Monday, January 21, 2008

Back Home: Return from the Grand Canyon

Nankoweap

Pictures are starting to come in from everyone and the video should be underway soon. Here are a few more pictures from the trip and a brief story. Check back often as I will continue to add pictures and video as I soon as I can.

Danielle and I at Havasu
Keith and DeeDee
The Power of Lava Falls or: How I Lost My Sock
Lava Falls is always exciting, however it was just a little more exciting than normal this time around. A couple of guys in the group weren't up to rowing through Lava so we had two brave volunteers step up to hike back up and run the boats through. Well, after a long wait, the first boat appeared just above the ledge hole and dropped in. Things went well at the start, but the boat ended up too far right, caught a wave and flipped. Nothing special for Lava, lots of boats flip here. However, as everyone jumps into action to go after swimmers and a flipped boat things don't make sense. As the oarsman climbs back onto the boat he looks incredibly pale, not the bright yellow of his drysuit. OHHH!!! HE'S NAKED!!! This now explains the long wait for the boats to come along, but wait, there's another boat coming and he appears naked too. Fortunately, the second raft makes it through without trouble. Some how, a throw rope appears floating right next to the boat the naked rafter throws it to shore and we pull in the boat above Little Lava. Of course, I know they are going to need help to flip the boat back over (it happens to be the kitchen boat). Unfortunately for Danielle, the only eddy I can catch is also were naked rafter #2 is stopped. So, I left Danielle to talk, take pictures and find something else to look at while I scramble up shore to help out. By the way, the first boat over to help rafter #1 is Will and Laura, the trip leader's 17 year old daughter. Well, this was supposed to be a learning experience, a Grand adventure to help her see the world and learn about life. I have a feeling it exceeded everyone's expectations. (We'll talk about the sauna later) Everything worked out well, the boat came back over easily and everyone got dry and warm without too much trouble. Oh, the guys were wearing socks they found on the boat as a last minute attempt at modesty though the river had other ideas. This brief description doesn't do the story justice, but here are a couple pictures.

Rafter #1 post Lava Falls
"What's everyone looking at?"
Rafter #2: "I make Lava look good"
Danielle and I enjoying the canyon
North Canyon
Sunset at South Canyon
Enjoying the Redwall
Danielle hiking Nankoweap Creek
Anasazi pottery shard near Nankoweap Creek
Danielle about to rule the world from an agave pit
Tanner Butte
The author hiking Shinumo Creek
The man that made this trip happen
Tappeats Creek
Thunder River as it emerges from the redwall
Thunder River heading towards Tapeats Creek
The author exploring Travertine Canyon
Danielle shows off her mad climbing skills in Travertine Canyon
Alan enjoying the water of Travertine Canyon
Sunrise on Christmas EveThe setting moon on Christmas Eve
Bighorn Sheep
Danielle and I at Elves Chasm
Sunset at Lower Bass Camp
Keith and DeeDee enjoying the canyon
Will and Laura at House Rapid
The author motoring out to Lake Mead
You can also read Dan Thurber's write up at Team Kettle Chips.




1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So I was just surfing around on the web looking for links to the White Salmon when I came upon this sight. After cruising around the page and looking at pictures I came to realize that there is a picture of me nearly naked striking a pose below lave falls...WTF was I thinking? - Rafter#2