Map for day 11
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Day 10
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Day 12
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Today was to be Lava Falls Day. Robin's eye seems much improved today so there is no more talk about air-lifting her out. That is a big relief. We had eggs-to-order for breakfast with bacon, melon and English muffins. We are on the river by 8 a.m. and today we are with Robby again.
We encounter mostly flat water with some small rapids during the morning. The landscape of the inner canyon has undergone a drastic change yet again today and a short distance down-river from our evening campsite we begin to encounter the ancient lava flows and cinder cones that dominate this section of the Canyon. It is difficult to comprehend the scene that must have unfolded here when these volcanoes were active. The river was already flowing along its present course when they were and numerous times lava dams were created as the lava from the volcanoes descended into the inner gorge to block the river's path. Major Powell probably best described the scene in the journal from his first expedition:
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"What a conflict of water and fire there must have been here! Just imagine a river of molten rock running down into a river of melted snow. What a seething and boiling of the waters; what clouds of steam rolled into the heavens."
-- John Wesley Powell
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Just above Lava Falls we passed by Vulcan's Anvil, which is a volcanic plug. This is all that remains of the throat of an ancient volcano that erupted right up through the bed of the river. What a scene that must have been. The softer rock, that made up the volcano itself, has long since been eroded away and all that remains is the plug which finally cooled in the throat following the final eruption.
Around 11 a.m. we arrive at Lava Falls and pull in above it to scout it. We are there for about 1/2 hour and watch some motor rigs run through it first. They go down the right side, where all the action is, but given the size of their rafts they never really appeared to be in any danger. Chris says that our rafts would not be able to handle that run safely and will go to the left of the center, down a considerably safer yet moderately wild run. Robby's raft goes first and we wait in an eddy below Crystal in case anyone has trouble. It was a extremely nice ride and we take on a bit of water. Everyone one else runs without incident as well. Robby also sticks around in the eddy while the first raft from the party behind us runs Lava.
We have lunch just below Lava Falls with the other river party who ran Lava after us. We stay there until 2 p.m. and hang out along the river. It is very hot in the sun and some people break out their books and look for shady spots to relax. Chris breaks out his library and some people, myself included, grab books from that.
We have mostly calm water with some small rapids again that afternoon and the scenery along the river continues to be volcanic in origin. We arrive at upper Whitmore Wash about 3:30 p.m. and pull in above Whitmore to look at some native American rock drawings, which are really too modern to be considered petroglyphs. We are given the option to walk the 1/2 - 3/4 mile to camping area and about half of the party does so. The rafts along with the remaining people in the party meet us there. We arrive at camp with perfect timing as the sun just going behind cliffs on the other side of the river.
We end up having steak for dinner, courtesy of AzRA (Arizona Raft Adventures). They had too much steak on their trip so we traded them some beer for it. We also had mashed potatoes and salad. Too much food! Cake for dessert.
Day 10
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Day 12
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