We had this trip booked with Colorado Rafting and Tours Expeditions (CRATE) for over a year and had a geologist and naturalist with us to help better understand the Grand Canyon. We left home for Las Vegas where we met everyone on the trip the night before we had to load onto a bus for a long trip to Lee's Ferry where we set in at mile marker 0. The drive took about 4 hours. Videos of the trip can be found on my Facebook page.
Day 1- May 21, 2011
Last of civilization for 8 days.
It just looks calm until we find our first rapids
Badge Creek Rapids with 12 foot drop.
This is Soap Creek rapids with 16 foot drop and we take on water.
The last two pictures were taken at our first camp on Upper North Canyon the first night. June and I hiked up a little ways before supper. Mile marker 20.5
Day 2 - May 22
The Sun comes up early, like before 6 AM.
Get everything packed before our hike into North Canyon.
A Red Spotted Toad
June as close to the edge as she would go.
The hike was about 2 1/2 miles round trip.
Imagine the forces that were created to bend the rocks. It has to be done very slowly in terms of millions of years otherwise the rocks would crack instead of bend
This is what we hiked up to see. A small waterfall with a pool.
Our Naturalist Ron.
Engelmann Hedgehog Cactus
North Canyon Rapids drop 12 feet and rated 4-5. Grand Canyon has rapids rated from 1-10 versus the normal 1-5.
29 Mile Rapids rated a 3 and drop of 7 feet.
Stanton's Cave
Vasey's Paradise
Redwall Cavern. We stopped here for lunch, Mile 33.
This is the thing to do is take a silhouette.
Stopped to see the fossil remains of Paleozoic nautiloids, squid-like creatures with many tentacles and tapered external shells which are shown above near Nautiloid Canyon Mile 35.
Here is a geod that was eroded in half. The crystals are extremely large.
This is called an Ant Lion. It digs a hole in the sand in a shape of an inverted funnel so when an insect falls into the trap the sand brings it to the Ant Lion at the bottom. If the insect tries to get out then the Ant Lion flicks sand out from where it is and the insect slides back down where the Ant Lion catches hold of it with those jaws and munches away. I played with them several times putting injured ants in and watching.
Marble Canyon dam site that was considered but was rejected so as not to destroy the Grand Canyon wilderness.
This is a recent slide this year so you can see what color the underlying rocks color really is before being varnished by the Sun.
President Harding Rapids rated a 4 and 4 foot drop.
This is our crew who took very good care of us. Starting on the Left is Jake, John Toner (Lead guide), Adam, and Jen. They did everything they could to ensure our enjoyment and comfort. We camped at Eminence mile marker 44.
Day 3 - May 23
The day started with a quick 3 mile rafting until we landed at Saddle Canyon and hiked up to a waterfall.
Although this looks like the waterfall we were to reach, it was only an obstacle to climb above to reach our end point.
Now we've reached the end of the hike. Getting down was more fun than getting up that rock.
Grizzly-Bear Prickly-Pear Cactus
June ready for the next rapid
June in diaper mode going down Little Colorado River.
Our trip ended for the day at Carbon camp grounds at Mile 64.5. The night wasn't much fun as it rained during the night and we had to try to hold the tarp over us so not to get wet. The wind was blowing extremely hard and I don't think anyone slept through it.Day 4 - May 24
This day started with a hike from our campground at Carbon and went up Carbon Creek and down Lava Canyon. The boats met us there and we proceeded with our trip.
This is what we climbed up to get around the hill to the other canyon.
June was happy she made it up to the top.
This is the Butte Fault where the ground was turned 90 degrees.
The hike from here was downhill and not very interesting.
Tanner Rapid mile 68.5 rated 2-4 with 20 foot drop.
Petroglyph near Cardenas Creek.
Unker Rapid rated 4-7 with 25 foot drop.
Hilltop Ruins above Unker Delta
Pottery shards from around AD1000-1150
Last rapid of the day at mile marker 73.
We camped at Upper Rattlesnake and June took advantage of the convenient rocks in the water to washup and shampoo her hair.
Day 5 - May 25
Hance Rapid rated 7-8 drops 30 feet.
Phantom Ranch where some trips end or start here. Kaibab Suspension Bridge (1928) in the foreground.
This deer was in the corral area below Phantom Ranch and was enjoying a free breakfast.
A pack mule train at Phantom Ranch.
This is a view from the bridge in the earlier picture. Bridge used by mules and hikers.
Tunnel leading to the bridge.
Desert Bighorn Sheep near top right.
Ross Wheeler Steel boat abandoned by Charles Russell in 1915. Mile 107.5
Between Mile 108 and Mile 117.
