From Top to Bottom: Our GRAND CANYON Adventure!

Horse Rock, Colorado River in Grand Canyon, Mile 17, May 6, 2010

Gary League's 68th Birthday!

View of Grand Canyon from Moran Point,

Desert View Drive, April 27, 2010

As everyone knows, the Grand Canyon is a true wonder of the world. Dropping over 2,000 feet (from 3,107 to 1,221 feet above sea level from Lee's Ferry to Lake Mead), the Colorado River has gouged a most remarkable phenomenon in the Northern Arizona desert. While we briefly entertained the idea of riding mules down and back into the canyon, we settled on a combination of exploring the South Rim for a couple of days by car, and then rafting down the Colorado River through the entire canyon, from Lee's Ferry to Lake Mead: 277 miles.

It is also time for another mileage check, performed as we finished the raft trip on May 13th.

Here's the mileage update (finally):

Buster: (from Murrieta (Polly's home) in January to Las Vegas on 5/13/10

5,834 miles

TOTAL: 20,107 miles

Bella: (from Murrieta/Southern California in January to Las Vegas on 5/13/10:

3,643 miles

TOTAL: 20,231 miles

TOTAL FOR BOTH VEHICLES: 40, 338 miles!!

(Earth's circumference at equator: 24,901 miles)

40 STATES (only 8 left to go!): Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada

On Sunday, April 25, we left Zion National Park to drive to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. We drove through Hurricane, Utah, (subsequently we were told this was pronounced Her-cun) and then down US 89 alt to Jacob's Lake which is where the road to the North rim takes off. It remains closed for the winter. We were to retrace this same route when we returned to board our rafts about 10 days hence. We continued on to Marble Canyon, the first part of the Grand Canyon, just below Lee's Ferry. The Vermillion Cliffs were on our left.

We crossed the Colorado River

(we'd seen it before, but it took on special significance knowing we would be on it in just a few days), and continued down 89 to Cameron. This is at the junction with Arizona 64 leading to the east entrance of Grand Canyon National Park. There was a great Trading Post at Cameron, recommended to us by our friends, the Hjelms of Minneapolis. Gary got a great southwestern belt: black leather with silver coins encircling it.

As we drove along 64 we saw the carving of the Little Colorado river as it makes its way to the Colorado. Isn't it interesting to see its snake-like course?

Once we entered the park we soon came upon our first overlook, and first glimpse of the grandest of canyons.

We had made arrangements to pull in to Grand Canyon Camper Village in the town of Tusayan, just south of the south entrance. So we bypassed the Visitor Center, planning to return the next day, and settled in. They were only about 15% occupied.

We arrived early enough to pull out one of Smithsonian science experiments. Liz wanted to do the Dinosaur Exploration. It turned out to be developing the archeologic skill of chipping sandstone away to discover what's inside: in this case a little dinosaur.

It was fun watching the puzzle solving facial expression sequence!

The next day was Monday, April 26, and we started at the Grand Canyon South Rim Visitor Center. One presentation we have started to notice are displays suggesting what you should try to see depending on how much time you have: 1-2 hours, 1/2 a day, a full day, two days, etc. It strikes me as so consistent with our increasingly time urgent culture in the United States.

We started off on the Blue shuttle route, and stopped at Yavapai Observation Station. They had a huge model of the geologic layers showing a slice of the canyon.

Liz adopted a canyon mountain lion from the gift shop, Sandy, who accompanied her for the rest of our visit to the South Rim.

Here's a nice picture of the green Tonto plateau or talus, with the sinuous inner canyon winding its way through.

We hopped on the Red Shuttle bus and stopped a number of overlooks on our ride out to Pima Point to the west: Powell Point, Hopi Point, and Mojave Point, walking the Rim Trail from Hopi Point to Mohave Point, capturing many beautiful views.

From these western overlooks we started to catch glimpses of ..... The River, and really started anticipating our exciting adventure down it to begin on May 6! We could even see some rapids, though from 2,000 feet up, they didn't look so bad. We had no idea the excitement in store.

More red rocks appear as one looks west.

