215 Days to Go - Finishing up the Gems

Stars over the Canyon.

TL Report: Did everyone check out the cool GC Google Earth file I posted earlier in the week? It's fun to play with! Try zooming in to see Crystal (river mile 98), Lava (river mile 179) or our next camp Bass (river mile 108).

Here's a great video slide show of a GC trip that is really entertaining to watch:

 



Powell Plateau

 Mileage This Week: River Mile 104-106. As we travel through the final "Gems", the lower canyon walls fall back from the river. The Canyon really opens up and the Powell Plateau becomes visible on the skyline (photo left).

At river mile 104.4 we will run Emerald Rapid, class 5 (out of 10). This rapid is also known as "wanna-be Ruby" and is a read and run rapid with large waves.

Ruby Rapid at 105.2 is formed by debris from Ruby Canon on river left. This class 5 rapid also has a large wave train.

Waves in Serpentine Rapid

The final Gem, Serpentine, drops 12 ft and is rated class 7. It has a large pour over at the top right that we will definitely avoid.

GC Wild Burros are still found on reservation land

GC History: Feral Burros in the Canyon. 

Many Grand Canyon National Park visitors  recall the heartwarming story of the little burro named  “Brighty” (you did read the 1953 classic Brighty of the Grand Canyon, right?). Upon arriving at the park, many of these Brighty fans are shocked to learn that there are no more feral burros in the park. In fact, pursuant to a carefully worked out plan, the last of the park’s wild burros were captured and relocated more than 40 years ago.

In the 1960's, burros were considered an nuisance species that unfairly competed with the Canyon's indigenous animals. The NPS developed a plan to rid the parks of burros, but the public was firmly against the idea. The NPS plan called for wildlife managers to cull the animals (call it the quick, efficient, and cheap approach); however, animal protection organizations demanded the use of non-lethal methods (call it the slow, inefficient, and expensive approach). This was a recipe for confrontation and both sides were deadlocked. 

In response to the issue, Congress passed The Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act (Public Law 92-195)  in 1971, which gave feral burros permanent tenancy on most Western public lands; however, it specifically exempted national parks and wildlife refuges.The public was appeased, and the burros were subsequently captured and relocated. 

Statue of Brighty at the North Rim

__________More on Brighty____________

Brighty of the Grand Canyon, the beloved 1953 children's novel by Marguerite Henry, is an account of a real-life burro named "Brighty", who lived in Grand Canyon from about 1892-1922.

Originally named "Bright Angel" after the creek that flows from the North Rim to Phantom Ranch, Brighty spent summers carrying water from a spring near the canyon floor back to the North Rim .By all accounts, Brighty was a very friendly fellow, and allowed children to ride on his back for hours on end. His favorite food was said to be pancakes, which the camp cook frequently feed him.  

Brighty was involved with a number of Grand Canyon historical events. In 1921, he participated in the dangerous construction of the first Kaibab suspension bridge across the Colorado River. According to legend, Brighty was the  first to cross the new bridge when it was completed. Brighty also met Teddy Roosevelt, whom we have to thank for protecting and preserving the Grand Canyon.

Although almost a century has passed since Brighty roamed the North Rim, his legend lives on. When you visit the Grand Canyon North Rim today, you’ll find a life-size bronze statue of Brighty in the lobby.Rubbing the nose of Brighty's statue is said to bring good luck.

Pulling over for lunch

Lunch Time!

 Equipment/Camp/Info Check: What will lunch be like on the river? Well, I'm glad you asked. 

In January, I'm going to send out a little questionnaire on what foods anyone is allergic to or what you absolutely hate to eat. I'm also going to grab a couple of you to work on the menu. That being said, we will never please everyone (especially with three kids along), so I have already decided to have PB&Js as an alternative lunch everyday. :-) Who can't be happy with that?

