300 miles behind the oars

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I can't believe it. Here I sit in a truck loaded with gear on its way to Lee's Ferry. I'm actually going to kayak/raft the Grand Canyon. I'm filled with way to much nervous excitement. I don't actually know if I will be rowing a gear raft or kayaking. The plan is for Todd and I to take turns rowing and paddling. Who cares, it is the Grand Canyon, and the trip of a lifetime. We have 18 days planned to go from Lee's Ferry to South Cove in Lake Mead, 297 miles down the Colorado River.

Before it starts I should introduce the players.
Todd and Charlotte Shollenberger - trip permit holders, organizers, and kayaking
George Hedrick - Open boater
Austin Hedrick - Raft passenger but NOT a bow flower
John Hurst - kayaking
Ben Pennington - only oarsmen with real rowing experience
Taylor Gaar - another oarsmen
and me - kayaking and rowing.

I know this is a long TR, if you just want the pictures, Click here to get all 300+ pictures, they do the trip more justice than my words can possibly do.

Click here for more pictures from Todd. Worth looking at as well, even if it is picture overload.

Today the adventure starts. What are we doing? Do we really know?
I start the first day rowing in the raft, Todd said he wanted to kayak day one. It was good to have Ben around to give me rowing tips in the flat water. While most of what he told me on day 1 and subsequent days didn't always make sense at the time, it usually turned into good advice. Hind site says that rafting is all about position at the top of the rapid and having the right amount of lateral momentum. It isn't about paddling hard and having speed. It took me a long time to learn this lesson, not sure I ever really learned it fully in practice.

I don't really remember much about the first day. I do remember we ran 1 major rapid, . It was rated a 5 on a 10 point scale, which generally translates to a 2+ on the International scale that I'm most used to. Despite this knowledge we still stopped to scout the rapid. I remember standing in my boat as I tried to line up for the approach, slowly rowing towards the rapid and I couldn't get my legs to stop shaking.

Why was I so nervous? Well did I mention I've never rowed a raft before and here I was on the Colorado River. I didn't know what I was doing. If I flip this raft it is going to be a major undertaking to corral and right the raft again. Rowing the raft the only options are the lines I see in the rapid. The option to walk does not exist, no matter how much I would like it to. But then all of these things also just add to the excitement.

We camped that night above another 5. Taylor actually jumped into one of the kayaks and ran the top section of this rapid a couple of times. I spent most of the day/evening stressing about House Rapid, 7. It would be the first really major rapid we would face with real potential to flip a raft. I had no idea what to expect and that was one of the hardest things to take. I also had Austin in the front of my boat. For some reason he had the guide book memorized. While I fretted about House, he took joy in telling me about all the 8 and 9s that were ahead of me. I finally told him I didn't care, they were too far away for me to worry about it. I had to pass House Rapid first.

House was visited on day two. I remember scouting this rapid and thinking, I'm cooked. All the water goes left into a massive hole, that can flip me. Oh yeah and there are reactionary waves coming off the left wall as well, just to make it fun. The plan as I understood it was to pull hard to the right, going backwards and just keep going right. Try to hit a small pourover 2/3 of the way down the rapid on the right that will slow me and keep me right. If I get left, well just T up to the waves off the left wall and push and hope. I wasn't supposed to actually go backwards but was supposed to do a back ferry to the right. This is a technique I would learn more and more about in the next few days. I actually managed to get too far right, hit some rocks and spun off to the left. Here is where I started to panic and wasn't sure how to fix my problem. I couldn't get the boat pointed right and I was headed left. I decided to remember plan B and just try to hit as many waves as possible straight on. I hit the waves just above the monster hole and they pushed me back out to the right and I was able to get a nice big look at the hole as I skirted by. Very excited to be upright. George who was a long way downstream of me says he could see the whites of my eyes as I ran that rapid. I don't doubt him. But I was upright at the bottom... there were some hoops and hollers I'm sure.

