmon River at peak flood of an extreme high water year. John Barker and Clancy Reece were professional raft guides and lifelong friends. Their river adventures had become legendary in their community, especially since their 1988 voyage from the Salmon’s source in the Sawtooth Mountains of central Idaho to the Pacific Ocean, a journey of 900 miles. This was to be their most ambitious adventure yet. Joined by a man named Craig Plummer, they planned to ride the raging river straight through Idaho’s wilderness heart, setting a 24 hour speed record they would share only with a handful of admirers and friends. But that’s not what happened."