Grand Canyon

And down we go!

Erin and I have been trying to raft the Grand Canyon since 2018... long waitlists, Covid, life and other things getting in the way but now we were off to National Park #38.

The trip started off great with a late flight into Las Vegas but as Vegas does instead of going right to bed to catch our 6:40am bus we got trapped by "buy two beers and get a free shot". How could we pass that up?

Day 0 - Bright Angel Lodge, South Rim Grand Canyon

Either way we rallied in the morning to meet our bus... or we thought. The booking company did not relay our reservation to the bus company so there we sat and sat and eventually moved to the pool. Panicking our booking company thankfully found a solution and five hours later we had a private car ride to the Grand Canyon. Thankfully we arrived at the South Rim, though later in the day than we wanted to we only had about 3 hours of sunlight to look over the amazingness of the Grand Canyon before we tucked in for our 4:45 wake up. https://www.oars.com/grand-canyon-rafting/

Day 1 - Hiking Bright Angel Trail to Pipe Creek Beach: Jesse

The group meets up at the start of the Bright Angel trailhead, all 11 of us eager to get started and confident it will not be that bad. 5:30 am is a great time of day to start hiking in the desert but that ends all to soon. 7.7 miles down hill seems to most an easy hike but 4480 feet down is no joke. It hard on the hips, knees, and feet. Erin and I headed out and quickly found ourselves in the front leading the way. We took our time, no reason to "Bob Johnson" this hike as we had all day to get it done. The sun got really warm about 9:30 am as we headed towards Havasupai Garden the only spot on the trail with drinkable water. We almost went through 3 liters of water already and really needed the break and refill. By the time we hit the "Devils Corkscrew" the sun began crushing hikers and we found several headed up along the way that either were very tired or had stopped altogether. However we made it to Pipe Creek, our boat launch around 10:30 am not too much worse for ware.

But then there was Andre... a boatman who has rowed the Canyon 170 times (working on 2 times around the world just with Colorado River miles) with a kind face and timeless mustache. He welcomed us to the river and got use settled while we cooled off in the beautiful green water and waited for the others to join us.

As the others started to join us we started converting our hiking packs to dry bags and get a safety update from our trip leader Lew. 68 years old and guiding on the river since the early 1980's, Lew is exactly what you want in a trip leader... serious but flexible and humble to a fault. Lew tells war story after war story, each one as gripping as the last.

Time to launch, Erin and I landed in Jesse's boat, Pollux, named after the brightest star in the zodiacal constellation Gemini and built by hand by Jesse. Jesse spends his time between the Grand Canyon, being a Helli Ski guide in Alaska, Chile, Utah, in Turkey, and chasing his 2 year only son Wyld around. With Jesse on the oars it does not take long till we hit our first major rapid of the Grand Canyon... a nice easy Class 8-9 LOL rapid called Horn Creek. The oarsmen decide not to scout the rapid, even though there is a large private party at the lookout scouting themselves. We are boat 3 of 4 running this rapid and everything is going great then Jesse heads into the rapids... he navigates the rapid amazingly, so amazingly that he takes us straight up the largest wave crashing us though the top of it filling the entire dory with water and coming out the other side to massive cheers and ovations from the onlookers. Needless to say Jesse has very quickly created a following in our group...for an epic adventure.

Dory Mates: Neil, Alice, Ted and Erin

Evening Camp: Trinity Camp

Day 2 - Andre

Spending the night around Trinity Creek, we woke at what can only be described as

F-ing early! To the sound of a Conch shell. The way to communicate on the river is Conch shell... so coffee is ready when the Conch Shell is blown, breakfast is ready when the Conch shell blows, appetizers are ready when the Conch shell blows, and dinner is ready... when the conch shell blows. So on day one when the Conch shell blows around 5 am you immediately think this is crazy, but skip forward to later days and the Conch shell blows at 5 am and... you still think this is F-ing early!

