The Grand Canyon (Day 15) - Deer Creek Falls

The following post is from the journal I kept of my recent adventure upon a 21-day private river rafting trip on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon from Lee's Ferry to Diamond Peak (about 230 miles) that took place between April 18th and May 8th, 2012.

May 2, 2012

Another good day in the books! Although it started off with some aches and pains in my lower back, probably from paddling so much yesterday, I spend some time stretching and doing a few yoga positions and took some Advil and it quickly got better.

We drifted a few miles down the river after breakfast and were the first ones to arrive at Deer Creek Falls (Mile 136). Like the the Little Colorado River we have the place to ourselves temporarily until other river parties arrive at this popular stop (by the time we leave there would be 18-boats here).

We all hike up to the Patio, which is one of the most beautiful areas I've ever seen. It's a slot canyon hundreds of feet above the river that leads back into a gorge with Deer Creek flowing all the while in the depths on its way to eventually go over the waterfall. There are dozens of mini-waterfalls along the way and it eventually opens up into a big area with lots of shade kind of like a natural patio.

From here, Bob, Athena, Robert, Andy and I continue on the trail on a mission to get to the "source" of Deer Creek and the famous Throne Room. The source is a powerful waterfall coming straight out of the side of a canyon wall high above the trail, which goes directly behind the waterfall and into a room where people have literally made "thrones" out of large flat pieces of rock. We stop and refill our water bottles directly from the source. It's the best tasting water of the entire trip! We then all stop, pick out a throne and eat our packed lunches. Bob reads his book, the Game of Thones, while sitting in one of the largest thrones for about a half hour.

When it's time to hike back to the Patio I decide I'm going to trail run, but this time film it on the GoPro mounted on my helmet that I brought up from the boat in my backpack. I'm only wearing my Teva Sandals so I have to be extra careful. I think to myself that Jenny will enjoy seeing this video. I really wish she were here to run some of these trails! I finish the run in just under 11 minutes. It takes an average river rafting passenger about 45 minutes to hike what I've just ran. I cool off by laying down in the creek at the Patio.

Trail run back to the Patio

I spend most of my time taking photographs of the area and I can't wait to get back to a computer to view them. The problem with these GoPro cameras is you can't review your video or pictures. I thought that the SD card would work in my other cameras from the GoPro, but they aren't compatible. Everyone wishes we could review footage instantly, but I kind of like it because it's like the old days of film where you just don't know until you get to the darkroom. I miss those days sometimes.

We are camping now at a place call the "Dorris" campsite and we got here early so everyone is super chill and relaxed. I'm not sure why it's called Dorris, but I get the impression from Butch and Bob that it's something dirty. Oh well, the weather is pleasant and I'm excited about an all day hike we're planning for tomorrow at Kanab Creek.

The Grand Canyon (Day 10) - Calling Home!

The following post is from the journal I kept of my recent adventure upon a 21-day private river rafting trip on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon from Lee's Ferry to Diamond Peak (about 230 miles) that took place between April 18th and May 8th, 2012.

April 27, 2012 

It was a good day! That sums it up! Finally, I can say the best day yet! I knew that after yesterday, today would be great. I'm not the kind of person that has two bad days in a row. Today had to be good!

This morning started with two parts awesome and one part amazing. First off, the weather this morning is so much more awesome than yesterday. Then, only minutes after leaving camp, I got to paddle the Grapevine Rapid and I have to brag that I did it awesomely! It was my biggest and most technical rapid yet. Then, at about mid-day, we FINALLY made it to Phantom Ranch and that was amazing!

My excitement when sky high when I saw the landmark bridge across the river just before the trail head to Phantom Ranch, which is a campground, ranger station, intersection of hiking trails between the North and South Rims, etc. at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Butch asked that we limit our time here so we'll be able to make good progress down the river. I know he wants to get past Horn Rapid sooner than later for several reasons. As soon as I stepped off the raft I set out to accomplish as much as I could physically handle.

