Water course
Buzz Thompson is one of the world's leading authorities on water rights, and he has special expertise on laws governing the Colorado River. But at this moment, on a blistering day in early September, somewhere around mile 24 between Lee's Ferry and Diamond Creek, the Stanford law professor's primary interest in the river is getting the hell out of it.
He is clinging to the side of a raft, buffeted by churning water, his hat and sunglasses somehow still attached after he was deposited into the freezing, frothy mix by a heavy wave moments earlier. Thompson drags his lanky frame, soaked and dripping, up and into the boat, landing in a heap at the feet of his fellow paddlers, mostly undergraduates, in the eight-person craft. He gathers himself and sits up, smiling. The boat erupts in a cheer. Thompson is the first person in this party to "swim." He will not be the last.
Thompson, '73, MBA '75, JD '76, is here with 12 Stanford students, three other faculty and three teaching assistants as part of a Sophomore College course titled Water in the West. They are three days into a two-week, 225-mile journey through the Grand Canyon.
