264 Days to Go - Grapevine & Clear Creek

The "Horizontal" waterfall at the end of the hike at Clear Creek

TL Report: Last Friday was an eventful day at the South Rim of  the Canyon. One man fell 500ft to his death while jumping from one rock formation to another, and two women were struck by lightning! Both women were treated and released, but you can see that the canyon is NOT Disneyland! At river level we won't be as exposed as the rim but we must be aware of our surroundings and weather conditions at all times. The thing that amazed me the most with the man's death was his age: 42. This was older than most deaths of this type. You tend to see this more in the younger guys, 15-30 or so. You can read more about the incidents from the Park's news release.

What the Grand Canyon Private Boaters Assoc has been chatting about this week: The new 2010 Arizona State quarter featuring the Nankoweap Graneries (see this post) in Marble Canyon (even if it says Grand Canyon). Beautiful!



Grapevine Rapid



Mileage This Week: River Mile 82-85: At River mile 82.1 we will run Grapevine Rapid, class 7 (out of 10) an 18 foot drop. This rapid is full of holes and we will have to be careful to either try and miss some or at least hit them straight on.



At river mile 84.1, we will run Eighty-three Mile Rapid (I know that seems funny, but the river mileage has been adjusted several times over the years). This is a class 4 rapid dropping 7 feet, right before a beautiful side canyon hike we will definitely make at Clear Creek.  



Cooling off in Clear Creek



Approaching Clear Creek



Playing in Clear Creek waterfall



We'll need to be careful to find the pull in for this side canyon as it is easy to miss. This is a great hike in the heat of the summer as it is narrow and cool. Basically we will hike up and over the schist and upriver to the side canyon then traverse back into Clear Creek. Once in the drainage, we will find a permanent clear stream of cool water wth a path leading up the canyon. We will cross and recross the stream a number of times as we walk the 1/2 mile or so up through twisting narrows to a wonderful waterfall with a great side flowing jet of water.



GC History: Grapevine was named by Major Powell (first explorer of GC) since the abundance of rocks remined him of clusters of grapes on vines.



Equipment/Camp/Info Check: Just a beautiful picture of the Bright Angel Shale, one of the many rock formations we will see.



Next Deadline: Final trip balance is due January 15th. 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.