![[Picture August River]](augtitle.jpg)
|
Shortly before noon on August 12, 1998, I found myself on an inflatable boat, being rowed out from the staging area at Lee's Ferry on the Colorado River, just a few short miles downstream from the Glen Canyon dam. To say that I was elated to be on the river is an understatement. The scenery that quickly floated into view brought tears to my eyes, I never thought anything could be so beautiful. Click on the pictures for a larger view. |
| Some 5 million people come to view the Grand Canyon from the South Rim, but they only see a small slice of its 217 miles. The most spectacular vistas are not up on the rim but down on the river. I was to ride down 90 miles, the first leg of the trip, and hike out at Phantom Ranch up the Bright Angel trail. Others would continue the next leg, another 135 miles down stream, and get out at Diamond Creek, just above Mead Lake. Besides the scenery and the excitement of the rapids, the trip was full of hikes up the side canyons, exploring caves, and stories about the Indians who once lived here, the river runners, and the canyon itself. |
 |
| The first 57 miles of the trip was in Marble Canyon, shown here. Because it is much more to scale, I found Marble Canyon to be the most beautiful part of the trip. As you leave Marble Canyon, at the junction of the Little Colorado with the Colorado River, the canyon opens up and rises in height massively. Cameras cannot capture the immense scale of the canyon. Certainly mine doesn't. |
| The outfitters in charge of the trip was Canyon Explorations of Flagstaff, AZ. They provided us 18 travellers with five guides, four oar boats, one paddle boat, two inflatable kayaks, and all the food we could eat. They call it a "hybrid" trip, because of the variety of boats available. I spent three of my seven days on the river on the paddle boat. I was tempted to use a kayak, but never did. Next time, for sure. |
|
| 
| 
| We spent three or four hours a day floating down the river. Only a few minutes of that time was spent in the dozen or so rapids we negotiated every day. The rest of the time we stopped for lunch or took a hike up one of the side canyons. The picture on the right shows the kayaks slipping by Vasey's Paradise, with its streams emerging from the canyon wall. |
| The couple on the right are my step-daughter Megan and her husband Brian. Megan is a public-interest lawyer and Brian is an architect in St. Augustine, FL, where they live. Brian's step-dad, Don, a recently retired dentist in Camp Hill, PA, organized the trip over a year before. Several of the travelers were Brian's relatives, including his uncle Robbie and his cousin Robbie Jr. from Chester, VA, his cousin David, who works as a block enginner for GM in Detroit, and his uncle Ronnie from Wisconsin, and another uncle Ron who makes railroad cars in Altoona, PA. Among the others were the horse doctor, Don and his wife Carol, also a veterinarian, from Mississippi, New Jersy bond broker Michael and his wife Celia, Michael's brother Steve from Decatur, GA, and Tom (Bummy), a hair stylist also from Camp Hill. Going the whole trip through the canyon with Megan and Brian were Jeff, who works for the Library of Congress, and his two college-age sons, Brendan and Andrew. |
|
|
|
|
 Megan, our leader |  Bummy Fishing |  Bill | The Glen Canyon dam has made the water of the Colorado much cleaner and colder (48 degrees), which is great for trout. Our dedicated fishermen caught and released lots of fine 10-and-12-inch trout. |
| I can't say enough in praise of the river guides. Good looking and strong, fun, energetic, and resourceful, they rowed all day, zipped us over the rapids, and then hustled to set up camp and cook. The meals were fresh, on time, and delicious. From left to right are Meagan, the trip leader who lives in Flagstaff, Steve from Arroyo Grande, CA, Connie from Marble Canyon, AZ, David from Aspen, CO, and Trish from Castle Valley, UT. |
 Meagan, Steve, Connie, David, and Trish |
 Guide Steve and Carol |  Our intrepid guides |  Guide David |
| One of the high points of the trip was running into Gary Ladd, a geologist and photographer who was doing a book on the Grand Canyon for Arizona Highways. We gave him lunch, and he took the opportunity to tell us how the canyon was put together. |
| The Colorado, in volume, is not a very big river. At its normal 22,000 cubic feet per second, it is one-third the size of the Sacramento, one-twentieth the size of the Columbia, and one-sixtieth the size of the Mississippi. | 
| 
| 
| 
|
| 
| 
|
|
|
| When we reached the Little Colorado River, we stopped and spent several hours floating the warm turquoise water in our life jackets and jumping off a high rock into a deep pool. The left-hand picture shows the magnificent Cape Solitude in the background. |
| One of the motorized boats purrs by, this one run by the Hatch company, one of the oldest outfitters on the river. The Park Service now limits the number of people on the river to 25,000 per year. We saw three or four groups each day. The guides always conferred on which campsites were available. There are about 15 outfitters licensed to run the river. | 
|
 Surveying Hance Rapids | The Colorado has its own rating system for rapids (1-10).On the sixth day, we made our way over Nevils Rapid (6) at mile 76, Hance Rapid (9), a little further on, and Sockdolager Rapid (8) at mile 79. I was never able to take pictures going over the rapids. My camera was locked up in a watertight box. Thanks to Megan and Brian for contributing several of these pictures. |
| I took my time, schmoozing the tourists on the way down (mostly foreigners this time of year). Bright Angel is a beautiful but no-nonsense trail that rises a full mile up to the rim. We were well provisioned and took lots of water with us. There is water at the half-way point, Indian Wells, and every mile and a half after that. The youngsters in the group made it in four hours. I made it in six and a half. At the top, we celebrated our trip in the bar of the Bright Angel Lodge, feeling very superior to the tourists around us. A van was there to take us back to Flagstaff. People have since asked me if the trip changed my life. "Not enough," I say. "I have to go back." |
|
|
| 
|
|
|
|
The outfitter: Canyon Explorations P.O. Box 310 Flagstaff, AZ 86002 (520) 774-4559 (800) 654-0723 FAX: (520) 774-4655 Email: [email protected] Web site: http://canyonx.com |
For a listing of all the canyon outfitters: http://www.azstarnet/grandcanyonriver/GCcomout.html For some really good pictures of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River: http://www.kaibab.org http://.geocities.com/RainForest/2365/grancane.html |