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Playing at at the falls.
This was at one of the fall that we stopped at and had some great fun. Quote by Edward Abbey, the author of the Money Wrench Gang. “The Great Canyon Endures - the Canyon endures the trifling businesses of humans as it does the industry of ants. The trickle-down erosion of snow and freeze, the cascade of floods, the transient insult of the Glenn Canyon Dam; these things shall pass, the Canyon will outlive them all.”
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Everybody’s up - a beautiful moon just setting over the canyon - the sun’s coming up and the moon’s going down - just beautiful scenery! It’s a very interesting group - we have people from the DCNR, we have a 75-year-old woman, wife of Tom Tawaite’s the famous author of hiking books in Pennsylvania. Most of the people are from the Keystone Trails Association trail crew. The boat crew - two per boat - Chris, John, Tad, and Josh. Josh is a rookie a fireman from a small town in the area; he’s traveling free and he works hard. He gets to take a great trip and learn a lot. Everybody is packing up their gear and standing around chatting, brushing teeth, and packing up their tents.
It is amazing to me, how people adjust to changes in living conditions. We just began to fall into a routine and tried to make the best of it. Some inconveniences are the price we pay to experience this magnificent place.
After a day or so we have learned quick drying zip-off pants and a quick drying safari shirt works great. I’ve given up on undies
and use my bathing suit as a first layer. The bathing suit also works as a “bathing outfit” at the end of the day. Water shoes or sandals work well with hiking/walking shoes for trips into the canyon.
Some people have been wondering how deep the river is. Well, it varies from a few inches to several hundred feet. The widest point is about 750 feet and the narrowest is 76 feet. The water is about 50 degrees; it’s at a speed of about 8-10 miles an hour. The river drops 1,709 feet in the 280 miles that we’ve covered. That’s about 8 feet per mile, nearly 25 times that of the Mississippi River. Of course, everybody knows that John Wesley Powell went through here with one arm and a crew of boatmen in 1869 - a journey into the great unknown. There’s a Disney film out called Ten Who Dared; it’s a reenactment of Powell’s journey.
Bill Belknap’s, “Grand Canyon River Guide”, is a very excellent book. It has information on plants, animals, flowers, cacti, and birds, just about everything you’ll see along the way. Yesterday we saw a galvanized boat that had been stuck up on a pile
of rocks, and it was all galvanized with a seat in the middle and two covered cockpits in the front and back. There is one by fellow, Butchart, who has hiked over 20,000 miles in the canyon investigating most of the trails. I can imagine we’ve hit just a few of them.
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Emily Lobdell (latinteacher40@yahoo.com
non-member comment
I'm envious....
thanks so much; I'm enjoying the trip vicariously. emily