Photo Saturday: Grand Canyon Outtakes

Jemima Pett suggested it, and since there are so many more photos in my Grand Canyon rafting album than I was able to share even in 8 posts on the trip, I'm doing one more, just for some of the pretties that didn't make the cut. Of course, I lost track of the days of the week again, so here's my Photo Friday coming on Saturday again.

These are just some random photos from the first half of the trip that didn't make it into the main trip reports, with minimal commentary.

Approaching Navajo Bridge, Day 1

 

First morning on the river

Looking for whitewater

Some kind of wormish fossil

The sandstone and limestone portions of the Canyon are full of fossils.

It's not just fossils. The Canyon is full of life.

 Humans, too, sometimes being strange.

The apex of river fashion

Creekside boulder reveals the radical variations in water level in the Little Colorado

Keep an eye on the sky.

Morning haze.

Water color

The beautiful green or clear water we had all the way isn't natural or normal, of course, but a result of the Glen Canyon dam and a lack of recent run-off in side canyons.

Sometimes the color is a reflection of the walls. Sometimes, as here, that red is intensified by minerals in the water.

Hope you enjoyed a little photo break!

 ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2021

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Photo Friday: Grand Canyon, Part 7

Rafting the Grand Canyon, Day 13. This trip was April 3-18, 2021, with AZRA--Arizona Raft Adventures.

See previous reports:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

Remember how back on the 3rd day I wondered if 16 days was going to be too long? By the morning of the 13th day, with only 3 more real river days to go, I knew it wasn't going to be long enough. It would have been wonderful to have spent more days moseying through the upper parts of the canyon, because now with ocatillo on the shores and lower walls, we could feel the beginning of the end.

Still: I thought this would be a final report and cover the last 4 days, but when I looked at the photos... nope. There was still a lot going on, including the exciting passage through Lava Falls Rapid. A big day, it deserves a post of its own.

Day 13

There may have been some who felt a little nervous about our 13th day being the one we would run Lava Falls Rapid, possibly the single most famous (after Crystal?). But for most of us, we probably didn't know what day it was, and in any case by that time I had enough faith in our guides to feel only a little excitement, no more fear (a nice contrast to my terror at the idea of rapids before we began running them).

As usual, the morning started about 5:30 with the coffee and a quick packing job.

By this point in the trip, we were masters at packing, and had learned to stage the gear based on what the guides would want on each boat.

Breakfast was something new every day. This day, we had lox and bagels with cream cheese.

It's the garnishes. Our 13th morning on the river and there are garnishes on breakfast!

Before we left, guide Jed Tarlow drew a dynamic diagram of Lava Falls rapids in the sand, and illustrated how we would like to go through, and a few of the less desirable things that could happen. In spite of this most of the paddlers wanted to ride the paddle raft through!

Into the calm

 

Even with the Big Rapids looming ahead of us, we had time to stop for a really nice hike up Mohawk Canyon, though the guides may have regretted it later, when the wind came up something fierce.

Primrose

 

Not everything we saw was beautiful, and not every bighorn is a survivor, apparently.

I don't know if this ram lost a fight or lost it's footing, though from the location of the skeleton, probably the former.

The hike up the canyon was a perfect blend of really pretty and some fun scrambles.

People wait their turn, and try to decide which of three routes to take. For the record, I chose badly.

In this case, our leader chose badly. The rest of us walked around on the obvious ledge.

Water in the desert. Even this close to the big river, it feels magical.

A trickle reflects the gold of the canyon walls.

Even a little stream can create a miniature wetlands.

It felt like passing through the gates of heaven. I'd have loved to spend a whole day exploring way up the canyon, but we had a rapid to run.

It was a long eight miles from Mohawk Canyon to Lava Falls rapids, with the wind picking up to the point that the guides had to find their own ways to cope. Our leader, Lorna, with the wisdom of decades on the river, pulled out a couple of paddles and got her passengers to help. The paddle raft got a tow from a motor raft. And my guide asked us to tell him jokes and stories. I dug deep for silly songs and bad jokes, and at least we saw Vulcan's Anvil, the sign we were entering the volcanic portion of the canyon and nearing the rapids at last.

A sentinel marking another gate.

For anyone into omens, a small herd of bighorns with lambs at the Lava Falls scouting point was a good one.

We did stop to scout the rapids, our guides pointing out how this water matched the diagram Jed drew for us in the morning. It's hard to get perspective on it from up here, but we saw soon just how big that water was.

Proof of the big water: That motor raft is about six times the size of our rafts.

I decided to follow the guides' advice about dealing with places where you get wet: skin to wind. Honestly, if not for the sunburn issue, I'd have done it a lot more, as it was much less unpleasant to get clobbered by waves without wet clothing sticking to you.

Photo by Tom Dempsey, Photoseek.com

Through the first half, with a moment to look back before "Son of Lava Falls" nailed us.