Day 2 we get the honor of riding with Andre. Andre has spent a total of 8+ years at the bottom of Canyon and has a PHD in Geology. Throughout the years Andre has been researching eastern running rivers from a now sunken mountain range in far eastern Arizona. After decades of research Andre published a paper about 3 years ago on the age of the Grand Canyon and is now the leading theory on how old the Canyon is and how it was formed.

YOU THINK THAT IS AMAZING... JUST WATCH ANDRE ROW HIS HAND BUILD DORY.

It's artwork, its a person at the peak of his abilities. Dory are not easy thing, they are not rafts they are not boats, they are a low center of gravity vessel where balance is everything. That is why when going through a rapid Andre shifts his weight to only have one "sit bone" on the boat. He say "it allows him to feel the boat from one point of contact". If you get the honor of being in Andre's boat you understand, because you have the chance to reflect on the rapids and watch other boats, that's because as the boats are bailing out water if you are in Andre's boat you never seem to have to do that. You get all the waves, all the excitement, but not all the water... he just seems to put the boat in the place that is always fun and always safe. Oh yeah he NEVER rows the damn boat!!! He slides in the rapid and runs it without concern, a little row here a little row there and all of a sudden you are safely through a class 9 rapid.

Day 2 was the biggest whitewater of the trip... starting with Crystal rapid (class 10) and continuing through "Jewels" rapids... all in all its a rapid set of 10, 6, 4, 6, 6, 5, 5, 6, 8. OMG that was fun and with Andre dry as a bone.

Dory Mates: Michelle, Eric, Ted and Erin

Evening Camp: Hotauta Canyon

Day 3 - Steve

Day 3, and getting out feet under us. The weather has been unbelievable in both senses of the word... 100 plus degrees during the day and 90 plus degrees at night. It feels fantastic all day until you lay down on your bed roll... then its very uncomfortable. Today we are in the Dory with Steve. Steve is rowing a "tank" of a dory, its almost twice as wide at the other dories and because of that he is carrying a lot of gear.

Steve is a confident and seasoned oarsman who is calm and patient teacher to those in his boat and those who row the gear boats. He runs the Grand Canyon on the shoulder seasons and the Middle Fork of the Salmon during the summer.

On day three we hiked up a small stream to a small but powerful waterfall. The waterfall has a small cave which works its way behind the falls and from that entrance you can slide out from under the waterfall. A bit further down the river is another chance to get into the water... Elves Chasm is another waterfall that has a cave behind it but to get through this one you need to climb up and jump off the ledge down about 10 feet into a pool. Two fun hikes lead by oarsman Andre.

Today, I, Ted got to row Steve's boat... not sure how that happened but I must have asked the right question or gave the right answer, but either way I got to row a dory in the Grand Canyon... plus I got to row through three rapids...

Dory Mates: Kathy, Neil, Ted and Erin

Evening Camp: Fossil

Day 4 - Lew

Today we are with our trip leader Lew. Lew has been rowing dories down the Colorado since the early 1980's. We were very excited to be able to spend the day with Lew, but the rivers water levels took an unfortunate turn which prevented us from running Bedrock and Deubendorff rapids. We had been running the river on about 10,000 CFS but the water level continued to go decline as we waited for the "weekend" water from the dam to reach us... by the time we got to Bedrock rapid the water had not caught up and the guests were advised to walk around the rapid as the dories needed less weight to make it over the new shallow rocks. Unlike a raft which drafts 2-3 inches of water the dories draft 10-12 inches of water. Additionally dories do not bounce off of rocks like a rubber raft would. So we stood and watched as the dories and gear rafts perfectly run the rapids from shore.

After Bedrock we quickly came up on one of the largest and longest rapids of all the Grand Canyon, Deubendorff Rapid. This is a 200 yard plus rapid with several large holes. Everyone was very excited about this rapid, but again the water was too low for guests to be in the dories. Even though we did not get to run the rapid we did really enjoy watching the dories and rafts run it. The dories took a shallow technical run down the inside line of the rapid while the rafts drove hard from river right to left catching the current and bypassing the massive hole in the middle. It was fun to watch the different approaches by different types of boats and oarsmen.