After House Rock, the river picks up for the next 10 miles as you row through the roaring 20s. In miles 20-30 there is a 4, 5, or 6 rapid about every half mile to a mile. These are pretty much all read and run rapids, and they were lots of fun. From the top, some of the rapids didn't look like much and then you would realize that you couldn't see the hardboats in between the waves or you would watch the raft in front of you buck more than it seemed like it should. When this day started I was nervous about what read and run meant to a raft. When it was finished we were all having good fun with big smiles, and it wasn't until camp that night that I realized I had run three sixes without scouting.

I believe it was on this day that everyone learned I couldn't catch an eddy. But the hard boaters never did learn that they couldn't just eddy out and then yell for the rafts to come and follow. Towards the end of the trip we just ignored them and kept going downstream, not even trying. Of course the eddies at the bottom of the rapids that I didn't want to catch were impossible to miss. The hardest rowing on the trip is trying to get into an eddy you want or get out of an eddy that reached out and sucked you in. All of us had times when we did multiple laps around in an eddy before getting out.

I remember one rapid in this stretch where John was in front and just about to the top of the rapid and he held up his paddle to stop. I remember thinking, as I has still pretty far upstream, this boat isn't making any of those eddies, but I can slow down some. When push comes to shove though, I'm running this rapid without stopping. I don't have a choice.

This is the day I decided that I didn't want to kayak the Grand Canyon. I wanted to try and row the raft through all the big ones. It was going to be a very different, hard, and interesting challenge, but I was excited to try and take it on. Not sure how I would do, but at least I would try. I also felt that by staying in the raft I would have the most experience possible for rowing Lava and Crystal and Granite and all the other rapids Austin kept telling me about. I didn't want to spend 2 days kayaking to jump back in the raft on top of Lava that was for sure.

After the roaring twenties we squeezed into the top end of the camp because there was a large commercial trip on the nice part of the beach. This was really the only time we had to share a camp. Occasionally we would share the same sand bar with the other private group that put on with us, Avon. We traded them beer for river beta. We had lots of beer (9 pony kegs plus cans) and not much prior knowledge of the river so this was a good trade for us.

The hike at Silver Grotto is a short hike distance wise, but one of the most difficult “hikes” that we did. You start with a short climb up and then you have to climb down into the grotto. Luckily Ben knew enough to bring a rope to help with this climb, considering the rock was very smooth. This makes the trip worthwhile right there. But there is more, next is swimming and more climbing to continue up into the Grotto. Definitely one of the best hikes we did in the canyon. Oh yeah, on the way out you just slid down the rocks into pools until we got back out to the beach.

The next couple of days were pretty easy as far as rapids go. We stopped to play at the Little Colorado River. Supposedly this river runs a turquoise blue that is reminiscent of glacier melt. However, for us it was chocolate and looked like boiling mud. It had enough silt to change our clear, green Colorado River into a chocolate milk shake. We wouldn't see green water again until the lake.

We also spent a night a Nankoweap. This is a popular stopping spot. Up above the river in the cliffs are ancient granaries from the Anasazi Indians that you can hike up to. Besides the granaries there is a pretty amazing view of the river. Of course this is the end of our easy relaxing days, up next are the BIG ONES, but we still had another day of paddling before then.

We camped that night at Lower Rattlesnake. It was by far the worst camp we stayed in. Mostly because it was more in the wash than we would have liked. To make matters worse there were storms brewing on the rim. We spent much of dinner debating how long before we tried to cover everything up, did we need to move the kitchen, where was everyone camped and were they safe. In the end we didn't get any rain. We did get an amazing light show up on the rim thanks to mother nature.