First, I found the bathroom. A real bathroom with running water. I urinated in the urinal and washed my hands in a real sink twice. Then I saw the toilet and couldn't help myself so I took a spontaneous, on-demand, dump right there on the spot! Then I washed my hands some more in the real sink with running water. Hey, did I mention there is running water at Phantom Ranch???

After my bathroom stunt, I saw that Robert and Athena were on the pay phone. There are two pay phones here. One is at some bathrooms near the river. The other is about a mile up the trail at Phantom Ranch. I decided to run that mile and it is during this run that I decide that some day I shall return here with Jenny and trail run the Rim to Rim (Bright Angel Trail to Kaibab Trail or South Rim to North Rim). It's a beautiful scene with mature cottonwood trees nearly 100-years old planted all along the path. When I get there I see the pay phone is open so I jump on it, dial Jenny's number (after figuring out how to use a prepaid phone card) and when she answers the phone I choke up for words. Hearing her voice almost makes me cry. She even asks what is wrong with my voice. I pull myself together and spend about 30 minutes catching up with her. I learn that everything went fine with her getting home from Boston and the house and pets are OK, but most importantly I get to speak with Jenny and tell her I love  her and I miss her. She tells me some local and family stuff and it's good to hear news from home. I was so thankful that no hikers were waiting on me and that we were able to take our time chatting.

After the phone conversation I see that Andy and Cathy are on the phone so I have a few minutes before heading back knowing that at least I'm not the only one Butch is waiting for up here. I walk into the Cantina and make a few purchases including the famous lemonade with real ice, a post card for Jenny that I leave in a mule saddlebag that will be mailed after being hauled out of the Grand Canyon, and a candy bar. The lemonade is so cold that I even eat the ice after finishing it as I walk back down toward the river.

We leave Phantom Ranch and hit the river for the roller coaster of rapids laying ahead of us that climax with Horn rapid. We scout the rapid before running it and are lucky enough to be able to watch another group go ahead of us. Robert gets to paddle it and we end up "splitting the horns" as we pick our line. Robert does very well, probably even cleaner than Butch although his boat is very stern heavy with an extra cooler.

Tonight we are camped at Granite rapid. It's the best camp in two days mostly because the weather is agreeable. Robert, Athena and I are making lasagna for dinner in a dutch oven! Bring on Day 11!

Athena's co-workers back in Portland, Ore., actually sent her a care package at Phantom Ranch and this blow-up killer whale was inside. I think it compliments our "Flower Power" boat quite well!

The Grand Canyon (Day 9) - May I please have some more sand!

The following post is from the journal I kept of my recent adventure upon a 21-day private river rafting trip on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon from Lee's Ferry to Diamond Peak (about 230 miles) that took place between April 18th and May 8th, 2012.

April 26, 2012

I must admit, I'm a little bit down today. I can't believe I'm smack dab in the middle of one of the most awesome places on Earth and I'm in poor morale. My only issue is that I miss my fiance, Jenny. That's it. Since I'm a glass-is-half-full kind of guy I tell myself that this is excellent news and I would have a real problem if I didn't miss her at this point. Still, that doesn't really help. I had my mind set geared toward today being the day I could make a phone call to her from Phantom Ranch. It's kind of like running distance for me. If I have my mind set that I'm going to run a 50k then that's what I'm going to do and it's really no different of a mind set than setting out mentally to run a 5k. I was mentally prepared today to call home and it didn't happen because we didn't get to Phantom Ranch yet. Blah...

We're currently hunkered down at the Grapevine Campsite. It's a wonderful campsite in the Inner Gorge that has a long narrow beach that is abreast to a shear wall of vishnu schist and zoroaster granite. There's an amazing contrast between the nearly black schist and pink granite that intertwines together. It looks like freaking "Middle Earth" or something. Most people never get to see this part of the Grand Canyon because unless you raft the river it is difficult to get to from either the North or South Rims. It's also super SUPER old in geological time. The Vishnu Schist is nearly 2 billion year old rock. Absolutely insane to think about! Today is also Athena's birthday. And, I say we're hunkered down because we're experiencing some foul weather. It's extremely windy with intermittent rain showers. The wind is causing a horrid sandstorm on this otherwise beautiful beach. We stayed here in 2008 and it was hands down my favorite campsite. Right now it seems like a little bit of hell.

