Into the Wild. Kanab Creek to Lava Falls Backpack/Raft April 2009

Phase 1. Getting there

Dave and I had so many options of where to start our hike and where to end. But we did know that we would spend most of the days and night in the Kanab Creek Wilderness and the Grand Canyon – specifically the Colorado River.

We first were planning to start by going down Chamerlain Canyon above Kanab Canyon, but neither of us had been down this canyon and we needed to scout it out before doing so. And we never were able to get out there in the winter. So this option was off the table.

We then were going to go down from the rim of Hack Canyon, probably from the rim down to the canyon since 10 years earlier I went down the road through the actual canyon that was extremely rough.

We then decided to drive the long way around over to the North Kaibab Plateau to Jumpup Cabin. Dave and I started at this trailhead 5 years earlier and it was the shortest and easiest option as far as hiking; but the longest drive and the road could possibly be impassable due to snow or mud. This was the option we had chosen as of a few days prior to departure.

As far as takeout at the end of our trip, the first choice was Lava Falls trail just below Toroweap Point. The problem with this option is this trail is as grueling as can be. It’s a 3000 foot climb in a little over a mile – i.e. straight up! And it’s mostly made up of volcanic rock, very sharp and unforgiven rock. Also loose and extremely steep scree, which is easy to slide down on. And cactus and everything else that is undesirable for backpackers – let alone hikers.

I suggested that instead of coming out from Lava Falls, we float down an additional 8 river miles to Whitmore Canyon and it’s much easier trail up to the rim. It’s only about an 800 foot climb in about 1 ½ miles. The problem with this is the extra 2 or so more hours of driving each way and the fact that you have to drive over a high dirt road that could have snow problems.

We decided at the last minute to end the expedition at Lava Falls, to make the drive much shorter. As far as where to start our journey, that was answered the day before when Dave talked to someone from the BLM who said the Hack Canyon road was much improved. Plus the day before we left, the forecast showed rain all day the next day. So Dave and I had to actually do a wait and see if we would actually be able to leave on Saturday due to rain. Plus regardless of when we’d leave, the Jumpup Cabin and Whitmore Canyon roads would be too muddy/snowy. So at this time we knew we’d do the Hack Canyon trailhead.

We were ready to leave Saturday morning, but upon waking up we could see it was going to be a rainy, cloudy day and not a pleasant day for driving on remote dirt roads and hiking/camping in rain all day on our first day of a week of being out in the wilderness. So we called off the first day and set out to leave real early the next morning. And we’d start off at the Hack Canyon trailhead.

Phase 1. The Toroweap Road.

Sunday morning looked like a nice day when we took off in 2 separate cars at around 5:00 am. We got on the main dirt road to Toroweap, and even with an all day of bad weather the previous day, the road was in good shape all the way to our turnoff to Lave Falls Trailhead. And even that road was in great shape, even the little section about halfway of the 2 ½ mile road where there is a normally dry lake bed. We thought this part would be too wet and muddy, but it was fine. We dropped off Dave’s Pickup at the end of the road; hopefully to pick it up in 6 days. And we retraced our way back the way we came in my Jeep for about another hour, and then found our turnoff for the Hack Canyon road. This was a pretty slow going road for about 10 miles to the trailhead, but not nearly as bad as when I was there the last time about 8 years earlier. And so our journey was ready to begin.

Phase 2 – Hack Canyon to Kanab Creek to The River

Our backpacks included 6 days/5 nights worth of food, extra layers of clothing since it was going to be a little colder at nights than usual, about ¾ gallon of water, our lightweight inflatable rafts, paddles that came apart in 4 parts; Wetsuits, gloves and neoprene socks; life preserver; and the other usual backpacking gear – minus the tent. We didn’t want tents due to the we were trying our best to reduce the weight. We weren’t used to the extra baggage resulting from the rafting. It added up to about 46 lbs.

We started down Hack Canyon, a typical side canyon in Grand Canyon. Nice rock layers reaching up about 1000 feet up. It started as a wide canyon and rocky wash (of course no water). It was about 6 miles down Hack Canyon, with the most beautiful section being the last 2 or 3 miles when you were twisting and turning through the more narrow Supui layer – consisting of the colorful orange slick rock layers. With arrived at the confluence of Kanab Creek, about 22 miles closer to the River.