The next day the river fun begins again, we start out with one 6 and then Hance (8), Sockdolager (7), and finally Grapevine (7). Hance was first and we timed it well getting there at high water so that the left line was open. The rafts picked two lines down the left. They were essentially the same line but I chose to go on the left side of a rock at the top and Ben picked the right side. Taylor switched from right side to left side after watching Ben go on the right side and get pushed right pretty hard over where the big manky looking waves and holes were. He had a great run and came out upright. I was actually pretty impressed with my ability to hit the line I picked and skirted everything down the left side. Wow! Did that feel good. Actually maybe the best feeling was looking at this 8 and seeing a line that I knew/felt I could run safely. It was a huge confidence boost.

After Hance we had Sockdolager. The chosen line on this was to start left of center with some left momentum to miss the big wave/hole at the top center and then float through the bottom. I had sweep raft this time and all the hard boaters were sitting up on the rock above me watching the fun. I felt like I was starting father left than either Ben or Taylor had, but suddenly I hear from the peanut gallery. “He's too far right, he's not going to make it.” I accelerated into the main channel V and punched right square into top hole and right out the bottom. Lucky me I thought.

Grapevine was a similar run for me, sort of. The plan once again was to have some left momentum to keep us on the left side of the channel but we needed to avoid a hole at the very top left and two holes on the bottom on either side. Once again as I start my sweep run I hear the peanut gallery telling me I'm too far right. So I just start driving left as hard as I can, I'm going to hit my spot that I picked to start my run if it kills me. I hit the spot in the top curler wave that I intended and plowed right through it to run right smack into the top left hole. As I approach bottom of the rapid, I am lost and don't remember/ can't find the two bottom holes. Don't worry I found the one on bottom left... it was right in front of my boat. But I was upright.

Several things came out of this day. The most important was a lesson from Ben about controlling lateral momentum in a raft. He explained that is the biggest key to a good line. My kayaking mentality of paddle like hell doesn't really work in a raft, as I proved. I also decided that all rapids on this river were pass fail. If you make it to the bottom, upright, with all of your gear then you pass, otherwise you fail. And Ben and Taylor decided that running the meat line and looking it look smooth was a Farrell line. This is much better than having a rapid named after me.

Our next stop as Phantom Ranch. This is the only semblance of civilization in the canyon. There is a campground here and people that hike from the rim. You can mail postcards, make a phone call, buy a beer. Most importantly we were able to fill up our water jugs. Most interesting was that I was able to get some beta on Horn Creek Rapid, Granite, and Hermit rapids from a commercial rowing trip. And of course there was the fear and trepidation note. Apparently there a raft had gotten pinned on the gravel bar in Crystal and the NPS had helicopters and a zodiac down there working to get it off the bar. That didn't boost my confidence too much but of course I had 3 big eights to run before that happened.

We ran Horn Creek and Granite that day. I remember being confused by Horn Creek because it looked different than I expected. The advantage of a high water run. High water is the way to time most of these rapids, the lines really open up. I do remember coming through on a good line and then losing my right oar as I started to skirt past the big hole on my right. All I could think of was I need this oar as I'm looking up at this big crashing wave that I fully expect to run into. Huck (my boat) and I slid right by though. (Yes, I know you are supposed to name boats with a female name... but Huck just came out one day, feeling Mark Twainish, and I didn't want to mess with Karma by changing my boats name)

Granite was an interesting rapid. We started left hoping to stay left and miss as many of the reactionary waves coming off the right wall. The answer for when you do eventually end up right is just be quick on the oars and turn to face the waves coming at you from all directions. Well, I'm not really sure what happened at the top but I ended up right pretty quick. At this point it just became time to deal. I did eventually lose an oar again and hit the last two waves at less than head on. When I got to the bottom I was just happy to be upright. I knew the eddy on the right is very strong and hard to get out of but I was just happy to have my Pass and floated into it. This was by far the scariest rapid we had run so far. I might have been more nervous at house but Granite was much harder and I came much closer to flipping.

