Grand Canyon

Webster dictionary defines Alone as “without anyone or anything else: not involving or including anyone or anything else: separate from other people or things.” In today’s world, I don’t think someone can truly be alone, with Social Media, phones, internet, etc. most humans have some form of human contact. For the last 21 days, I would like to think that I was alone in the Grand Canyon. As a crew of 7, we didn’t see another group on the water until day 12. While excited to see other people, little words were exchanged between passings. To be honest, not seeing anyone else for a period of time was nice and a feeling I like to embrace. It was just us and the wilderness. As we hiked for 2 hours to the Canyon rim and looked outside the giant ditch, we discovered hundreds of miles of barren land in all directions. This was a true feeling of being Alone.

This all started two years ago when Mike, Rick and I started talking about applying for a canyon permit. After looking at dates, the three of us strategically applied for dates that worked for us and gave us the greatest chance of winning. It worked, and after a lot of invites was sent, the original core members: Rick, Mike, Nicky, Amanada, Brad, Courtney, and I, embarked on the journey.

As a first time down the canyon for every member of our crew, we decided to go with an outfitter to help provide gear and food for us. Canyon REO, out of Flagstaff, did not disappoint. Their gear set up was top notch and we eat like kings for 21 days. Enjoy, until the next adventure.

The trip covered 225 river miles over the course of 21 days. We ended up having 3 layover days to help catch up on rest and to do some hiking. We saw all forms of weather, warm and sunny to snow. The trip was one of the most amazing adventures I have been on. Here is some pictures and daily notes I took of the trip.
*disclaimer, pictures were hard to take because of the Canyon walls. Either there was not enough light or too much.

Day 1 - December 19

Today we went to see Red Mountain. Red Mountain is a volcanic cinder cone that rises 1,000 feet above the surrounding landscape. It is unusual in having the shape of a "U," open to the west, and in lacking the symmetrical shape of most cinder cones. We then drove to the South Rim. After checking out the visitor’s center we hiked the South Kaibab trail down to Ooh-Aah Point. Seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time was eye opening.

Buddy Check 

Red Mountain 

Playing around in the snow 

Trail Head 

South Rim 

Hiking South Kaibab Trail 

Mike doing his thing 

Ohh-Ahh point 

Day 2 - December 20

Snow overnight stopped us from being able to go to horseshoe bend. So, we stayed in Flagstaff to finish all last minute items. We started our day, of course, in the hot tub. We spent the evening packing all of our personal gear.

Enjoying the hot tub 

Wal-Mart has solar! 

Gear Everywhere 

Day 3 - December 21

Canyon REO picked us up early in the morning and took us to their warehouse where we loaded into a large truck and headed to Lee's Ferry, about a 3 hour drive. We unloaded rafts and packed them up for he trip. We camped at the put-in that night.

Our Gear 

Driving to Lee's Ferry 

Here she is! 

Navajo Bridge 

Unloading at Lee's Ferry 

Adding the final touches 

River day 1 - December 22.

We meet the Park Ranger at 9am for our pre-trip talk. At 11:45am, the seven of us sang the National Anthem and finally took off down the river. That night we camped at Below Jackass Campsite. Wind picked up during the night, it was like getting sand blasted.

Getting ready to take off! 

Off we go! 

Navajo bridge, river view 

Finally some moving water!! 

River Day 2 - December 23

After getting the rafts beached we had another short day on the water. We stopped at soap creek to hike and to scout the rapid. Soap creek was one of our first bigger rapid. As we continued down the river we entered sheer wall canyon. Stopped for the night at Hot NaNa. One of our favorite campsites.

River Day 3 - December 24

Today we covered 15 miles, and went through a lot of fun wave trains. We also stopped at lone cedar, which isn't really a cedar. At night, Mike brought out white elephant gifts and we played the game. All the gifts were items functional for the trip. We camped at mile 32 South Canyon campsite.