Below you'll find some of the menu options for lunches. If the lunch is something that needs to be made up like pasta salad or tuna salad, it is usually prepared at breakfast. If it's cold cut sandwiches or something similar, we'll just pull the meat from a freezer. All lunch stuff will be stored in a day cooler on one of the rafts until we need it. There will always be some sort of snack, and during the summer it's important we retain salt, so salty snacks will probably be our main accompaniment.  We will also have some sort of Gatorade-type drink mix and a water cooler.  When we stop will depend on what we are doing that day (rapids, hikes, etc).

Lunch	Suggested Sides
Cold Cuts	Pringles/Cookies
Veggie Cuts	Chips/Cookies
Chicken Salad	Chips/Cookies
Tuna Salad	Chips/Cookies
Tuna Wraps	Chips/Cookies
Chicken Wraps	Chips/Cookies
Pasta Salad	Chips/Cookies
Salmon Lox	Chips/Cookies
Tostadas	Cookies
Mexican Wraps	Cookies
Mexican Tacos	Cookies
Taco Salad	Cookies
Hummus/Cheese/Pita	Chips/Cookies
Tabouli Salad/Pita	Chips/Cookies
Egg Salad	Chips/Cookies
PBJ	Chips/Cookies
Cheese/Salami/Crackers	Chips/Cookies

 I want to be sure to tell everyone to bring one Power Bar type personal snack for every day we are on the river. Cliff bars, Lara Bars, anything is fine as long as it won't melt to mush in the heat (chocolate is not a good choice). 


If you get hungry and lunch is not for a few hours, you'll get cranky and/or weak. Save yourself (and all of us) the threat to group dynamics by preparing ahead and bringing a daily personal snack. Full trip people need 18 for the 18 days we are on the river.  If you are hiking in or out at Phantom, you may need a similar amount when you factor in the hike. Hikers (and rafters)  be sure to do your homework and  look for a higher sodium (salt) content of your snack (to retain water and electrolytes).




Next Deadline: Final trip balance is due February 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.

Google Earth Map of Grand Canyon Camps/Rapids/Sites

If you have Google Earth downloaded on your computer, check out this amazing map made by Micheal Sawyer. It lists any site you may want to see, links for youtube videos, NPS videos, campsites, etc. You need Google Earth to make this work, so if you need to download Google Earth click here.  I've linked this map so it will always appear at the very bottom of the blog.

1. Press the "Play" key on the map to find GC.
2. Then hit the "Pause" key for manual operation (otherwise it will run down the river site by site)
3. Use your left click to drag the map down or up river
4. Use your scroll wheel to zoom in or out on a specific site.  

222 Days To Go - Tuna Creek/The Gems



 TL Report: I was blown away by this stunning photo (above) posted on the Colorado River thru Grand Canyon facebook page. This was a September 2010 trip and they say it's above Havasu Canyon.  Here's the URL if you'd like what to check out the site:  http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/ColoradoRiverRafting


What the Grand Canyon forums are chatting about this week: Using GPS in the Canyon. If someone has a wilderness GPS and wants to purchase the maps, go for it. However, this isn't really necessary. I think it takes a little out of the exploration aspect of the trip. I love pouring over the maps, comparing the topography with the bends in the river to figure out where we are. We're on an adventure, I like the idea of keeping some of the mystery in it all! That being said, it you love your toys and want to bring yours, no worries, bring it on.

There has also been an extensive (really, really, yawn, extensive) thread on the best way to right a flipped raft. See the info check section below to be enlightened in a much more condensed format :-).



I stumbled across this river mile/elevation diagram today. Check how steep Marble Canyon is. The river drops 800ft in the first week of the trip (Lee's to Phantom) then 1200 ft during the last two weeks from Phantom to Diamond Creek.



Mileage This Week: River Mile 100-103. Now that we've survived Crystal (umm, hopefully) and the ABC party, we continue on thru Tuna Creek, class 6 (out of 10) a 10 ft drop and Lower Tuna Rapid, class 4. At river mile 101, we'll continue on with "The Gems" or "The Jewels". Starting with Agate Rapid, class 3 at mile 101, then Sapphire Rapid, class 6 at mile 101.5  then Turquoise Rapid, class 3 at mile 102.5.