See the photo’s I attached - #1 and #2

This next 8 or so miles down this section of the Kanab Creek was totally new terrain for both of us, and weren’t really expecting much. As expected, the creek was totally dry, although we did see a few nice spots with pools or water and a little running water. But not much. But the scenery really surpassed our expectations. It was a little more open than the lower part of Kanab Creek, which we were approaching. And it was that real nice Supui layer of colorful orange slick rock and layers.

We arrived at Jumpup Canyon confluence around 2:00 or so in afternoon, with thus far no sight of another person. From here on, it was familiar terrain for both of us. It was the third time we had seen this confluence – with the narrow Jumpup canyon moving up to the east and out of sight. As we arrived at the Jumpup Canyon, we encountered our 1st other humans. Two ladies who had backpacked from Sowats Point 2 days earlier. They said the roads up there, sort of close to the Jumpup Cabin that we had considered starting at, was sort of snowy and muddy. But they got there and here they were.

Dave and I debated about whether or not to camp at a real good campsite here at the confluence of Jumpup and Kanab canyons or continue on. We were tired at this point, going about 14.2 miles with heavy pack. But we figured that we might at as well continue down Kanab and get closer to The River. So we went about 1 ½ mile further down, still in a dry creek bed other than a few leftover pools of water from yesterday’s rain. We found a pretty good campsite on a sandy bank and called it a night.
See Dave’s photo’s 3 thru 8

Total miles - about 16 miles.
Saw a few hawks, lots of nice wildflowers – including some blooming hedgehog cactus and a few blooming redbuds and their purple flowers. Plus a few shooting stars at night camping under the stars!

The next morning – Tuesday –

We had about 13 or so miles to go to the River this day, in familiar territory. We hit our first real good spring about ½ mile or so from our camp and from here on the water in the creek would flow clear and crisp. The going got a little slower and tougher, with creek crossing or wading and nothing but rocks to step over. And there were 2 or 3 boulder fields that we needed to climb down, which can be a little trickier with heavy packs. But there were many nice cascading falls and flowing water .

Our first big highlight of this day was ShowerBath Springs (see photo’s 9 thru 11). This is where we had camped a year earlier on our big Grand Canyon outing. This time, we just filled up our water bottles from the dripping spring, not needing to treat it due to our past experience here. The next stop about an hour down creek was also one of our favorites from the past 2 trips here, a nice waterfall coming down a small side canyon called Scotty’s Hollow. (see photo #12).

The going got rough here as we had some small waterfalls and boulder fields to climb down (photo’s 14 thru 16). But soon it leveled off, which would remain relatively flat the rest of way. We did take a nice break, getting a submerged under small pools in a nice stretch of the canyon where water flowed down a few cracks in the rock (see photo’s #17 and #18).

The next stop was only about 3 miles up from the River. Whispering Falls , a nice little side canyon that takes you to a big slow moving waterfall, but with a beautiful pool of water. Dave has this spot ranked in his top 5 of favorite spots in the Grand Canyon – and he has seen many a sight in this huge land. It takes about 15 minutes going up this side canyon, with a few smaller falls and pools along the way that need to negotiated. But once you arrive at the spot, it’s an oasis in the desert. The falls come down from about 100 feet above at a slight angle and forms a crystal clear large pool of green water. We both took a nice dip in this pool of water, with the sun hitting us through the very narrow canyon. (See photo’s 19 thru 23).

Back to the main Kanab Creek, we continued down what was to be the last 3 miles. By this time it was around 4:00 in the afternoon and we were tired, sore. Dave’s toe had developed a nasty blister from all the rocks we had to hike on. From last years trip down in this canyon, we had to deal with thick yucky mud at the mouth of the Kanab Creek at the River. So we were expecting that stuff to hit us again as we got down to the river. But this time, there was absolutely none of that, it was just like the rest of the canyon, just rocky and gravel filled beautiful creek. So we got to the river all in one piece after a long all day hike. Right at the mouth of this this canyon at the river is a pretty good rapid, rated a 5 (out of 10). It was also one of the longest that I’ve seen, about ½ mile long. We set up our camp at the nice sandy beach around the ½ way point of the rapid. It gave us a chance to scout out where we’d put in our rafts the next day, and listen to the loud roar of the rapid all night long. (see photos 24 thru 26).

