Well, as promised, here is the second half of my journey down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon....this part is going to be much longer. There were some pretty significant events that I am not going to gloss over and in some ways, truly need to just write about them. And, I figured out how to add pictures so enjoy those and once this is posted I'm going to go back to part 1 and add some photos to that too.
Thanks, enjoy and much love,
Heather
Tuesday Day 8
The winds died down from yesterday and we were ready to take on some more rapids! We were told today was going to be a "big rapid" day so we were pretty excited, ok, and a little scared, but mostly (?) excited! :-) We chose Kristin's boat today. And we hit our first rapid right out of the campsite! Granite (mile 94) then Hermit (mile 95.5) were pretty fun! Rachel and I started to perfect our "rapid's pose" in the boat. We got to mile 99 and the guides all pulled over so they could "scout" Crystal Rapid which is a 17' drop and rated a 7-10! I have to admit when the guides were standing there talking their strategy I was getting a little nervous! This was the first rapid we got to look at before going in. I took a peak but decided that I would leave it to Kristin to get us through safely. And, safely she did!
After that handful of rapids we then got into what's called the "gems." Crystal is the first one and then Tuna (ok, not kidding - I can't remember but the word means something in Hopi), Sapphire, Turquiose, and Ruby. Ruby was a WHOPPER! It's rated a 4-5 but the waves were really big and splashy! This was definitely the hardest hit I got on the entire trip. Rachel was hit from the back real hard by a wave which brought her down and into the boat and while she was down WOOOSH! this HUGE wave goes over her and just hits me smack in the face and chest! I was hanging on just as hard as I could! Wow! I just didn't have time to duck and glide into that one.
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| Carol getting ready to jump in! |
{Side note here - so quite a few of us did this and we were all told we had to jump OUT when we jumped OFF because there was a ledge that we had to avoid. And, poor Sue and her super long legs caught the ledge on the way down and what we now know - broke her foot. She was in a lot of pain but wanted to stick out the trip so she was splinted up and helped along and made it the entire trip! No helicopter ride for her!}
After our play time, we went just another 3 miles to 119.8 campsite for the night. Fun day and pretty exhausting too!
Wednesday Day 9
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| spring at the farthest point in the canyon |
After what felt like being re-birthed into the canyon we got back on our boats. I was in such a daze that I have no notes from that moment until where we pulled over at Randy's Rock (mile 127) to have lunch. We all perked up after lunch and prepped ourselves for another couple of rapids. Spector Rapid at mile 130 isn't much of a drop, 6' and is rated a 6, but the waves were big and it was really fun!! Rachel and I were screaming and yahooing and then both of us realized that there was a third screamer on the boat - it was TRACY! She was screaming her head off just having a BLAST! HAHA It was so cool to see them have so much fun! For us, it's our first time so it's exciting and new but to see someone who has been doing this for so many years have so much fun was pretty awesome!
We stopped for the day at "Below Bedrock" campsite at mile 132ish.
Thursday Day 10
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| Deer Creek Waterfall |
We had a nice time, reading and then visiting for a long time with Candy. We sat in the creek for a lot of it. The sun had come around and there wasn't a lot of shade to hide in so we literally, sat in the creek to keep ourselves cooled down.
Two distinct things happened during our "stay" at the waterfall. 1 - for the first time, I had to use what's called the "day tripper", now let me remind you, the bathroom system at the campsite is a big ammo can with a nice toilet seat on it for pooping (the "groover") and primarily peeing in the river but a bucket near the "groover" for those less timely moments. There are 2 options for when the "groover" is not around. Option 1 - the wag bag. OK, thank goodness noone (at least that I know of) had to use this option so we never saw for sure what it was but I'm pretty sure it's something like the method most of us use to clean up after our dogs at the dog park. Lovely. Option 2 - the "day tripper" is a small ammo can and in this ammo can you put a brown paper bag, some kitty litter (oh yeah, that's right, kitty litter) and then uh, position yourself just right over it and let loose. Well, my tummy being the way that it is, things move kind of quickly through so I had to wake up poor Kleo from her nap and then steal her napping corner to give the "day tripper" a go. The nice thing was - I had to go SO BAD that I really didn't care at that point WHAT was in the day tripper! HAHA Ah, a success. Not everyone gets to tell a story like THAT after going on vacation!