Don't get me wrong. We are making the best of our situation. Tonight we plan to celebrate Athena's birthday by baking her a cake in a dutch oven. It's also hamburger night, which I'm totally stoked for and everyone is pretty much in great spirits while pretending to ignore the blowing sand that has found its way into EVERYTHING. I think I'm the only one struggling with morale right now. Other than Bob, who is a lot more used to being alone on the river, I'm the only one without their significant other.  I went for a hike alone a little bit ago for two reasons. First, I wanted to climb to the top of this section where I turned back in 2008. It overlooks the campsite and requires a little technical climbing (see the above panoramic I took from the top). And secondly, I don't want to bring down my fellow river rafters with my morale issues. I think it helped, but I know I'll be back to normal and better after tomorrow when I'll at least have a chance to call home and make sure Jenny got home from Boston (Marathon) OK. That's the last I talked to her.

Ahhhh.... anyways. Enough of that feeling sorry for myself bullshit. I'm here to have an adventure damnit! Here's how we ended up here today. The weather pretty much went to sh*t  almost as soon as we entered the inner gorge this morning. It was like the Grand Canyon was saying, "so you want to have some fun on my world class rapids? You must first earn it by enduring the wrath of Mother Nature!" When this happened Butch quickly made the call to stop early (around 1 p.m.) to strategically set us up better for tomorrow. If we had continued today we would have faced some dangerous rapids late in the day. This way we'll be facing Horn Rapid first thing tomorrow morning. If something goes wrong then we'll have all day to address the situation, rather than dealing with it in the dark. There also aren't many campsites in the inner gorge and this is one of the best. I think that played into the decision as well.

We did run Hance, Nevilles and Sockdolger today... all of which are f*cking serious rapids, but Robert ran them all. He did great too, with no mistakes. I actually think he ran them better than some of the veterans in our party. This is probably because Robert and I are so damn scared of them that it's making us super safe. I've decided that I do not like going through these larger rapids as a passenger. I need to be in control. I'm very conflicted because I trust Robert 100-percent, but I think my personality needs to have control. Tomorrow I'm going to ask to run some bigger rapids starting with the Grapevine rapid. It's only a few hundred yards down river from our campsite and I've already scouted it from the top of the bluff I climbed up to earlier. I really need to cheer up! Seriously, what's one more day before being able to call home. We've been in the wilderness for 9 days and I'm pretty sure that's the longest I've ever gone without any outside contact, electricity, cell phones, air condition, running water, etc. Bring on day 10! I'm ready for anything this canyon wants to throw at us! 

 Athena makes a wish (hopefully for the sandstorm to stop) and celebrates her birthday with a dutch 

oven baked chocolate cake!

 I laughed my ass off when I first saw this picture. It's Bob, Robert and myself trying to make a human shield against the blowing sand for Butch while he grills our burgers.

The Grand Canyon (Day 4) - Chicken Curry Puke

The following post is from the journal I kept of my recent adventure upon a 21-day private river rafting trip on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon from Lee's Ferry to Diamond Peak (about 230 miles) that took place between April 18th and May 8th, 2012.

April 21, 2012

Another fun day! We started on the river extremely late because Butch and Tricia had to apply a patch to their raft this morning to fix a small tear in the flooring. Their raft requires manual bailing so the floor is nothing more than thin rubber with no air inside it. Our raft, while the same size, is self-bailing so the floor is actually inflated, which allows water to run off at the sides. I guess that there are pros and cons to both types of boats, but I sure as hell glad we have a self bailing boat at this point.