We waited here for a long time while the hard boaters carried around the top half of Granite and floated out the bottom section. George actually got in a raft and was hoping that Ben could catch the river left eddy so he could get his boat back. That was a mistake and George ended up with a big hike to get to his boat. Rafts don't eddy out like kayaks and there was so much more current going right than anybody realized.

I of course was just having fun in the eddy. It was a very dynamic eddy. The current going upstream was quite strong and it would kick you out onto the boiling eddy line. I would sit and bob there on the eddy line for a bit and then like a roller coaster at the top of a hill I would suddenly accelerate downstream until it kicked me right and back into the eddy. I was just like a little kid.

The next day we started with Hermit. Hermit is just a massive wave train. At high water, the 5th wave has been known to flip 18' gear rafts. But we looked at this and all almost ran as fast as we could back to the boats. We were stoked to hit these waves. Ah yes, we managed to get here at lower water. It was a great run, one of the most fun on the river for rafts and kayaks.

However, after this fun, the fear and dread of what is Crystal set in. Crystal is first of two 9's on the river. Damn that is one big hole at the top center of this rapid. I do prefer to have the main feature at the top, easier to figure a line I can run. We looked at a couple of lines, one on the left and one on the right. Taylor and Ben were leaning towards the left line. I decided I liked right. The right line was probably a little more technical but it only had one hazard, the hole to contend with. The left line had the hole, and a nasty reactionary wave and then another wave coming off a where the left wall juts out. In the end we all decided to run right.

The eddy above Crystal before the run was much different than Hermit. At Hermit there was noise and joking and smiles. Here it was just silence. We didn't even talk when we peeled out, we just each left the eddy one at a time when it was our turn. Ben had an excellent line, just as scripted. My line appeared pretty “bold.” I did what I feared, and drove too far right, right into the eddy which spun me backwards. I then managed to drift out backwards and hit the right side of the hole backwards. I then kept drifting left and ended up going around the left side of the rock garden (everyone else had managed to go right), not that it matters. Taylor's line was pretty good though he and Charlotte punched the right side of the hole straight on. The pictures show Charlotte completely hidden in the hole. Taylor said he was headed in sideways trying his best to get the boat turned straight and finally it just swung straight at the last minute.

That night everyone was much more relaxed at camp. Most of the big rapids were behind us and we had all passed. We still had more to come but we could deal. We were also extremely exhausted. It was decided that tomorrow we would paddle 20+ miles and camp at Tapeats Creek where there was a good hike. It was a long day with a 6 and a couple of 7s. I don't remember much about them. I know we scouted one and boat scouted the others. Funny how 5s used to scare me and now 6s and 7s just get boat scouted.

Included in this 20+ mile day was a stop at Elves Chasm. This is another must see stop. It is a really nice hike up to a beautiful waterfall that you can climb up/in and jump out of. For the industrious in our group you can climb even up above the waterfall and hike father up.

Yup, I can't really properly describe the beauty and fun of the side canyons. Every one is the same and every one is different and amazing. Elves and Silver Grotto are by far my favorites but Matkat, Deercreek, and Thunder River aren't far behind. We didn't do the hike at Havasu justice but the water there is amazing. And that doesn't count the countless other canyons with waterfalls or pools we hiked up and soaked in.

OK, back to our story. Our “rest” day at Tapeats Creek involved a hike up to Thunder River. Thunder River comes out of the rock through caves and cascades down into Tapeats Creek. “Rest” goes in quotation marks because we didn't return from this hike until after 7pm. I was exhausted, so much for rests, but I was happy.

The next day the river was more brown than it had been. The silt everywhere. I would wake up in the morning and pick up my shorts that I had worn the day before, they would be stiff as a board from all the silt that was dried into them. It really is quit comical to hold a pair of shorts and have them stand out like a flag without any help.