The Red Shuttle returned to the Village and we got off and followed signs to Bright Angel Trail. This is the most popular trail down to the bottom. It is about 9 miles down (and 9 back up!), and one needs to plan to stay overnight at Phantom Ranch if you hike down.

It is very steep, and the walk down is just a demanding as the walk up. In the photo at right you can see the Bright Angel Trail, with the oasis of Indian Garden (green) at the 4.6 mile mark.

We saw the mules waiting for their next trip down, and then walked on over to the Bright Angel Lodge where we had a very nice lunch, seeing the famous El Tovar Hotel in the distance (on left).

We planned to return to the El Tovar for breakfast the next day, and bought some beautiful things in their gift shop (beaded belts) and in Hopi House (right, above). I saw a lovely sterling silver butterfly necklace that I just loved. You can see it on me in the breakfast photo in tomorrow mornings post. The next picture was taken from the overlook right by Hopi House and El Tovar. It seems to me they sited these structures perfectly: they provide one of the best views in the Park, in my opinion!

We had time for another little science experiment once we returned to Buster. Gary had been wanting to do this with Liz for sometime (remember, he was a chemistry major!). They constructed a little volcano using flour paste on a form, and then put some baking soda inside. Next they put some red food coloring in some vinegar, and poured it on ... watching the volcano bubble and spew. Voila! The biochemical reaction of a base and acid! (Please note the practical lava containment device!) We DO try to making learning fun (what's wrong with a little entertainment thrown in?)

Later in the evening, Gary and I attended the IMAX presentation in Tusayan (right across the street from our campground), on the Grand Canyon. It largely dramatized John Wesley Powell's first expedition down the Colorado River in 1869, and was very interesting and well done. Later scenes showed current river rafting, and we got a good idea what running some big rapids would look like on our trip. I squealed a little .... but the boats looked incredibly well-designed and almost impossible to capsize. I held that thought.

The next morning, Tuesday, April 27, we planned to leave sometime around noon. We thought we'd go back to Grand Canyon Village, have a nice breakfast at the El Tovar, and then take the Desert View Drive east to the east entrance and Desert View Tower and overlook.

El Tovar is simply lovely, and the dining room was first class. I had a delicious wild mushroom and spinach omelette and Gary had Prime Rib Hash. Our waiter couldn't have been nicer. Gary and Lizzie look happy, and I look content in my new silver butterfly necklace (from the Hopi House the day before).

Liz looked cute in her new raincoat, and we took a couple of pictures of the El Tovar entry.

After breakfast, we took the drive east along the rim on Desert View Drive. It was fun to see the road sign warning us of cougar!

From Desert View Drive you enjoy beautiful views of the canyon looking toward the east,

as well as great views of that inner canyon.

And look at that chocolate ribbon in the bottom that we will be rafting down in about a week!

Desert View Drive ends at Desert View Watchtower. It as being restored when we were there, but we were still able to walk the circular staircase up over three stories for absolutely spectacular views. The decor inside is beautiful.

We felt we had seen everything we could from the south rim. So we made our plans to drive south to Flagstaff, and then figure out where we would spend the next week before we got on the Grand Canyon Expedition motorized rafts!

Our initial plan was to drive to Las Vegas on Wednesday, April 28, leave Buster, and shoot over to Yosemite in California in the car, as we had missed it due to a late snow in late March. But ....... we realized that we were really just doing this to say we'd been to Yosemite on this trip. We were there for a week in October, 2008. So, we did the sensible thing, and decided we would simply take our time getting to Las Vegas, and hang out there for a week until we met with our group for the raft trip. We'll talk about that in the next post.

But for this post, we'll pick up the story on Wednesday, May 5. This was the day we were to meet at the Marriott Residence Inn in downtown Las Vegas to be oriented for our river trip.

Grand Canyon Expeditions (GCE) is the biggest of the 16 commercial outfitters that raft down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. They've been doing this for over 40 years. Their boats are perfectly designed to motor down the river at about 8-9 miles per hour (including the 5 MPH flow of the river itself), and are essentially completely safe through the rapids. Mike Denoyer, president of the company (and our boatman!), believes keeping the center of gravity low helps, and the frame is actually flexible. It is floated on huge inflated pontoon tubes with pointed ends on the front. They have never capsized even through the major rapids in the Grand Canyon.

