Grand Canyon Rafting May 2004

GC Rafting
May 2004

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Day 2: Friday, May 14 2004
Below Badger Rapid to below Shinumo Wash
Click on pictures to see larger images

Morning at camp

Arizona doesn't do daylight savings time, and we quickly found out that this means it gets light very, very early in the morning. It was pretty bright already at 5am, and when the guides blew the conch shell at 5:30am to let everyone know coffee was ready, it was fully light. Robert and I managed to get our tent and gear all packed up before the second blow of the conch shell signaled that breakfast was ready. Breakfast was eggs cooked to order, canadian bacon, and hash browns. Again, way better food than I'm used to while in the Grand Canyon!

The paddle boat

After breakfast, everyone finished packing their gear up and helped the guides load the boats. Today Robert, Jim and I rode on Sam's boat, while Jeanne and Jason did the paddle boat. We headed downriver through Soap Creek rapid, which got us wet enough that I was glad I had started with my splash gear on. We continued down through Sheer Wall rapid (fairly small) and past Hot Na Na Wash, then pulled over to scout at House Rock Rapid. House Rock rapid is on a curve, and the waves tend to funnel water hard against the wall, so the boatmen need to plan out their runs so as not to hit the canyon wall. Hilary was in a ducky, and Pat spent some time discussing the rapid with her, trying to show her what she would have to do and where she would need to go. (Listening to this type of advice from the guides was always interesting - often, it was quite clear that it was totally obvious to the guide where to go, but explaining how to run a rapid to those of us who were river newbies was perhaps more difficult than the guides realized. Witness Gunter's accident the day before! Some guides seemed to think he'd been told exactly where to go, and hadn't done it. I think it's much more likely his inexperience meant he didn't fully understand what the guides were telling him to do!)


Pulling over to scout House Rock	House Rock Rapid	Pat gives advice to Hilary

All the boats made it through House Rock with no problems. Hilary took it on in the ducky and did quite well until the very end, when a riffle or eddy caught her the wrong way and she fell out. Fortunately her swim was without incident and she was soon back in the ducky, ready to go on. We continued down river through some quiet stretches that had beautiful scenery. Sam, although quiet and laid back, proved to be a playful sort of guide who enjoyed taking us under overhangs and investigating caves. He also had a stash of "water weaponry" on his boat that we hoped we'd get to use on hotter days.


Robert and I in the front of Sam's boat	Ripples make relections on the underside of a rock

Robert checks out an approaching overhang	Jim riding in the back of Sam's boat

We stopped at a nice beach at the mouth of North Canyon to eat lunch and do a hike. We had chicken waldorf salad in pita pockets (very tasty!) with melon and cookies. It was quite sunny and warm, and I decided to brave the frigid water to wash my hair. Despite the warm sun I wasn't quite ready to duck completely under, so I walked out into the water beside one of the boats and arched over backwards to wet my hair. I was shivering hard with goose bumps all over by the time I finished, but at least I was clean. (The idea of being able to wash my hair while on a wilderness trip was just as new to me as being able to eat good food! I generally just let my hair turn into dreadlocks while on a backpacking trip, since my hair is so curly that it can't be combed unless it's wet and has just had conditioner applied!)

After lunch we put on hiking boots and headed up North Canyon, with Sam in the lead. (Usually one "fast" guide would be out in front, with more guides mixed in with the passengers all hiking at their own pace, and then a final guide would bring up the rear. We'd often have a "fast group" that would start right away, followed by a "slow group" about 10 minutes later, and people would naturally tend to separate out as the hike went on.) North Canyon was beautiful, with towering red rock walls above a narrow bottom.


North Canyon	Jeanne and Jim on hike	Craig and Sharon on hike

I saw some really neat patterns in the rocks, and there were lots of interesting plants as well. Eventually the canyon narrowed further and we came to a still pool blocking our forward progress. The water was brownish and a little scummy but not too bad; lots of little frogs were sunning themselves in niches and ledges on the rock walls surrounding it.