Total miles for the day, apprx 14 miles of backpacking and about 1 more mile of side canyon exploring. Saw some big trout at the deeper parts of the creek along the way. And saw a few more shooting stars.

Day one on the river was Tuesday. Kanab rapids, where we camped the first night on the river, is at River Mile 144. Tuesday our goal was to get to river mile 155 at Paradise Canyon, which is only about 1 ½ mile up river from Havasui Canyon and it’s world famous waterfalls. Our plan was to hike the 5 or so miles from the river up to the waterfalls, but it would be 10-12 tough miles and our bodies were by now already quite soar. And with Dave’s blister, we figured we’d need to change our plans and just go up about ½ mile up this canyon. But that journey up Havasui was still set for Wednesday so on Tuesday we began to concentrate on our next Phase of the journey.

Phase 3. Running the River

Early Tuesday morning we got ready for the unknown part of this trip, running the river with our little Alpacka inflatable rafts. We inflated them up, got the paddles and everything all set up, got the wetsuits on, and the worst part of all – tying up the backpacks to the front of the little rafts. All our food and clothes were stashed in dry bags inside the backpacks. Luckily Dave knew some good Boy Scout knots, and each morning I had to have him do his double loop trick to attach my pack to the raft. Finally, at around 9:00 am, we were set to take off. I can’t tell you how nervous I was as we got into those rafts.

We had decided to put in at the half way part of the rapid, rather than carry all our gear down the beach and over rocks to a spot below the rapid. By this time, it was at worst maybe just a class I rapid, but more then likely just a strong riffle with large waves. But that was tough enough for me, a rookie at this rafting down the river. Even usually fearless Dave gets nervous about running rapids and riffles (some early childhood near drowning he tells me). But this is what we did and we got out in the main current with it’s waves. And cruised on down the remaining rapid and rode it nicely out of it. So that always first drenching was done and I had survived.

That done, we next encountered a small riffle with no problem. But there appeared just a mile from Kanab Rapid another apparent riffle. But this was a big one and up ahead of me I saw Dave take it on, only to hit a huge wave that flipped him over. Oh NO!! We had a cord attached from our raft to the paddle so he had a good hold his raft as he floated on downstream with the current. He was able to hit an eddy (where the water goes upstream opposite the normal current) and this slowed him down and enable him to get his body and the raft to shore. He was OK – and said it was actually a good thing it happened and he realized 1) with wet suit he was not cold in the 50 degree river water and 2) he felt like he could swim down river fine for quite a while unharmed. I still, personally, preferred not to get to experience that feeling. We also realized later when we had a chance to look at our river map, that this was actually a Class 3 rapid (we had thought it was just a riffle). So I had run my first rapid on this trip, although I didn’t realize it at the time.

The rest of the we ran into 2 small rapids and a number of riffles. The first rapid was at Olo Canyon about 1 mile below from where Dave flipped. We decided to portage rather then running it. This involved the laborious task of carrying both the heavy backpack still tied down tightly along with the raft. It never was an easy way to get below the rapids that we portaged. Usually you had to step from one rock to another while carrying this 45 lb load. But it still seemed better than running a rapid (or even a big riffle) that we weren’t confident about running.

About 4 miles below our starting point at Kanab rapid we came to Matkat Canyon and rapid – our first stop of the day. We explored this side canyon for about 40 minutes, had lunch and then scouted the rapid. There really wasn’t an option here for portaging, unless you wanted to climb 100 feet and go ½ tough miles down river. This would have been insane. So scouting the rapid, we figured it was a better option than portaging. It looked like the once you at the end of the tongue going into the rapid you’d get hit by a big wave from the left but if you got past that, you should be good, with just the usual big waves to contend with. So we got in the water, and off we went. I followed Dave, as I usually did – due to I had much more confidence in his knowledge of the correct current down the river as well where to avoid the eddies and whirlpools in the river.

We went right down the center of the tongue and hit the first batch of waves. I concentrated as best as I can, and once that big wave from the left was to hit, I leaned into it and my paddle kept me on top of the water and balanced, then I hit the rest of the wave head-on and as each came at me I leaned forward and floated right on through. We made ti through this Class 2 rapid.