They had sent us a list of things we needed, and we were all set. At 8 pm on the 5th, we met in a meeting room at the hotel, and got quickly oriented. Each of us were distributed a rubberized (waterproof) duffelbag, and we were to pack all our things needed for 8 days, 7 nights for that. The next day we were given a sleeping duffel (plastic ground cloth, slightly inflated pad, and down sleeping bag) also stored in a rubberized/waterproof bag. Finally we were given an "ammo" can, a 10" long, 4" wide, 7" deep waterproof can that we kept things in that we wanted access to during the day: sun screen, extra hat, camera, etc. It was VERY protocolized, and everyone had the same gear. That's why it worked.

We quickly finished packing (we left Liz in the room and she was asleep by 8), and took our loose ends out to the parking lot and Buster. The Residence Inn allowed us to park Buster in their lot for the duration of the trip since we stayed there the night before we left. We also planned to stay there for two nights when we returned: we knew we'd need a really good bed and A REALLY GOOD SHOWER!

We awakened at 4:00 the next morning, May 6, and met downstairs for breakfast at 4:30. Everyone was on board the bus by 5 am. There were 23 of us, enough to just about fill two 14 passenger boats. We noted when we had the orientation meeting the previous evening that the demographic was interesting: lots of 70 year olds! I think the youngest must have been about 55 years old, and the oldest, I think, was 78. Liz was the only child! I actually hadn't thought about that seriously before the trip, but it shouldn't have been too surprising as the trip was before school was out. A number of people had been on previous trips, and it was the consensus that our trip skewed a little old. I would guess at least half the group were acquaintances of each other, and friends of Dr. Oscar Stole, our ecologist. Our friend Herman Berghoff (of Berghoff restaurant in Chicago), had recommended this trip to us, and he had said we should try to go on the Ecology trip. And he also urged trying to go in the early part of May ..... when we would avoid super hot weather. It can get over 110 degrees in the canyon in the summer. The risk in going the week we did was that it could go either way: hot or cold. I would say it was on the cool side, but we had reasonable clothes, and nearly every afternoon it would warm to at least 80 degrees making shorts very comfortable.

Oscar has been the ecologist on the trip for over 30 years, and he is retired now from Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. He had actually taken Mike (our boatman and owner of the company) on a student trip down the Grand Canyon over 30 years ago, and had ignited Mike's passion for the Canyon. We were told it was then that Mike swore he would try to find a way to make his living by rafting down the canyon .... and he did! He has become so expert, and we were told, he probably has more trips down as a boatman that anybody else. It was also special that his 23 year old daughter, Katie, a nursing college student, was his swamper (assistant) on the boat, the Matkatamiba (the name of one of the rapid at mile 149!)

The comfortable bus headed up I15 toward St. George, and turned off just past it on Utah 9 to Hurricane (this is when we learned it was pronounced Her-kin). Yes, we were there once again. It took about 5 1/2 hours for the bus to reach Lee's Ferry, near Page, Arizona, considered the beginning of the Grand Canyon. It is here that Marble Canyon's walls first rise, and continue to do so. We were fitted with our life preservers, and watched as our waterproof duffels and ammo cans were strapped on the boats. They had already been loaded with food, water, tents, chairs, sleeping bags, toilet facilities, etc, etc., organized out of Kanab, Utah (GCE's headquarters), about 90 miles from Lee's Ferry.

We were on the water by about 11:30, and about an hour later we stopped for lunch just before Mile 8 ... Badger Canyon. They set up a table, cut up tomatoes, onions, lettuce and we made sandwiches with deli meat, had Pringles, and pickles/picked peppers, etc, with cookies. Alongside the boat they dragged a bag with pop and fruit juice in it, and there was always cold water available that we would fill our water bottles with.

Right after lunch we went through our first Class 5-6 rapid: Badger Creek Rapid. They insisted we sit down within the frame of the boat, and hold onto some (a strap or something tied down) with each hand. It was thrilling to feel that boat, with us in it, ride the waves. I don't have pictures of this as, of course, my hands were holding on and my camera was put away during these huge rapids.

