GC Rafting
May 2004
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Day 14 - 5/26/04
Day 15 - 5/27/04
Day 16 - 5/28/04
Trip dinner
Hints, tips, & links
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Day 9: Friday, May 21 2004
Garnet Canyon and Elves Chasm
Click on pictures to see larger images
As usual I slept very well but not for long enough, and found it hard to get
up at the conch call. We packed up carefully to avoid getting any red ants
as hitchhikers, and had eggs benedict for breakfast. Robert and I rode with
Kristin. We stopped to scout Waltenburg rapid, and afterwards I tried standing
in the back of the boat since Jason said sometimes that was really fun (in the
back you feel more of the up-and-down motion from the waves - in the front
you partially smash through them). Jason was right, it was fun and it was
much more dry (good because of the trouble I was having with my skin getting
irritated). After Waltenburg, we had a quick ride down to Garnet Canyon although the wind
was blowing very strongly upstream.
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Starting the hike to Garnet Canyon
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After a steep start to the hike, there was a little initial confusion as to where
to pick up the trail, but it was soon sorted out and we traversed around to hike
up Garnet, eventually reaching a pool with a pour-off above it. Robert decided
the wall above the back end of the pool looked climbable, so he went up it and
then several of us followed (after Pat said it was okay to keep going). The canyon
above the pour-off was really neat, but the day was quite warm and there was
little shade, so we didn't hike too much further. The hike back to the boats was
hot, but once back to the beach we had lunch (taco salad and cookies/wafers).
From there it was a short float downriver to Elves Chasm although again the
guides had to work hard against the wind. Elves Chasm was
another place that I had heard a lot about and was really looking forward to
seeing! Robert and I got a bit of a late start on the hike since as we were getting off
the boat, Robert cut his finger and so we had to get that bandaged up.
By the time we reached the first waterfall and pool, people were already
jumping from a ledge down into the pool. I swum across and joined them
(Robert had to stay behind due to his cut finger - it's not good to swim in
the side streams with an open wound!). Climbing up to the ledge was actually
really neat - there's a little cave at the back of the pool that you climb out in,
then do a quick scramble up a grotto to reach the ledge that opens out over
the pool. There are lots of ferns and green mossy vegetation and dripping
water seeping down. The actual jump was really fun! I did it twice and
had a blast. After the first time, people tried to jump in unusual positions,
which made us all laugh. Pat demonstrated his climbing skills by climbing
up to the ledge on the outside of the rock instead of going through the
grotto, and we all clapped.
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Craig watches as Geoff jumps
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Hilary and Cindy climb up behind the waterfall
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Pat climbs up the hard way
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One of the falls in upper Elves Chasm
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After everyone had had a couple chances at jumping, Pat called us together
and said that he would lead people up above to the higher waterfalls, but
you had to be comfortable with exposed, unroped climbing. This scared
everyone off except me, Robert, Jeanne, and Jason. Pat led us up along
with Kelly and Paul, climbing up ledges until we reached a spot where it
was safest to crawl under an overhang (although Jason of course skipped
along the outside ledge with no trouble). Past there was some more climbing
up blocky steps of stone and more ledges, but the climbing was not very hard
(and Pat always showed us the easiest route). The pattern was to have a short
climb followed by a level section with
a pool and waterfall; there were about five of these "steps", all with really
neat waterfalls. Each waterfall was different from the rest and all were
very beautiful. The vegetation in the upper canyon was very lush and thick
in places and it was just a really gorgeous spot. This was one of my favorite
hikes on the trip! At last we reached the "Weeping Wall" - a sheer rock wall
with water seeping from it and trickling over it, covered in mossy lichen.
Pat said there was a way to backtrack and climb around and over to get
to the upper canyon, but the talus was loose and it was dangerous and
he thought it wasn't worth it.
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Lush greenery in upper Elves
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Kelly, Jeanne and I near the Weeping Wall
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Starting the hike back down
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Downclimbing a steep section
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Matt reads a book while he waits
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At this point, I found that my compact flash card on my camera was full and
the spare was back on the boat, much to my dismay (especially
because I didn't take any pictures on the way up, at Pat's request, since
he wanted to be sure we'd have plenty of time). Kelly was really nice and
offered to let me use her digital camera, and said she'd burn copies of her
pictures for me at the trip dinner. What a nice person! I borrowed the
camera and took pictures on the way down, although I don't think any of
them truly do justice to the beauty of the canyon.
We were almost back down to the main pool when I noticed that the skin
on the back of my calves felt as if it were burning. I checked and found that
I suddenly had really bad chafing there - probably a result of the mineralized
water in the pool, followed by scraping my legs over rocks during the climb.
Whatever the reason, it really hurt!
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More great views on the river
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We went back to the boats and continued a little way further downstream,
pulling into camp at a nice sandy beach in Stephen's Aisle. The camp was
in the Tapeats sandstone, and had all sorts of wild and weirdly eroded
rock formations on the ledges of the cliff behind the camp. As soon as
we got unpacked, I put moisturizer on my legs and "super salve", hoping
to reduce the pain of the chafing. I figured I'd have to keep my legs as dry
as I could the next day to try and allow it to heal. Several other people on
the trip had similar issues - we should have taken the guides seriously when
they said we should "bathe in moisturizer" every night!
Robert and Jim played horseshoes until dinner was ready; dinner that evening
was pork chops (with giant marinated portabello mushrooms for the non-pork-eaters),
stuffing, applesauce, cucumber salad, and carrot cake for dessert. Robert let us
try some of his portabello mushroom and we all agreed it was actually even tastier
than the pork! (Good marinade!) It was another windy evening and it was a challenge
to eat while keeping your eyes and food protected from the sand. We were entertained
after dinner by watching the guides push the boats in a big clump in the water from one end
of the beach to the other so that they wouldn't get beached in the night due to the tide from
the dam going out.
There was a beautiful datura plant on the beach near our tent that opened its flowers
at twilight - so pretty! Apparently there were lots of ringtails about as well (raccoon
like animals that like scraps), since apparently during the night one accidentally ran
into Craig and Sharon's tent (they leave their tent door open at night) and startled
them quite a bit! Sharon said the ringtails were screeching at each other quite a bit
as well but Robert and I just totally slept through all the noise.
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