Directly beyond the rapid was a massive campsite and beach where Lew decided we were going to "lunch over" at this campsite. We got set up for lunch and took a very nice hike into the Stone Creek Canyon. Our hike led by Jesse and Andre had several fun creek bed crossings, waterfalls, views and an Agave roasting pit that was unearthed about 8 years ago by a changing stream. The pit which could be 1,000 years old was a way the indigenous people would cook Agave and/or other vegetables and meat by using the heat from the sun to heat up the earth and hot rocks - think modern day crock pot.

With day time temps well over 100 degrees and night time temps in the upper 80s and 90s, we decided to layout our tarp and sleeping pads within 10 ft of the nice cold river. Sometime during the night we woke up to notice that the "weekend" water must be coming in since our beds were now about 1 ft from the new edge of the river. We grabbed our gear and dragged our tarp up another 10 ft to avoid floating away in the night. Well, later in the night we woke up again and yep the river was chasing us up the beach again. We packed up and moved up the beach again... our plan for a cool night of sleep was just that, but just a little interrupted. Then the Conch blew...

Dory Mates: Neil, Ted and Erin

Evening Camp: Stone Creek

Day 5 - Andre

Back with Andre on day 5 was something we were both looking forward to and it paid off. Not an over aggressive day on the river but a great day to be with our leader in spirit. Early on the river we ran into the narrowest part (77 feet) of the Colorado river... deep into the canyon. Andre all of a sudden asked if anyone wanted to row... not sure if Ted even said anything... he just jumped up and grabbed the oars. Andre opened up his hatch and pulled out a recorder. He sat on the bow of the dory and started to play folk songs from the UK, Australia, and the US. The dories which were strung out in the narrow river could hear Andre playing his songs echoing off the silent canyon walls. We all really enjoyed and appreciated those humbling moments.

Today was the day a lot of the crew was waiting for, Deer Creek, a special place for the indigenous peoples and the hike up the creek was nothing short of astonishing. The hike is not long but it is a stair climb up and down with really hot rocks as hand holds. When you get to the first flat plateau you quickly come along the very narrow river cut section... the walls wind back and forth with the stream deep in the canyon below us. As you exit the narrow canyon you come up to what is called "the patio", it looks like an oasis in the middle of the desert with 100 ft trees and lush greenery along the creek bed. As amazing as the patio was it is not the end of the hike... we continued up the trail to the "throne room" which sits at the base of a natural spring that seeps out of the middle of the cliffside. The throne room gets its name because some adventurers have used the broken off cliff side to make throne like chairs out rocks.

Dory Mates: Amiee, Ryan, Ted and Erin

Evening Camp: Old Canyon

Day 6 - Steve

Settling into the river routine and loving it. The conch shell goes off at sun up... the first conch in the morning says the coffee is ready. 20 mins later the second conch goes off and breakfast is ready. This starts another day of river fun, hiking, and eating... we haven't really talked about the food yet. Food, food and more food. We don't traditional eat breakfast or lunch, but on the river why not. Breakfast was usually pancakes, egg bake, fried potatoes and always fresh fruit. Lunch is always make your own sandwich or 3 of them. And dinner oh man dinner, grill pork lion, river stew, tuna steaks, etc.... needless to say we were never hungry.

Day three was another amazing day with a stop at Havasu Creek. Havasu Falls and Creek were already on our places to visit, so this came as a very pleasant surprise. To visit the falls, it takes a permit from the tribe and is an 8 mile hike in, but what we did not know is that if you get to Havasu Creek from the Colorado river the creek is about a 1/4 mile hike!!!! YES! Honestly we did not know this was part of our trip...and though we didn't make it all the way to the falls, we didn't care and were very excited.