After Lava Falls comes Tequila Beach, and we managed to be early enough to snag the campsite.

We enjoyed our post-rapids party, but were mellow enough to enjoy the evening light, as well.

Huge mounds of evening primrose distinguished the camp

©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2021

 As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated.

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Photo Saturday: Grand Canyon, Part 4

I keep thinking I can cover more than 2 days in a single post, but there are so many photos, and we did so much! So forgive my self-indulgence and be patient as I work my way down the river. For Zeke, I'm adding info about our camps and stops.

Day 7:

This was a day for an early start, due to the logistics of running a river whose flow is controlled by a region's power needs. Crystal Rapids is a notoriously challenging stretch, and is easier at low water. Thus we were hurried along to get to the rapids before the morning's release from the dam (to power the SW) reached that stretch of the river. We left camp at 8 a.m. and headed straight into Boucher Rapids, leaving us all cold and wet (especially those in the bow of the boat). 

Ready to shove off after a night on a wind-blown sand dune.

 Of course, I don't really have any photos of going through the rapids, since I was too busy hanging on. I was more likely to get photos when we paused below a rapid to keep an eye on the boats behind us.

Emerging from a rapid, looking back to watch the other boats.

By the time we'd been through Boucher and Crystal, those in the front of the raft were really cold, so I swapped places to give Tom a break from the worst splashing as we went into "the Jewels," another series of 7 splashy rapids. We finished with Bass Rapid just before camp--a good thing, as I got a river-load of water down the front of my jacket and was set to get cold, too!

Between rapids we could enjoy the scenery, which included quite a lot of desert bighorn sheep, including this band which had two lambs (only one pictured).

Making camp before lunch allowed us to do another substantial hike, up and over a ridge into Shinumo Creek, where William Bass had a tourist camp long ago. Climbing an 800' ridge in the mid-day heat, even starting with wet clothes, was painful, but worthwhile.

Looking back from the divide. Camp is the little sand bar below the rapids.

On this hike we finally started seeing some flowers, mostly cactus blossoms.

I think these are some kind of four o'clocks

Claret cup cactus

Prickly pear

Once over the top we dropped quickly into Shinumo Creek, where cottonwoods offered some shade.

Outdoor mini-museum at Bass's camp

At the turn-around point, a glorious swimming hole.

Enjoying the washing-machine action of the mini-falls. Creek water was cool, but not cold, so it felt great.

Of course, by the time we got back to camp we were hot and tired again! Some of us took our time, lingering over the flowers in hopes that the sun would stop shining so much on the black Brahma schist that backdropped the campsite (and held the heat well into the night). We were ready for dinner after that hike!

Pro tip: if ramen noodles are on the menu, dress it up in a chef's uniform

Much easier to find a corner to flop out a tarp and a single mattress than to put up a tent. In this case, just one rock away from the kitchen, so I could be first in line for the coffee.

The energy and skill of our guides never ceased to amaze me.

Day 10:

We started the day with the cinnamon cake that had refused to cook in time for dessert--all were agreed that it made a great addition to breakfast, so no complaints. This morning, I took a front seat in the dory, rapidly becoming my boat of choice.

The paddle raft was off limits to me due to tendonitis in my elbows, but dang, they always seemed to be having fun!

About 10 we stopped for a 4-mile hike into Garnet Canyon. It started with a fun rock scramble, before we hiked around and into the canyon.

Start by ducking under the arch!

Climbing through the arch and on up. It was a pleasure to do my scrambling with a guide always ready to lend a hand where needed, or just to point out where to put hands and feet.

Rounding the end of the ridge to Garnet.

Garnet proved to have a nice little slot canyon to explore, with some help up a couple of small pour-offs.

I'm pretty sure there's a way around, but this was a pretty effective stopping point for us.

It was also really nice to sit there in the shade, even though the creek was dry, so there was no swimming hole after all.

Back to the rafts for lunch, before we shoved off to get to the next short hike.

That's right--Day 10 was a two-hike day. The second, though, was about 10 minutes up to Elves Chasm, a beautiful bit of creek with a waterfall and a cavern behind.

The pool was deep--well over our heads, and suitable for the brave to jump into.

Several of the guides and a couple of the passengers made the climb up behind the rocks on the right to the slippery jumping-off point. They made quite a splash.

I wasn't about to jump, but I put my waterproof cell phone in a pocket and went to take photos from a different perspective.

From the cavern looking out.

Naturally, I took some videos.

I'm thinking this should be my new author photo :D

From the Elves Chasm it was another couple of miles down a calm bit of river to camp, making this one of our shorter river days--only about 12 miles, but with lots of great exploration. Sitting in a boat on the river is stunning, but there is no doubt in my mind that it's the side hikes that really make the trip.

Camp, about Mile 120

If you can't choose, do it all. That includes the menu option on burgers and brats night.

 ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2021

 As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated.

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