Between the 2 portages and this rapid we just ran (not to mention the 30 miles of backpacking the 2 days before) our bodies were totally worn out. I was so tense that my hands and fingers were cramping. We had about 5 miles more to go before our day was done; the canyon was beautiful down here but due to our concentration on the river we couldn’t enjoy it as much as I’d like. But now was a pleasant stretch of river. The sparkling water, the lack of riffles for about 3 miles and the constant 4 mile per hour current allowed us to relax for the first time and just let the river take us. This made it all worth while. It was only the last 2 miles that the headwind started up and ended this bliss and we actually had to put some effort into paddling.

As we were approaching a possible camping spot for the night at Paradise Canyon at mile 155, we saw a long line of hikers coming down a trail at the spot where we were going to pull in for the night; plus we saw their boats there. We pulled our rafts up along side theirs and they were wondering what the heck we were doing with these little things. They were a Commercial outfit that Dave had actually used a few years ago for his first trip down the river. Two of the leaders we talked to were real nice, a very tanned athletic lady about 50 years old; and an old, skinny hippie looking man who had a real pleasant disposition. All the others were real nice also. We talked about where we’e been and they told us their hiking experiences and plans. Then the nice older hippie guy asked us if we’d like a beer and then he tossed us each a can of Tecudah beer. What a nice gesture.

We pulled in to this steep sandy spot and had to climb up a little bit to our only possible camp spots. (photo 28). We figured this had to do, since the only camp spot down river before we got to Havasui Canyon was a spot that this Commercial group was going to . It wasn’t the nicest area to camp but it had to do. That night it clouded up and looked like definite rain and we actually felt a couple of drops. So rather than gamble and sleep out in the open with the risk of rain, I moved my tarp and sleeping pads and bag under a cliff with a slight ledge that would hopefully protect me from the potential rain.

Dave took the trail up into Paradise Canyon, I opted not to so that could rest my ailing and old body. He said it was quite worth it, although I may not have liked the narrow ledge with a 100 foot drop straight down. His photos 29 thru 32 will have to do for now.

Scrunched up in the tight spot under the ledge, I didn’t get a good night sleep. There were a few more drops of rain in the middle of the night, which caused Dave to move from out in the open under a similar ledge as the one I was crashed.

No stars or shooting stars this night, nothing but cloud cover. Plus I had lots on my mind this night. My hands and fingers were still cramping and I could hardly even brush my teeth. Dave told me that the rapids at Havasui tomorrow presented us with Class 4 rapids and no way of portaging. I didn’t like hearing this, I had thought all of the rapids were portagable. This would be a tough rapid to attack. Plus I didn’t want to get drenched this night by rain. I prayed hard to God to get me through this wild trip; and I wondered what I was getting myself into. I’ll never do anything wild like this again. NEVER!! At this time I really wished I was back at my home, relaxing on my couch reading a nice book.

Wednesday our plan was to go down from our current location at river mile 155 and end up at Tuckup Canyon beach at river mile 164. In between the main attraction was our stop at Havasui Canyon, 1 ½ mile down from where we were to start. We floated this easy stretch to Havasui, passing the nice boat group a little down where they were camping. They waved and wished us luck and told us to camp at Tuckup - wish is where they were going.

The pullin at the Havasui Canyon sounded tricky from what I’ve read. You had to go real slow and hug the river on left along the cliffs in order to not be in the current that headed right down the rapids. And I did not want any part of that dreaded rapid, at least yet. But we got into the mouth of the canyon with no problem, and came upon a canyon that the likes of which I have never seen yet. The color of the water was milky blue, out of this world. We pulled our rafts up on a ledge about 10 feet above the river and got our wetsuits off and changed into our other clothes in order to spend some time up the canyon. I also proceeded along this ledge down aways along the rapids and was quite pleased to see that you could easily go about 30 or 40 yards easily along the ledges to a perfect spot to take our rafts, and this would allow us to avoid the top of the rapids, and these rapids didn’t look to easy for me. There was no doubt in my mind that we could avoid the worst of the rapids and just do the easiest portage you could imagine. Dave agreed.