OK, second moment - as I mentioned, our trip was mostly women and by now we had been pretty much "alone" on the river. We had seen other trips but never were at the same campsites or anything like that. Well, a BOAT load, technically two, of young men, ages 18-19, came tromping up into our pretty little waterfall space. I saw them first so I ran up and "warned" some of the other ladies, just so they woudln't be surprised. When I was walking back, I ended up at the top of rock after you had to walk through waist deep water. I waited there politedly while all the boys passed and helped a couple of them up over the rock with a wrist pull. One of those people was the "leader" of the boys group who I would later get to know of as "Doc." Most of the boys carried on and hiked up to the top of the waterfall but a few of them stayed down by us and sat in the creek too. One looked to have a sprained or hurt ankle. One of our group members talked to Doc over by the waterfall for 20 minutes or so. He sponsors this trip every year for a group of boys from Chicago to come on the river. He had done it maybe 5 or 6 times now. He LOVED the canyon and loved bringing the boys to the river. Sherri asked "oh, are they inner city kids?" and Doc said plainly, "No, rich white Jewish kids." :-)
After sometime, our hikers returned and we left the boys behind and headed down river to a campiste called the "Football Field" at almost mile 138. It was a very large beach which was broken in two because the water was so high! Not so football field-ish anymore!
Friday Day 11
We chose Win's boat today. We had a pretty quiet morning on the river, some decent rapids but nothing major and were trying to make some river miles to get to the hike/play spot for the day (Havasu Falls). We got about 10 miles, just past "Matkat" canyon when we came across what would forever change all of us. The two boats carrying the boys from the day before were pulled over in an eddy, trying to hug the shore and they were yelling and asking us if we had any doctors on our trip. Well, shit, yes, we sure did have doctors, just about every kind. We all pulled over and Win was able to get right to one of their boats at which time we were told a man had had what appeared to be a heart attack. They had been doing chest compressions for 30 minutes and they were waiting for the helicopter to arrive. Win quickly hopped off our boat and like superman said "I'm a wilderness EMT, I'm better than a doctor." Meanwhile, 3 of our women were also scrambling up onboard their boats to help as well.
Most of us couldn't do a thing. Win and our 3 ladies were working their asses off with chest compressions and anything they could do. At some point we found out that it was "Doc" that was in the boat. Those of us on board couldn't see Doc - and from my angle I could see the work that my friends were doing. Tracy - our trip leader was busy helping the other guides from the other tour get and do whatever they needed to do. We all tried to stay calm and in our boats. Kleo put up shades for us so we wouldn't get too hot. A few of us were handing things to the emergency team as they asked for it - epi pens, back board, breathing mask, etc. The helicopter flew over us and was only able to land up on a cliff about 50' above us. Kent (the paddle boat guide), who apparently is an expert rock climber, climbed up a flat faced wall to reach the helicopter EMTs first. They were able to rope/hike down to the scene. The helicopter EMT was amazing. She had everything in order and gave out commands like a pro. They were truly doing EVERYthing they could for Doc. It had been about an hour now of compressions.
The other "leader" of the boys had all the boys get on one boat. He was a good leader and spoke with them as he needed to. Rachel climbed on board the boat with the boys and offered them spiritual support. They recieved her kindly and really appreciated her love. I happened to be near the EMT when she used the SAT phone to call in. I knew when she got off the phone that they were going to call it and pronounce Doc's death. I saw her walk over to the boys boat and tell the other leader, Elliott, the news. The boys were devastated. Although most of us (adults) knew that even at 30 minutes of chest compressions it was likely that he was already dead, the boys really didn't know. They saw all these people helping a man they looked up too and were hiking with just an hour before and they just lost it.
