We left the cabin and it was 31*F outside. Meeting up with the group we learned that we had packed the most stuff and we were traveling light in comparison with other trips we had done.When the list said bring one or two, I packed two, other people who had done the trip before had a better grasp of what to bring. Being a mom who has used her SUV as a diaper bag to store extra diapers and whatnot over the past five years, I am not accustom to traveling light. So it will come as no surprise that my dad also had some of my stuff in his bag. Of course I gave him the heavy stuff like sunblock and bulky stuff like pillows.
We took a converted school bus from Flagstaff to Lee's Ferry stopping in Cameron for a break and to call my mom and my kids and husband to say goodbye. We also stopped to walk over the older Navajo Bridge which was now a walking path and were told to watch for California Condors which we didn't see until we were on the river.
From there it was a short distance to the boats. Our boats were S rigs and looked huge compared to the oar boats next to them. We did our first fire line unloading the bus and then got an introduction to the trip from our lead guide Jed and selected our life vests. There was a "Wildcat" vest, but being self respecting Sun Devils, we left it in the dirt. My dad's vest was "Stanton" and mine was "Monadock". Apparently the name on my life vest was mispelled and it should have been monadnock which does actually exist. From wiki "A monadnock or inselberg is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain."
We took a converted school bus from Flagstaff to Lee's Ferry stopping in Cameron for a break and to call my mom and my kids and husband to say goodbye. We also stopped to walk over the older Navajo Bridge which was now a walking path and were told to watch for California Condors which we didn't see until we were on the river.
From there it was a short distance to the boats. Our boats were S rigs and looked huge compared to the oar boats next to them. We did our first fire line unloading the bus and then got an introduction to the trip from our lead guide Jed and selected our life vests. There was a "Wildcat" vest, but being self respecting Sun Devils, we left it in the dirt. My dad's vest was "Stanton" and mine was "Monadock". Apparently the name on my life vest was mispelled and it should have been monadnock which does actually exist. From wiki "A monadnock or inselberg is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain."
Getting underway we rode with Jed and Chris. I thought the rapids were cold and fun in Marble Canyon. One of the rapids with a little more splash than the others was House Rock Rapids. We saw California Condors by Navajo Bridge and also saw frogs, blue heron, big horn sheep and bats at night.
We did a side hike into Ryder Canyon and I quickly learned that the guide's version of flip flop hike isn't mine.
We camped under the stars with a full moon at mile 23.2. At camp we got a brief introduction into the groover and how to.... Using the dual system was interesting and took some getting used to. All I can say is that I am glad I don't work for the company in Flagstaff that cleans the groover at the end of the trip.
Breakfast: buffet at the Radisson
Lunch: Turkey sandwiches and learned about eating over the water so crumbs would be washed away at the next high tide
Dinner: Salmon- Dad's least favorite meal
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