Last night was awesome. I got out the Pocket PC and listened to some R. Carlos Nakai while also listening to the bubbling and gurgling of Kwagunt Creek flowing past our campsite. I also got out my binoculars and fired up the astronomy software and went in search of a few of the celestial wonders of the autumn sky. I found the Andromeda galaxy at first with just my eyes and it looked really awesome through the binoculars. I also hunted down a few other global clusters that happened to be visible at the time. I drifted off to sleep with only the sound of the creek lulling me into dreamland.

I've actually been having some pretty bizarre dreams on this trip and I think its been because Ive been sleeping a lot more than normal. Maybe I don't sleep enough at home to have dreams or perhaps just not long enough to able to remember them. I seem to be able to remember some every morning since Ive been here though. This morning I was awakened again to the song of the cactus wren as has happened several mornings on this trip. I finished off the last of my coffee, crackers and peanut butter for breakfast and I actually had enough coffee for two cups. Woo Hoo! I seem to have miscalculated with the coffee though as I was supposed to have enough for a cup for breakfast and dinner every day and only had a few cups at dinner time. The pack is getting a lot lighter now and hiking ut on the Tanner Trail tomorrow is going to be a breeze. *crosses fingers*

After breakfast and breaking camp Chuck and Dave took off to climb Nankoweap Mesa and Mike and I headed down Kwagunt Creek to the Colorado River. It was a beautiful morning for a hike and the canyon was in full shade for a good portion of it. Seeing the Colorado and hearing the roar of the rapids sent my spirit soaring again. It was a great day to be at the beach.

Being at the beach at Kwagunt also brought back many fond memories of the river trip that I did back in 1997. It was a little sad thinking that it has been 6 years already and I have yet to do another one. After that one ended I really hoped to do another in only a couple/few years and that never happened. Someday!

Mike and I weren't at the river more than an hour or so before a private river party came past and stopped to talk with us. It was a small party - only 4 rafts and 2 kayaks. We chatted a while and Mike scored a can of Fosters and I scored a Coke. We shared the beer and I am saving the Coke for Chuck and Dave.

I wandered around the beach taking some photos for a while and shortly after noon a commercial river trip came by and stopped at the beach for lunch. This was a much larger trip, 7 rafts and 2 dories, and they invited us to share lunch with them. Woo Hoo! We has an awesome chicken / Mexican salad concoction served up with various kinds of breads. Getting fresh veggies, after more than a week, was a real treat and has me longing for dinner tonight. We also had chocolate chip cookies for dessert and they let us keep the bag. Mike also ended up with a box of Nilla wafers, 2 oranges and 4 candy bars. River people are very friendly people!

So now were just hanging out at the beach again and waiting for the NPS (National Park Service) trip to show up. They should be here between 4 and 5 sometime - hopefully.

20:03 - Colorado River at Kwagunt

Well... this has been one "interesting" day. Mike and I shared our first beer at lunch and since then Ive had had 3 more, plus 2 rum Cokes, 2 margaritas and God knows what else. This is the latest Ive (we've) been up on the entire trip and I am truly baked.

I went up to the rapids a little before 3:00 to take some photos and noticed some oars dipping into the water way off in the distance up river. I lucked out and it ended up being the NPS river trip that we had been waiting for. I waited for the first raft to come through and took some photos and then went to talk to the oarsman and he told me that the rest of the rafts were not far behind. I waited and took some more photos and then headed over to help them setup camp.

The iced beverage bucket, including beer, was the first thing off the raft. Camp was not even established yet before a bottle of scotch (very good and very smooth scotch) was being passed around.

I helped unload the rafts and also a little with the evening meal preparation and it was a very nice afternoon. We had chips and salsa for an appetizer and chicken mole burritos for dinner. It was absolutely fabulous!

After dinner we had a campfire and sat around drinking and bullshitting. This is what life on the river is all about and it also brought back some great memories. I really (REALLY!) need to do another river trip... and soon.

OK... its time to sleep... and dream... tomorrow morning we will be on the river for about 4 hours and then we have a 6 to 8 hours hike back out to the south rim. Woo Hoo!