At that point, my legs moved me onto the boat with the boys. By this time, 2 other women from our boats were also on board with the boys. I went to one that was sitting alone, away from the group. I put my hand out, he put his hand in mine, I put my other hand out, and he put his other hand in mine. I told him that I wanted him to know how much love I was offering him and he completely collapsed in my arms sobbing. My life will be forever changed in that moment. I sat with him for a long time. I don't know his name but he will forever be in my heart. I sat with a couple of other boys and talked with them a little bit as well. They were all so grateful and appreciative of the love and care that we offered not only Doc but them that day. It was so profound.
Eventually, we were all asked to return to our own boats. Win came back to our boat. The helicopter could not remove Doc from the area we were all stopped at. They were going to have to float to a better landing spot downriver. Their boats left before we had all our people and gear back together. When we continued on downriver, we passed the boys again. Doc was being carried to the helicopter which had landed in what seemed to be an impossible place to land. In the opening of a side canyon that it just barely fit in. We waved to the boys and sent them our love over the water.
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| Tuckup Canyon Campsite |
We floated down to mile 165, Tuckup Canyon, and stopped for the night. We had a nice toast to Doc at dinner time and were able to get some downtime at camp that night.
Saturday Day 12
The guides opted for a super short river day today and in fact, the day started off with a hike into Tuckup Canyon, right from our campsite. Rachel and I (and a couple others) decided to hang back and read, nap, journal and whatever. Rachel and I walked up to this really nice shady spot where the sun hadn't gotten to yet. We settled in on this really nice flat rock. She was journaling, I was reading and about 10 minutes later we were blinded by the SUN! So, we got up, shifted to a new spot where the sun hadn't gotten to yet, settled in and about 5 minutes later, were blinded by the SUN, so.....we got up, shifted A LONG WAYS, settled in and was in the shade about 15 minutes! My god! We couldn't get away from it! Rachel made the joke that we were like "wandering Jews" searching for our "holy land of shade!!" HAHA We finally gave up and headed back to campsite where we finally found a spot to settle: in the water, hiding behind a tree, in the water. Sheesh! It was HOT!
The hikers came back and we hopped in our boats for the day. We chose Tracy's boat today. And we went a whopping 2 miles to National Canyon were we stopped for the day! HAHA We had just packed up the boats and now we were unpacking them again! It was a pretty hot campsite. We had lunch and then about 1/2 hour later, all of us (Rachel too!) headed up into National Canyon.
Did I mention how hot it was? :-) About 1/2 mile in I was just cooking. I had wet myself down before I left but I was just so stinking hot. I was feeling a little woozy so I had Rachel go ahead with the group while I sat in the shade for a bit. But, my god, the shade was even hot! After the last group came through, I opted to head back to the river, I just really didn't feel very well. Jessie was kind enough to walk back with me to make sure I was ok. I sat in the river, sat in the shade, sat in the river, sat in the shade, and tried to drink lots of water. Carol ended up coming back too so we layed down in the shade and took a nap together then sat in the water and crawled back into the shade. This body just isn't meant for temps over 90 degrees anymore! :-)
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| Rachel in National Canyon |
Sunday Day 13
I woke up feeling much better! In fact, I even got cold during the night and had to crawl in my sleeping bag! And, good thing because today was THE DAY! We were going to go through Lava Falls - the biggest baddest rapid in the river system! We chose Kristin's boat again since we had gone through the other big days with her. We had a few warm up rapids and then at mile 179 we pulled over to "scout" Lava.
