In these situations, do you believe you
have an obligation to warn them or give them unsolicited advice not to
continue; or do you paddle downstream as far as possible to get away
from the impending tragedy?

Some of the stuff seen on the river can scare the hell out of a person.
Yesterday as I was putting on when a raft went by containing two men, two
women, and a small child af about three. A while later I came upon the rafters
who had just extracted their raft from a flat face boulder (with a nice little
wedge-slot just about the right size for a human body). They had deflated the
raft to get it loose, and were reinflating. The child had a floatation vest,
but it was way too large, and probably would have come off when needed. I
started by asking a question; Do you know the river? No. Do you know that it
tightens up a bit downstream? No.

Some people hate the intrusion, but these folks seemed to be looking for an
excuse to get off the water. Many times I do look the other way, but when there
are children involved it's hard to remain silent.

Dennis