Upset rapid was part of our day, just another class 8-9 rapid... no big deal. Steve our oarsmen for the day navigated the "tank" easily through the rapid. Ted got another chance to row and learn how to read the river and navigate Steve's dory that day. Also one of our favorite crew members "Sully" who is a none paid crew person got some rowing lessons too. Sully worked tirelessly for 17 days for the free trip down the river. Not only did Sully haul gear and make meals, but his Jersey accent and laugh are contagious, telling stories about his career in the coast guard and his brief career before that as a stock broker in New York City (someone needs to get him on a podcast)! Both he a Gretchen were essential for the crew to make it down the 17 days and we thoroughly enjoyed meeting them, along with our entire crew and mates.

Dory Mates: Alice, Neil, Ted and Erin

Evening Camp: Tuckup Canyon

Day 7 - Jesse

Last full day on the river and it is setting in that this isn't our real life... sad face! We took an early morning hike up Tuckup Canyon with Jesse and Neil one of the guest who lives really close to Seattle. We absolutely plan on doing more things post trip with Neil and Jesse as always has lots of stories about his very interesting life as a Helli Ski guide all over the world and a dory oarsmen during the summer.

The entire day leads up to Lava Falls rapid, the crew seems to be a bit wound up for this rapid and it seems like the trips energy leads up to it. Planning sessions among the boats oarsmen, an extended scouting session over looking the run, and lots and lots of instructions from our individual oarsmen. Lava Falls is a rapid with three steps to it. First as always is getting the dory into the right position. At the top of the rapid is a very large hole river center and a large piece of hardened lava guarding river right. Once you get the dory in position you have to cut the left lateral wave of the main "V" of the river. If you do that correctly you need to navigate a pour over that looks like a slopping section of flat water but its not. If you line that up correctly you will be in great position for the first of the 3 "big Kahuna" standing waves. We would argue that this was the largest standing waves that we ever experienced. Our trip leader Lew started the journey and had some issues between the pour over and big kahuna #1, Lew got spun around and had to complete a full 360 to get his dory in the correct spot. Andre ran it as Andre does, what looks like a flawless and without worry run. Leading up to the rapid when asked what Andre saw in the scouting session he said "looks like the rapid I've seen before". Steve said he missed his spot but was able to power his way into position and back into the boat in time for the big kahunas. And the last dory, with us in it and Jesse at the helm was perfect! So well positioned that Jesse started hooting and hollering half way down the run. Lilly, Lindsey, and Alex who were rowing the gear rafts weren't 100% happy with their runs, but all made it through without any harm.

After that, it seemed like the party was on and everyone's anxieties for the day had been washed away. If you ordered correctly you probably had a couple extra beers/wine left over that needed to be consumed before the final conch call the next morning. The group had an amazing pork tenderloin dinner and we got the best campsite of the entire trip.

Dory Mates: Cathie, Mike, Ted and Erin

Evening Camp: 184.9 Camp

Day 8 - Lew

Day 8, what the what! Come on is it really over? How do we stop this from ending???

Well, we got over our sadness and realization that the world awaits us by focusing on what we still had ahead of us.

First a nice quiet dory ride with Lew our trip leader, to the helipad. That's right helipad... we all got fly out of the Grand Canyon via helicopter to the Bar 10 Ranch. This is a wild west resort out in the middle of the desert that has its own helicopter and international runway. When we arrived at the ranch we got to take a shower, yes a shower never felt so nice. We took river bathes every day but we will admit a hot shower vs a very cold river was a nice change. After the the showers we all jumped on an Otter twin engine plane at Whitmore International Airport, elevation 4100 ft. This was a great 45 minute flight back to Las Vegas with views of the Grand Canyon and Lake Mead. After a short shuttle to Harry Reid Airport in Las Vegas the reality set in.

We had an amazing trip. Made great by the trip leader, oarsmen, gear team, volunteer assistants, and the community of guest now called friends that we were able to share this epic adventure with.

Dory Mates: Kathy, Neil, Ted and Erin

Helicopter Mates: Amiee, Ryan, Ted and Erin

Until next time, pack it in and pack it out.