It was simply glorious being on the water, feeling the sun and the smooth running of the boat with the river. Early on, just after Mile 4, we saw Navajo Bridge, one of only two bridges we saw in the entire 277 miles (the other was at Phantom Ranch). And while I didn't capture a picture of it, we saw a California Condor (formerly endangered but coming back), circling around the bridge. Now, I would have had no idea that's what we were seeing, but we had devout birders and ecologists with us, and they showed us everything, it seemed.

On the right, above, is a century agave plant. It is one of the few plants found from rim to river. It blooms once between 20 and 40 years of age, and then dies, so it was poignant to see one blooming. The Indians used it for food, fiber and medicinal beverages.

It was interesting to see not only sheer rock forming the canyon wall, but fine sand beaches as well. We were all to experience the effects of the sand, and came to understand what our leaders meant when they said, "Embrace the sand!"

Here's a picture of Liz and Gary standing on the front of the boat, that first afternoon. They sat in the very front (most exposed to getting soaked from the 50 degree river water when going through rapids) for most of the first 4-5 days. I sat up with them 2 or 3 of the days, and then it started getting a little colder and overcast, with temperatures in the 60's, and it wasn't as much fun getting soaked, even though you had your rain gear on.

In the afternoon it was usually fine .... you didn't mind getting soaked because it was SO DRY in the canyon, that if you wore quick dry shirts and shorts, you would dry off, literally, in 5 minutes! This dryness was something to contend with ... our hands and feet got so dry, as did our lips, and we were constantly applying SPF 50 chapstick. We were very good with the sun screen: I had Aveeno SPF 70 for our faces, and Neutrogena 100 SPF spray for everything else. We didn't have any problem with sunburn; we (except Liz) were quite good at wearing hats as well.

Camp 1 was at Mile 20.5, Upper North Canyon. I had mentioned to Mike on the bus that it was Gary's birthday, and they surprised all of us (except Liz ... she helped bake it) with a cake and a Happy Birthday song. After a spaghetti and meatball dinner with salad and garlic bread, he couldn't have asked for anything better. Only one mishap, and it was a big one that first day: when we arrived in camp the wind was blowing and gusting sand. I set my jacket down, and my camera on it, and went to retrieve my sleeping and baggage duffels: sand blew into my camera mechanism and broke it. Gary tried everything, but no longer would the lens cover open or the zoom lens mechanism work. SO .... no more pictures with my camera for the remainder of the trip! A very kind gentleman from the Columbia River Gorge, Bob, gave me three of his disposable cameras and I will share some pictures I got with those, but they simply aren't as good. I am hopeful others on the trip will send me some pictures to supplement these to share with you on the blog and for us to keep. To not have better pictures from this once-in-a lifetime adventure is rather disappointing. But the images are in our heads and hearts.

It would get dark in the canyon just after 8 pm, so there were early nights in this crowd. We could hear snoring by 8:30 (and were chiming in ourselves!). The first night was warm, but a little windy still, but we did sleep out under the stars without a tent. After that, the nights were cooler, and we all three slept cozily in one two-man tent! Gary actually zipped Liz and my sleeping bags together so we were VERY cozy!

I choose to share a word about elimination. Only 23,000 people are allowed to be in the Grand Canyon on the river each year. About half of the permits go to private parties, and half to the commercial outfitters. We were told private parties often wait years to get a permit which may be awarded by lottery. There is an intense effort to leave the Canyon as pristine as possible. Everyone urinated into the river. Everytime we stopped, ladies would go upstream, and gentleman downstream. In camp, they set up a portable potty (with a very ingenious hand washing system), so you wanted to make every effort to defecate between 5 pm and 8 am. Otherwise, you would be given a portable poop collecting kit which you would have to use. Our guides (Mike, Katie, Jason and Chris) would carry that can (I think they had 4 or 5 of them) of compressed elimination products back to the boat just before we left every morning, and haul it out. Can you imagine hauling out the 8 day by-products of 28 humans? They did a tremendous job!

