Travelogue

And our journey beginsWe arose bright and early, as we would every morning for the next 14 days, to meet everyone by the bus which would take us to Lee’s Ferry and the start of our adventure.

Once our white and blue river bags were loaded on the bus, we found some seats near the front and tried to get a little more sleep during the 3-hour drive

When we got to Lee’s Ferry, our guides and their boats were there to greet us. Robyn, our trip leader, gave us some instruction on what to expect and how to best avoid unintentional swimming or the boat flipping during the rapids. We learned about gripping onto the straps (to not fall out), highsiding (leaning in towards the wave to prevent the boat from flipping), and how to breath in the trough of a wave if the above two prevention measures didn’t work.

Herb gets a chance at the oarsOur fleet consisted of six boats in total: three oar boats, which were each rowed by a river guide and held 4 passengers, another oar raft which held much of the supplies needed for the next 14 days on the river, a paddle boat in which 6 of us could paddle each day, and a classic Colorado River dory, which could hold three passengers.

I had already decided that an oar boat was my safest option, and least likely to expel me or flip. As I was contemplating my options, an oarswomen named Kayla came up to me to see if I needed help. Was I that obviously helpless already? - probably. I asked her if Herb and I could go join her on her boat and she gladly accepted. We soon came to learn that despite her diminutive size, she was a very talented oarswoman and strong as an ox.

Wes in the DoryOnce everyone had figured out what boat they would be going on, we formed a fire line (the first of many on this trip), where we passed the blue (camp) river bags from person to person until it reached a boat to be loaded and strapped down on. Then we got our PDFs on and brought our white (boat) river bags onto the boat we were riding on and attached them to something on the inside of the boat (a strap or a ring) with a carabiner.

Then off we went on the start of our 14-day, 226-mile journey. Once we entered that canyon, I knew there would be no turning back, so I admit to feeling a little bit nervous.

The paddle boatUntil now, I didn’t realize that we wouldn’t be in the Grand Canyon until Mile 62. Instead, we would be spending our first 3 days rafting through beautiful Marble Canyon.

The rating system for rapid difficulty in the Grand Canyon is on a 1 to 10 scale, unlike most other sections of the country where the difficulty ratings range from I to VI.

To make it more confusing, each rapid in the Grand Canyon has four ratings based on the water level: very low, low, medium, and high. Some rapids are more difficult in low water because of exposed rocks, but others become more fierce with higher and faster river flows.

The Oar BoatsFor most of our trip through the Grand Canyon, we were rafting through low water (3,000 - 9,000 cubic feet per second).

Today would be a relatively moderate day in terms of rapids. The big ones that I had been fearing the whole year leading up to this trip would come later.

After passing under the Historic Navajo Bridge that we had stopped to walk across on our bus ride to Lee’s ferry, at Mile 8, we ran Badger Creek, our first significant rapid - rated 7 on the Grand Canyon scale.

Arriving at CampIt was described as having a large pour-over in the center right, meaning. Pour-overs are narrow holes that form when water falls over a rock and can be identified by a small bump in the water's surface. It often looks like a small, glassy waterfall.

Okay, not too bad and a good size rapid to get our feet wet, literally and figuratively.

Then at Mile 11.5 we smoothly navigated through Soap Creek Rapid, rated a 5 on the Grand Canyon scale.

Camp LifeThe creek and rapid got its name from the soap that was created when Jacob Hamblin, a western pioneer and missionary for the Church of Latter-Day Saints in the late 1800s, boiled a badger in the alkali creek water, which made soap.

Soap Creek Rapid consists of a long wave train of medium and large waves. In August of 2015, a flash flood changed the rapid, constricting the entry and making the waves much steeper and more powerful.

Our humble homeIt’s always interesting to read about how the various rapids got their names. Back in the 1880s, Jacob Hamblin, a Mormon missionary and accomplished outdoorsmen was traveling down the river when he saw and shot a badger in the side canyon right near a rapid, which is now called Badger Creek because of him.

He then gathered up the dead badger and continued downstream to the next large side canyon, where he proceeded to boil the Badger. During the process soap formed as the badger’s fat mixed with the alkalinity of the creek water. Hence the name Soap Creek.

The KitchenSince this was only a partial day and we stopped for the night at a Camp called Hot Na Na Wash at Mile 17.

Then we would begin the ritual which would repeat every day when we reached camp - race everyone else to find a good campsite, form a fire line to unload the bags from the boat, bring our bags (3 each + a tent bag) to previously selected campsite, set up our tent and unload some of our stuff, go back to the boats and get a well-needed beer from our burlap beverage bag.

The "Groover"Meanwhile the guides would be unloading and setting up the kitchen as well as two groover sites (our restrooms).

Eventually, the call would come for “DINNER,” and we would gather near the boats for what was always a delicious dinner. It supplies and food ingredients that came off those boats for 14 days was amazing.

After some mingling and music played by a fortunate collection of good musicians that were on the trip (both guides and passengers), it was early to bed, as we would get the call for "COFFEE" at 5 am.