Near Phantom Ranch to Lower Bass

Friday, November 29th, 2013
Today we ran some smaller and some bigger rapids, including Hance (8), Sockdolager (7) and Grapevine (7). There were some big holes but we had good lines and avoided any problems. Nevertheless, it was still wet and cold. Everyone's hands and feet get cold from being wet most of the day. Plus we were under clouds or in the shade of the cliffs most of the time. We did have lunch on a sunny bank, which was nice. It was Hawaiian Day so those who had the appropriate costume dressed for the occasion.
We camped at Lower Cremation, not far from Phantom Ranch. We had a few drinks around the campfire at night, as usual. I went to bed but later I heard there was a chorus of Bohemian Rhapsody that made Tom laugh so hard he fell off his chair. A good last night for him as tomorrow he walks out from Phantom Ranch to the south rim and John walks in to take his place.

Saturday, November 30th, 2013
The weather is a high of 12C but it's cloudy and windy. This morning I decided to add another layer under my dry suit so now I have 3 pair of long underwear on my legs and 4 undershirts on top. Along with that I have my skiing neck warmer under my drysuit to soak up any water that seeps through my neck gasket and down my back. All of this is a bit cumbersome but it's warmer.
Grambo, J-Bo & Matt (all in various disguises) ferried Tom to Phantom Ranch early and picked up John. Since John had never met Tom, it took him awhile to recognize the sasquatch and others rowing in to the landing. The rest of us cleaned up camp and got down to Phantom a little later.
Phantom Ranch is a tourist facility that's been here for many years. It's one of the few spots where there's a well-used trail up to the south rim. There's a suspension footbridge across the Colorado to the north side where there's a small canyon with the Phantom Ranch rangers' office, campground, shop & a few small tourist cabins. Outfitters bring tourists & gear in on mules.

 The shop at Phantom Ranch where I bought a hot chocolate. I also washed my hair in the sink in the adjacent washroom. This was my first time in a building in over a week.

From the Phantom Ranch footpath, the pedestrian suspension bridge across the Colorado is visible. After we left Phantom Ranch, we had a fairly wet day going through some big rapids like Horn Creek (8), Granite (8), Hermit (8) and others. Again, we had no problems but went by some pretty big holes that could flip a raft. At the end of the day we camped at Upper Crystal campsite at Mile 99.

My tent at Upper Crystal with all my gear drying on the surrounding bushes.

Sunday, December 1st, 2013

 It was cloudy in the morning but cleared up later with a high temperature of 10 or 12C. Right away we ran Crystal Rapid (9) which, although it had some big holes and a lot of rocks at the bottom end, gave us no problem.

 Jen, Dan, Andy and Zack floating down the river. We ran Tuna Creek (6), Lower Tuna (4), Agate (3), Emerald (5) Ruby (5), Serpentine (7) and Bass (4) through the day. It was in Lower Tuna, I think, that Dan was on the gear in the back of our raft, taking pictures, while Zack rowed and I paddled at the front. As we dropped into the medium size wave train, Dan stopped shooting & hung on. Unfortunately, as a wave bounced him up, his feet slipped out from under him and he landed on the right side of his face on the cooler/seat right behind Zack, just missing the metal ammunition boxes strapped onto the raft beside the cooler. Zack and I heard a thud, turned around and saw Dan flopped like a rag doll, face bleeding and unconscious. Zack dropped the oars, turned and held Dan so he wouldn't bounce out. I hopped over the front seat, grabbed the oars and rowed, seated backwards, through the rest of the rapid and into an eddy. After about 10 seconds of being unconscious, Dan came around while we yelled for help. Patrick and Andy both rowed into the eddy. Jen, a nurse, jumped into our raft and assessed Dan. He had some minor facial cuts, which she attended to, and it took a while for him to absorb what had happened. Dan joined Jen in Patrick's raft for the rest of the day so she could monitor his condition. In the end, he had a bad head ache and neck ache but was okay. No drinking for him for a day or two.

 It's beautiful when the sun comes out.

Annie in her kayak.
As we neared Bass Rapid, we saw the "Ross Wheeler" dory on shore. This old boat was used in a failed 1915 attempt to run the Canyon.
That night we camped at Lower Bass Camp at Mile 109. This is the best camp yet, with lots of room for tents and lots of sun through the morning and early afternoon. Our crew was on kitchen duty and we served grilled chicken breasts and fettucine. Zack's bar opened that night and, although others were up much later, I managed to stay up to 10 pm, enjoying a few rum drinks.

