With time, however, as Ellsworth Kolb wrote, "unreasonable fear of the rapids gave way to a reasonable respect." Cal Giddings, who kayaked the river in the 1950s, remembered a much different river than Powell and Manly had seen: "One characteristic of those canyons--[they] are probably the most ideal places for beginning river runners to get going. They were fairly big waves [but] easy and straightforward. It was very beautiful."