Back from the Grand Canyon
18 days, 277 miles later... some of you have been asking for a trip report so here it is..
Hi res photos, lots of them
https://picasaweb.google.com/penny.s...I-bscGu6JuvwAE
Samples:
Rigging our boats.
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Approaching Redwell Cavern
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side hike
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Deep in the Granite Gorge
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It was combined permit, DH and a Boise friend combined the permits as allowed by the NPS reorganization of the whole private boater access deal. We had been on the waiting list since 1995. The program has since gone to a weighted lottery, but they are still finishing up issuing permits from the wait list. In our group there was a combined total of over 20 prior trips so there was lots of good Canyon experience, plus some of the top Class V boaters in the PNW. There were three family groups with adult kids. We had 16 people with 9 boats; 4 rafts and 5 catarafts. This is a larger group of boats for a Canyon trip but it also means that the load is spread out more and your aren’t rowing overloaded barges down the river. My older son rowed our boat so we rented a 16’er. We were really bummed that our other son couldn’t make it due to UW finals schedule. It was a great group: good team players, excellent boaters, no real conflicts.
Logistics: Ok folks, just to be clear: we did not go with an outfitter. We are what’s called a Private Party. No one “guides” us down the river. That’s what a permit is for: we get to do it ourself. We don’t pay anyone take us down: it is a strictly do-it-yourself deal. We pay fees to the National Park Service, and share all costs, and use our own equipment. Between group member’s prior experiences, and the wealth of guide books, maps, and other information out there, if you have the gear and a reasonable amount of experience there’s no reason to use an outfitter. No one does anything for us; all expenses and all tasks are shared. We drove down there with a couple of trailer loads of gear, rigged our own boats, and then had our vehicles shuttled around to the other end so they’d be there when we were done. We are fully self-contained: we carry portable toilets (pack it ALL out), water filtration, satellite phone for emergencies, full major medical kit, full kitchen. No backpacking food, either. Our meals were everything from bagels, sausage and melons to pancakes for breakfast, and grilled marinated rib eye steaks, or stir fry, or tortellini with salad for dinner.
Trip Length: 277 miles. 17 nights on the river. We put in at Lee’s Ferry, took out at Pearce Ferry, 60 miles downstream of the Diamond Creek take-out. This is on what used to be Lake Mead, but is now flowing. Flatwater, but flowing. Our mileage varied from 12 – 30 depending on what we wanted to do. There are lots and lots of little side hikes: waterfalls, slot canyons, archaeological sites and so on so it’s fun to stop along the way.
Tough parts: Heat: many days of 110+ degree temps. We had several days of high upstream that was truly furnace-like and extremely desiccating. The river was at a high flow, so we’d do our mileage early, but it would be too hot to hike once we got to camp. The sand grinds into your feet and everything else. Some of the camps were washed out due to high flows.
Wildlife: We saw condors, blue herons, deer, sheep, scorpions, Western Tanagers, various raptors, rattlesnakes and lots of lizards. One of our crew is an experienced snake handler and caught a rattler that was visiting camp with his bare hands and set it loose on the other side of camp. That would be considered a highlight, also. One of our guys had a black light along which was pretty cool for highlighting the scorpions after dark.
Highlights: “River Time” is the main one for me. As in, “what day is it, anyway?” Climbing up the slot into Matkatamiba Canyon was really fun. Stars, lots of stars. The Canyon is truly beautiful. Having a geologist along was definitely a bonus. I know a lot of that stuff myself so it was fun to explain to others how it was made. Watching JK take Hermit on right through the gut of it, and have the run of a lifetime ( straight on through everything) was definitely a “moment”. No one had film running, but they should have. That’s the mark of an excellent boater: he got off line just a hair, but did an amazing straight on save without batting an eyelash, and did it with panache and confidence. It was something else to watch.
The whitewater. It’s kind of funny, but our group of NW boaters is pretty nonchalant about the big rapids. Sure they are appropriately mindful and safe run oriented, but these guys run the Lochsa, and Salmon regularly at very high flows, and most of them do the N Fk Payette just for fun (premier Class 5 run in the US). So, they don’t get stressed about the big stuff. We had very clean and exciting runs through everything. I don’t remember much of Lava Falls as our ( me and my friend) instructions were to “keep the paddle in the waves” bracing the front of the boat as it were. All I ever saw was the face of the waves as I was leaning on the front tube jamming my paddle in the water. One of our party did flip an 18’ raft in the Ledge Hole at Lava Falls, which is not a good thing but it turned out OK. My son is turning into an excellent boatman – that was fun to see. He did a super job of “herding” the flipped boat into an eddy.
Best entertainment: one of our crew is a true outdoorsman: bowhunter, fishes, boats, hikes, very savvy, snake handler, safety minded etc. We decided that this guy needs his own show to beat out Bear Grylls, and we’d call it “I’m Getting Too Old For This S**t”. He is just turned 60 and I promise you, you will die if you try to keep up with this guy hiking. So every evening we’d (my girlfriend and I) would make up new episodes based on the day’s events or true stories we heard about him. Considering this guy once killed a scorpion with his bare fist and could catch live rattlesnakes, it was easy to do.
Ep 1: Snake Wrangling.
Ep 2: Scorpion! Kill it! With your fist!
Ep 3: I bet I can get my boat in there.
Ep. 4: Weather discussion; extra points for accuracy, cussing, and accurate cussing.
Ep. 5: Hiking in a loincloth – will he do it?
We were informed that we had too much time on our hands.