Past Little Colorado to Papago

Tuesday, November 26th, 2013
This was another clear sunny warmer day with a few Class 4 + 5 rapids.

 Around every bend is more magnificent scenery. Sometimes we just stare.

 Zack on the oars.

Through the day, we passed the mouth of the Little Colorado River. It was so silty that it was almost red rather than brown. By 3:30 pm, we camped at Lava Canyon (not the big Lava Rapid), at the mouth of Lava Creek at Mile 66.
The next day we planned a layover so Zack's Bar was open at night.

Wednesday, November 27th, 2013
For our layover day the weather was cloudy with some sunny breaks, a cool wind and about 10C.

 Zack, Annie, a few others and I hiked up the Lava Creek bed looking for a fresh water spring. We never found it. Tom and I decided to backtrack a bit and hike a little way up a side canyon while the others went ahead on a longer walk.

We stopped on a small hilltop for lunch. It doesn't matter where you stop, the view is fantastic. That afternoon back at camp, I finally got all my gear dry. I was on kitchen duty so I had some work to do but we have a good team so it's always efficient and fun.

Thursday, November 28th, 2013
Again today the temperature was about 10C with a mix of sun and cloud. We left Lava Canyon and ran the Lava Canyon Rapid (4) & Tanner Rapid (4) before stopping at Unkar Delta. On the gentle slope around the mouth of Unkar Creek, there was an Anasazi native settlement that peaked around 1100 AD. They farmed nearby.

 There were quite a few dwellings of which only the foundation stones remain.

 It must have been a harsh landscape for farming, unless the climate was different then.

Walking among thousand year old ruins in North America isn't common. Being in the Grand Canyon includes many humbling experiences.

We ran Unkar Creek Rapid (6) and Nevills Rapid (6) before camping at Papago campsite by 2 pm. We had intended to camp just below Nevills but the site was taken. Papago is at the mouth of a slot canyon, a very narrow canyon eroded over time by a side stream.

 Tom and I hiked a little way up the slope above our camp on the sandbar. Others hiked further but neither of us felt our knees would appreciate significant climbing.

Jeffy usually sets up the 'groover', our poop can, somewhere with a view but on this night he chose a private spot in the dry creekbed of the slot canyon. Nice.

First Layover Day & To The Granaries

Sunday November 24th, 2013
When we got up, it was just misty not really raining. Through the day, a lot of people went hiking.

 In the morning, a group of us climbed up a steep slope to the first rim, where Zack and I posed for a photo. There are so many layers to the canyon that it's difficult to know if distant peaks are just that or are part of the uppermost rim. The canyon is so vast that there are only a couple of places where the actual outer rim is visible from the river itself. The incredible size of the canyon is difficult to relate.

 This is a picture downriver from our vantage point. Some of the others hiked a bit further but my knees were happy to stop here.

Our campsite is down on the sandbar near the lower centre of the picture. After we climbed back down, several of us thought a bath would be a good idea. We stripped down, jumped in the river, soaped up and then rinsed with much shrieking and cursing the cold. The water is released from the bottom of the Glen Canyon Dam about 15 miles above Lee's Ferry so it is a constant 47F (that's about 8C) all year. I swore I wasn't bathing again for the rest of the trip.
In the late afternoon we finally got about an hour of sunshine that helped dry out our gear. Because of the high canyon walls, even on clear days we're often in the shade.

Monday, November 25th, 2013
A clear, sunny day.

 As we loaded the rafts, we were happy to see the sunlight in the distance.

 Here's Tom on the oars. Through bigger rapids, Zack is the boatman responsible for the boat so he takes the oars while Tom and I paddle from the front for a little extra power. Through flat water and small rapids, we all take turns on the oars. This day, there were few rapids so Zack spent some time visiting other rafts while Tom and I sipped beer and rowed down the river.