Lone Cedar 

River Day 4 - December 25

Merry Christmas! We went to sleep with a clear night of the stars popping and awake to snow covered canyon rim! From camp we paddled down and saw Vasey's Paradise, a waterfall that comes right out of the canyon rim. Further down stream was Red Wall Carven. We hung out here for a bit. To make up time on the water we did a floating lunch, this was the only time I did not kayak during the whole trip. We then saw the area of the proposed dam. We covered 10 miles today and camped at Bush Creek Campground.

SNOW!! 

Indian Ruins 

Vasey's Paradise 

Red Wall Cavern 

Natural Land Bridge 

River Day 5 - December 26

This morning we got an early start to help cover some miles. After getting in 11 miles we stopped at Nankoweap Granaries. We hiked up to the granaries and got some photos of Rick and Nicky paddling down stream. We then continued down stream 3.5 to camp at Kwagnat camp.

View from the granaries, can you spot the 18ft raft in the river? 

Nankoweap Granaries 

River Day 6 - December 27

No words can describe what I've seen. The Canyon has changed from a tall, tight walled in canyon to large wide valley. Today we covered another 16 miles, we could see the desert watchtower, had lunch at Crash Canyon, and stopped at Little Colorado River. The LCR had baby blue water, it looked amazing against the red cliffs. We ended up stopping at the Unkar Delta at mile 73

Little Colorado River 

So blue! 

Unkar Delta 

River Day 7 - December 28

Today was our first layover day. We all slept in, and had a late breakfast. After words we did laundry and went for a hike into the delta were we saw old foundations of Native American houses. We also all showered for the first time, it was nice. The sun was out and was warm enough to wear shorts.

Camp 

Doing some laundry 

Unkar Delta 

Indian Ruins 

Sunset 

River Day 8 - December 29

Today was a big day of Rapids, first we scouted Hance rapid and then the canyon tightened up and the water got pushier. Sockdolager was a huge wave, it felt like 15ft tall. The canyon also changed from sandstone to granite. We ended the day 15 miles later at lower Creation campsite. Here we were about 1/4 mile from phantom Ranch.

River Day 9 - December 30

After waking up we headed down to Phantom Ranch to check it out. Phantom Ranch has hiking trails that access the rim, so there is a campground with a small restaurant and store in the canyon. It also has mule service, where people can have their packs carried down for a fee. Once heading back to paddling he had Horn Creek , Granite, and hermit rapid. Hermit had the biggest waves on the whole river. They could easily flip a raft if not lined up correctly. In a kayak it was like a big roller coaster. That night we stayed at Boucher campsite at mile 97.

Hiking to Phantom ranch 

Phantom Ranch store/restaurant 

Black Suspension bridge to South Kaibab trail 

River Day 10 - December 31

Today we ran the famous crystal rapid, the first wave put me on the back deck of my kayak. It was a run rapid. The group is starting to struggle a little with the cold and making mileage. We ended the day at mile 109, Bass campsite. In the evening I hiked up to get a couple photos. At night we had a New Years party and in true fashion we were all so tired, so at 9:13pm we decided to call it and have a count down.

View from above 

Hanging out on the edge of the rock wall 

River Day 11 - January 1

This morning while getting breakfast ready I saw a fish jump. After I saw a second jump I decided to get Brad's fishing pole and try to catch a fish. On the first cat I got a bit and by the third cast I caught a nice rainbow trout. Today was our first aholua Friday! For Christmas Brad and Courtney got everyone Hawaiian shirts. On the river today we covered a lot of miles, 18 total. The water was really moving. We left the granite rock and entered a Tapeats Sandstone canyon. We ended the day at mile 127 Randy's Rock.