 All of these rapids have big wave trains with big, wide open runs. As you can see, this section has a lot of continuous rapids and will be fun and wet!



Video of Tuna Creek Rapid:


GC History: Airmen Bail Out of Plane Over GC
During World War II, three air force crewmen were forced to bail out of a plane in flight over Grand Canyon. The pilot ordered the evacuation on a false alarm and eventually landed safely, but the crew parachuted into the area of Tuna Creek, a remote side canyon just after Crystal. At the time virtually no known route existed to reach Tuna Creek within the labyrinth of Grand Canyon. The injured airmen survived on airdrop rations for a week before searchers finally forged a route in and rescued them.

Equipment/Camp/Info Check: Since we are on the subject of righting flipped rafts, below is a video of how to do it - sorta. If we have a flip (and I don't want to jinx us, but we haven't had one yet in the two trips I've done) we will all need to follow some safety rules.

1. Listen to your boatmen and do what they say. (Actually this is the primary safety rule on the river at all times). The boatmen's primary concern is safety.
2. Get the people to shore. You are the priority until everyone's out of the river, not the equipment (we'll eventually get it downstream). Okay, now take a deep breath. Relax. If everyone's safe, the rest is just details (and a great story for later).
3. The other rafts/kayaks will stop and help so you should have plenty of tribemates.



Z-Drag crazy. We probably won't be doing it like this.

4. Tie the raft's bowline to shore to keep the raft from floating away. Hopefully you have a beach with good footing and space.
5. Unload the raft as much as is feasible (everything's under water so maybe this isn't possible). However be sure to take off the oars as they are very dangerous when righting the raft.

6. Tie two to three lines on the river (or shore) side of the raft to the frame. Never tie to D rings as these can break under strain and that's very dangerous.

7. Get as many people on the upside down boat as is safe, who are strong, able, and experienced if possible.
8. Pull while standing on the opposite tube and be prepared to jump out of the way when the raft starts to flip over.

This video ( of righting a raft after flipping at Crystal) is pretty good, but check out the oar flying around (dangerous). Sorry Meg, but I had to post this (xxoo!)





Next Deadline: Final trip balance is due February 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.

229 Days To Go - Crystal



Pulling away from the hole at Crystal, high water. While I'd love to see it high like this, we probably won't!

 TL Report: Hey all, I'm pushing back the last deadline date to Feb 15th as January 15th seems too close to the holidays and their associated costs.  Please be sure to plan to have final trip money by that date. I will have finalized trip costs by then. Total trip costs are on track to be around $1000/pp  for full trips, $600 for Phantom to Lee's and $400 from Lee's to Phantom. This amount may go up slightly depending on if you'd like to use shared lodging before and after the trip  (around $15 per night per person) and if the trip wants  to do a big crawfish/crab boil ($18 per person) at the put in.

What the Grand Canyon forums are chatting about this week: There have been some posts of trips looking for participants for winter trips.  Per the GC Non-Commercial regulations, an individual can only go on one trip every 12 months. So a year from June, if you are interested in another GC trip, and you are cold hardy, you should lurk in the forums to try to score an invite.

Mileage This Week: River Mile 97-99:  We continue with big whitewater in this section, running Boucher Rapid, class 4 (out of 10), a 13 ft drop.

Crystal from above, you can see the main and lower rapids, and the scouting trails on the right

The Start of the Gems.
After Boucher,  we are going to get ready for Crystal, class 9 (out of 10), a 17 to 25 ft drop depending on the source. Crystal, like Lava Falls, is a name laden with import to all in the whitewater community, east or west. Created by a massive flash flood in the winter of 1966,  this rapid contains two very large holes that we will attempt to miss. Crystal and Lava (at River mile 179) are considered to be the biggest and most difficult rapids in Grand Canyon.

Crystal "map" with water flow from bottom to top. We want to thread the holes and stay off the island!  This is from Colorado River Briefs for a trip through the Grand Canyon by Linda and Dan Lindemann. Here is the link if you want a copy.