Once on the river, our first stop today is at South Canyon. A short hike leads us up a bluff overlooking the river. There are Anasazi (native American) ruins here, but most have been rebuilt during modern times. They are nothing more than a few circular walls of rocks about 4-feet high. At this point you're high enough to see down river to a waterfall called Vasey's Paradise and a cave named Stanton's Cave because a early explorer of the river named Stanton had to abort his trip and stashed supplies and surveying equipment in this cave before hiking out. I've been here before, just like North Canyon, but this time Butch and Bob lead us a little further up to a small cave where we can see straight through the canyon.

Next we continue downriver collecting water at Vasey's Paradise and eating lunch at Redwall Canyon. Redwall is one of my favorites and I had really wished, again, that I had a trumpet to play here. Next time I will bring one! Although, I'm pretty sure I said that last time.

We stop at Nautaloid Canyon. This is a place that I always forget about until I visit it again. I never remember the name and I think I've been to it both my previous trips, but always forget until I see it in person again. It's a short semi-difficult hike up to an exposed prehistoric seabed with these nautaloid fossils in the rock. Butch says from 500 million years ago. Bob says 350 million years. . . so what's 150 million years in geological time anyhow???

For the rest of the day Robert, Athena and I take turns rowing that remaining miles until camp. We take a good splashing at the 36-mile rapid and I feel like I'm really getting the hang of driving these rafts. Bob and Butch are amazing sources of information. Bob seems to be even more open than Butch about sharing his knowledge while Butch is a little more reserved until specifically asked.

We're currently camping at a tiny, rarely visited beach on river left about 1/2 mile before Redbug Canyon. I just explored the surrounding area and soon found myself bushwhacking with no trail. It's kind of nice to see no human footprints and only animal tracks. Lots of deer and small stuff I can't identify with my Florida hunting background.

Dinner is interesting. It's some kind of curry chicken dish. As I'm eating I suddenly feel nauseous. I stand up and start to walk away from our group circle and as soon as I'm 15 feet away I involuntarily throw up. It brings me to my knees as I heave a couple more times. It's strange because it doesn't feel like anything comes out of my stomach, but more my throat or chest. Tricia is really alarmed and quizzes me with much detail about what I've eaten and drank. I instantly feel better as soon as it's over with although I've lost my appetite. I come to the conclusion that I'm very dehydrated and for whatever reason the food didn't agree with me. I know they are worried that I'm sick, but I'm pretty damn sure that I'm not. I feel completely fine and better now that I've been drinking the hell out of some Gatorade. Time to get some rest!

The Grand Canyon (Day 3) - The Vagina Room

The following post is from the journal I kept of my recent adventure upon a 21-day private river rafting trip on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon from Lee's Ferry to Diamond Peak (about 230 miles) that took place between April 18th and May 8th, 2012.

April 20, 2012 

Today was fun! We started out going about a mile downriver until we came to North Canyon. From there we hiked up a good ways until the canyon narrowed into a small room with a large pool of stagnant water. It's a very peaceful place, but the small trickle of water that slides down the opposing wall on the filling up the pool of water kind of looks phallic in nature. Robert and I dubbed this place the Vagina room on our previous trips. I'm not sure what it's real name is, but that's what we call it. Haha.

Before we leave the North Canyon, Butch and Tricia run into some other guides from the commercial company they work for and strike up a conversation that lasts forever. I guess they learn some information about campsites and other groups and timelines and stuff, but Robert and I are anxious to get going because just ahead of us lies a section of the river called The Roaring Twenties, which is a serious of fun rapids that lie in the 20-29 mile section of the river. It's the biggest water yet for us and I get to drive a few times (class 6-7). The first one I made it through the main section like text book and then failed to realize or see this huge rock sticking out of the water. It was the size of a dump truck and I still don't understand how I didn't see it earlier. I think you spend so much time looking for the hidden holes and rocks that it's easy to miss the "in-your-face" stuff sometimes. I had no choice but to hit this rock by the time I realized it so I turned into the rock head first and pulled against the force of the river to lessen the impact. As we hit, we bounce 180-degrees while rolling laterally around the rock and downriver. I'm glad my instincts directed me to turn into the rock rather than hit it broadside because the entire incident really wasn't all that bad. It sure did scared the shit out of me as it was happening. The river has so much force to it sometimes. It's like surfing long-period double overhead conditions. Lots of hydraulics at play.

