Wednesday: The Little Colorado River

This is the third day of our Upper Grand Canyon Rafting Trip. Each day has been better than the last, and today’s side hike into the Little Colorado was exceptional. This was one of the coolest vacations I’ve ever been on. I can’t recommend this experience highly enough! Outdoors Unlimited is the only company offering full paddling, and this series of posts will show you that this is the only way to go!

Morning Reflections

Each day of this trip is better than the last. I have fully submitted to the rhythm of this river. We wake up when the sun rises, and we sleep when the sun sets. I do not feel rushed, or bored; I don’t care what time it is or mind that my wifi doesn’t work. There are times that I was floating down the river, staring at the quiet scenery and thinking, I don’t even want to take a picture. It’s just awesome how fully present I feel.

We had eggs and Canadian bacon for breakfast and set off on a really lazy ride down the river. Jeff was our trip leader and also our guide today. He was really knowledgeable and every question we asked he generally had an answer. He taught us the Acronym “Know The Canyon’s History, Study Rock Made By Time.”

At this point we had stopped pestering the guides with questions like, what mile is this, where are we, and so I’m not sure where exactly we were on the river until we hit the Little Colorado.

The Little Colorado

This was possibly the highlight of the trip for us, but I have to warn you, that it is not a guaranteed stop. Every trip is guided differently, sometimes different campsites are chosen, sometimes different side hikes are done. July is the middle of monsoon season, and if it had been raining anywhere upstream on the Little Colorado it would not have been possible to do this. But here we are!

I haven’t had a chance to go to Havasupi falls, but the same phenomenon is going on here, with bicarbonate making the water a breathtaking pale blue. The water in the Little Colorado is also distinctly warm. We walked maybe a 10th of a mile up the river and had an opportunity to play.

Body Surfing

Yup! This was so cool! Everyone went multiple times. It was such a blast. We seriously just milled around, and laughed, and started doing crazier and crazier attempts, some of the groups of families started making really long chains. Everyone was going crazy with the photos and videos.

We took millions of pictures here. I plan to get some of them printed on metal and displayed. I walked past everyone’s entry point to photograph the rest of the river. It was really special. This was the day that I decided that we needed to come back to do the Lower Grand Canyon trip with the same company, Outdoor Unlimited. I was so in love with the Canyon, and the River, on this day that I could have just stayed down here forever.

Dinner

We went back to camp and settled in. The toilet at this camp is like hella hard to find. You could totally get lost and I will be wearing my headlamp if I have to get up in the middle of the night.

We started finishing up some of the jokes that had been going on for almost 48 hours. The man dead in the room with the bicycles had been cheating at cards (like bicycle brand playing cards). We had a new one going. A woman walks into a bar, and asks the bartender for water. The bartender pulls out a gun. The woman says thank you, and leaves without the water. Why?

We ate Carnitas bowls and burritos for dinner and ate Pineapple cake to celebrate our guide Sophie’s birthday. We had a lot of fun singing happy birthday to her, not once, but multiple times.

Tomorrow will be our last day on the River, and the largest rapid of the Upper Grand Canyon: The Hance Rapids.