A typical lunch spot. It's much easier to appreciate the magnificent scenery when it's warm and sunny. Later in the afternoon, we camped at Upper Nankoweap campsite at Mile 53. Just to be clear, there are a number of sand bars and cobble bars where others have camped before. They are usually named for adjacent side canyons or creeks. They are considered campsites only because there is a flat area. There are tent spots where people may have moved some rocks out of the way and trails due to use but there are absolutely no park service amenities. It is strictly no trace camping.

 After a 1/4 mile hike above Nankoweap cobble bar, Zack and I posed just below the Nankoweap Granaries, often shown in Grand Canyon photos.

 About 1,000 years ago, the natives built these small rooms into the cliff for food storage.

 The view downriver with the granaries shown on the right.

Our campsite is down on the huge cobble bar below. We saw other groups infrequently but this night there were 3 other groups camped at Main and Lower Nankoweap campsites, still far enough from us that we couldn't hear them.
At night, many people in our group heard rocks falling, which, by the look of the slopes, happens all the time. I slept through the whole thing.

Lee's Ferry to Soap Creek, Shinumo Wash and Eminence campsites

Thursday, November 21st, 2013
There was a mix of sun and cloud as we ate a quick breakfast, aided by the PRO outfitter in setting up the kitchen for the first time. After packing up, we walked a couple of hundred meters back up to the Lee's Ferry landing for our lecture on the canyon from the park ranger. This started with, "Welcome to the United States of America, the greatest country on earth". It's nice that he loves his country but we think Canada is pretty good too so it didn't seem particularly open-minded.
He was stern to start, possibly because he'd seen the almost 3,000 beers we'd loaded the day before and thought we were incompetent. Eventually, he seemed to realize that we had some good, experienced people on the trip and we weren't going to cause the park service a lot of trouble. He started to laugh at our jokes a bit so the lecture on camping, the environment, river safety and so on went pretty well.
After the lecture, we set off downriver. I started fishing right away and caught the first rainbow trout just after we left the landing. The water was clear and we could see trout in every eddy. Soon all our fishermen were catching fish. We threw them all back since we had steak thawing for dinner.

 Jen and Patrick on the river.

 Lunch on a sandbar near the Navajo Bridges spanning the Colorado 4 miles below Lee's Ferry. This is the last indication of civilization until Phantom Ranch at mile 88. On Thursday night, we camped at Soap Creek at mile 11. We'd had a few showers during the day but the rain started in earnest right after dinner. It was an early night.

Friday, November 22nd, 2013
It had rained all night and continued to rain all day Friday. Because of the rain and all the rapids, we didn't fish. We ran quite a few rapids rated from 2 to 7 on their scale, which goes to 10. We got a little off our preferred line down the right side of House Rock Rapid (a 7) and went sideways through a couple of big holes on the left. At one point, Zack, on the oars, looked down at Tom and I paddling in the front and we were completely submerged. Nevertheless, Zack kept the raft upright and we got through just fine. Andy, in his raft, snapped an oar in a powerful boil. The oar was jammed in place so he couldn't switch it out quickly and ended up drifting in among the rocks on river left. By quick thinking on his part and quick weight transfer by Clo and Duane, they managed to avoid being pinned against a rock. It was scary to watch from just below them, though.
We camped at Shinumo Wash at Mile 29. The rapids were fun but everyone was thoroughly wet by the end of the day.

The Shinumo Wash campsite.

Saturday, November 23rd, 2013
This morning, everyone dressed up for "I can't believe you wore that" day. Matt got everyone's attention with his sasquatch suit. Because of all the rain, the river was now very silty and brown. So much for fishing.

 It had rained all night and now it was raining all day. Everyone was getting wet and cold.

 At Mile 33, we stopped at Redwall Cavern, which is a huge cave with a sand floor right beside the river. This picture from the back, with people at the front, shows the size.

It was nice to be out of the rain. We tossed a frisbee around to keep warm. Duane is making a diving catch.
At the end of the day, we camped at Eminence, below President Harding rapid at mile 44. It was still raining, so we set up tarps for the kitchen and all stood there after dinner and drank at "Zack's Bar", where we chanted, "Ba da da da da da...." and slammed our insulated cups or beer cans on the bar every time we wanted Zack to pour us another drink. As some wise man said, it's easier to pass out drunk on a night like this than to try to go to sleep. By this point, all our gear was getting pretty wet. We were planning to stay over the next day at this campsite to do some hiking so we were really hoping to get dry soon.