Day 2, May 7: Mornings began early on the river. The target for breakfast every morning was 6:30 am, so as soon as it was light (about 5:00 to 5:30), people would start moving about to break camp: getting dressed, trying to wash up a little, getting coffee (we were each given a stainless steel mug to keep for beverages at meals), organizing, packing away bedrolls, etc. I thought our group was exceptional (probably the advanced age of everybody meeting deadlines over a lifetime). Every morning, the entire group was ready and was sitting around drinking coffee at least a half an hour before the guides were ready to go! We, with Liz, were probably the slowest (it was a little challenging dragging her out every morning at that hour), but Gary or I would bring her hot chocolate to drink in her sleeping bag, and that would help.

I have to stop and brag about her a little bit. I think I've said before that we sometimes take for granted that she will behave as an adult, and may not be as patient with her childishness as we might. But she was absolutely fabulous on this trip! She hung out with the crew a little bit (particularly the 23 year old Katie), and helped with dinner, baking cakes, etc. ("I cracked 12 eggs without breaking one, Mom!"). But beyond that she was cheerful, engaging, enthusiastic (giving the biggest Yee-Ha's through the rapids), and generally charming. We received so many compliments on her behavior. One woman even said to me, "I was a little nervous when I saw there was going to be a child on the trip, because you know how obnoxious some children can be, but Liz is just a delight!" Of course, Gary and I were very pleased. She really kept it up the entire 8 days .... she got a little bored the last day or two, and ate dinner our last night in the tent while reading a book, but all in all she was a gem! In retrospect, I didn't even consider how it might be for her if she was the only child on the trip, but we were so thankful she decided to adapt. I would say adaptability IS one of her strengths. And, of course, most of it was fun even if you were with your parents!

That first morning it was a breakfast of a delicious egg bake with red peppers and onions, and I think some basil in it, with bacon and English Muffins. Then we broke camp, got oriented to the morning routine, and started figuring out what we wanted to have with us all day, and what we should put in our duffels. Our good friend Anita Mayer, of Mayo Clinic Arizona, had done this trip with her husband Greg about two years ago (with another company), and she gave us such valuable tips. Even though there was a communal Day Bag to put jackets, etc, in, it wasn't waterproof, and Anita told us to get our own Dry Bags ... little bags that folded over and were water proof that we could clip on right wherever we were sitting. These were great for the rain proof pants, bandanas, extra fleece in case the sun went away, etc, etc. I was really happy we had them.

We set off first thing down North Canyon rapid and had another wonderful day on the river.

Here is a picture of the boats as they are landing with Jason giving a wave. He would often drive the boat with no shirt on, even though it might have been 60 or cooler because "your skin dries off so much faster!" I preferred quick dry shirts! (Liz' head is in the foreground).

We just continued to gaze everywhere looking for bighorn sheep (most people saw one/some; I didn't), condors, eagles, desert blooming flowers. We stopped at Redwall Cavern (mile 33), a large beautiful cave. Since I didn't have my camera, I'll include a picture of it I took from a picture in my book (maybe one of my trip-mates will send me this). It was beautiful, and we were told that James Taylor and his son were on one of GCE's trips, and when they stopped here, JT gave them a little concert in the cave. Can you imagine?? I'm a huge fan!

Just beyond this we stopped for a riverside lunch of chicken caesar tortilla wraps ... very yummy.

At about mile 46, we started seeing a beautiful yellow flower .... and Oscar was very pleased as it seemed to be at its peak .... most years, I gather, the trip is either too early or too late to catch the Brittle Bush in their peak. This is another picture I hope someone sends to me so I can include. Camp 2 was at mile 50. We had a Chinese dinner of rice with shrimp and egg rolls. We pitched a tent that night because of the wind, and were happy we did. We were very cozy.

Day 3, May 8. Normally on this day, the trip stops at the entry of the Little Colorado River into the Colorado, and floats down the smaller river on their life jackets, but it was running too fast and was too cold to do this. It was remarkable to see the waters of the two rivers merge, though. The Little Colorado was quite brown with all its silt, and when it joined the Colorado, which until this point had been quite blue-green, there was a perfect seam for a 100-200 yards before they started to blend.

