Tuesday: The Roaring 20’s

This is another installment of our journey paddle rafting through the Upper Grand Canyon.

Mornings on the River

We woke up and had a pretty slow start to the morning. That seemed to be a theme. They would make us hot breakfast and strong coffee and the crew would be working the butts off, setting up breakfast, tearing it down, getting all of our dry bags and mattress pads and stuff back on the boat. There was plenty of time for everyone to sit on the ammo box that was our toilet. I was able to apply the first of 100 sunscreen applications. And David was realizing that the tops of his knees were really getting sunburned.

Jokes

Almost the whole time we were on this rafting trip we were telling jokes. Sometimes they were stories, sometimes they were riddles. There was a girl who was telling these jokes that were open to questioning. So she tells us, “A man is found dead in a room with 53 bicycles. How and Why?” And we’d get to ask her questions, “Was there an earthquake?” “Is he really dead?” “Was it an accident?” “Did he know the man who did it?”

We also started joking about the sand. There was sand everywhere. It was super fine, silty sand. But we were trying to look on the bright side. Like I’m sure some super fine ladies would pay hundreds of dollars to go to a day spa and have exfoliating treatments of million year old minerals from the grand canyon. If you just think that this full body exfoliating spa treatment is included in the price of your trip, you are getting a better bang for your buck.

The Roaring 20’s

So from mile 20 through about 27 there is a rapid every mile. So these series of rapids and called the roaring 20’s and they are really fun! Everyone shuffled which boat and which guide they were working with. Today we were on board with Heather, who has been doing these paddling trips longer than anyone else in the crew. She also said she was in Crew in College and she knew everything about the body mechanics of rowing.

We spent the first couple minutes having our strokes critiqued and improved upon, and then we set off to get wet.

I had no idea what to expect on this paddling trip, I’d never done it before, I didn’t prepare. My overall assessment is that it’s fun and it’s easy. You brace yourself on the raft by shoving your foot under the seat in front of you, and then you follow the instructions of the guide. Sometimes I would get tunnel vision to the point where I was so focused on staring at my paddle, or following the stroke of the person in front of me, that I didn’t really get a chance to be present during the rapid.

The long stretch of The Roaring 20’s gave me the opportunity to really get totally comfortable and I was more equipped to look around during the action and really enjoy it.

Lunch

We stopped in this huge expansive Red Wall Cavern for lunch. As most of the crew were getting ready for lunch I was trying to pee in the River. But I get really shy, and there was no where to duck around the bend in the river. The water in the river is cold! It’s nice to get freezing water splashed on you when you are sitting out in the open on a raft. But I was really having trouble. Heather, our guide, took a moment to be really blunt with everyone. Privacy is given. So freaking pull down your pants and pee in the river. I don’t know why that helped me but it did.

We also suffered our first casualty. The Camera that we brought has sand in the viewfinder blades and won’t close. We are now having to do more to protect it from sand when we are using it.

Early Camping

The nature of the roaring 20’s was such that the river moved at a pretty quick pace most of the day and we ended up at camp somewhere close to mile 38. This camp site was much different than the last. There was a lot more brush and we all had a mind to find a site that had better protection from the sand and the wind. We found a site surrounded on all sides by wispy bushes, and unfortunately ants. I think it was Jeff, the trip leader, who told us that ants go to sleep. So in Jeff we trust.

At this point it had been 4 days since our very luxurious shower at the Sheridan House Inn. I had just rinsed off at the shower in Marble Canyon. Susan and I headed down to the river to wash our hair. The River was still cold. I had on my bathing suit and knelt down and scrubbed conditioner into the roots of my hair, and raking my fingers through my unruly curly hair. I was still kneeling down in the water when the conch shell rang.

The conch shell was a call for a meal, or an announcement, or in this case, a call to go on a optional side hike. I had to rush to get dressed again and run up the sandy hill, but I made it.

Side Hike

Very early in the side hike, Jeff found snake and grabbed it. He seemed to know what he was doing, and was really excited to have seen this particular species.

We were in a sort of unique place in the Canyon. There was a 300 million year old riverbed that were could see evidence of in the rocks in the walls above us. It was interrupting the continuity of the rock layers. Heather had also pointed out some of this evidence to us while we were on the river.

This side hike didn’t last very long, and I really enjoyed getting out there to stretch my legs.

Night

I just want to take this opportunity to talk about the moon. It is very bright! I could have used eye shades. And the ants did go to sleep at some point, and the cicadas which were uncomfortably loud did stop screaming at some unknown time in the night. I slept great. Chris reports that a bat peed on him. So we can’t all win.

Tomorrow we will get to Body Surf Down the Little Colorado