Grand Canyon River Trip Aug 2013 Part 3

I just picked up some pictures taken with a couple of waterproof camera's that we'd taken along.  Here are some pictures of Cousin John getting hammered when waves created by the rapids would crash into the raft, a shot of a chair circle in our nightly Camp Runamuck, and a photo of the beautiful full moon which accompanied us on most of our trip.

Grand Canyon River Trip Aug 2013 Part 2

Of course, the highlight of the trip was going through the rapids.  The raft was configured so that three people could sit in the bow and that area was called the bathtub.  When the raft would run headlong into a wave the bathtub people would just get slammed with water, but it was fun and very exciting.  Immediately in back and to the side of the bathtub were a row of seats on either side of the raft.  The first seat on either side was called the shower.  You got just as wet and had almost the same view as the people in the bathtub.  The side seats in back of the shower were a little dryer but not much.  And then there were the Princess Seats about three quarters of raft length on the starboard side.  Normally you wouldn’t get wet in those two seats, but in the biggest rapids it just depended on how the waves hit the raft.  The only problem with the Colorado River below the Glen Canyon Dam is that the water released into the river comes from the bottom of Lake Powell and is between 48 to 52 degrees and that’s COLD.  After we passed the point where the Little Colorado entered the Colorado we all thought the water was a little warmer, but not much.  We all had rain gear and were advised to wear it especially when we’d go through rapids in the AM and then be in shade due to the high canyon walls.  Our trip started at Lee’s Ferry which was River Mile 0 and we ended at Whitmore Wash at River Mile 187 and we encountered 48 rapids (according to my river guide) with probably six rated 7 or above and two that were 10’s.  Rapids are graded on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most difficult.  Being a person who grew up on a lake I’m not familiar with rapids and didn’t really understand the physical qualities of water hitting objects below the surface.  I assumed that when flowing water hit a boulder under the surface that all the water goes to either side of the boulder, but it doesn’t.  Some of the water can’t move around the boulder so it piles upward until it reaches the surface and then it forms a wave going upstream.  Many times I would watch a rapid as we approached and would think that this was going to be a gentle ride, then we’d get within 10 feet of the rapid and see that we were going to drop into a hole of 5 to 10 feet and if that weren’t scary enough just beyond the hole there would be a wave coming at you!  The raft would smash into the wave which is now above you and the water would explode over the raft.  A couple of times it literally stopped the raft dead in the water and the raft weighed 5 tons!  And then it might be repeated a couple more times! 

My favorites were Hermit at Mile 95.5 which is a man made rapid.  Hermit Rapid is named for a recluse who lived in the area and he became enchanted with the physical characteristics of rapids.  Using block and tackle he placed boulders in the river to create a series of “holes” and “waves”.  The result is a rapid rated a 7-8 where you fall into a hole about 6 feet down, then ride up the face of a wave, drop into another hole, up the face of a wave again, and do the same about twice more.  It was very much like a roller coaster ride.  Crystal Rapid at about mile 99 is rated a 7-10 and is the “killer” rapid of the Grand Canyon since more people have been killed in this rapid than all the other Grand Canyon rapids combined.  Actually, I don’t have any memory of the water in this rapid, but I clearly remember the canyon wall coming closer and closer to the raft.  There’s a huge boulder to the right at the beginning and that forces everything to the left through a narrow opening.  The raft hits the rapid and is immediately thrown to the left, the  boatman gives full power to the motor to force the raft back to the middle, but by then you’re looking at a canyon wall about 10 feet away, and when the raft finally responds to the motor you’re only 2 feet away from the wall.  It is scary.  And finally there is Lava Falls at mile 179.5 and it’s an 8-10 and is also the largest navigable rapid in North America.  It’s long and the water seems to be moving in every conceivable direction.  Plus it’s in a narrow part of the canyon where the wind funnels through and the wind hits the crests of the waves and blows water up into the air.  It is an absolute monster.  About 3 miles above Lava Falls we caught up with 5 or 6 oar powered rafts that were probably 15 feet long and 8 feet wide.  There was one oarsman with 1 or 2 passengers in each raft.  After our 2 rafts had gone through we tucked up behind boulders and waited. Someone ask Mac, our boatman what we were doing and he explained that it was a custom for someone who had already gone through dangerous rapids to wait and stand by just in case something happened to the following rafts.  One by one the smaller rafts would row toward the rapids, enter them, and then just disappear when they fell into the holes.  One second they were there and then they were gone.  All of them made it through, but almost every oarsman lost his/her grip on one or both oars.  I have never seen anything like it in my life. If you’d like to see what these rapids are like go to YouTube and put the rapid name in the subject box.