There are two runs as you can see from the map. A river right run - this is the high water run or the "cheat" route in normal levels - or the river left run, which involves threading the needle between two holes, then missing the wall on the bottom left. If that isn't enough, the boatmen will need to avoid the rock island at the beginning of lower crystal. This is a very long rapid as it is really two rapids stuck together. We will 100% scout, and anyone who wants to walk can walk - buuuuuuttttt, why would  you want to??  One of the fun things about running Crystal is the "ABC" party at the bottom. ABC stands for Alive Below Crystal :-) and usually involves copious amounts of alcohol.

The Crystal hole at 93,000 cfs during the 1983 flood. Wow!!



Crystal marks the beginning of "The Gems": the next 10 miles or so that will include Agate, Sapphire, Turquoise, Emerald, Ruby and Serpentine Rapids.

 GC History: Louis Boucher aka "The Hermit"


Boucher and Hermit Rapid is are named for Louis D. Boucher, an immigrant from Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada who arrived at the canyon’s South Rim before 1891. Boucher chose to settle and area about eight miles west of what later became Grand Canyon Village. He build the nearby Waldron Trail about 1896, and another early trail from Hermit’s Rest down past Sweetheart Spring to Hermit Basin about the same time.

Photo left: Louis Boucher on his trademark mule, Calamity Jane. Boucher spent time at the Grand Canyon’s South Rim and inner-canyon trails 1891-1909, and acquired his sobriquet, The Hermit, soon after he left to live in Utah.














Boucher is an enigmatic historical character, known after 1910 as “the hermit.” There is little doubt that he was eccentric, riding about the area on his pure white mule, Calamity Jane, and seemingly preferring his own company to others—odd behavior for an early tourist guide. The Santa Fe Land Development Company apparently labeled him The Hermit after they bought out his interests to build their own Hermit Trail in 1909, no doubt to add a little romance to their advertisements, but he was not a true loner.

Another oddity surrounding Boucher is that despite his publicized proclivity for being a hermit, he has more canyon features named for him than nearly all other pioneers combined: Boucher Creek, Canyon, Trail, and Rapids; Hermit Rest, Road, Trail, Camp, Fault, Basin, Creek, Rapids, and Shale; and Eremita (Spanish for Hermit) Mesa and Tank. A hermit in life, perhaps, but in the afterlife he is as well remembered!






Do you think there'll be enough soda?

 Equipment/Camp/Info Check: Since we are on the subject (ABC party reference above), let's talk about alcohol on the river. You are welcome to imbibe whatever you'd like to consume during the trip. Beer is pretty common, but anything is welcome. ALL beer/soda drinks must be in NON GLASS cans/bottles. Liquor in a glass bottle will need to be transferred into a plastic one (like a Nalgene bottle). Our outfitter, Moenkopi, works with an liquor distributor and will give us the opportunity to submit an alcohol order that will be delivered with the food at the put in at Lee's Ferry. I will put out information closer to the trip. From what I understand, you can order almost anything and they have a great selection of micro brew. That being said, please be sure to keep in mind that we will be in very hot conditions, and you will need to hydrate with water not beer. It's up to you, but moderation is key. Plus, we will have three tweens along, so keep any safety meetings under wraps.

Looks like everyone was hurting in the morning at this camp. But *wince* the beer cans on the beach are killing me. Atleast the party looks to have been below the high water mark (and the beer residue will wash away during the next tide).

Here's what MOENKOPI has to say about ETOH:

Beverages

If you would like to custom order your beverages ahead of time, and have it pre-loaded on the truck for you, please take your time and make a thorough list with the list below, so you can make your order in one shot. This will not be your last chance to pickup drinks, but it is an easy, no hassle way to do it. Use your TRIP NAME for buying individually.

After your list is complete, call Mark Wagner at 928 556-8675 or email him at mwagner@infomagic.net (I will do this for our trip)


Mark is a local, honest beverage distributor that can process your total order in one shot and then MOE picks it up to be loaded on the truck. Mark is not apart of Moenkopi Riverworks and is only here to make your organization easier. Please be kind and make it very simple for him, it's alot of work:) This order should be placed and paid for 2 weeks before your trip.

