We finally realized Yvonne’s long dream of rafting the Grand Canyon. We did this with our niece Shawna, her husband Mark and 11-year old son Dan. The picture below shows us (with the tour leader between Juergen and Yvonne) …..Some of the photos were taken by Mark and Shawna.

We took an 8-day full-canyon motorized raft trip with Arizona Raft Adventures “Grand Canyon Discovery” We rafted about 225 miles in a group of 19 people and 4 guides on two rafts. Mark made a short movie of our companion raft going through the Hermit rapid (rated class 7-8, drop 15 ft; at mile 95) (be patient, it takes a few seconds to download the movie depending on your connection speed). It sets the mood for the website.

Hiking to experience the area away from the river is a big part of rafting the canyon. Here Juergen and Yvonne are climbing up the steep trail to the Nankoweap Granary where the early pueblo people stored their crops. They may have farmed here in early spring before moving to the North Rim in summer. Due to climate changes related to the Little Ice Age all inner canyon settlements ended by the mid-12^th century.

The Nankoweap Granary.

The view to the river from the Granary is very nice. Our camp for the night was Lower Nankoweap at mile 53 (measured from Lee’s Ferry) and is shown as the “bulge” on the right side just before the little “island.”

For a few of the most lively rapids we watched the other raft go through, either from above or from a quiet eddy below the rapid if we had gone through first. Below is a sequence of shots taken of the “other” raft with the camera in “burst” mode. It is one long-lasting rapid, we think it was Crystal (mile 99) rated class 7-10 with a drop of 17 ft. It’s hard for photos to capture the “glee” felt during this experience! Even watching it because everyone is screaming.

We hiked up Carbon Creek wash and down Lava Canyon. Two guides walked with us, the other two moved a raft then walked in the other direction to meet us – in case someone didn’t want to finish the hike! Everyone did. This shows us looking down into the “entry” to the wash – some rock scrambling was necessary to get up these ledges before entering the canyon. Note the person at bottom left. This was about mile 65.

This is the top of the steepest part of the hike. We’d come up the canyon behind and below the rocks on the right. Below are our track in Google Earth and the height profile of the hike. From the 2700 ft river level we hiked up to 3200 ft and down again.

We stopped in Phantom Ranch to replenish our water. In 1983 we hiked down Kaibab Trail from the South Rim and spent the night here. We climbed up the Bright Angel trail the next morning. There are mules crossing the bridge in this photo bringing people to Phantom Ranch.

The water temperature was about 50 degrees for much of the trip – slowly warming up a bit as the river dropped in elevation. It was quite a shock to be swacked – or sprayed – with this cold water, all the while bobbing and weaving on the raft.

We were allowed to bring wine – as long as it wasn’t in bottles. Here wine is being poured from the bladder from boxed wine (the box had disintegrated).

Our campsites varied. We usually had some room around our tents.

About mile 121, In Blacktail Canyon, is the “Great Unconformity” that shows a billion year gap in geologic history. It’s between Juergen’s thumb and fingers. This unconformity was caused by erosion removing layers of rock, and then an ancient sea inundating the eroded surface, depositing new layers.

Blacktail Canyon.

Desert Bighorn are seen more now that their major food competitor, the wild burros, have been removed from the canyon.

Photos are very difficult to get that give the “feel” of running rapids. This one and the next come close. This water was cold. Our temperature forecasts for the week were to be over 100 degrees each day. Instead, monsoonal weather came and mostly stayed, so our days were overcast and we had a couple of wild downpours – when we were in our tents, fortunately.

…The “splash” photos are not necessarily in order.

On this afternoon, all of the good campsites were taken. On that little bit of sand we put up our camp for 23 people! Tents were spaced enough that we didn’t hear the next tent, so it was ok. There were about 10 tents.

The Tapeats Creek waterfall is almost at river level.

Hiking into Upper Deer Creek. Left to right, Shawna, Juergen, Yvonne, Dan.

At mile 167, we were told that National Canyon used to have 3 lovely green campgrounds. Just two weeks before our trip, a powerful flashflood tore up the canyon and replaced the campsites with this rubble. The flow of this flashflood was as strong as the flow of the Colorado River. This had the effect of making the water extremely muddy from this point on.

We all had a couple of opportunities to go through a rapid with only a life vest. In the red box Juergen, Shawna, Mark and Dan are almost through.

Dan, Mark and Juergen; Shawna nearest the raft.

Juergen climbing back into the raft after his cold raft-less rapids ride.

Random shots of rapids and splashes…

It was really something when the waves broke on us!

Pulling into a campsite after a cold (but very fun) afternoon of being splashed.

We started at Lee’s Ferry and ended at Diamond Peak. Yvonne is pointing at Diamond Peak...so the trip was nearly over.

We had bucket brigades night and morning to load and unload our gear. This is the last time our stuff came off the rafts.

It only took a few minutes before the guides had loaded the rafts onto trailers. So it was bye bye raft!

After the raft trip we all went to Sedona, Arizona for a couple days of mountain biking (and hiking for the Duncans). Bell Rock is behind Yvonne. We had all brought bikes with us from home. In the picture (from left): Yvonne Mark, Dan, Shawna

A better picture of Bell rock.

Juergen, Dan, Shawna, Yvonne

Chicken Point rock.