Those were the scary parts of the trip, but we also had very funny parts also.  The first day on the river, Mac was giving us instructions regarding our life preservers when we left the raft.  He said, “When you leave the raft, remove your life preserver and clip it somewhere to the raft.  If you don’t, the wind might catch them and they’ll blow into the water and sink like rocks.”  About half the people didn’t get the joke.  Another moment came when we were setting up our nightly camp site and Elaine looked around and said “has anyone seen my ammo can”?  That just struck me as funny and I told her that I never in my wildest imagination thought I’d hear her say anything about “her ammo can” and actually know what she was talking about.  Another Elaine moment occurred on about day three.  Up until then the water had been a deep, clear green but then it rained and the water then turned to the color of chocolate milk due to sand being washed into the river.  Now, Elaine to me is one of the most elegant, well dressed, prim and proper woman I know.  That particular day she wore a light green top with a white fast dry shirt.  After being dunked, and splashed with the muddy water for a good 6 hours the white top had turned into a reddish brown streaked mess.  Her green top also had taken on a brownish hue.  Her shoes were muddy from walking on the river bank, and her hair was sticking out at all angles.  It was such a departure from the Elaine we all know and love that I got tickled and couldn’t stop laughing.  She did allow me to take her picture, but I’ll never show it to anyone without her written notarized approval.  And, we were in the deepest part of the Grand Canyon and Mac said, “Have you all heard of the middle of nowhere? Well, you are now at the bottom of the middle of nowhere.”  Well said.  And finally, whenever Zach our lead boatman would announce coffee, breakfast, lunch or dinner he’d shout something like “coffee is ready. Come and get it.”  Then in a deeper voice he would add, “That is all.”  After a couple days we all began saying “that is all” at every opportunity, and it never got old.

Wildlife, boy did we see wildlife.  Just after Navajo Bridge we saw a California condor.  We also saw mule deer, a beaver, and several male and female Desert Bighorn Sheep, plus a couple of species of bats.  Blue Herons were everywhere, but always a special treat.

Another special treat was running across a BBC/Discovery Channel crew filming a recreation of John Wesley Powell’s first trip down the Colorado.  The Powell crew consisted of experienced river guides in 4 or 5 replica boats but the film crew and equipment took up two rafts at least as large as ours plus another smaller raft.  All of the rafts were equipped with solar panel canopies so that electricity could be generated to recharge all the equipment.  According to the film crew the show should air sometime around Christmas.  Can’t wait to see it.

Our crew really had it all together.  The little boy from New Jersey celebrated his 10^th birthday on the river and the crew had a cake with candles.  The afternoon it rained we were all cold and wet, but within 15 minutes of landing we had hot creamy soup.  Boy, that sure tasted good and it warmed us up in a hurry.

The last night on the river we all gathered around and told the crew and each other what the trip meant to us.  Several people got quite emotional, which was fine.  No one could help but be moved by the beauty we’d seen, the closeness of our new found friends, and that our journey was ending.  The crew then presented each of us our official River Rat pins.

The following morning we had a quick breakfast, loaded the raft for the last time and then went the final mile of our trip to Whitmore Wash.  After unloading our bags we carried them up a hill to a helicopter landing zone.  The helicopter first took our bags to the Bar 10 Ranch on the Arizona Strip, about 10 minutes away.   Then we flew out in groups of 5 to the ranch where real bathrooms, hot showers, and lunch were waiting.  After lunch one group was flown to Page and another group was flown to Las Vegas via a regular aircraft. John, Elaine, Betsy and I went to the Powell Museum and then we dropped John & Elaine back at the Page airport for their 3:00 PM flight to Denver.  Little did we know that they would end up spending the night in Page due to mechanical problems with their airplane, and not get out of Page until 3:00 PM the following day.

Betsy and I made it to Flagstaff, got a motel room and absolutely crashed.  The next day we headed south and made it home about 11:15 AM.  All the way home and today I’ve felt out of place—like I don’t really belong here.  For several days we were different people, with a different lifestyle, with new friends, in one of the most spectacular places on Earth.