Lake Mary Chevron River Trip Pricing

Beer Items Size Qty Cost
Fat Tire Amber Ale 12oz 24 $31.90
New Castle Brown Ale 12oz 24 36.50
Dundee Honey Brown 12oz 24 27.90
Guiness Draught 16oz 24 49.30
Oskar Blues Dales Pale Ale 12oz 24 37.80
Oskar Blues Old Chub Scottish Ale 12oz 24 37.80
Oskar Blues Mama’s Yella Pils 12oz 24 37.80
Ska Brewing ESB 12oz 24 37.80
Ska Modus Hoperandi 12oz 24 37.80
Ska True Blonde Ale 12oz 24 37.80
Ska Mixed Up 12 packs (2) 12oz 24 37.80
Big Sky Trout Slayer Ale 12oz 24 35.90
Big Sky Moose Drool Brown Ale 12oz 24 35.90
Big Sky Scape Goat Pale Ale 12oz 24 35.90
Shiner Bock 12oz 24 35.90
Grand Canyon IPA 12oz 24 37.15
Grand Canyon Amber Ale 12oz 24 37.15
Four Peaks Sunbru 12oz 24 39.90
Mudshark Hefeweizen 12oz 24 32.90
Mudshark Belgian White Ale 12oz 24 32.90
Warsteiner 12oz 24 27.90
Moosehead Lager 12oz 24 31.90
Blue Moon Belgian White Ale 12oz 24 31.90
Red Stripe Lager (Jamaica) 16oz 24 35.90
Imperial Lager (Costa Rica) 16oz 24 35.90
Murphy’s Stout 16oz 24 41.90
Boddington’s Pub Ale 16oz 24 41.90
Fosters Lager 12oz 24 28.90
Heineken or Heineken Light 12oz 24 32.50
Amstel Light 12oz 24 32.50
Dos Equis Lager 12oz 24 32.90
Becks 16oz 24 32.00
Corona 12oz 24 31.75
Modelo Especial 12oz 24 26.00
Mike’s Hard Lemonade 16oz 24 34.35
Tecate 12oz 30 26.40
Pabst Blue Ribbon 12oz 30 17.99
Keystone Light 12oz 30 17.99
Budweiser and Bud Light 12oz 30 24.99
Coors and Coors Light 12oz 30 24.99
Miller Lite and MGD 12oz 30 24.99
Wine Items Size Qty Cost
Black Box Chardonnay 3 liter 1 $22.99
Black Box Cabernet Sauvignon 3 liter 1 22.99
Black Box Merlot 3 liter 1 22.99
Fish Eye Shiraz 3 liter 1 16.99

Liquor Items Size Qty Cost
Jack Daniels (glass) 1.75 liters 1 $43.99
Jim Beam (glass) 1.75 liters 1 34.99
Ten High (plastic) 1.75 liters 1 15.99
Black Velvet (plastic) 1.75 liters 1 20.99
Popov Vodka (plastic) 1.75 liters 1 15.99
Fleischmann’s Vodka (plastic) 1.75 liters 1 13.99
Smirnoff Vodka (glass) 1.75 liters 1 26.99
Jose Cuervo Gold (glass) 1.75 liters 1 35.99
Bacardi Superior (glass) 1.75 liters 1 26.99
Captain Morgan Spiced Rum (glass) 1.75 liters 1 28.99
Jagermeister (glass) 750 ml 1 24.99
Bailey’s Irish Cream (glass) 750 ml 1 23.99
Kahlua (glass) 750 ml 1 24.29
Booth’s Gin (plastic) 1.75 liters 1 21.99
Dewars White Label Scotch (glass) 750 ml 1 25.99
Mr. & Mrs. T’s Mixers (plastic) 1 liter 1 5.99
M & R Vermouth (glass) 375 ml 1 5.99
(Additional liquor items and sizes are available upon request)




Other Items Size Qty Cost
Assorted Soft Drinks (your choice) 12 pack 1 5.99
Assorted Mixers 1liter 1 1.89
(club soda, ginger ale, tonic water, seltzer water)
Nestle Bottled Water .5 liter 35 7.99

All beer is in cans. Wine is boxed wine. Liquor comes in plastic and glass
bottles. (You can pour product from glass bottles into plastic for your trip.)
Prices do not include sales tax (9.446%).
Orders should be placed at least 14 days prior to trip date


Next Deadline: Final trip balance is due February 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.