These were taken at Elves Chasm near Mile 117. Several of us jumped after climbing up on the right under the water fall. Obviously this is me.
Serving table.
Cooking area with Jake looking on.
Our camping area.
We camped the 5th night at 119.2 mile camp. June thought it a good idea to take shots of what camp looked like so here it is. One thing I didn't mention was the stars that you can see at night. There are alot of them out there that can't be seen because of surface lights. It's also surprising how much light the moon reflects even when it's only a half moon.
Day 6 - May 26
The day started with a hike in Blacktail Canyon (Mile 120). Here we were able to see the Great Unconformity. What this means is that there is a granite layer topped by sandstone. The seperation of dates exceed a billion years of the earths life. What happened to the Billion years of deposits above the granite? Well erosion took place and removed it all before a few million years ago the sandstone was deposited on top of it.
That white line above the heads is where a billion years of geological history was lost.
June's hand spands one billion years of geological history that is missing.
Tiny waterfall on side of canyon
Another waterfall on way to Deer Creek Falls at mile 136.
June and I at Deer Creek Falls. June was told if she is afraid of heights than the hike to Upper Deer Creek shouldn't be done. Big mistake in believing that especially after some of her hikes she had done.
This is the veiw from the top of Upper Deer Creek.
Looking down to the stream before the falls.
Upper Deer Creek.
This was a great massage and cool down from the hike up above the falls.
Rapid right below Deer Creek.
Our camp at Doris camp ground mile 138. Still 142 miles to go. This was the most crowded camp site we had throughout the trip.
Day 7 - May 27
Today we were to make up some miles and stop at Havasu Creek to do a hike. There is a waterfall up the creek but we weren't told we wouldn't have time to reach it. Unfortunately we weren't really able to enjoy the creek as much as we would have liked to. We did get to cool off but lunch was a hurried pace to get back to the boats and head down the river some more.
Havasu Creek. Notice the same shade of blue as Little Colorado River.
We hiked up the creek for several hours and never did reach the waterfall. A faster group had to also turn around and head back to the boats.
Vulcan's Anvil is a 50 foot lava plug above Lava Falls. What remains of a volcano that erupted about 200,000 years ago.
This is a shot of Lava Falls, rated 8-10 with a drop of 13 feet. I thought I shot a video of this going through it but got bounced around so bad that I took it off of video accidentally. The other raft said we were actually sitting high and dry on a rock before another wave came and swept us away. We entered it wrong and was spun around backwards.
More lighter rapids on our way to camp at Fat City Mile 192.
Picture of some lava flow over other rock formations.
Getting late as we head to Fat City camp ground. This is where June took off her ring to put on lotion and do her journal. I was walking up to give her something to eat and got a cactus needle stuck in my heel I couldn't get because of full hands. She stood up and the ring dropped in the sand around our cots. She didn't notice it missing until she was washing up for dinner 30 minutes later. Unfortunately several people came into our area to help look for it before I could systematically sift through the sand where it should have fell. We weren't able to locate the ring after sifting for about 4 hours that evening and next morning.
Day 8 - May 28
205 Mile Rapid rated 3-6 with 13 foot drop.
212 Mile rapid rated 2-3.
Some more scenery we had to take in while on the river.
Pumpkin Springs at Mile 213. The hot spring bowl is slightly out of the water at high flow but is usually seen about 6-8 feet above the river during normal flow.
Three Springs Canyon at mile 215.5
View of Diamond Peak from the river.
The next few shots are from our hike in Travertine Canyon, mile 229, where another company put up ladders so we could climb up to the top of the waterfall.
Second ladder.
View of top waterfall. June stayed below and enjoyed the cool water as seen below.
More scenery on our way to Spencer camp ground.
June at Spencer Camp after along day on the river. Mile 246. Most of the river was smooth after our last rapid called Bridge Canyon Rapid rated 3-5 with 10 foot drop at mile 235. This is because Lake Mead backs up into the river and has covered the rapids.
Day 9 - May 29
The last day the guides latched both boats together since there were no more rapids and it also prepared them for takeout at Pearce Ferry. The scenery was uneventful and it was interesting to see the Hualapai Sky Walk from the river. Although it doesn't directly overlook the river, it is 4000 feet above the floor of the canyon at mile 266.
The rest of the trip into Las Vegas was uneventful but we did stop at a store to get an ice cream bar. Once in Las Vegas we checked into our timeshare we rented and took several days just to cleanup and do laundry as there was fine sand everywhere. The long bath was a real blessing and to be able to sleep next to June was very welcomed.