A few miles later, Butch isn't paying attention and hits a rock that we manage to barely miss. There's a small hole in their boat and tomorrow morning when the water goes down and that section of his boat is out of the water he will patch it. I guess we'll learn about patching rubber rafts.

Tonight we are camped right around the 29-Mile mark. Bob made spaghetti for dinner and it's super yummy. Several of my passengers have brought to my attention that today's date is 4-20 and have invited me to celebrate it in a special way later tonight down on the beach near our tents. On that note, I'll close for now.

The Grand Canyon (Day 2) - The Rock!

The following post is from the journal I kept of my recent adventure upon a 21-day private river rafting trip on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon from Lee's Ferry to Diamond Peak (about 230 miles) that took place between April 18th and May 8th, 2012.

April 19, 2012

We are camped about a 1/2 mile before North Canyon. This is the same spot we camped the first night on the river in 2008 when I was a passenger on a commercial trip with Grand Canyon Expeditions and Tricia and Butch were our guides. I remember it vividly as I decided to sleep on a large flat rock with the idea that there would be less sand. Well, there was, but f*ck that rock was HARD! It was the last rock I ever slept on and tonight I'm proud to say I'm sleeping in a sandy spot about 30 feet away from that same rock.

I've got to make this entry short as I've run out of time today to write and now it's late, dark and I'm tired so I'm going to summarize today's events.

* We broke camp a bit slow this morning. However, our approach is the no-schedule approach. The only schedule is simply to see what happens at this point in the trip.

* Robert got us through the Badger Creek and House Rock Rapids without incident. House Rock had us both nervous and was a good confidence builder. We scouted it before hand and Butch and Bob were excellent mentors and advisers.

* I practiced on quite a few smaller rapids and seem to be getting the hang of our raft.

* We changed the name of our boat to the Honey Bucket (because we now realize that by the end of the trip we'll be hauling all the shit and trash) and made "Flower Power" our mantra to yell before entering a rapid. I somehow think that Flower Power will still stick as the name.

* Steak and potatoes for dinner tonight. Yippee!

* Veggies and Southwest style tacos were for lunch.

* I totally failed on the GoPro several times today with having the wrong mount or running the batteries dead by accident right before several rapids, hence missing the shot. I'm sure I'll learn from this and have all the kinks worked out for later in the trip when we get to some BIG rapids.

That's all for today. I'm exhausted. No tent tonight. Just me and my sleeping bag and stars and satellites above in the moonless sky!

The Grand Canyon (Day 1) - Embarkation

The following post is from the journal I kept of my recent adventure upon a 21-day private river rafting trip on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon from Lee's Ferry to Diamond Peak (about 230 miles) that took place between April 18th and May 8th, 2012.

April 18th (Wednesday) - Day 1

A decade ago I was in the right place at the right time. I scored a trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. The catch at the time, was I worked my way down the river as my Uncle Butch's swamper, or assistant guide. My Aunt Tricia, who usually swamped for her husband couldn't go at the last minute and I happened to be in town for my Cousin Robert's wedding. I called my work (I was a newspaper journalist at the time) and told them they could fire me if they must, but I'd be back in 10 days. I worked my ass off on that trip, but enjoyed every second if it! Then, 4-years ago, I was lucky enough to be in a position in life to go down the river again as a passenger with my Aunt and Uncle acting as our guides. That trip was much like the first trip, only I didn't have to work so hard.