236 Days To Go - Hermit

The Giant waves at Hermit - Woo Hoo!

What the Grand Canyon forums are chatting about this week:  It has been four years since the 2006 Colorado River Management Plan was adopted. Steve Sullivan, the head ranger at the River Permits Office at GC just put out a GREAT graphic summary of lottery-related information here. The 5 questions the National Park Service was recently asked: 

1. How many noncommercial launches go unused? All lottery allocations were claimed, however the unclaimed trips were limited in number and all were the result of either no shows at Lee's Ferry, or very last minute cancellations.
2. What can you tell us about lottery applicants? the average age of lottery participants was around 50 years. No one from Kansas or No Dakota has applied for a permit since 2006! Colorado was responsible for 25% of permit applications, Arizona 9%.
3. Have noncommercial passengers changed? Not significantly, there are more winter trips and it seems the younger set (20's to 40's) are mainly using these trips.
4. Are there many former wait list members left? 36% of the old wait list members (3060 out of 8,500 people) have not received trips or have not applied for a permit.
5. Will the February 2012 Main Lottery be just like the February 2011 Main Lottery? No. There will be a lot more trip available. 2007-2011 were transition years, where old waiting list people were allocated trips before the lottery opened. Starting in 2012, all available launch dates will be included in the lottery. Actual launch availability will increase from approx 235 to 450+. Wow, it will make getting a trip a bit easier next time.

Entering f Hermit

5th wave at Hermit

Mileage This Week: River Mile 95-97. We have arrived at one of my favorite rapids of all time, Hermit, class 8 (out of 10) a 15 ft drop. It has a series of  standing waves that reach their peak midway through the rapid in the fifth wave. I have great video of Elaine swearing and laughing through the entire run the last trip we did (for those of you who know Elaine, the swearing isn't such a stretch). The waves are literally HUGE, and as long as they are run straight, they are friendly too. Often trips pull over at the bottom of Hermit and folks run the ducky or kayaks through over and over. You just don't get to see waves this size that often. This is the third of the quartet of larger rapids in Adrenaline Alley (Horn, Granite, Hermit and next week, Crystal).

This video has an 8 year old in the front of the raft taking on the waves at Hermit. At the end he says "I love them!" How great.

Equipment/Camp/Info Check:  Big Horn Sheep in the Canyon.
Most humans are disoriented to some degree by the weird dimensional vastness of the Grand Canyon. It's hard to come to grips with your own comparatively insignificant presence and your high-maintenance needs for survival in the face of a landscape so massive and inhospitable. That's why the sight of a desert bighorn, standing on a ledge just inches wide, calmly contemplating the sweep of the Canyon is so stirring. The bighorn stand 40 inches tall at the shoulder, and appear completely at ease with their place in the Canyon. They zip from ledge to ledge, seemingly oblivious of the potential for a disastrous fall, focused on finding the sparse desert vegetation that somehow sustains them. In July more so than any other time of year, the sheep need to stick closer to the river for water.

Check out this video, you can hear the river in the background.

Petroglyths of sheep

GC History:
Before the 1800's Desert Bighorn numbered in the millions in the Western US, ranging from Canada to Mexico, but hunting, mining, urban development and agriculture diminished those numbers dramatically. Diseases from domestic sheep have long been a threat to the bighorn, as well as direct human interference in their populations from hunters and ranchers wanting to preserve grazing for their herds. In the Grand Canyon, the feral burros that escaped from mining and pioneer outposts were deemed to pose serious competition for the scarce forage in the Canyon, and were removed in the 1980s to give the sheep a better chance.

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.