 

         

 

 

 

Grand Canyon River Trip Aug 2013 Part 1

Normally this blog is reserved for trips taken in our travel trailer, but because our latest trip was such a special one albeit a non travel trailer one, I’ve decided to put in on the blog.

A couple of months ago I happened to watch a documentary on the Grand Canyon and was just stunned by the ever changing beauty of the canyon and its many opportunities for adventure—hiking, camping, mule rides into the canyon, or rafting through the canyon on the Colorado River.  While we’ve been to the South Rim three or four times, and the North Rim once it struck me that now was the time to go into the canyon.  Since we’re not in any kind of physical condition to hike in the canyon right now, and we have no desire to ride a mule to the bottom and back up,  that pretty much left rafting opportunities.

I started checking websites and found to my surprise that the cost was not nearly as expensive as I thought.  Next problem was that I’d heard you needed to make your reservation about a year in advance, and which of the 15 or 16 companies do you select?  About twenty four hours later I was talking with a friend and ask her what she’d been up to.  Amazingly, she said she took a seven day rafting trip through the canyon and it was one of the best trips she had ever taken.  Of course I peppered her with questions regarding which company she used.  She told me, and I took a look at their website and read about the seven day trip.  I then decided to give them a call just to see if by any chance they had any seven day trips with spots available in August, and I’ll be darned if they had a trip beginning on Aug 22^nd  and since they needed to fill spots they would reduce the cost by one half!! 

At that point, I told them to put Betsy and I down for the trip, but then called my adventure partner (Cousin John) and told him what I’d stumbled into.  As usual, when any adventure is offered, his immediate response is “let’s do it”.  We also mentioned it to other people but due to other commitments only one other couple from Green Valley were able to join us.

The rafting company provided a list of items to bring, but cautioned that everything you wanted to bring would have to fit in a soft duffle bag measuring 24 inches long and 12 inches high.  That was a real challenge.  The company would provide a waterproof bag for clothing; another would contain a sleeping bag and one sheet, along with a ground cloth.  A smaller waterproof bag (measuring 12x20 inches) and waterproof ammo can would also be provided for items you might want during the day.  In addition we were provided with a folding chair, sleeping cot, and a tent.

The rafts were 37 feet long by about 15 feet wide, and were powered by 25 horse powered outboard motors.  Each raft was manned by a boatman and an assistant (called a swamper).  Cold water from a large cooler, as well as fruit and snacks were always available.  Soft drinks were also provided, and if you wished to purchase beer before the trip began it was available.  The soft drinks and beer were kept cool by being placed in large mesh bags which were dragged along the side of the raft.  I believe I read that the carrying capacity of the raft was 30 tons, but normally the actual weight carried by each raft was around 5 tons.  That included people, luggage, kitchen equipment, and food.

On Thursday, Aug 21^st we met John and Elaine at the Page, AZ airport, had lunch, checked into the Lake Powell Resort, explored a little, and then attended a pre-trip orientation meeting where we met Zach, our lead boatman.  During the meeting we were told how to pack our clothing, the safety rules, and generally what we could expect for the next seven days.

The following morning we were checked out of the resort at 6 AM, and at 6:30 were picked up by two buses for transport to Lee’s Ferry to join up with the two rafts.  At Lee’s Ferry we were fitted for our life jackets, formed a fire brigade line to load our bags, and also met the other boatman and the 2 swampers.  We also met the remaining passengers that weren’t at the orientation meeting the night before.  We began our journey at about 11:00 AM.

Our group consisted of three Russians (a young man and woman who had immigrated to America along with the young woman’s Uncle who still lived in Russia), an absolutely delightful English father and son duo, two young people from California, a young woman who was born in Tucson but lived for 15 years in Australia, a husband and wife from New Jersey along with their 12 year old daughter and 10 year old son, a middle age woman from California, John & Elaine, Betsy & Jamie, and the additional Green Valley couple who had been on two previous Colorado River trips, a single young man from Boulder, and a young woman from NYC.  The age range went from 79 down to 10.

We were encouraged to switch from raft to raft, but for the most part Jamie, Betsy, John, Elaine, the other Green Valley couple, the young lady from NYC, and the New Jersey family stuck with raft #2.

