103 Days To Go - The Ledges

TL Report: Whoo hoo! Paid off half the trip today, and the other half will be done tomorrow.

The kids got new astral PFDs for the trip. I think the dogs are jealous.






What the Grand Canyon forums are chatting about this week: This little gem was interesting:

 Verizon [wireless reception] is good at [the new] pierce ramp. One bar, barely. Find the spot. Gentle. Breathe deep. Don't move. Speak softly. Think good thoughts. And breathe. SUCCESS!                                 

Looks like we'll be able to call loved ones when we hit the takeout ramp at Pearce Ferry. :-)

The Ledges. Looks like these folks were drying out after some rain.

Mileage This Week: River Mile 152-154. At River Mile 152.1, we'll make Camp 12 at everyone's favorite camp, The Ledges. Tired of sand in your tent or bag, shoes, shorts, food, basically anywhere, everywhere? No problem, this camp is delightfully sand free.  

It's a series of ledges stacked up into flat shelves.  We'll cap our eventful day here (hiking at MatKat and running Upset) with some garlic shrimp for dinner.

GC History: Lt Joseph Ives

In 1857 a U.S. War Department expedition was led by Lieutenant Joseph Ives to investigate the Grand Canyon's potential for natural resources, find railroad routes to the west coast, and assess the feasibility of an up-river navigation route from the Gulf of California. The group traveled in a stern wheeler steamboat named the Explorer. After two months and 350 miles of difficult navigation, his party reached Black Canyon. In the process, the Explorer struck a rock and was abandoned. The group then traveled eastwards along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Lieutenant Joseph Ives' expedition up the Colorado River employed the 54-foot paddle wheeler Explorer

A man of his time, Ives discounted his own impressions on the beauty of the canyon and declared it and the surrounding area as "altogether valueless," remarking

 "It [the Grand Canyon] looks like the Gates of Hell. The region ... is, of course, altogether valueless. Ours has been the first and will undoubtedly be the last, party of whites to visit the locality. It seems intended by nature that the Colorado River along the greater portion of its lonely and majestic way, shall be forever unvisited and undisturbed."

Attached to Ives' expedition was geologist John Strong Newberry who had a very different impression of the canyon. After returning, Newberry convinced fellow geologist John Wesley Powell that a boat run through the Grand Canyon to complete the survey would be worth the risk. More than a decade after the Ives Expedition, and with help from the Smithsonian Institution, Powell led the first of the Powell Expeditions to explore the region and document its scientific offerings in 1869.


Equipment/Camp/Info Check:

I just stumbled across this amazing blog with the most beautiful photos of the river. Do yourselves a favor and take a moment to check this out:
http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?38761-Grand-Canyon-2010



122 mile canyon



The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders.

- Edward Abbey