But first we hike up the beautiful canyon about ½ mile up. The water was running real high and the wind was howling right in our face, and the morning sun was not quite high enough to hit us in the narrow canyon. But it was as beautiful of a canyon as you could find. And this part of the canyon wasn’t even the most spectacular part of the canyon. Unfortunately we would miss that, since there was no way we would be able to hike up this creek for 4 miles one way; too many creek crossings with very high, fast moving water; we were both still too soar from the 1st 2 days of hiking; and the anticipation of our wicked climb out now only 2 days from now. So we just enjoyed the canyon, and the occasional minutes when the sun popped up. See photos #33 thru 54. #49 and #50 are 2 classic photo’s that Dave took from high above the canyon. #51 shows the Colorado River, but you can barely see the blue waters of Havasui coming in and mixing with the Colorado River.

We did our nice portage about ½ down through the rapids, avoiding by far the worst of it. We got back into the rafts and made our way out into the current and the tail end of the rapids and cruised on down. From this canyon we had about 5 more miles to reach our next campsite, at Tuckup Canyon. There were just a few riffles that we had to raft through and we portaged maybe 1 more. But most of the way was pleasant, just sitting back and not paddling and going with the 4 mph current. It was times like these when you could take in the Grand Canyon, looking at the sparkling clear water in front and behind us, looking at the cliffs and the buttes; taking each bend at a time. Each bend presented something different. Plus we were able to rest our hands and fingers.

There wasn’t a constant wind, but usually everytime we seemed to approach one of these bends of the river, a strong headwind kicked up and made us come out of ‘Zone’ and actually do some paddling. But so far, this day, all was well. Much better than our 1st day. We seemed to be able to mend our tired and soar bodies a little on this day.

We arrived at the large beach at the mouth of Tuckup Canyon in the middle of that afternoon and set up camp right at the head of the Class 4 rated rapids. It was a 5 star hotel compared to the tight campspot we had the previous night at Paradise Canyon. Plenty of soft, white sand. It was still windy, and we were getting used to having sand in our hair, our fingernails, our pots and pans and food, our water, our teeth. But where I put my pack down was sort of blocked from the strong winds coming up river.

The other Commercial Boat group, the one that gave us the beer the previous day, was at this same location, at the lower camp. We really didn’t get a chance to talk to them, nor get any of their beer or food. We did talk to one of the guides for awhile, but that was it.

We took a short side trip up Tuckup Canyon, and Dave took a 40 foot tough climb to allow him to continue up the canyon for quite a ways (see photo’s 55 thru 57). While he was going I just found a nice large boulder to lay on right besides the loud rapids and relax and look at the scenery. This night would be a half clear and half cloudy night, but still was able to see a few shooting stars. It was a very nice camp site (See photo’s 58 thru 61).

Thursday morning would be about 10 more river miles with our goal to get from river mile 164 to 174 – Cove Canyon. We would have 3 minor rapids and 3 or 4 riffles. We started off about half way down the rapid at mile 164, passed our friends from the Boat Group who gave us a friendly wave goodby. Only 2 miles further was our first stop, National Canyon.

We pulled in above the rapid with intentions of portaging, but first we had the National Canyon to explore. There was another river party pulled in about half way down this rapid, and sort of wanted to avoid them so that we didn’t have to explain what the heck we were doing (since it was technically not legal without a permit). We went into the nice narrow canyon and about ½ mile later came to some nice falls that blocked any further progress. (see photos 62 thru 67). The sun was in and out this cool morning, when it was shady it was pretty cold. But getting warmer.

Dave didn’t want to portage this class 2 rapid, so we took it on. The first half was not too bad, we got through that. Just before we began the more difficult 2nd part of the rapid we passed the boat group on the beach who seemed thrilled to be seeing some fools in these little packrafts taking on a rapid right before their eyes. They waved and cheered us on – but deep down I’m sure they were rooting for one of us to flip over. The 2nd half of the rapid had some huge waves, but we worked hard and put all our muscles into keeping us balanced and on top of the ride. And we made it. What a thrill!!! And on we went.

We coasted with the nice current the next 2 miles to Fern Glenn canyon. The sun was coming out, we were warming up, and we coasted lazily to that beach. This was a larger rapid, and we portaged it to a very nice sandy beach at the mouth of the side canyon. With our wetsuits we went up this canyon about ½ mile to the big waterfall. On the way we had a cold pool of water we needed to wade or swim through to get above a big choke stone in the middle of the canyon. Above this we got to the nice waterfall, but only a trickle of water was coming down (photo 68 thru 60).

