"Along with the old timers, the old-time style of river running is vanishing before our eyes. Paved roads lead to many put-ins now, and there are mile-by-mile guidebooks for the rivers. Some of them even feature aerial photogrpahs with lines showing the correct course to row or paddle. The opportunity to run rivers, once a function of skill and spirit, is now doled out by computer lotteries."

Rod Nash, in "The Big Drops, 1989