Map for day 12
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Day 11
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Day 13
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This would be our last full day on the river. Today we have pancakes, bacon, melon and eggs-to-order for breakfast. After breakfast we continue the daily routine of packing up camp, loading up the rafts and taking to the river. It seems a shame that it will all be at an end tomorrow, just when we have become so good at it. "...there is NOTHING--absolute nothing--half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats..." We are riding with Chris again today.
There were no big rapids today but there were lots of small ones and a couple of medium sized ones. We float past some nice high cliffs early in the day but then the Canyon walls recede from the river and the Canyon really opens up. I manage to have some nice talks with Chris regarding various Colorado River and Grand Canyon management issues and he opens my mind to some of his ideas. We are on the river all morning and well into the early afternoon before we manage to find a spot with enough shade to have lunch. Someone was using the normal lunch spot so many miles are covered before we finally stop and an extended lunch break is had. People lounge about in the shade and swim in the river. The water is now much warmer than it was in the upper Canyon and it actually feels good to be able to swim in it. Luckily the weather has been on our side for the past week and there has been no rain and floods to muddy the channel. About 2 p.m. we take to the river again and cover about 7 more miles. We camp about 5 miles above Diamond Creek. I manage to coax all of the guides onto one raft for a group photo.
Tonight we have a hearty meal of pork chops, apple sauce, rice, corn, green beans and coleslaw. We have Chocolate Mousse pie for dessert. This is our last night on the river and Robby wants us to eat all of the food. After dinner we have a performance by the Kiwis, which they have arranged for the guides on this final night on the river to say farewell. We all started work on song for them at the lunch break and finished it before dinner. As party of the performance Nigel attempts to teach the male members of the party how to do the Maori Haka. Following the Kiwis there is a short song from Ann and Carolyn and then Mark. Bud and Marcia round out the performance by getting us all to sing Ol' Man River. I know that it was originally written about the Mississippi, but...
Ol' Man River
Words and Music by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II
Ol' man river, that ol' man river
He must know something, but he don't say nothing
That ol' man river, he just keep rollin' along
He don't plant 'taters
He don't plant cotton
Cause them that plants them is soon forgotton
And ol' man river, he just keeps rollin' along
Cause you and me, we sweat and strain
Body all achin' and wracked with pain
Tote that barge, lift that bail
Get a little drunk and you land in jail
But I get weary and sick of tryin'
Cause I'm tired of livin'
But I'm scared of dyin'
That ol' man river, he just keeps rollin' along
(c) Copyright 1927 T.B. Harms Company
Copyright Renewed. International Copyright Secured. All rights reserved.
(Used without permission)
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Much socializing is done, farewells are said and the scene is very sad. Robby breaks out a couple bottles of champagne that he has been carrying along just for tonight. He asks us all to sit down and form a circle and then he asks each of us in turn to take some time to try and relate some of our feelings about the trip. We are up until around 10 p.m. before people finally settle down to sleep. The trip is almost over and no one is happy about it. There is some talk about rowing back upstream. :-)
Day 11
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Day 13
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