Back at the beach we ate a nice lunch, but again the clouds started coming in, making it a little cooler out. And the wind also began to pick up a bit. It would have been nice sticking around at the Fern Glen beach, but due to the cooler air coming in we figured we continue on. One more rapid to stop off along the way, about 3 more miles down to Mohowk Canyon and the Gateway Rapid.

These 3 miles were like the previous 2. Some of it was just sitting back and letting the current take us along at 4 mph’s. This was the enjoyable part – being able to relax and making good time , but at same time being able to enjoy the inner Grand Canyon gorge. But we also at times got hit by the headwind, and that made us give 100% effort in getting around the next bend.

When we got to the next rapid, we passed a large boating group on the right at the beach of Stairway canyon. Then about ¼ mile further we pulled off on river left at Mohawk Canyon at the head of the Gateway Rapid. This was a tough portage, and it turned out to be our last of the entire trip. These portages took a lot out you. It was a heavy load and the terrain was not easy – all the rocks and small boulders and brush. You had to be careful with the rafts, one poke with a cactus or one of the ‘cat claw’ bushes and the raft would be history. Or if you even poked one of the many real razor-sharp rocks the same would happen.

From here it was about 2 ½ to 3 miles to our hopeful destination for the night. The sky was overcast, but no threat of rain yet. The wind was picking up as it did so often on our previous days. When I got in below the rapid I noticed my raft had slightly less air, but not much. But as we kept going it became more of a concern to me. I was wondering if I might have scraped it on something sharp the last portage. We were only about ¾ of mile from Cove Canyon beach when I figured I better get over to the side and see what the matter was. But at this time we were right about on top of the last riffle for the day. We went ahead through this mild riffle, but at this time the raft had lost way too much air and the waves from this riffle caused me to have trouble - with a flat raft. Somehow I got through it, but I was sitting in tons of water in the raft. I told Dave we have to pull over so that I could see what the matter was.

My worst fear was that I had sprung a leak in my inflatable. I did have a repair kit, so I’m sure we’d be OK. But it would be a pain to repair. We were only about ½ mile from Cove Canyon beach so I’m sure we’d be able to get there with my slow leak, but I ended up blowing up the raft with air and it seemed to not be losing any air. So all filled up, we continued on the last little stretch to our home for this particular night. At Cove beach there were 2 camps, the upper and lower. We scouted for a good hour, at first Dave wanted to just stay at the upper camp – which was a really nice camp. I continued down river a bit, scouting out other possibilities. And then found right at the head of the riffle (maybe rapid). I took in the sight and realized we couldn’t pass up this really nice spot and was able to talk Dave into getting back into our rafts and just going down stream about 50 yards to this little beach.

Regarding the possible leak in my raft, after inflating it back up river, it appeared to be holdings own. It appeared that perhaps the valve was not tightly shut. So it looked like all was well with that.

I’ve been to many great, scenic camp sites in my life. Many on the rim of Grand Canyon, in The Narrows of Zion, in the Rocky Mts, Marble Canyon, Monument Valley, Big Sur, etc… But this one could be perhaps the most spectacular site I’ve ever been. Behind us was a nice straight shot of Cove Canyon and it’s cliffs; up river the winding bend of the river and the Grand Canyon’s cliffs towering above, down river we had a great view of Cove Point and the rim all the way down to Toroweap Point. Toroweap is world renowned as one of the great view points in the Grand Canyon. To reach Toroweap from my house in St. George, UT you take a remote dirt road in the Arizona Strip for at least an 1 ½ hour. At the point you stand on a point with a 3000 foot straight down drop and views up river and down river of at least 3 miles each way. From our campsite you could see the point 4 miles down river. (Photo’s 71 thru 79)

While resting after a long day of rafting, Dave spotted across the river from us – directly across from us – were 3 desert Big Horn Sheep . For almost 2 hours, while sitting back in the sand, we saw them carry on. The 2 biggest would occasional square off and threaten to batter horns together. Once, one of them was frustrated and rammed his horns into a sturdy tree. Even above the roar of the rapids, you could hear the loud THUD of his horns against the tree. The terrain was very steep and loose rocks, but you could see them scurry along this steep sloap, with rocks avalanches falling below them. They spent most of this time just munching on the grass on the rocky terrain. On top of that , there was a lone Osprey flying above the rapids, against the strong wind. It seemed to just be enjoying himself – flapping its wings as hard as it could but hardly making any progress as it just hovered above the river. And it seem to really not mind at all.