Our day would start at 5:30 AM with thick, rich coffee and then breakfast.  We had eggs (either scrambled or fried), biscuits and gravy, bacon, ham, French toast, cereal, milk, tea, orange juice.  I think one morning we had breakfast burritos.  We would all bring our chairs to the “kitchen” area and eat and talk.  After breakfast we would pack our bags, fold our cots and chairs and put them into bags, and pile everything on the beach next to the rafts.  All the kitchen tables, aluminum Dutch ovens, propane tanks and burners, pots and pans would be loaded into the holds of the rafts, and then our big dry bags would be placed onto the center of the rafts and covered with a mesh tarp.  Everyone was expected to join in and participate in the fire brigade loading and unloading line.  I might add that before eating everyone was expected to wash their hands.  There was a 5 gallon plastic bucket with clean water and a bottle of liquid soap.  You would put soap on your hands, rub it in, then using a foot pump, transfer water from the clean water bucket thru a length of tubing to a rinse bucket.  This was absolutely mandatory.  As one of the crew said, “We’ve had trips were people got sick and it affected everyone, and it’s not pretty”.

Another task we were expected to do was wash our dishes (yes, we ate off of Corel dishes and real silverware), and help with washing whatever pots, pans, or Dutch ovens were used in the meal.  I noticed more than once that vegetables would be cooked and served in stainless steel buckets.  The wash area consisted of a bucket with river water where the small particles of food were rinsed off, a bucket of clean hot soapy water for washing, another bucket of hot clean water for rinsing, and finally a bucket of clean cold water with a little bleach added for final rinsing.  Many times a voluntary crew would form and do everyone’s dishes and silverware.

We’d usually be on the river by about 8:00 AM and travel for an hour or two and then beach the rafts for a potty break or hike to a particular destination.  We stopped at Anazasi granaries, slot canyons, petrogliph sites, waterfalls, etc.

Around noon we’d beach again and have lunch.  We’d have cold meat sandwiches, tortillas with a killer tuna mix, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cookies, trail bars, etc.

Then back on the raft for a couple hours until another hike.  The hikes were voluntary and most people opted for them.  Many times Betsy would find something to sketch so she would stay behind.  Everyone always wanted to see what Betsy had done and were very complementary.

At about 4:00 PM the boatmen would find a sandy beach and we’d stop for the day.  Off came all the bags, the kitchen equipment, the dish wash table and buckets, the hand wash station, and the potty station.  In a few minutes the various stations would be set up and while that was being done the passengers would be selecting their camp sites.  There was really no set procedure for finding a site.  Whoever found a flat spot for their cots would claim it.  One night it looked like rain so tents were handed out and most people slept in their tent (it didn’t rain after all), but all the other nights we just slept on our cots with sheets over us.  We got lucky and had a full moon on our trip so many nights it was unusually bright, but absolutely beautiful.

After setting up our cots, and hanging wet clothes on a nearby bush or tree, we’d take our chairs to a central location and have an appetizer (clams or oysters, chips and dip, a soft drink, beer, or cocktail) and talk about the day’s events.  In about an hour, dinner would be ready and boy did we eat well!  We had pork chops, steak, prime rib, chicken, Mexican, boiled potatoes, killer mashed potatoes, vegetables, spaghetti, garlic bread plus other stuff I can’t even remember.  After washing the dishes we’d listen to a portion of John Wesley Powell’s journal, or listen to one of the kids from CA play guitar, or just talk.  About 8:30 PM the “old folks” would head to bed and the “kids” would party on.  John mentioned that he was going to bring ear plugs just in case, so we did too, and they came in handy a couple of nights.  No big deal.

Now we come to the subject of bodily fluids.  Grand Canyon National Park rules state that all urination must be done IN the river. That means guys have to stand in the water and pee and women have to squat in the river .  In the beginning of the trip everyone was frantically searching for a bush or rock to hide behind, but at the end we’d just walk into the river or stand/squat at the edge of the river and pee.  If you saw someone “exposed” you just turned away.  At night the crew would set up a toilet facility for #2 in a secluded spot.  It was a large ammo can with a toilet seat attached.  There was also a pee bucket for night time use, but most of us just stumbled to the river.  In the morning the pee would be dumped into the river, but the other stuff would be taken with us for disposal later.  I can’t tell you how odd it felt to be sitting on the pot looking at the most magnificent view of the lower Grand Canyon or Colorado River.  When you went up to the potty area you would take an old boat cushion with you, and that told the next person the potty was occupied.  When you were through you’d put the cushion back at the potty hand washing station and the next person would know that the potty was unoccupied. Simple, but it worked.