The next several days are all about the miles and hiking. We stopped at Deer creek falls and took on water, flirted with the commercial trips, and enjoyed the scenery. We had a brutal hike at Matkatamiba canyon. The canyon itself is great but we missed the main eddy and managed to eddy out about ½ mile downstream. The hike back up to the canyon was brutal mostly because it was super exposed to the sun. We had a brief stop at Havasu canyon. We decided we didn't really have time to hike all the way to the waterfall. We were all feeling very run down and we were getting close to Lava Falls and wanted to make sure we were position for a morning, high water run of the “last” big one.

Ben and George managed to get caught in a flash flood in Kanab canyon. They had gotten to the canyon first and started hiking up. The rest of us were slowly following when Charlotte says, “The are waving us to go back” To which Taylor adds (I think it was Taylor) “And they are running.” We started moving downstream and up the canyon walls, we were at the mouth anyway. The next thing we see is George and Ben running out the stream bed and you can see the creek water rising behind them. Not a wall of a flash flood but maybe like 3-6” higher. Still was funny, and probably scary at the same time.

In between Matkat and Havasu is Upset rapid. This is a 6 rapid and we all felt pretty good about it, except... Well Ben's buddies in CA had told him that he needed to run the meat line down the middle and punch the hole. The other private group, Avon, that had put on with us said it wasn't so bad, just drive left towards the wall and ride the waves down the left side past the hole. We stopped to look. I am not sure what happened. For the hard boaters the right line was pretty open and easy. For the rafts we couldn't come up with a line that we really liked. The left line just looked like all it wanted to do was push you sideways into the hole at the bottom and the right line looked like there was way to much current going left to keep you out of the hole. We were not happy. This was the first rapid where we really, really didn't like our line options. We did watch another group come through and run right. From our perch it seemed that every boat got pushed to the left but then the current/guarding wave would push them back right just before the hole. This made us feel better about our line choice and ability to get right. I should have stuck with my original line though. From the beta of the other rafts I decided it was better to go left of the top rock instead of right. Well if I had been just left of the top rock that would have been fine, but I was more in the current. I just kept pulling my lil arms off trying to get right and hoping that the current would kick me there eventually. At one point I told Charlotte, who was in the bow of my boat, “We are in trouble, I'm going to keep rowing, but we are in trouble.” At the last second I gave up hope and turned the boat downstream to T up to the hole. Magically we hit a seam between a wave on the left side and the hole. We actually came out with dry hair.... go figure... another farrell line.

I decided after this that the muddy water did affect the rafts and how we read water. It had gotten so muddy that there wasn't any white froth on any wave. All waves and holes just looked like a big chocolaty mess ready to kick someone's ass. We caught up with the Avon group that night and compared line stories. Dana said that she knew if we scouted Upset we wouldn't run left. She didn't want to run left but had to trust the beta and knowledge of the other rowers on her trip. That is good to know.

And that brings us to Lava. That night we discussed how to run Lava. I said I had heard left was best and the waves on the right could flip 20' raft. That night I had a dream about running Lava. For some reason the rapid was part of a whitewater course and they were holding races. Somehow I was in the 2nd heat so I couldn't scout the rapid and everybody in my heat was a bad ass kayaker so I couldn't ask them, they were racing right down the middle. What is even stranger is that on the bulletin board at the course was a drawing showing lava and lines through it. These lines actually turned out to be eerily similar to what the actual lines were going to be.

In the morning I remember telling Ben if he didn't mind I would like Charlotte, Queen High Side, to ride in my raft, I might need it. After scouting and picking our lines, we were quiet again as we prepared to run. For several days we had been quoting the guidebook “It is only 20 seconds.” Taylor actually had the best advice though, “Que sera, sera.” and I tried to get Charlotte to sing Welcome to the Jungle. Actually we all had The Final Countdown in our heads as we ran the rapid. I took probe for the run, and gave Huck a little pep talk before peeling out. I figured I can't adjust my line on what I see I might as well give a show. I managed to hit my picked spot on the top left of the wave like I wanted, even had the right amount of momentum. Unfortunately, I/we didn't judge the slack current correctly and it didn't pull me left like I thought. I ended up spinning backwards and dropping into the hole I planned to miss and after coming out of that with no speed and getting somewhat sideways for the next hole. All I can say to that is Charlotte, “Thanks for the high side, I need another.” Ben had a similar line to mine and Taylor started farther left and had a nonevent dry line. We all passed. I couldn't believe it.