This time I went along to scout. All our tensions had been built up to this point. And, for me, I felt better after having seen it. This wasn't the case for everyone. I guess I had in my mind these HUGE waves and HUGE drops so seeing it lessened my worry. One of the big deals about this particular rapid is there is what's call a huge "hole" created from what I'm assuming is a huge rock. The water flows over the rock and drops down pretty far into this "hole" that looks pretty damn scary. So, the goal is to AVOID the hole. There is also another smaller hole. The rapid is a technical one. We all took our gander and then regathered at the boats. Rachel did her praying thing over the rapid itself, the boats, the guides and all of us. Lori (one of the new folks) walked up to Rachel and said "So, you prayed for all of us, right? Not just YOUR boat?" HAHA Rachel confirmed that she did pray over ALL of the boats. :-)
Off we went, back onto the river. Tracy's boat first.......then Jayne's boat........then US.......the paddle boat......Kleo's boat and finally Win's boat. Rachel and I were in the front of our boat, anchored down and hanging on. Terri was in the back, also anchored down and hanging on. Kristin said "think positive thoughts" and we went in. The rolls right before the rapid are so transfixing, such smooth, pretty water and then just craziness! We hit a few bumps pretty hard and then Kristin yelled "DOWN" and we dropped and HUNG ON! We dropped into the secondary "hole" that we had hoped to avoid. It was maybe a 3 foot drop and we hit pretty hard. Rachel and I braced and stayed in. Terri got bounced pretty hard but was also able to stay in. Kristin finished the rapid upright and with all of us still on-board. Whew! We got a short little break before the next rapid, affectionately called "Son of Lava" by the guides. It was a splasher and pretty fast moving water. We made it through and turned to watch to make sure the boats behind us were doing ok.
EVERYONE MADE IT! In their boats! Oh, we were all so happy! We pulled over for lunch on this cool ledge spot right after the rapids so we could look back at it while we ate. I think more lunch got eaten that day than any other day! All of us were so relieved to be looking back at a rapid that we had all been hearing about for 13 days. We talked to Kristin a bit about her "run." She was upset that we hit that secondary hole - she said it was her worse "run" through Lava, ever. Rachel and I were just so happy that we made it through upright and in the boat.
While we were having lunch a private group came through Lava. 3 or so boats came through first, all ok and then a few more came through. One of them hit the BIG hole and his boat flipped. We could see him bobbing and a lot of his gear bobbing. One of his team rowed out and got him while the other boats chased down his upside boat and his gear. One of his oars floated over to us and was brought out of the water. It was bent at a 30 degree angle! OY! It just hurt to even look at it. Win and Tracy took off on Win's boat to help out (we joked that a new reality TV show as going to come out and have it be "CanyonX rescues on the Colorado!" :-) and try and catch the boat. The rest of us finished up lunch and then piled in our remaining boats. The paddle boat had to be towed so Kent could oar Tracy's boat. It was quite a dog pile of humans on the boats. Kleo ended up with like 7 or 8 women on her boat! Someone started the joke that it was the "budget Olivia Cruise!" HAHA (lesbian only cruise line for those of you that don't know that.)
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| Dress up night. :-) |
We stopped for the day at mile 190, Granite Island campsite. This was also the night that Tracy brought out the "dress up" bag and told us to start finding our outfits. Yes, it's true, I ended up in a dress. See photo for proof. :-)
Monday Day 14
Our last full day on the river. Wow. Hard to believe. We chose Tracy's boat today. We had a really nice morning visiting with her and floating along. There were a couple of rapids but the morning was pretty mellow. The sun started beating down on us and I started to get pretty warm. Rachel took the oars to give it a try for a little while and allowed Tracy a short little break. And, this is one of my happiest moments: I said "hey Tracy, I'm hot - I'm thinking about jumping in, will you pull me back in?" and Tracy replied "sure, go for it" and I said "do I have to tell you how much I weigh first?" Tracy said, "nope, I'll get you in." :-) So, I balanced best I could on the side of the boat and did a CANNONBALL into the Colorado River!! WAHOOO!!! It was so much fun and felt SOOOO GOOOOD!!! And, as promised Tracy hauled me in as Dolo eliquiently put it: like a big halibut! :-) Pretty impressive!