At mile 72 we stopped at the Unkar Delta, an archeological site with stone ruins, and evidence of how native people could have walked to the rim in the winter, and then spent the summer in the canyon. Brittle Bush was everywhere. Oscar told us a lot about lizards and we had lunch.

It was right after lunch that we encountered Hance Rapid, a huge drop of 30 feet, rated an 8. This was the rapid we had seen from the south rim along Desert View Drive. It was very technical, and both boats stopped upstream of it and "scouted" it out before we ventured down. Mike and Jason even spun the boats around and went through part of it backward. We were soaked .... but it was truly thrilling! Again, we'll see what rapid pictures I end up getting from trip friends! "Captain" John T. Hance, miner, rancher, guide, and storyteller was the South Rim's first white settler.

At mile 77 we started seeing what has become my favorite rock: Vishnu Schist!

This is the BLACK rock that is found at the bottom of the Grand Canyon .... it is the oldest rock in the world .... 1.8 BILLION years old (if you can even imagine that), and is only found three other places in the world: Iceland (I think), a deep canyon in Mexico and in Peru. Here is it mixed with a nearly as old Zoroaster granite (pink).

At mile 88 we encountered Phantom Ranch. This is part of the Grand Canyon lodging facilities, and is where hikers and mule riders can spend the night after a hike or ride down. There is a wide beach, and a bridge to get from one side to the other. It is possible, when the North Rim is open, to hike down the North Rim and out the South or vice versa, of course. I even found out that one could hike down the North Rim, and ride a mule out to the South for $850 for up to 5 people. That sounded pretty good to me .... I might be up for this if I find out my knees can take all that downhill!

We also saw a water pipe crossing the river and found out that much of the water used at the South Rim is piped from the North.

Camp 3 was at Mile 92, Salt Creek. Once again, we went to bed about 8 after a delicious dinner of blackened halibut with black bean and corn salad, and seasoned rice. This was our warmest, most beautiful night and we slept out under the stars. They were magnificent from down there, with no ambient light around.

Day 4, May 9. After a great breakfast of cooked to order eggs and ham, along with fruit, we got ready for a big morning of rapids. We felt good about sitting in front of the boat since it was sunny and warm, so we climbed right on. First we hit Granite (an 8 ... rapids are rated up to 10, we learned) with a drop of 18 feet, then Hermit (8), Crystal (8-10), Sapphire, Turquoise (where we got the most soaked .... water came so hard at my face I actually swallowed it!, but it was only rated a 4!), Emerald, and Ruby. It was an exciting morning.

The boats "leap frogged" each other ... one boat went ahead through the rapids and then pulled over so we could stop and take pictures of the other boat going through the rapid. Then that boat would go ahead and reverse the process. Some folks traded cameras so they could get pictures of themselves going through these huge rapids. We'll see if some of us come through from our friends.

We had a lunch of corned beef sandwiches at Bass Canyon (mile 108) and had a fairly lazy afternoon. At mile 117, we stopped at Elves Chasm. There was a very rocky climb up to this beautiful little waterfall. Another raft trip had stopped there before us, and there was a very spunky 70 year old climbing down the rock returning to her boat. She was apologizing for going so slow (I'm sure she was going faster than I was), and one of her guides turned to her and said: "You know, 70 is the new 30!" And my quick little Liz turned to me and said, "And Mom, you know 60 is the new 20!" I adore her.

She scampered up the 1/4-1/2 mile (jumping across a small chasm, I might add ... which I did, too... well, not exactly jumped!), and got to the falls. Everyone was milling around, trying to decide if they were going to jump down the 15-20 feet from the top of the falls to the pool. Liz was all for it. Some of the men climbed up, but decided not to jump. I'm sure she would have gone anyway, but I urged Gary to climb up there, and jump first, so Liz would. He did .... and then she did. EVERYONE CHEERED! It was so fun. She was so proud of herself. Here is a photo from my book of the falls. And thanks to Pam Trautman, I now have a picture of Gary jumping first and then Liz following. Now I just have to work on getting the EMail pic into the blog (stay tuned!)

Camp 4 was at 119 miles, on the south side of the river at Stephen Aisle. We had chips with guacamole, and huge burritos for dinner, but because it was a little cooler we pitched a tent, and again were fast asleep by 8:30! No fires are allowed in the Grand Canyon, so there's nothing to sit around and talk or sing. No campfire lends itself to turning in earlier!