I was spent. My arms and body were done. We still had 100 miles to go. Roughly 46 to Diamond Creek and then another 75 to South Cove. The row/float to Diamond I don't really remember. I do remember I was starting to get picky about my hikes... it better be spectacular or I was resting in camp.

Just below Diamond Creek the rapids/river pick up again. It really moves through here and narrows and boogies. There are several 4, 5 and a 6 rapid. The plan was to scout the one 6 rapid (Killer Fang Falls) but I missed the eddy and just punched the waves and the fangs were covered, lucky me.

We camped early that day, and all of us took naps I think. Maybe not be we were one seriously beat down and exhausted crew. We were camped above Bridge Canyon rapid, the 2nd to last rapid of the trip. Someone asked Taylor to run it in a kayak. His response is telling. He said “Its just big waves and then I have to carry back up, no thank you.” My plan for the day was lunch, nap, swim, nap, dinner, and bed. Oh yeah, there was some drinkin.

The last night of camp was one of the hottest on the trip. Actually the temperatures had been steadily climbing as the trip progressed. The river temperature at Lee's Ferry was about 50degrees and now it was about 60degrees. The beer isn't as cold. Some of the first nights on the trip actually got quite cool, I think the temperatures dipped to about 70 and I used my blanket. Tonight though it didn't get below 88. Some nights it would warm up as it got later and other camps you could really feel the heat coming off the rocks. The days were definitely above 110 maybe even up to 120 in the heat of the day when the sun was busy baking our brains.

Ben, Taylor, and I camped every night on the boats. This was about 5 degrees cooler and any breeze we were sure to catch. Of course this had its trade off. I thought being on the boat would be like being on the sailboat, and to a small extent it was. However, it never failed that every night I would wake up with a panic as the bank looked different or wasn't there and I feared I was floating downstream. It was always something simple like, I was now on my stomach instead of my back or something like that. But there were nights when the boats were calm and floated nicely. Then there were nights where the water and eddy would come up and the boats would rock back in forth hitting each other and a rock or something. On the other end of the spectrum sometimes the boats beached and the movement stopped, this wasn't bad if the beach was flat, but it wasn't always and we ended up rolling off of our pads into our bow or stern compartments.

The next day we had a short 10 mile float and then hung out waiting for the night float to start. The plan was to raft up and float to just above Pierce Ferry “Ripple” at dawn and run that and float out the rest of the way until the current ends when we would get a tow. Well our “float” was more of a drunk paddle and at 230 in the morning we were tying the boats up about 4 or 5 miles above Pierce Ferry.

There used to be a nothing “ripple” here, now, thanks to low water levels in Lake Mead it is a real rapid. We were told to scout, nobody really had much beta because it changes every year/ 6 months. It was one of the biggest rapids on the river. It is a solid 8. We all picked a line on the right side. I ran probe, with George in the bow and George's canoe strapped across my stern. I learned that it was easier to stay in the right side current than we thought and I pretty much did the equivalent a penciling my raft into the pourover hole on the right. This wasn't a big deal except that it spun us sideways in time to hit the main hole full on sideways. This was the closest I came to flipping my raft on the trip... but we didn't flip. Everyone else had great dry hair lines.

We hung around the beach for longer than we needed to waiting on other groups to run and take some pictures. I decided I was so ecstatic about “passing” the Grand Canyon, I started dancing a jig. I did this dance several times throughout the day.