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| Me trying to look professional |
At mile 216 we got to have some more water fun. The guides let us jump out of the boats, if we wanted to, and actually float through a small rapid. It was pretty exhilirating! I happened to go first so once Tracy caught up with me (people float faster than boats) and hauled me back in (for the second time that day - poor thing!) I got to watch everyone else bobbing along. :-) It was pretty cute. It's fun when it's planned "out of the boat" trips. :-)
After that it got a little crazy, Rachel tried oaring for a little while again and when a small rapid came up she moved out of the Captain's chair so Tracy could take back over. Except Tracy didn't get up. She just was watching the rapid coming at us. HAHAHA Rachel was freaking out, I was laughing my ass off and Tracy was just sitting there. She did finally get up and stand at the Captain's spot but never actually took the oars through the entire thing! Apparently, it wasn't much of a rapid. :-)
And, THEN, on the next rapid which was kind of a two parter - Tracy oared through the first part and then said "hang on, there are two big hits coming" so Rachel and I beared down but out of the corner of my eye I saw Tracy hopping out of the oaring position and to the back of the boat to HIDE!!! OMG!!! Rachel didn't find this funny AT ALL!! I, however, thought it was completely hysterical! Which didn't help Rachel AT ALL!! HAHAHA (Rachel still doesn't think this is very funny, even as I laugh writing about it! :-) Rachel was yelling at Tracy "GET BACK ON THOSE OARS LITTLE MISSY!" and I was laughing my ass off. HAHAHA
We ended the day at Upper Mile 220 campsite, at uh, yeah, mile 220.
Tuesday Day 15, last day on the river
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| last sunrise in the Canyon for us..... |
We arrived at Diamond Creek and had to pull over into the "we are next spot". There was a tour group just loading in, 120 people! Fortunately we were up stream from them quite a ways so we had a quiet little resting spot where I got a great nap on the ground - life preservers make great pillows!
It was finally our turn. The area was big enough for all of us to come into shore at one time and we all helped unload and dismantle the boats. Our gear went in that pile, CanX gear went in that pile, that stuff went over there, etc. It was pretty amazing. The frames came out of the boats, the boats were washed down and carried out of the water and the air was let out. Wow. It was kind of cathartic to be part of the process. It was pretty hot so while most people ate lunch I sat in the water trying to stay cool. And, popped some Dramamine since the next adventure was going to be on a school bus that was as old as I am and on dirt roads. Eeek.
We loaded up onto the bus, Rachel and I in the front so I could look out the front window and we took off. And, boy, do I mean we took OFF! Our driver was driving like a freakin' maniac! I don't think I would have driven that road that fast in my Jeep! Finally he told us that the bus can overheat so he has to go so fast so the air blowing on it cools it down. I don't know if he was telling us the truth but he said we made the trip in record time! In some ways, I was kind of glad he did it so fast, all the sooner it got over with the better, I guess. And, then onto our next bus - a CanX bus though and much nicer, this one even had A/C! :-) I slept most of the ride back to the hotel in that bus.
We arrived back to our hotel, picked up all the gear we left behind and all scuttled to our hotel rooms to shower and begin the reentry process. At 7:30pm we had a pizza party that the guides joined us for so we got to say our goodbyes and took some pictures. It was still so hard to believe it was over.
Driving back to CA (Wed and Thurs)
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| At the Desert View Watchtower Overlook |
One of Rachels' friends from NY just happened to be on vacation and was at the Park that day so we met up with her and her husband at the visitor's center and hung out for a few hours. And, then back down to Highway 40 and on our way back.
We opted to drive "all night" since we had so many hours to drive and really just wanted to be in our cute little house with our pets. We did stop from 12:30am to 4:30am at a really nice truck stop and slept in the car for a while. The rest of the drive either Rachel or I were sleeping while the other was driving. It was a long trip. We got home about 10:30am and the dogs completely went bonkers! It was so nice to be in our own space again and especially in our own bed.
If you have read through all this way, you know that this trip was such an amazing adventure. I am so happy that I did it and that Rachel joined me on it. It will definitely be one to talk about the rest of our lives........
Sounds like an amazing trip. You 2 are blessed to have each other and friends to enjoy he trip with. Reading this I felt many emotions happy and sad, Thanks for an amazing trip down the Colorado Rive. Love you girls:) Jane
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