Swirl patterns on rock	North canyon pool

Jason was still nursing an injured foot and didn' t want to risk getting bacteria in it, so he decided to climb around the pool. The rock was smooth and he kept having to shoo frogs away from tiny ledges where he wanted to stick his feet, which provided the rest of us with much amusement. Sam demonstrated the technique for the rest of us mere mortals - he simply waded on into the pool over to the far side and then pulled himself out. The water at the far end was up to his upper chest, so I knew that I would most likely have to be swim the final part. Robert and I left our packs, I took off our hiking boots, and we followed Sam (with me holding the camera well above my head.)


Jason starts along the wall	Sam stands at edge (Jason still climbing)	Hilary and Cindy wade across

The canyon above the pool was really neat. The view looking back past the pool was particularly cool, with the water-sculpted rock walls curving upwards. After a short distance, the canyon was blocked by several boulders forming a pour-off. A few people kept going by climbing up a ledgy wall just before the pour-off; I was chilly from being wet and wanted to be in the sun, so I retraced my steps and waded back across the pool. I had to ask one of the taller guys to carry my camera back across, since I wasn't entirely sure I could keep it out of the water when I jumped in the pool.


Robert and I above the pool	Sam, Hilary, Craig above the pool	Boulders form a pour-off

Robert relaxes after the hike

Once everyone had returned to the beach, we all packed up and got back on the boats. It was so warm and sunny at the beach and I felt so hot after hiking back that I decided not to put on my splash gear. I knew we were going to go through North Canyon rapid almost immediately and I figured the cold water would cool me down, and then my clothes would dry out quickly. This turned out to be a big mistake on my part! Very soon after we exited North Canyon rapid, the canyon bottom was in shadow and I quickly got very, very cold. We headed into the "roaring twenties", a set of small to medium size rapids that come in quick succession, and even though I quickly put my splash gear back on, and then later my fleece, I never was able to warm up and I just kept getting colder and colder. The rapids were quite fun, and a few of them (24 and 24-1/2 mile in particular) had some pretty big waves that we smashed through. With the bigger waves, I could feel myself lifted off my seat (and I'd feel like I'd been completely underwater!). I had to keep my eyes shut in the bigger rapids so as not to lose a contact - I had a couple near misses, and resolved that on future days I would make sure to have my goggles with me (I brought a clear pair for just this situation).


River view	Paul enjoys the scenery

Eventually the cold really started to get to me - my teeth were chattering, I was shivering hard despite my fleece, and I was actually starting to dread getting wet in the next rapid. Sam took pity on me and ran backward through some rapids so Jim would get wet instead. He also stopped for a good few minutes in one of the last patches of sun, so we could all warm up (Robert was cold too). Still, I was very glad when we finally stopped for camp - I couldn't wait to change into some fully dry clothes and finally warm up! (I was shivering so hard while changing that I nearly fell over into a red ant nest, which would have been really unfortunate - thankfully, I managed to avoid that awful fate!)

Jeanne and Robert help me stretch

We camped just below Shinumo Wash, which meant we had to miss going to Silver Grotto. Another commercial trip was camping there, or else we probably would have stopped. But that's the way it goes in the Canyon, and for every cool spot you miss, you're sure to find another one that's just as neat. Our camp was quite small and our tents were pretty much shoulder-to-shoulder, but everyone was glad to warm up and get dry. We had fajitas for dinner, and pound cake with strawberries and whipped cream for dessert. I ate way too much! You get very hungry while on the river, even though you're not actually doing much of anything if you're in an oar boat. Our dinner was late and it got dark while we were eating, so the guides put up tiki torches and we ate by torchlight, which was pretty cool.

One of the passengers on the trip, Alan, was a doctor, so he helped the guides examine Gunter's leg. Unfortunately it was clear that Gunter's wound was infected, and the guides began to talk about evacuating him. Alan used a pen to draw a line surrounding the red area on Gunter's leg, indicating the current extent of the infection. The guides decided that if the infection spread overnight past the line, they would go ahead and call for a helicopter the next morning. All of us were fervently hoping that Gunter would recover - how awful to get injured on the very first day of the trip!