355 Days to Go - President Harding

TL Report: Nothing to report. :-)

What the GC Private Boaters Assoc is chatting about this week: Alot of chatter about this and that, an observation on how many river runner wives are quilters (hey, wait, I 'm a quilter, a wife and a river runner!), There was also a brief trip report on a trip that launched June 19th where they mentioned they only had 3 hot nights, all the rest were cool. I'm hoping this will be our experience.  I'm reconsidering bringing a fleece sleeping bag liner as Stevie mentioned in his equipment list I posted a few days ago. Apparently, you can't please me, I don't want to be too hot and I don't want to be too cold!

Mileage this week: River Mile 44-46.

 Starting at river mile 43, we began boating around the immense Point Hansbrough (below).

At River mile 44 we'll see President Harding Rapid and camp. (see GC history below). This rapid has a wonderful surf wave for any kayaks (read: me). However, I imagine all the meat head boaters (Bill, Stevie, Dan, etc) will jump in my boat for a surf or two. It's just too nice a wave to pass up as you can see from the pix left. This is a very popular camp (bottom), but our trip is looking to run a few more miles before we stop.




 For those of you who remember Rosemary and Alan at NOC, this is where Rosemary uttered her infamous Outward Bound line, "I am becoming hypothermic, I need a dry sleeping bag and a warm, naked body next to me now."  Gotta love those former Outward Bound instructors right down to their ever practical souls.

There is a eddy at this camp that you can fly fish for monster trout. In fact, the entire river is stocked with cold water trout and they love to congregate at camps for food scraps. If you like to fish, bring a rod and your appetite. Note: you'll need an Arizona Fishing License, even if it's catch and release.

At river mile 45, we will see Eminence camp. Here is a picture at high water (left).

GC History:

• President Harding Rapid was named in 1923 after a US Geological Survey Expedition heard a radio broadcast of President Harding's death. They camped here to respect a day or mourning and named the rapid in his honor.

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  Point Hansbrough was named on Jan 14, 1890, when Robert Stanton's survey crew (see Post "390 days to go") found the remains of a skeleton at River mile 44. Stanton identified the body to be that of Peter Hansbrough, one of his crew who has drowned at river mile 25. Stanton's group buried Hansbrough here the next day, and if you hike to the base of the limestone cliff at President Harding camp you will find chiseled on the wall "PMH." Stanton named the massive limestone point across the river Point Hansbrough in his honor.

Equipment/Camp Check: How is an oar rig set up?

These specially designed 18-foot boats offer a comfortable ride and are “self-bailing” which means that any water that comes into the raft immediately flows back out through holes in the inflated floor. So, self bailing equals no bailing for the crew :-). This is a very good thing as the water is pretty darn cold and all our backs aren't as strong as they used to be.

Here's a breakdown of a typical oar rig setup. However, it is up the boatmen how they want it arranged, and Moenkopi's set up will be slightly different. On rig day, Moenkopi's folks will help us set up our oar rigs. It takes awhile, about 3.5 hrs to get everything squared away when rigging. While the boatmen are ultimately responsible for how the raft is rigged, it is considered to be good river etiquette to never unstrap anything from a boatmen's boat without informing them. Not only is it good manners, but it will ultimately keep us all safe in rapids (and your stuff out of the river).

A Ice water and cold lemonade

B Guest seating

C First aid kit

D Dry bags (your camp gear)

E Guide seat atop coolers

F Throw bag

G Oars
H Dry food storage box

I Personal Ammo Cans (river use)

J Storage for tents, cots, kitchen stoves, tables

K “Flip Lines” designed to flip a boat over in the rare event of an overturn

L Bucket for boat rinsing... and water fighting!

Our oar rigs will definitely have to have umbrellas in July,and apparently they break easily so if anyone has some big golf umbrellas, we'll need them. The umbrellas get stashed for the rapids, along with anything loose on the deck. This is where your personal ammo cans (bottom right) come in, all the gear you may be enjoying in flatwater (books, ipods, binoculars, etc) lives in an ammo can (see "I" in raft diagram above) for safety when we run rapids. While ammo cans are considered waterproof, the rule on any river is, if it really can't get wet, "double bag it". By "double bag" I mean have two waterproof barriers around your stuff. If you have a sleeping bag in your dry bag, then line the stuff sack with a garbage bag and tie it tight. If you have plane tickets or your phone, buy a second little dry bag to stuff in your big dry bag. There are many sources for waterproof bags (amazon, NRS, NOC, etc). The one on the bottom left comes from The Waterproof Store.

Next Deadline: $500 per person is due September 1st. If your trip status changes at anytime (ie, need to do a half instead of a whole trip), please let me know as soon as possible so we can fill your ½ space. This will lower your cost.

Comments, questions, concerns? Email me and I’ll include it in the next post. The comment link isn’t working correctly.