Flagstaff to Lee's Ferry

Wednesday, November 20th 2013

 PRO arrived at our motel at 10 am with a passenger van and a big truck full of equipment and all our beer that had been delivered to their warehouse on our behalf. We loaded our packs and barrels full of camping gear onto the truck and set off on the 3 hour drive to Lee's Ferry. On the outskirts of Flagstaff, we stopped at a big food store to each pick up some lunch items for the trip.
It was at that point that Jeffy Johnson realized that he'd left his 'passport' back at the motel. Four of our group went ahead in the truck to unload the rafts and inflate them while the rest of us waited at the food store for Jeffy and the van driver to go back to the motel. It wasn't much of a wait and before long we were off in a cloud of smoke.

 It rained off and on all the way to Lee's Ferry. When we got there the rain let up and we spent a couple of hours rigging and loading the rafts. PRO has a really good system so all our gear fit, including almost 3,000 cans of beer, the most that PRO had ever sent on a trip. The park ranger jokingly asked to see our liquor license, and he didn't even see the packs with the hard liquor.

That night we camped just a couple hundred metres downstream from Lee's Ferry. PRO had 2 vans to take us to a little gas station diner for dinner. The lodge where they usually take people had burned the year before. The food wasn't too bad but since we were a large group, the service was very slow. This was our last time spending money for the next 3 weeks. We settled back into camp fairly early. It rained a bit in the night - a taste of the weather to come.

To the Grand Canyon

Monday, November 18, 2013

Well, this trip was unfortunately travels without Anita, who felt that she wouldn't be comfortable rafting the rapids of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. However, it was a unique opportunity to see the Grand Canyon from the river so away I went, although I knew that I would really miss my traveling and life partner.
Our oldest son Zack and daughter-in-law Annie organized the trip, got the permit and made the arrangements with the outfitters far in advance. Because of the high demand, permits are awarded through a lottery system and chances are greater as the weather gets colder. Almost 2 years ago, Zack and Annie got a permit for a 22 day self-guided trip with 16 participants, leaving Lee's Ferry on Thursday, November 21st and arriving 226 miles downstream at the takeout at Diamond Creek on Thursday, December 12th. They booked PRO (Professional River Outfitters) from Flagstaff, Arizona to:
-provide 5 rafts, all kitchen gear and all food (according to their "Winter Hearty" menu as amended by Annie);
-deliver 5 kayaks for those who wished to paddle, plus an inflatable kayak;
-drive us and all our camping gear from Flagstaff to Lee's Ferry; and
-pick us up at Diamond Creek and drive us back to Flagstaff.
Zack reserved 8 rooms at the Motel 6 in Flagstaff for each end of the trip. After much hassle with Air Canada and United Airlines, we each booked our flights individually to Phoenix, Arizona and then made our way by Arizona Shuttle bus or by rented van from Phoenix to Flagstaff.
The other participants in our trip were mostly Zack and Annie's longtime friends from kayaking and working at Madawaska Kanu Centre and Owl Rafting on the Ottawa River. My friend Tom Conyers took the opportunity to fill an opening for the first half of the trip.
On a trip like this, the trip leader (Zack), in consultation with the others, appoints a "boatman" to be responsible for a raft for the whole trip. Our 5 boatmen were Graham Bos, Jeffy Johnson, Patrick White, Andy Atkins and Zack. All of them have many years experience as raft guides on the Ottawa River and elsewhere in the world. Zack had the least experience in a raft but maybe the most experience as a competitive whitewater paddler in slalom races, extreme races and freestyle competitions. He had also worked for 5 months as a kayaker scouting rapids in Costa Rica for raft trips where Andy was one of the raft guides. In addition, a lot of the other members of our group had just as much rafting and kayaking experience and were available to fill in superbly on any class of rapid when needed. Although I had kayaked a bit years ago, I'd only been a passenger in a raft for one day on the Ottawa River a long time ago. I knew I definitely didn't have any skill to guide a raft through the bigger rapids but I had no fear knowing that there were such excellent raft guides at the oars.
On Monday, November 18th, Tom and I drove to Ottawa and stayed at the home of his friends Rick and Vivian for the night. At 4 am the next morning, Rick drove us to the airport and we checked in with no problems. While waiting for our flight we met other members of our group who were traveling on a variety of flights to Flagstaff.
We flew to Newark on United Airlines and then Tom disappeared onto his flight to Phoenix, which left earlier than mine. I flew to Phoenix with US Airways, another Star Alliance affiliate. I had a brief moment of panic at the luggage carousel in Phoenix at 1:30 pm when everyone got their luggage but me. I had my drysuit and some other river gear in my carry-on bag but my big waterproof barrel and big dry bag pack carrying all my warm clothes and camping gear did not arrive. Eventually I discovered that United Airlines in Newark hadn't bothered to transfer my luggage to my US Airways plane and that it would be arriving at 3:50 pm on a different UA flight to a different terminal. So I took the shuttle bus from Terminal 4 to Terminal 2, confirmed again that my luggage was coming, and waited. Thankfully, it did arrive as advertised on the 3:50 flight. Sass Cotnam, another member of our group, arrived on that plane too and we had a brief visit before I hopped on the Arizona Shuttle for the 3 hour ride to Flagstaff. Sass would follow later.
I paid the shuttle driver a little extra to drop me off at Motel 6. Zack, Tom and most of the others were in the parking lot when I arrived. We went for a great dinner at a Mexican restaurant, did a bit of shopping at the WalMart across the street, and tried to get some sleep in our last night in a bed for a long time.
PRO would arrive to pick us up at 10 am the next morning.