We did see another boat group go through, with one of the dories stopping ashore to talk to us. A real nice guide was wondering what we were doing but seemed nice. They continued on down towards Lava Falls, considered a Class 10 and one of the most dangerous rapids on the river. This is where we were planning on going to pull out the next morning.

Sometime around 5:00 or 6:00, all of the sudden the blue skies turned a little cloudy. Especially over Toroweap point to the west, where a huge cloud appeared and you could see rain pounding down. Dave and I got all our gear into our dry bags and prepared for a downpour. Without any tents we needed to do our best by getting under some tamarisk tree cover as well as wrapping tarps around us. Dave may have also placed his raft over part of his body in an attempt to stay dry. The rain, which was not real hard, lasted perhaps 40 or 50 minutes then passed away. For the next hour, it was half clear and half threatening clouds. But by dinner time, the clouds were gone and from that point and until the morning it would be crystal clear. And there is something about when a storm leaves the Grand Canyon and you’re left with clear skies. It’s like a cleansing, everything is so colorful and full of new life.

That night was the clearest of all nights on the river. The stars were out, no wind to speak of. And one more day to safety of the car. But we still had a ways to go. The riffle we camped above looked to be a dosey, with big waves at the beginning and a very long run. And then it hit the outer bend then curved to the left and another riffle began at that point. It looked like a challenging run. That night, as I slept under this brilliant night sky, I listened to my I-Pod. I started off as I did every night on this trip listening to some old Beatles. Then I finished off listening to Eddie Veddor (of Pearl Jam fame) and the Into The Wild movie soundtrack. More on that later, but I will say during one of the best of those songs I saw a shooting star streak across the sky right above me, from one rim to another.

The last day was a 5 mile river run to the trail out to the car. Sounds easy enough, but oh the challenges were just awaiting us. After the first 2 riffles (rapids?) at Cove Canyon where we were starting out, we thought there were only 2 more riffles. That didn’t sound too bad. But my concentration was on the 2 riffles at Cove. We took off and really didn’t have too many troubles with these two, although it took lots of effort of staying on top of the wave and in the current. Once done with the 1st half, we made it into current of the 2nd half and were able to make the bend of the river and get through the riffle.

We’re on our way!! Or so I thought. A mile down the river we came to really the last riffle of the trip (the one after this one was pretty inconsequential). By this time I felt really confident, thought I had gotten through the river trip without flipping. That I had taken on the mighty Colorado River head on, and had performed admirable. The riffle we were approaching didn’t seem too bad, short compared to the one we just whipped.

I followed Dave. To quote Dave ‘as I was about out of the riffle I saw a Rogue wave come out of nowhere, but luckily as I came upon it, the huge wave flattened out and I got through with no problem’. I was not so lucky. I was 1 or 2 waves from getting through the entire river portion of the trip without flipping. But then this “Rogue Wave’ came out of nowhere and whipped my butt. I went flying backwards and sideways and flipped; flipped me right into the water. DAMN!!

The pole that was attached to the raft was momentarily released from my grip, but luckily it was no more than a foot or two away from my floating body so I was able to grab it. I went floating down with the current and it was moving pretty good. It was a real struggle trying to get over to shore, and finally Dave was able to come to my side and try to paddle me over. But after a minute or two of that struggle, he gave up. Finally he was able to flip my boat over and with all my remaining strength I was able to climb in. My backpack was not completely attached, it was still half in the water getting soaked. I paddled over to shore to try to get everything straightened out. As I got out of the raft, my one foot got stuck in the wet mud under the water and one of sandles came lose, and I never saw it again.

It took about 10-15 minutes to get everything in order and get ready to proceed with the last 3 miles. But if nothing else, this was a lesson – never get cocky about conquering the mighty River. It always gets the last laugh.