My first Trout © Courtney Hart

I said do something funny and this is all I got 

River Day 12 - January 2

Today we woke up and the rafts were completely beached. After trying a while with a z-drag, we ended up using the oar shafts to roll the raft on top of them. I stopped at Stone Creek and Deer Creek. While in some moving water I noticed Amanda's bow line was loose and in the water. It then got tight and her raft can to a stop. By the time I yelled rope, the current had push my kayak up and under her raft. As I wanted to flush out the back side, I then hit my roll, coming out of the water yelling "cut the rope!" Amanda and Courtney then found a knife and cut themselves free. It's was a kind of unreal monument. We set up camp at mile 140.5, keyhole campsite. At dinner time we saw out first other rafting group. It was another 3 rafts that were doing the trip in 15 days. They were up the next morning at 5:30 eating breakfast, a little bit different then our trip of sleeping in.

Kitchen at work 

I don't think the boats should be there 

Stone Creek 

Deer Creek Falls 

River Day 13 - January 3

Today was mileage day. We stopped and hiked up Mat-Kat canyon. It was a really cool slot canyon. We covered 17 miles and stopped at mile 157, last chance campground

Mat-Kat Canyon 

River Day 14 - January 4

Today we got a little rain in the morning, a storm that would stick around for the next 4 days. We stopped at Hava-us creek and Tuck up Canyon. Hava-us had water just like the LCR blue. It was really pretty. We also were passed by a 3 kayak self supported trip. The only other trip we would see the whole time. We ended up stopping at mile 171, Mohawk canyon.

Sleeping under the stars 

Rain, ugh! 

Havasa Creek 

Barrel Cactus 

River Day 15 - January 5

Today we ran lava, the pour over was nasty. With backwash a good 5 feet back. I paddled just right of the hole and headed back left. My line was super clean and smooth! At lava the canyon had changed again to lava rocks. We stopped at mile 188 at whitmoore canyon. Today I also took my second shower by jumping into the river, it was cold but not too bad.











River Day 16 - January 6

Today was our second layover day. After breakfast we hiked to some pictographs and up a trip to the canyon rim. At this campground, the rim sits the lowest and after a 1.5 mile hike, mainly vertical, we should on the borader of the national park and Perashent national monument. Here a lava dam, at some point, created a lake with Colorado River. At the river, there was just miles and miles of land in all directions with with on it but some shrub brush and cactus.

Pictographs 

Lava Dam 

View from the top 

Nothing on the other side 

Barrel Cactus everywhere! 

River Day 17 - January 7

Today we had some hard rain and with a strong head wind, it was pretty cold. We paddled to Parashant campground at mile 198.9. After lunch we hiked up Parashant creek to see the book of worms and old avatal roasting pits.

Trying to knock over a rock 

Book of worms 

Agave roasting pits 

River Day 18 - January 8

Today was our third layover day. We decided to try and climb Molly's nipple, at over 3,000 vertical feet it was going to be a challenge. There wasn't much of a trail and with rain moving in, we decided to call it before someone got hurt. The trail, at parts, was about 5 feet wide on an angled surface of loose rock that was next to 100ft drop.

Not much of a trail 

As high as we got 

The hiking Crew minus Brad 

What a hat! © Amanda Lappe 

Our TL 

Amanda 

River Day 19 - January 9th.

After a slow start, we covered some miles til we came up to more pictographs up a side canyon. We also stopped at pumpkin spring. As we paddled down we could get glimpses of the rim. The rain we got, cover the rim with some heavy snow. We stopped and set up camp at mile 214. That night we had a cool fire next to some rock cliffs.

More pictographs 

More Snow! 

Pumpkin Spring 

Setting up camp 

Campfire 

Night shot 

River day 20 - January 10th

Today we paddled to about a mile from the take out and set up our final camp. While paddling we could see the diamond mountain that gives diamond creek its name. Once in camp, I hiked a little to get some pictures of the river. We camped at mile 224

What comes in has to be carried out 

Last night 

Diamond Creek © Nickey Neal 

River day 21, January 11

Our last day. We woke early to break down camp and be a diamond creek before canyon REO got there to pick us up. We paddled about a mile to the take out and Canyon REO arrived just as we started breaking down the rafts. After loading up the trucks, we had a 3 hour drive back to flagstaff, an hour of which was on the dirt road in diamond creek.

Gear truck 

Leaving the Canyon