The greatest whitewater adventure of all times would be to float every major river in the west, one after another, in an endless summer of rafting. But it can't be done. At least, not without violating the law, while evading apprehension.

Doing it would make you a legend, the whitewater equivalent of being the first person to row across the Atlantic Ocean. But is the adventure worth the risk of being fined, jailed, and having your equipment confiscated?

You may be wondering what kind of laws would make this adventure illegal and carry such heavy consequences. Well, it's all about rationing. The government has determined, whether rightly or wrongly, that only a certain number of people should be allowed to float down certain rivers, and they control the numbers by requiring you to have a government-issued permit to go rafting.

Float permits have been issued in several different ways, including waiting-lists, fees, lotteries, and various telephone or computerized free-for-alls. To some degree, all of these are in use today, but the dominant expression of control over who gets to go rafting is the annual permit lottery.

There are hundreds of entries for every available permit, so the chances of getting multiple permits for consecutive river trips are so infinitesimally remote that a legal whitewater summer probably will never happen. And the only alternative is to become a Whitewater Outlaw and serial offender.