In September, 1990 a private group set off on a 17 day trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. I was paddling tandem with Don in a 15 foot Mohawk canoe. Though we had paddle many times together in preperation for this trip, nothing had prepared me for the days that lay ahead. This is my story...
Day 1, Sept. 5, 1990
Put-in, Lee's Ferry. There is gear all over the beach waiting to be packed into the rafts and canoes. The water is running fast and cold. There were heavy rains on the rim yesterday and as we crossed Navajo Bridge we could see a river of brown water cascading off the rim into the river. Rocks, trees and other debris were being flung into the river! I'm glad we weren't downstream when this rain hit.
We had a briefing from the rangers and got ready for our big adventure. I'm exicted about the trip since we have been planning it for many months. Now we are going to find out what big water is really like.
We have 4 canoes, 2 kayaks and 4 rafts on this trip. Don and I are paddling his 15 tandem canoe. Some of our boats have names - Rick's raft is the Tipanic and George named his rental raft Sea Pig for it's riverworthiness.
The riffles after we put in were probably 1 foot high. And these are riffles, not rapids. Don and I dodged them and then ran the canoe into them to feel how the boat will handle in its current configuration.
Don decided to take the Mohawk 15 after reading about the Colorado and deciding that no one had run a canoe this small tandem. Whether or not that is actually the case, we are in this boat. I like it, we sit close together in the middle of the boat. But what I hadn't planned on was the large piece of driftwood that Don smuggled on-board early in the trip. After several days of sitting in water, it must now weigh about 100 pounds! I don't discover it until we are almost finished with the trip. No wonder the darn canoe was so heavy!
It's hot. I feel like I'm in the army in Saudia Arabia. We are packing up the rafts. So far we've run one class 5 rapid - Badger Creek. It was like being in a little boat in a raging storm on the ocean. We were tossed every which way! We were sideways, backwards and nearly flipped three times. I thought I was going out of the boat 4 times. We were totally out of control! The boat was surprisingly stable for being full of water! Good thing since we had to paddle it to shore after we washed thru to the smaller waves. We had to have hit waves 6-8 feet tall! This isn't a river, it's an ocean! The inland sea survives.
The weather was very hot down on the river even though it was September. The first day's paddle had been a good warm-up, large riffles to get our boat handling skills refined. We enjoyed the towering cliffs and the debris that had washed down with the storm of a few days ago. Then, we reached Badger Creeek - a large tongue of water that ran down the middle of the river. Don decided we should run the tongue, so we did. What we hadn't planned on were the standing waves downstream of the tongue! We were the last boat through and filled with water as we bounced out-of-control through the waves. We had 2" of freeboard by the time we reached shore, soaking wet and awed by the force of the river! I slept uneasily that night wondering how we would get through class 9 and 10 rapids if a little class 5 nearly did us in.
Dinner last night was good -chicken fajitas. I think I should be scared, but since I'm stuck on a canoe for another 16 days - I'd better learn to overcome any fears I may have. This trip is supposed to be one of self-awareness and introspection. So far I'm still fighting the cold I've had since last Monday and relaxing. Everyone works hard together as a team. It's a real good bunch of people. This a.m. the guys went fishing and caught 7 trout. George and I fried 3 up for breakfast. We saw lots of trout at the put-in. Other wildlife - blue herons, blue-tailed lizards, a pretty greenish-yellow bird, sparrow-sized.
We had thundershowers on the way in and clouds yesterday, Today the sky is clear, blue and hot. The day before we put on the river, flash floods had occured in the area. Later on we would discover that Havasupai became a torrent of water that washed out the campground. All along the trip we would find trees floating in eddies - having been torn from their perch by the wall of water. We were lucky we weren't on the river at the time - it could have been dangerous.
Don and I are still working out our boating strategy. We did fairly well getting through the rapids and ran House Rock on river left and then headed out to the main channel as we approached the hole at the bottom of the rapid. We made it through even though we hit some good sized waves and as we were entering the eddy on river right Don was patting me on the back. Only problem was that the eddy line was fairly strong and we flipped in 2 feet of water! We are 17 miles down the river and we've flipped already.
Day 4, Saturday. 37.5 mile beach (Sept. 8)
Rush, rush to get off. No time to relax. So far we haven't had time to read or write much. We make camp around 5 - 5:30 p.m. and then cook. By the time we eat, it's dark. Off to bed and then up around 6 a.m., cooking, packing and off down the river again. I still have my cold - GO AWAY! Don and I are handling bigger waves better. We did fine yesterday. We crash thru the waves and paddle and brace. I'm a bit sore in my arms and shoulders and have a blister on my hand, but other than that I feel good. Everyone works as a team except Phil and Tom. They are out to prove their canoeing skills - ever the daredevils. We saw a deer and coyote on the left bank just above where we camped. Not much animal life here. A beautiful spring for water yesterday, and a lovely side canyon we didn't stop to explore. Lots of time on the water.
The days on the water were long. Often 8 hours by the time we left camp in the morning until we set up camp at night. Our canoe always had some water in the bottom and after several days of sitting in the canoe my feet we showing the effects. I wore a farmer jane wetsuit to protect my body from the cold water. It helped a lot. After paddling all day (the current was quite slow so you did paddle most of the time), my upper body was tired. Sleep came easy at night.
I don't miss work or home or the cats. I think I'm very relaxed (except before rapids). I haven't thought of what I want to do yet. I'm still not sure I'd run this trip again. It's fun, but not terrific.
It's amazing how little time you actually have to think and relax on the river when you are paddling for 8 hours a day. The long stretches of flat water made for slow going if you didn't paddle. The group would get strung out over large distances on the flats - the rafts being very heavy and subject to more force from the wind. Usually the kayaks and canoes were in the front, with the rafts bringing up the rear. We tried to talk to the others but often times you'd just move at your own pace.