Day 5, May 11, dawned, and we awakened to the smell of another delicious breakfast cooking: french toast (I'm remembering I need to try and get the recipe!), and bacon.

Just a little farther down river, at mile 120 was Blacktail Canyon. We had a short little hike up to another waterfall, and were also treated to a mini-concert. One of our boatman, Jason, brought his guitar up and serenaded us. It sounded wonderful. Because I was using the disposable camera given to me by Bob, a generous co-rafter, I didn't get a good picture in the low light (inadequate flash). We may get some others from rafting friends.

Also in this canyon was a great example of The Great Unconformity, a 1 BILLION year gap in geologic history. We see the Zoroaster granite, and then Tapeats sandstone on top of it .... these are a billion years apart. I apologize for the graininess (disposable camera), but here is Gary pointing it out!

Here IS a picture of Mike, President of GCE and our boatman, and of Liz standing up to dry off following a dousing in the rapids.

Here's a picture of what the boats looked like loaded with all our gear and adventurers!

It was kind of a quiet morning, with few big rapids, and I think we were still dry when we reached mile 132 and stopped for lunch at Stone Creek. After lunch of pasta salad we hiked to the waterfall. By this time in the day, we were starting to get warm, so a dip in the waterfall seemed like a delightful idea. The water was probably only about 10 degrees warmer than the river (60 degrees rather than 50 degrees), but it did feel pretty good.

This day we were passengers in Jason's boat, with Chris as the swamper. They were great guys and we really enjoyed their banter, and their rapid running skill.

Later that afternoon we stopped at Deer Creek at mile 136. This hike was a little too rugged for Lizzie and me. The rock steps were high, and there was a narrow ledge that needed to be traversed. so we elected to stay at the lower falls, which were very lovely. I wrote in my journal a bit, and Liz found a very nice "playmate" in Heather, who spent some time with her searching the little shallow pools. It was a lovely afternoon. Unfortunately, Gary developed some sore toes from doing the big hike in his river shoes without any socks; this compromised his hiking for the rest of the trip.

We camped very near: Camp 5 at Doris Rapid, at Mile 138. We had the most interesting toilet set up .... in a little cave where we had to climb down into a little cavern. It was always interesting. (I was so happy with Jason that afternoon ..... Liz had an urgent need for the toilet, and Jason dropped everything as he was setting up camp to get the facilities set up for her. It was very much appreciated!)

Day 6, May 12. After another delicious breakfast, we all got our things together for another day on the river. Liz had found some tadpoles in a little water collecting basin a couple of days before, and she and Oscar, our Ph.D. ecologist, were talking about them just after breakfast, and I caught them together.

We had a nice big rapid at Kanab Rapid, mile 144 (a 12 foot drop), saw Matkatamiba Creek come in from the canyon of the same name, and got through Upset Rapid, named after Emery Kolb who was upset there when participating in the U. S. Geological Survey in 1923.

Here's a picture of young Katie "manning" the raft, in her very cool pink cowgirl hat. Her dad is "supervising."

We had deli sandwiches for lunch, and then stopped for a hike up Havasu Creek, a gorgeous blue stream leading up a rocky canyon. Gary and Liz stayed at the raft, but I had some help from my co-rafters, and was so glad I made the effort.

Ocotillo

(Excuse the funny pictures; I couldn't rotate the disposable camera picture, so I had to take a horizontal picture of my computer image and "right it" for you! I need to study my MAC photo software program!)

At mid-afternoon we saw a couple of private groups already camped on the south side of the river. There was a big orange cross laid out on the ground, and we learned that they were waiting for a helicopter. Someone had jumped into a creek that was too shallow and had broken his leg. As we passed, they called out and asked if we had any ice to spare. We did (we had ice left over at the end of the trip!), and so we traded about 25# of ice (they wanted for their beer), and we got another box of red wine. Seemed fair.

