Grand Canyon in an OC2

This is a long trip report, so will be breaking it down into several parts.

We got invited to join a private trip to paddle the Grand Canyon in August
of 2004. I couldn't join my husband, Dave, and I am normally the bow
paddler. So, he had to talk someone else into being bow paddler. That was
Larry, who like my husband , is a stern- lefty paddler - but he agreed to
paddle bow-right in order to go. Because of their work schedules, they were
only able to practice paddle together 3 times. Two of those in a different
canoe, the third time in the boat they finally took, but before they
modified the outfitting to fit them better.

I told my husband to keep a diary, or don't bother coming home. This is his
story.

Pictures can be viewed at: http://rapids2.myphotoalbum.com

Hot Na Na Camp, Day 1, Mile 16.5
I just got the first-blood award, having bent a fingernail unstrapping the
ammo can
to get this journal.
We've been busy. Things have gone pretty smooth. Rained last night at
Lee's Ferry - lots of lightning.
First day was great. The landscape is beautiful. Because Lake Powell is
so low, the river is 5 degrees warmer than average. The air isn't too hot.
Rained on us twice. No problem.
We saw desert bighorn by the river.
We could hear Badger a mile before we got there. The river is running
about 18,000 CFS. It drops to about 10,000 CFS in the evening. We scouted
and were amazed how fast Chris' raft is moving. Fast tongue, huge waves -
then they went through a huge wave and hole. We decided to go down the
tongue, then left. Waves were amazingly tall. Larry and the front half of
the canoe launched. We took on very little water. Heros.
After running Badger, Larry said, "Canoe one, river zero, 149 to go."
Everyone quickly informed him he shouldn't say those things within earshot
of the river gods. Just above Soap Creek Rapid, we were teasing Larry about
having offended the river gods and now he would be sorry. A large roll of
thunder emphasized the point just then.
Soap Creek was supposed to be a waive train. Waive train? They were
chaotic and huge. We were full to the gunnels for the last third. We were
losing power because we were laughing so hard. Finished upright and made it
to shore to dump the canoe.
Nancy rowed Sheer Wall Rapid while Doug filmed.
Larry and I are camping in a cave.
Ring-tailed cats were running around the kitchen after dark. Little
apparent fear of people.
Before dinner the river turned red. There had been a flash flood
somewhere.
Second Morning - Last night, three young ring-tailed cats scrambled down
the vertical slot by our tent, chattering. They explored and played just a
few feet away from us.

Shinumo Wash, Day 2, Mile 29.
The water had risen about a foot in the evening, and then went out in the
morning, stranding the rafts in the mud. Someone spotted a black dry bad
floating down the river in the main current. Larry and I went after it in
the canoe. It turned out to be a bag of Styrofoam peanuts.
What a big day. House Rock Rapid and the Roaring Twenties.
House Rock Rapid looks scary. Doug took a movie. We wanted to go left
around a hole and cut right - hard. We managed left; going right was not
going so well. A huge threatening wave surfed us right - thank you
Colorado.
We stopped at North Canyon and hiked up. The "half-mile" hike was probably
much more than a mile. The further we went, the less appropriate it was for
monsoon season. A beautiful slot canyon. Slick pools. On the way back, I
slid into a muddy pool.
The Roaring Twenties tossed us around. Smashing through impossible waves,
paddling swamped, spinning on the chaos at the ends of rapids. Lost of
manic laughing.
Larry threw himself into a low brace and saved us. I thought he was
abandoning ship and hollered to stay in the boat. Silly me.
Indian Dick finally got us. A wave smashed into Larry's chest from the
side and pushed us over. We self rescued relatively quickly. A second swim
later in another rapid was due to a swell from an eddy line. On one huge
wave, we simply submerged to our elbows on the face of the wave - stayed
right-side-up anyway.

Day 3, President Harding, Mile 43.5
Camera quit working yesterday. Had put in new rechargeable batteries
yesterday. Put in alkalines, seemed to work, then started acting up.
The two named rapids today were uneventful. Sarah ran her first Grand
Canyon rapids in a canoe. One was pretty good sized. Hope Nancy got good
pictures.
Vassey's Paradise, Redwall Cavern, Nautiloid Canyon.
Afternoon sprinkles and light rain after lunch. A short while after lunch,
a flash flood poured red water over the left rim of the inner gorge.
Impressive.
At camp a huge thunder storm. Spectacular. Small "creeks" poured off the
far wall. Rain quit at dusk. We ate in the dark.
River life is busy and there has been little free time. We're getting more
efficient, so it should get better.

Day 4. Kwagunt. Mile 56.
Everything is soggy. Shortly after we launch, we hear thunder. We take a
walk at Nankoweap to see Anastazi granaries. Started sprinkling on the way
down. found a crinoid stem fossil in a large rock by the trail.
Larry and I decided to scout Kwagunt Rapid at the last moment. Book
recommends entering left of the pourover in the middle and working right.
We saw a sneak route on the right. Well, the river had a sneak rock which
we smacked head-on and swam. Got in canoe on second try.
Water was clear. Set up camp. Kwagunt Creek was then running red and dyed
the whole river red, with the blue water from above swirling in. Later, red
water came from above also. So much for washing my hair.
Larry found a scorpion in his gear as he put it in our tent. It was a bark
scorpion (the bad kind). One inch long, honey colored. Would be hard to
see if not looking carefully.
Dinner was a fiasco. The cooks had gone hiking and returned at dusk as
rain began. By the time dinner was served, we had a tremendous downpour
with wind blowing the rain nearly horizontally. Most were huddled under
Doug and Nancy's low tarp, holding various parts down so it didn't blow
away.
When I went to our tent, a corner of the rain fly had blown into the tent
and we had two inches of water at the foot of the tent. Good thing the tent
was on a slope. Sheet's wet and sleeping bag is dry. Will be interesting
to see how I sleep.

part 2 after Easter