Lower Bass Layover Day

Monday, December 2nd, 2013
This was a warm, sunny layover day without a cloud in the sky. The temperature was 14C in the early afternoon. Everyone was happy for a sunny, warm rest day to dry out gear again and take life easy. JJ and the boys cooked up some passport brownies for lunch dessert.
A few more pictures from the night before.

 The previous day had been "white trash" day so there were quite a few costumes.

 Chris is grilling chicken breasts over a charcoal fire while Matt looks on. Dan, Jeff B and Zack are in the background.

 We usually have a few beers while waiting for dinner.

 Around the fire that night, Patrick impressed all the ladies with his fashion sense, showing off his size 78 waist pants.

In the morning, the fisheries research guys stopped by for a chat. Their boats are double-hulled to withstand the rough use through the rapids. The researchers have different projects, including electrocuting rainbow & brown trout in the vicinity of Phantom Ranch to allow the native humpback chub to have less competition. Trout had been introduced many years ago to the detriment of some native species like the humpback chub. There is a movement now to try to return the Colorado River to a more natural state, although unless they remove the Glen Canyon Dam above Lee's Ferry, I doubt that the current intervention amounts to anything other than more tinkering with the environment. We'll see. We always offer any visitors a few beers to take with them since we have more than enough.

 In the morning, I walked upstream about 1/2 mile to the sandbar near Bass Rapid. I found a sheltered spot and just enjoyed the sun for awhile.

 Later, Zack and Annie came along and we found the Parkins Inscription on a rock, stating "Geo. W. Parkins, Washington DC, 1903". In those days, Canyon travellers probably thought they might die any day, since some of them did, so they left inscriptions indicating at least how far they had come.

Just below Bass Rapid, Annie (in her green costume) is posing beside the remains of the Bass Cable Crossing, used from 1908 to 1925 to ferry people and equipment across the river. Not much is left.

 The view down the slope toward our camp.

The view back upstream into the sun.

Back at camp, we set out lunch, which was our crew's last task before turning kitchen duty over to the next team. The rafts provide lots of carrying capacity and PRO has equipped us with great food and great menus to follow. We have 5 huge coolers along with other food boxes, 3 kitchen tables that turn into raft seats, a big propane stove and 2 big fire pans. All of the meals are 5*. Each kitchen team tries to outdo the previous one so it's a winning situation. It's hard to believe we're eating this well in the middle of a 22 night trip in such isolation.

In the afternoon, I re-organized my gear and relaxed in the sun, until it disappeared about 2:30 pm. Others hiked, slept or played poker. At one point a solo traveller stopped in for a chat. He had a pontoon rig all outfitted for one person. It seemed like he knew what he was doing. There are some Canyon travellers who have taken this trip multiple times.

There's nothing more pleasant than a layover day in the warm sun.