This led to a discussion of how many private parties there are. About half of the 23,000 annual Grand Canyon adventurers are private rafters who have gotten a permit through a lottery. The rangers give them a long, required orientation so that they "leave no trace" and keep all the rules. But they all looked liked they were having a good time. It takes about 15-18 days if you just float and they think that those of us with a motor, making it only 8 days, are kind of "cheating."

Gary seemed to have an interest in spotting caves. At mile 171, Stairway Canyon connected from the North Rim, and Gary saw a cave he wanted me to remind him he wanted to try to get back to someday! A little ways down the river we made Camp 6, at mile 176. The crew made us another delicious dinner of chicken with rice and seasoned corn. Dessert was pound cake with berries and whipped cream .... Liz passed the tidbits around the camp. This was another night for the tent.

Day 7, May 12.

This was the day we were told to get ready for one of the biggest rapids: Lava Falls, rated a 10. I wasn't able to zoom with the disposable camera to focus on the raft that was going down through this big water, but if you look closely, I think you can see the boat being tossed through the white water.

After that, we had another slightly overcast and cooler day on the river. We were told they wanted to keep going at the maximum speed (about 8-9 miles per hour -- the river flows at about 5 mph, and the motor adds another 3-4 mph) to cover about 50 miles that day. Lunch was at mile 198 (chicken ceasar wraps, again), and some nice rapids at 209 mile (not that big, but they went on for a ways), called "209 mile rapid!"

Camp 7 was was at 222 mile canyon where we looked downstream at Diamond Peak, seen in the background below (with swamper Chris standing in the raft). The elevation of Diamond Peak is 3,512 feet which is 400 feet higher than the elevation was at Lee's Ferry, at 3,107 feet. We had dropped over 2000 feet with the river as we traveled southwest toward the sea.

We had a great steak dinner with baked potatoes and salad (the classic), and people spoke about what they had enjoyed about the trip, and how collaborative and nice the group was.

Here's a picture of how our tents could be set up, and how we would sit around for meals. These days no campfires are allowed in the Grand Canyon, but we could sit around and visit with a cup of coffee .... at least until 8 pm!

This is the last picture I took with the disposable camera in the canyon .... a little grainy, but a beautiful last evening.

Day 8, May 13

We had a very early morning the last day. They planned breakfast for 6:00, and we were on the river by 7 am. We had about 20 miles to go to mile 240, just below Separation Rapid. It was here that three members of John Wesley Powell's expedition decided to try to hike out of the canyon rather than risk going further down the raging river into the unknown. Their party had suffered the loss of at least one boat, and saw the huge rapid ahead. It turned out not to be so bad ....."we are scarcely a minute in running it; we have passed many places that were worse." They fired a shotgun to let the three men who stayed behind know that they were safely through, but the three decided to try to hike on out anyway. Sadly, they were never seen again.

Just after Separation Rapid, we were met by a jet boat, that would take us speedily down the last 37 miles of the river. We landed at Pearce Ferry about 11:00 am, and from there off loaded all our gear.

It was supposed to be about a three hour bus ride back to Las Vegas (Gary and I were sparring over who was going to get into the shower first!), and then the strangest thing happened.

Security going over Hoover Dam is very tight ..... it continues to be considered a terrorist target. However, for the last 20+ years, GCE busses, and many other raft companies, have been going over the dam with "stinky", dirty rafters and their stuff in clear plastic bags (since we left the waterproof duffels with the raft). Some "official" walked on our bus, said our things were not accessible to be searched ?????, and instructed our bus driver to turn around, drive back down the road to Laughlin, NV, cross the river there, and then drive up to Las Vegas, an extra 150 miles!!!

There was no other explanation. It was unbelievable, and made us get back 2 1/2 hours later than scheduled. But since we had no other plans other than taking a shower, it was tolerable. But you know how things that are irrational and unexplainable are more difficult to accept? This was one of them ..... and I felt sorry for Liz that she had to sit the extra time on the bus, too. She really had had enough (we all had!)

So that was the end of our Grand Canyon adventure. I think it really was the highlight of our trip. It was a once-in-a-lifetime, never to be forgotten experience of one of the great wonders of the world. We loved it.

Now, we only have about 6 more weeks until we get home .... and there's still a lot to see and do!

Julie, Gary and Liz