But the day wasn't over. Apparently we still had 15 miles to row and we were running late so we really had to row. Did I mention the wind picked up and was blowing up the lake. The next 4 hours were some of the longest, hardest, grumpiest on the trip. All of us, Ben, Taylor, and myself, all melted down at the end. There was one final drop into the still waters of the lake but for some strange reason it was protected by an eddy. We all got caught in this eddy and it took us awhile to get out and finish the damn run.

There were several surreal/deep moments and conversations in these last few days that I want to share. We talked about how lucky we had gotten on many of our lines. I don't know how many times I lost an oar and felt like I was going sideways into bad times. I did get lucky, but I also think we made our own luck. We did a good job scouting. We picked good conservative lines that gave us the most chance for success. Often we misread the strength of the current or something like that, but our scouting was good and we mitigated our consequences. As we were hanging out below Pierce Ferry, the Avon group was scouting. Taylor was talking to them and told them about our lines. They said they were debating our line and another. Something else they told Taylor that I don't remember had him coming back pretty proud at the job of scouting we had done. We definitely deserve to be happy about that. We didn't flip a raft on the hole trip. Yes we got lucky and next time might be different, but it is good to know it can be done.

So I'm sitting on the bow of my raft as we are being towed out and I'm looking upstream. The water is now a clear green, but I can still sort of see where the brown water runs. A guy and girl in a bikini go screaming past us headed up stream on a jet ski. They of course turn around before the water gets brown and “dirty” I can't help but smile and wonder if they really know what they are missing by not going up into the brown water.

It is an amazing place. Boy am I exhausted. I've never felt this tired and fully beat down in my life and it feels good.

I would like to apologize the canyons and scenery of the trip are not properly represented in this blog. I can't do them justice with words, I don't have the ability. I will say that the whole experience is amazing. We had a great time camping and rowing and kayaking and drinking and story telling and having fun. I hope the pictures help, but if they don't... then all I can say... DO your own trip... and if you need anyone to row a gear raft for you, I might be able to find some people.

Random Quotes heard during the week

* I can learn to be quiet
* Charlotte we are in trouble
* FIRE IT UP
* REEALLY?
* Thanks for the high side, I need another
* Hit em Straight!!!
* T dubs
* We need cocktail ice
* Facts, logic, and good ideas -- not on this trip
* There's gonna be some drinkin, some fightin, and ...
and lots of nonsensical singing and gibberish to alleviate the nerves of running waves higher than my head.

Log of where we camped and miles we did each day]
Day Campsite Mile# Miles Traveled Notes
Day 1 Soap Creek 11.3 11.3
Day 2 Shinumo Wash 29.5 18.2 shared with commercial trip, boats very bouncy tied together
Day 3 Eminence 44.5 15 nice beach
Day 4 Lower Nankoweap 53.5 9
Day 5 Lower Rattlesnake 74.3 20.8
Day 6 Clear Creek 84.0 9.7
Day 7 Ninetyfour Mile 94.8 10.8
Day 8 Garnet Camp 115 14 Can't remember if we were in Upper or Lower
Day 9,10 Racetrack 134.2 19.2 Tapeats creek hike
Day 11 Above Olo 145.9 11.7 Taylor did a good climbing hike
Day 12 Last Chance 156.3 10.4
Day 13 Lower Cove 174.8 18.5
Day 14 Parashant 198.5 23.7
Day 15 217.2 mile 217.2 18.7
Day 16 Bridge City 238.7 21.5 great camp for shade
Day 17 on bank above Pierce Ferry Ripple about Mile 275

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Photos

Jumping at Havasu Canyon..
Go-go gatchet arms

Comments

[Dave Lambers]

Thanks
Thanks for sharing this. I was on a commercial trip (motor, no rowing, strictly a passenger) a month before you. The rapids were fun (except Hermit where I got hurt) but the side hikes were unexpected and amazing. Did you hike above Deer Creek Falls? That was my favorite hike and quite an accomplishment on a swollen ankle. I'd love to go back sometime and do it the way you did. You're right, pictures don't nearly do it justice.