The last few miles weren’t too bad. The last riffle was very small and easy. As we approached the last mile, we knew it was like a dammed up lake due to the huge rapid at Lave Falls. We were expecting still water and a strong headwind; thus a very hard paddle for that last mile. But it turned out to very pleasant. There was a nice easy current that glided us to our pull-out. And there was absolutely no wind. It was a very nice finish to our river trip.

We pulled out about ¼ mile up river from the mighty Lava Falls Rapid. We certainly didn’t want to get past our pull out and hit that monster. But it was an easy pull-in. We made it with this River running Phase of the trip. What a great feeling.

Phase 4. The climb out

It took us about an hour to get our packs situated. Deflated our rafts, disassemble our paddles, trying to dry things out, changing into our hiking clothes, and stuffing everything in our packs. Too bad for me that due to my morning drenching, my pack and everything in it was completely wet and much heavier. This was not what I really needed. Why not? This climb out is a killer. 3000 feet straight up climb over lava rock. This lava rock could consist of sharp rocks, or loose scree, or 3-5 foot climbs. And more rocks; and cactus that are just ready for some body to stick their thorns in.

When I put that 50 lb + on my back and started up that lava rock trail, I really didn’t think I was going to be able to make it 3000 feet up. The good news was that instead of it being 90 degrees and a blazing sun all the way up, it was a cool day from the storm that blew through the previous night. That and a few clouds and you didn’t even notice any heat.

We plodded on, and on , and on. A year earlier Dave and I did a day hike down and back up and we went on a route that took you over some really tough upclimbs as well as some miserable loose scree half way up. We weren’t looking forward to either of these areas, especially with our packs. But by some stroke of luck we followed some rock cairns that veered off to the right of this other route and we soon found us on a slightly different route. Although it was unknown to us, it turned out that it bypassed the upclimbs and thank goodness also the loose scree. Although our alternative route was still very rugged and tough, it seemed much better than that other route.

As we approached the last 400 feet of the climb, we saw a family going down on a dayhike. Surprisingly the dad had a baby carrier on his back with a screaming baby. Welcome back to ‘civilization’. We made it back to our car after on 2 ¾ of an hour climb, which is quite remarkable considering our tired bodies and our heavy packs.

The trip was over, we had made it, we had survived. Scratches, cuts, bruises, dead toenails, blisters, grimy hair filled with sand, one less sandle, totally burned out. Scared to death on certain occasions. There were many nights that I asked why am I doing this; why kill my body; why put myself up to all this risk. I could be home right now reading and eating ice cream and sleeping the comfortable bed? I told God that if he got me through this thing safely I’d never do anything this crazy again. It just wasn’t worth it!!

But then you get a moment, and location, an experience that changes all that thinking. That was the day and night at Cove Canyon campsite. The sun, the rapids, the view of Toroweap point, the Desert Big Horn Sheep, the Osprey, the wind, the rain storm over the point and then the rain on us; the clearing and post storm sunset.

Then for me laying out on my tarp in my sleeping bag. With IPOD on and listening to Into the Wild soundtrack and hearing those songs, including the following lyrics:

Into The Wild

Long Nights

Have No Fear
For When I’m alone
I’ll be Better Off
Then I was before
I’ve got this life
I’ll be around to grow
Who I was before
I can not recall
Long nights alive
Made me feel I’m falling
I’m falling
The lights go out
Let me feel I’m falling
I’m falling
Safely to the ground

I’ll take this hole
That’s inside me now
Like a brand new friend
I’ll forever know
I’ve got this life
And the will to show
I will always be
Better then before
Long nights alone
Made me feel I’m falling
I’m falling
The lights go out
Let me feel I’m falling
I’m falling
Safely the ground


Society
It’s a mystery to me
We have agreed to which we have agreed
When you think you want to want more than you need
Until you have it all you won’t be free
Society
Your crazy breed
I hope you’re not loney
Without me

When you want more than you have you think you need
And when you think more than you want you thoughts begin to bleed
I think I need to find a bigger place
Cause when you have more than you think you need,
………..

It was during these songs when I was getting higher and higher, until I saw this huge shooting star go over my head. It was one of those moments very rarely, but I really felt as close to God at this moment as I have ever felt. I felt one with God. I realized at that moment why I do these crazy things. You get euphoric moments like this, and you never question again the sanity of this kind of adventure.