What a month we have had!
We started out with a flight from Georgetown to Detroit. While in town we got to do some visiting, see the moms, visit some doctors, and see the accountant. It was quite a short and busy visit. It was also shockingly cold and snowy. We don’t understand how people survive in climates such as this 🙂
Next stop: Flagstaff AZ. We chose Flagstaff because it is the closest airport to the spot where we would start our river journey. Since we arrived a day early, we had an opportunity to see a little of the area. It was St. Patrick’s Day and we headed downtown to join the party. It is a really nice western town full of shops, restaurants, and bars. Flagstaff is
also the home of the Lowell Observatory. Since Mary is a sucker for all things scientific, we headed up the hill for a visit. Although the observatory still does great science, it is especially famous for the (erroneous) description of the Canals of Mars and for the discovery of Pluto. We took a guided tour of the grounds and one of the telescopes and found the Observatory a great visit.
Late in the day, two of our group, Mike Hagadorn and Katie Campbell, drove down from the Lee’s Ferry put in to Flagstaff to pick us up. After a pleasant drive we arrived at the put in and were happy to be united with the full crew of 10: Mike and Katie from Colorado, Brian and Katie, Sarah and Kristi, Sarah’s friend from school days Donal O’Leary, Krisiti’s uncle Steve Oliver, plus Mary and I. Brian and Sarah provided 2 boats and gear from Adventure Cascades. Mike and Katie brought their boat and Steve’s boat rounded out our fleet.
Lee’s Ferry is the closest point to the Grand Canyon where a road crosses the river and the the starting point for all trips that go the length of the Canyon. After our pre trip briefing from Ranger Dave, we set out in 4 rubber boats for our 280 mile journey.
People say that a trip through the canyon is the “trip of a lifetime.” I would say that is not an exaggeration. The scenery is absolutely awesome, the rapids both exciting and terrifying, the quiet solitude humbling.
The living is primitive but civilized. The kids did a great job of provisioning and we ate and drank like kings. With little to do at night and active days, your life becomes framed by sunrise and sunset. Sleeping outside we would awake each day just after dawn. Our early mornings we spent on breakfast, breaking down camp, and rigging the boats for travel. Next we would launch and travel from 10 to 20 miles. Shorter days were reserved for the tougher rapids. This would leave ample time to scout the rapid from shore on foot in order to pick the best path through the rocks for the boats. Sometime around early afternoon we would make camp.
We broke in to 2 person work teams (Mary with Brian, Katie with Donal, Sarah with Kristi, Steve with Mike, and Katie with Jeff) and chores were rotated daily by a system Brian called CFSWoo.
C= Cooking (dinner, breakfast, lunch)
F= Fire (set up campfire space)
S= Shitter (set up and break down groover)
W= Water (gather, filter, and treat our drinking water)
00= Day Off (WoHoo)
On the subject of primitive but civilized, let me describe the groover. In the Canyon it is required that no trace be left of your transit. This includes human waste. The groover is a device developed to accomplish this requirement. When army surplus ammo cans were first discovered to be an almost perfect delivery and storage container, early adopters simply squatted on top of the rectangular cans leaving telltale “grooves” on their backsides. Hence the term “groover” Although in the spirit of civilized living we now perch toilet seats on top to eliminate the creases, the ancient nomenclature survives to this day.
After making camp there was normally some time to explore the camp area. Some of the best experiences were actually off the river on side hikes. We saw caverns and waterfalls, ruins and traces of native Americans that lived in the area, awesome gorges and creeks. Next would come dinner, drinks, time around the campfire, maybe a little party, and somewhere around 8 pm, bedtime.
One absolutely remarkable feature of the trip is that fully 40% of all the participants became engaged! We were camped for a layover day at Tapeats Creek. The creek is very beautiful and also offered great fly fishing. Mike and Katie (avid fishermen) returned from a day fishing on the creek with the news that they were going to marry.
If that was not excitement enough, a couple of days later we hiked up a side canyon to a spot known as the Throne Room. The Throne Room is at the spot where Deer Creek Spring thunders out of the cliff about 1000 feet above the Colorado. Originally there were some random rocks that looked like a throne, and since, people have built several stone thrones. It is really very cool. Reminded me of the Flintstones. Anyway, after hiking up we all took a break and grabbed a throne. 
I looked over at Brian and he was kneeling in front of Katie. I had an inkling of what was going on, and after a couple of tense seconds waiting, the proposal was sealed with a kiss. A pretty exciting couple of days I’d say! It is very wonderful to see couples with so much to share finding each other.
The night sky was a wonder and it was so interesting to see the whole group gain accordance with the moon and the stars. Early in the trip Donal did a talk about constellations and how they appear to move in the sky with changing seasons and changing hours. Donal also talked about moon phases and the position of the moon as the lunar cycle progresses. In the course of 23 days, with clear skys, no electric lights, no roofs, no TV or internet, we all had a chance to get in tune with the lights above and start to feel their cadence. We watched to moon become full, and then, day by day move towards a sliver and finally disappear. We learned to find Polaris to point us North. We watched as the sky rotated around the pole star each night. We began to understand why the sky held such facination to peoples that came before us and our modern age.
23 days in the Canyon was a remarkable experience on so many levels. It was time enough to get used to wilderness, to see a larger fraction of the Canyon than possible on shorter trips, to learn a little how to handle a small raft in big waters, to get to know and enjoy our travel companions, to take some side hikes, to get visited by the Easter Bunny, to enjoy both the calm and the fury of the River, to share both work and leisure, to share some time living with our adult kids and significant others, to celebrate Donal’s birthday and see him cut off his dreds, to be on our own and off the grid, and to have time enough to begin to experience the journey as a way to live rather than just a vacation.
We are so grateful for the opportunity.
Following are some photos and video of the trip. Hope you enjoy! (thanks to Mike for all the great photos!)