The Long Way Home

Sunday, October 27, 2013
We got up at 5:30 am to get showered, packed and check out before breakfast. After breakfast, a bus for all the people on early flights left the hotel at 7 am. We traveled about an hour out to the new Hong Kong airport, which is mostly on landfill in the ocean, and checked in without incident.
Our first 4 hour flight on All Nippon Airways left at 10 am for Tokyo.

 As we approached the coast of Japan, we waved to our youngest son Dylan's girlfriend Kasumi, who is currently staying at her parents' home in Nagoya. I'm pretty sure she didn't see us but it's the thought that counts.

 Tokyo Narita Airport is very modern and comfortable. After I took Anita's photo, the young woman in the background offered to take a picture of both of us.

So here we are. Unfortunately, just being in the airport doesn't count as having visited Japan. Maybe we'll have to go back sometime.
After a 3 hour hangover, our next 13 hour flight on United Airlines left for Newark, New Jersey. Reality struck. The Japanese flight attendants on All Nippon Airways could not have been more gracious or accommodating. The flight attendants on United Airlines could learn a few things from them. Suddenly we were back to the Air Canada/United Airlines standard cattle car treatment.
Anita slept a bit on the flight but I just watched bad movies. When we arrived in Newark, we had to pick up our luggage, go through customs and check our luggage back in, as one does in the US. Then we had to switch terminals and go through stringent security again. They used one of the new body scanners that doesn't just check for metal. My money pouch, which I wear around my neck and under my arm, always passes security with no problem. However, this time the new scanner found an "anomaly" with my body shape so I was taken into a small room and searched. I really can't complain because it was my fault and they only searched the area of the anomaly, took my pouch apart and then did a chemical check for explosives. The security officers were formally polite but they made it very clear that their concern was the safety of the plane and not my feelings on the matter. I can't blame them for that.
We were supposed to spend 4 hours in Newark but our flight to Ottawa was delayed so we ended up spending about 7 hours there. Terminal A in Newark is very small and uncomfortable. I managed to pass out for about 45 minutes but otherwise it was a long hangover.
Our next UA flight to Ottawa took only an hour and 20 minutes but we didn't get in until about 12:30 am. That was too late for our hotel shuttle so we took a cab to the Days Inn, where we had left our car. It was after 1:30 am when we finally got to bed. That was about 32 hours after we got up in Hong Kong. Twelve days later we're still recovering from jet lag and the "sinorama cough". Getting better every day though.
The actual travel part of travel is often the worst part and you either accept it or stay home. We've decide to accept the few inconveniences for the many benefits. You'll never have many new experiences when you're sitting on your couch.
Other than the long ride home we had a great trip and saw more interesting things in China than we ever expected, and we did it with a good group of people. We can heartily recommend a Sinorama tour. We're really glad we went.
That's it for China. Next up is 3 weeks rafting the Colorado River and camping on sandbars through the Grand Canyon. Better get packed.