Today, I embark on my third trip into the Ditch! This time it's a private trip (no commercial guide service involved). My Aunt Tricia got designated as the trip leader (TL) by winning the National Park Service's annual lottery where they give out a limited number of permission slips for private trips. We are eight strong including my Aunt Tricia, Uncle Butch, Cousin Robert and his girlfriend Athena along with Andy and Kathy, myself and Bob Hallett who is braving the river solo in his Dory named after his daughter, the Abby Rose. Andy and Kathy are from Park City, Utah, and seem to be friendly and fun. Bob is a fellow Floridian like myself and while we've never met before this trip, we only live about 20 minutes away from each other. My cousin Robert and Athena live in Portland, Oregon, and Robert's mother Tricia and her husband Butch call San Jose, California, home when they're not on the River. I'd say we pretty much have the country covered!

Between the eight of us we are using four boats; two 18-foot rafts with Butch and Tricia on one and Robert, Athena and myself on the other, a 14-foot raft belonging to Andy and Kathy and then Bob in the Abbey Rose. The trip will last 21 days until we pull out at Diamond Creek. The major significance of this trip for myself and Robert is that it's a rowing trip. The other two times I've been down the River have been on motorized rafts. Now it will be a real adventure. Robert, Athena and I will share rowing duties and white-water rapids.

Robert has a little more experience than me since he has had the opportunity to row a couple short weekend trips in Oregon during the past 6-months to try and gain experience for this trip. However, I have a more experience with being on the water in general so hopefully, I'll be a fast learner. Normally, you wouldn't find two novice rafters tackling the Colorado River like Robert and myself, but another significant factor is we're surrounded by river rafting greatness. Butch and Bob probably have 60+ combined years of experience as commercial guides on this river and Andy is a veteran as well. Robert and I will have all of that vast amount of experience to draw unlimited advise from as we man our own raft.

Today, after a full day and a half at Lee's Ferry, we got under way. We made a distance of 11 miles in a half day of time and made camp just above Soap Rapid at Soap Canyon. The major confidence builder today was Badger Rapid around mile 8. Robert took us through the 15' drop rapid without incident. We were a little far right, which made for a good lesson afterward during a discussion with Butch. Earlier in the day Bob let me, or pretty much ordered me, into the Abbey Rose. As soon as I was in he jumped out and onto our raft leaving me alone in his Dory. It's a small dory and I immediately equated it to a sports car when compared to our 18-foot raft that we've now named "Flower Power" because of the brightly colored fake flowers that Athena has affixed to our bow. We've already had a few bees come up and investigate the flowers. I'm hoping for a humming bird.

While I'm still rowing the dory the 6-Mile rapid approaches. I look over at Bob who is hanging out in Flower Power and he nods an approval and says, "go on, run it!" I pick a line and follow the other boats. The dory rocks up and down, but is surprisingly stable and the rapid is gone as fast as it appeared. Now I realize that that rapid was very small, non-technical and super easy, but what an honor to be given that opportunity! The dory is like a fighter jet of boats compared to ours, which would be a cargo plane. It turns on a dime and is much faster and streamline. I'm stoked and look forward to more opportunities during this trip! Another thing about Bob is he has already offered all of us a free skydiving experience at his business, Sky Dive DeLand. As a private pilot, I've worn a few parachutes, but never had to use one. I've never been that motivated to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, but I might take him up on that offer when we get home. I'm excited to get to know him better during this trip.

Tonight, in camp, we made Salmon, rice and broccoli. A fat mouse appeared under our cook table. As it hung out it appeared to have no fear of humans. It's unlawful to harm any animal in the Grand Canyon and I think this mouse knew that as he let me place my camera within inches of his face. We also saw some other interesting wildlife today including two California Condors. The park ranger said there are only 73 of them. They were under the Marble Canyon Bridge. Their tag numbers were 55 and 28 I think.

This is going to be a great trip! I know it. My biggest issue that I foresee will be missing my fiance, Jenny.