Map for day 2
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Day 1
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Day 3
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It rained and drizzled off and on during the night and when I finally crept out of the tent just before 5:30 a.m. everything was still quite damp and the air temperature was very much on the cool side. The "coffee call" was scheduled for 5:30 a.m. and I was looking forward to it as were a couple other early morning souls. Coffee was ready right when it was promised to us and it tasted very, very good. It had more coffee grounds in it than I am used to but seeing how it was made I can understand why. The coffee was placed in a strainer over coffee jug and hot water was simply poured over and through it. The coffee was very good so I figured I could get used to the grounds. The people who were hanging about started talking as they sipped their coffee and eventually others came to join us. The breakfast call came at around 6:15 a.m. and consisted of a variety of cold cereals, fresh fruit and eggs cooked to order. I had a bowl of cereal and some fruit and passed on the eggs.
Following breakfast people started into the routine of breaking down the campsite. After a couple of days we got very good at this and many people (Robin and I included) actually had their tents taken down and sites packed up before the call to breakfast. People were usually up between 5 and 5:30 a.m. and many hovered around waiting for coffee. Once I had a cup of coffee in me I could easily break down the site and pack everything up before breakfast. Some people function better in the morning that others and I have always been a morning person.
By 8:00 a.m. the campsite was gone and everything was loaded on the rafts and ready to go. We had chosen to ride with Chris for our second day on the river, as did Carolyn and Ann. The morning was cool and we all had our wet gear on in an attempt to retain some body heat. The sun was out though and we knew that the day could turn out to be a scorcher once the sun cleared the cliffs and started beating down on the inner canyon. The first "ride" of the day was through House Rock Rapid and it was a good one. After that we cruised through some pretty calm water, aside from the occasional riffle, all the way down to North Canyon. We arrived at North Canyon around 9 a.m. and went for a short hike.
The hike up North Canyon was a very short one and ended at a pool of stagnant water that no one wanted to attempt to pass. There was a small trickle of water flowing into the pool at the other end and it was full of all kinds of algae, other plant life and small aquatic organisms. There were also a couple of small frogs hopping about that had the amazing ability to climb right up the sides of the cliff faces. Kurt was fascinated by some very tiny (bordering on microscopic) creatures that resembled worms that were living at the bottom of one of the pools. They were anchored to small holes at the bottom of the pool and when threatened they would retreat back into the holes. After a short stay at the pools we headed back to the rafts.
We were back on the river about 11 a.m. and right off ran North Canyon Rapid which was pretty good, but not at nice a ride as House Rock had been. Following North Canyon we entered a stretch of the river that is commonly referred to as The Roaring Twenties, because of all the 20-something rapids that exist in this section. We had very nice rides through 23, 23 1/2 and 24 Mile Rapid and then stopped again for lunch at noon. The lunch stop was at a nice beach and a nameless side canyon right next to 24 1/2 Mile Rapid.
Lunch consisted of some strange concoction of cream cheese and olives and I never did find out if it had a name. I have never been particularly fond of olives and so I passed on this and went for the old stand-by of peanut butter and jelly. Afterwards I decided to partake of some of the fresh veggies and had a cheese and veggie sandwich.
After lunch we ran 25 Mile Rapid, Cave Springs Rapid and 27 Mile Rapid. We then had a long calm stretch of river until we reached 29 Mile Rapid and then another quiet stretch between there and our campsite for the day at South Canyon (mile 31.5).
We made camp right on the delta that exists at the mouth of South Canyon and from there we could see Stanton's Cave and the waterfall at Vasey's Paradise, less than a mile downstream. After we setup camp Chris took us on a day-hike to see some Anasazi ruins and petroglyphs. These were nice but not much was left of them. There was, however, an excellent view of the river and our campsite on the delta from the top of the cliffs. While we were hiking it started to rain and at the top of the cliffs, overlooking South Canyon, the wind was whipped up to almost hurricane force driving the rain into us. We did not stay long up there. On our way back to camp we noticed that South Canyon had flashed and was now in the process of staining the Colorado a very pleasant shade of reddish-brown. Crossing back over the little creek in South Canyon was somewhat more interesting on the way back. It had been just a trickle when we started the hike and it was now flowing with a pretty good force. Having been hiking in my Tevas I just sloshed my way through it.
When we got back to camp dinner was just about ready. For dinner on day 2 we had blackened salmon, potatoes, asparagus and salad, and for desert we had Danish pastries. The Kiwis had broken out a bottle of whiskey that they had brought along and offered to liven up my coffee a bit with it. That was a very nice touch and made for one of the best cups of coffee I have ever had.
Day 1
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Day 3
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