Grand Canyon 2010 – Day 1

June 1, 2010 (Tuesday)

Start: Mile 0 Finish: Mile 24

We checked out of the Desert Rose Resort by 5 AM to meet our shuttle. The shuttle left around 5:45 AM and took us to a charted flight on Vision Air.

The flight to Marble Canyon took about 1 hour and we landed on a small air strip.

We all bought beverages (soda, beer, wine) for the trip.

We took several small vans to Lees Ferry and we were on the last van. Once we got to Lees Ferry, it seemed like total chaos to us. We had to find a large dry bag which contained a ground tarp, sheet, sleeping bag, and small dry day bag. Once we put our gear into the dry bag, we had to load it onto the raft.

There were 2 rafts for our trip. The trip leader was named Wiley and the rest of the guides were Amy, Joey, and Nathan (Tubbs). We were assigned to the raft with Joey (boatman) and Tubbs.

When we started at Lees Ferry we were in Glen Canyon National Park [video].

As soon as we passed under a wire with orange balls, we were officially in Grand Canyon National Park. We went downstream for about 15 minutes before we pulled over to hear the safety lecture and the “official” orientation for the trip [video].

Wiley said that since our rafts have propellers it is important to kill the motor if anyone falls into the water; we are suppose to use the international “kill” signal (slitting your throat) to let the guides know that someone fell into the water.

If we need a pit stop to go to the bathroom, we are to signal the guides by raising your hand and then placing the other hand underneath your arm pit. You can also pee off the back off the raft while we are moving.

When we go through the big rapids, it is important for the people on the tubes to “suck rubber” – i.e., hug the blue rubber fork. This will keep your body low to the raft and allow the pressure of the rapid to ride over you instead of throwing you backwards.

Everyone in the rafts introduced themselves and told us a little bit about themselves.

Our raft was piloted by Joey and Tubbs and was comprised of

Addison and Dinshaw (mother and son)

Scott and Dustin (father and son)

Craig, Mike, Rich (friends from North Carolina)

Diane, Janice, and Teressa (friends from Washington)

Mike and Laura (husband and wife).

The other raft was piloted by Wiley and Amy and was comprised of

Steve and Meg (father and daughter)

Marty, Laura, and Maria (husband, wife, daughter)

Bill, Joe, and Vic (friends)

Dave and Deana (husband and wife from Canada)

John and Betty (husband and wife)

Jim and Melinda (husband and wife).

Since there was another Maria on the trip, Python introduced herself as “Python”. But, for some unknown reason, some people started calling her “Panther”. So, Python’s river name is now “Panther”.

Terri also introduced herself but a couple of people started calling her “Tracy”. So, she just went with it.

Joey described the Colorado Plateau as we drifted down stream [video]. He also described the sandstone [video].

The first major rapid was Badger Creek Rapid which is rated 4-6 on the international scale. Back East, we are used to the river scale of 1-6 with 6 being unrunnable. Out here, a 4-6 is would be classified as 2-3 (just divide the international scale by 2).

The next rapid was Soap Creek Rapid (5-6) followed by Sheer Wall Rapid (2-3) [video].

The big rapid of the day was House Rock Rapid (4-7) [video]. We had an awesome hit!

We stopped for lunch around noontime and had sandwiches. It was mostly an overcast day and we felt cold when we got hit by 46 degree water.

We got into camp around 4 pm near 24 mile rapid. We got a lecture on the toilets, tents, cots, and the notorious pee buckets. We can only pee in the water – never on land or in the toilets. If people peed on the land, then Wiley said the beaches would smell like litter boxes and algae would grow on the rocks.

This is the only night we put up a tent. Betty and John also put up a tent. After setting up our camp site, we bathed in the ice cold water and changed into our camp clothes.

Dinner was pasta with salad and dessert was pecan pie.

The only wildlife we saw today was a beige toad near our camp.

Powell Report: August 5, 1869

“With some feeling of anxiety we enter a new canyon this morning. We have learned to observe closely the texture of the rock. In softer strata we have a quiet river, in harder we find rapids and falls. Below us are the limestones and hard sandstones which we have found in Cataract Canyon. This bodes toil and danger.”