This was an 8-day trip on a large, motorized raft on the Colorado River through 280 miles of the Grand Canyon. My friends Lucia, Mike and Kyrie went with Grand Canyon Expeditions http://www.gcex.com/ and highly recommend them. We had great guides, wonderful food and an adventure we will never forget. As Mike says, “It’s hard to describe in words and difficult to show in photos”. For those of you who have been up on the rim of the Grand Canyon and looked down to that tiny little river at the bottom—that’s where we were.
At
the beginning of the trip, you can drive to the river, just a few miles
downstream from Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. We got in the boats
there at Lees Ferry and got out 280 miles later (and 1500 feet lower) at Pearce
Ferry, the beginning of Lake Mead and Hoover Dam. In between those, the
canyon rises up on each side to a height of almost a mile. In some places
it’s very narrow and you get a sense of the height of the walls, but down in
the middle with all of those tourists up at the top it’s 7 miles wide, but
still incredibly beautiful. Since the water is released from the bottom
of the dam, the temperature is around 50 degrees—so cold my feet could only
take about 30 seconds before cramping. As you go down river it gradually
warms up to a balmy 60 degrees and is almost bearable after a hot but dry 100
degree day. Interesting note: there are “tides” on the river.
The height of the river varies a foot or so, depending on how much water is
released by the dam, which depends of how much electricity they’re making—more
during the day, less at night.
Each
day we got up early, maybe 6am, I’m not sure, as thankfully our phones had no
reception for the entire trip (for you catastrophisers, the guides had a
satellite phone in case of emergency). Coffee and a hot breakfast were
made for us, we’d pack our bags, form a line to get everything on the two boats,
and off we’d go down the river. Each day had numerous stops for hikes up
side canyons or to waterfalls, and always for lunch. We were lucky to
have a great group of people, 15 in all, on our boat. Besides the four of
us, there was a group of Australians, three generations of women and lucky for
us, a geologist.
I
always thought that the Grand Canyon was carved by the Colorado River over
billions of years—not quite so. The canyon as we know it is fairly
recent—maybe 20 million years or so. As the earth was lifted in this
area, the water kept following the lowest part, and yes, it did do some of the
excavating, but if the land had not risen, it would be just another
river. You can see rocks at the bottom that are over one billion years
old, and distinct layers from way before the Dinosaurs. I found it
endlessly entertaining and was always asking our geologist dumb
questions. One day we came across a group of rafters who were
fundamentalist Christians, explaining to their large group of children how all
of this was only 6000 years old and largely formed by the Great Flood.
They had a pamphlet which explained the whole thing that I found very
interesting.
I
highly recommend the trip. I did the first half in a non-motorized raft
30 years ago, and I’m glad I got to see the whole canyon this time. It’s
not for everyone, as Rachel wisely knew. It’s camping. They bring everything
out, which includes the communal toilet. You eventually get used to
peeing off the boat or into the river in front of each other. It’s
camping. There are no tents, as there are no bugs to speak of and no rain
this time of year. You just lay down a provided sleeping bag on your tarp
and look up at the endless stars, all put there 6000 years ago.
Here’s
the link to my Grand Canyon Rafting photos:
Be
sure to see the video of us going through a large rapid—it’s at the end of the
photos.
Steve
Want to get a trip like this...
ReplyDeletegrand canyon rafting