Sunday Kwagunt (Sept. 9)
Another nice day. Elvin and I are on food today. We had pancakes for breakfast - Tom cooked. I was grouchy - wanted people out of the way so I could organize the kitchen. The food was repacked so there is more space. I did laundry last night so my clothes smell better. Today is a slow day, no rapids so we are reorganizing things. I'm still sick. The heat and water aren't making things better. My skin is oily and my face is a mess. My hair is dry and flaky. I guess it's harder on the body to be constantly exposed to the elements. Once again I need to relearn the lesson - things take time. My body is trying to heal itself. My hands are red and I am no longer tired, but I'm still sick and the inactivity of three weeks is showing. I need to stick to an exercise plan and a nutrition plan. STICK to it!! The years are begining to take their toll. I still have this unrealistic idea of who or what I am. I need to relax and work towards being that ideal - not try to do it in three days. Tom is right, it takes months to years to really get in shape.
Tom was one of the organizers. A decade older than me, he has been a large influence on me. He is a runner, a canoeist and works at Caltech on the Keck telescope.
In general the food on the trip was excellent. We had teams of two for the meals and other chores and often people would help out if you asked them to. Elvin was in charge of getting our drinking water, which meant filling a large bucket with river water and letting it stand overnight. In the morning, he added chlorine bleach and then poured off the clear water into another container. It was actually quite time consuming work.
Sept. 10, Hance rapid
Now we are starting to get into some of the larger rapids on the river. Hance is long and rough. I want to portage but Don talks me into running a chicken run on river left. We make it by scraping along the boulder along the shore. That's alright with me.
When I get back it will be back to the Doctors and then I'll find out what's really what.
Plagued by an upper respirtory infection for much of the trip, I was not enjoying the scenery as much as I could have. Running a fever while sitting on still water when the temperature is close to 95 is not a terrific way to spend your vacation.
I had been sick for a while before the trip and still was fighting whatever it was while on the river. With the long hours of paddling, sitting in the cold water in the bottom of the canoe for 8 hours a day and spending a lot of time in the sun, the trip was taking its toll on me.
We played volleyball on the beach. It was typical - totally unorganized! No one sets to other players. George took a shot in the face - broke his glasses and cut his eye - but he just joked about it. Peter twisted his ankle - that stopped the game. Doug is very nice, and lots of fun to be around.
Our "leaders" on this trip had started getting into a macho contest. Out of all the people along, there were only 3 women - myself, Kathy (Phil's wife) and Joan (Greg's wife). Most of the time, Greg and his wife stayed off by themselves and even during the day they stayed in their little raft. Kathy was in a raft with Charlie and Dennis while Phil was in his canoe. I would recommend a better ratio of women to men on a trip like this in order to survive the antics of men under the influence of tostesterone! It got rather unpleasant for awhile as some of the men were doing stupid things to prove how brave they were.
Sept. 11
Kathy says she wants a real bathroom and a real bed. She and Phil are celebrating their wedding anniversary on this trip. Kathy wanted to go to Hawai'i. Phil wanted to come on this trip. Kathy has been a good sport about the trip and rides in one of the oar rafts to stay dry.
Sept. 12, Crystal
10 a.m. Crystal is running high and there is a huge hole. No wonder this rapid is classified as a 10! Don and I ran river right. We did a good job of keeping the boat close to shore. Sea Pig knows no fear. Sea Pig knows no control about now. George ran down the middle and then ended up in the turbulence below the hole.
Mile 211, Fall Canyon
It's raining, it's pouring. We got to camp at 4:30 and set up tents and tarps. Good thing, since it is pouring right now.
The last few days on the river were very enjoyable. By now Don and I knew how to handle to rapids (which had diminished in size) and were running the rapids down the chute. We had our balance down and attacked the waves. It was good fun splashing over the waves and through the troughs. Too bad we didn't have this confidence two weeks ago!
The one thing that really got to us, to all of us, was the wind. The canoes were a challenge to paddle when the wind came up. But the rafts were nearly impossible to move forward. We had the advantage since there were two of us in the boat but it still took a lot of effort and coordination to keep making progress. We hit some large whirlpools that grabbed the canoe and sucked it down below the surface of the surrounding water! It was scary and we could only wait until the whirlpool moved away and release the boat. If you fell out here you would be sucked down into the brown water and most likely drown. I didn't like these underwater torandos!
Sept. 18, Lava Falls
We watched some commerical rafts run Lava before making camp for the night. The water level is quite low. Dinner tonight was a feast - stuffed pizza in the Dutch oven! It was wonderful! Thanks, Doug.
Sept. 19, Lava Falls
10 a.m. We camped upstream of Lava last night and I tried to sleep while listening to the roar of the rapid. I scouted out the rapid by running it as Greg's passenger in his little raft. We ran river left and snuck through the boulders to cling to the shore. It looks like a good run for the canoe. Don and I will run this route (or close to it) to escape the large holes.
Tom ran a beautiful run river left catching the eddies and making the whole route look easy. Phil ran next and got out into the current a bit. Don and I did about the same, missing a turn and getting out into the main stream but we had a good run and were sitting downstream as Elvin attempted the run and flipped. We grabbed his boat while Tom pulled Elvin out.
Sept. 21, Diamond Creek
We've reached our take-out and probably none too soon. The gang is tired due to the strong upcanyon wind we had to fight yesterday. We will camp here tonight and pack our gear for the trip back to civilization tomorrow. I am not sorry to be off the river but I know that I will look back on this trip with fondness.