Our trip started out of Flagstaff so we loaded up the rental car along with Garrett and Brenda and drove two hours north to meet the rest of the group. With Phoenix being so warm and sunny it seemed out of place to arrive in Flagstaff with several feet of snow on the ground. But that's what happened. With a few days in Flagstaff we gathered our wits and picked up much needed last minute provisions like beer and sun screen. We were told that once we started the trip the weather would change to warm and sunny again.
The morning of our departure Moenkopi (our outfitter) loaded up our bags and drove us two hours north to Lee's Ferry where we would start our on-the-water portion of the trip. 17 days of exploration and adventure lay ahead of us. Out of the 8 of us on the trip, not a one of us had seen the Colorado River as it runs through the Grand Canyon. 9am, February 25th we met with the Park Service Ranger and got permission to launch. What happened next can't really be summed up is this tiny amount of space. I'll give you the highlights as a teaser.
Regardless of what we did we were normally laughing while doing it. Needless to say, we had a fun loving group of good folks.
Most days we took short side hikes and longer day length hikes on layover days. Hiking potential was limitless, only bound by our imagination and sense of safety.
With roughly 225 river miles covered we ran something like 190 rapids (more or less). Five or six of them were pretty big and hair raising but for most part the majority of the rapids were just good clean roughty fun.
Viewing and admiring the landscape was an ongoing event too. What's around the next corner? "Wow! Did you see that waterfall back there?" "What about that arch?" "Yep. I was so tied up admiring the waterfall I must have missed the arch but did you see the sheep on the cliff side?" Wow and all its synonyms were used through out each and every day.
The Colorado River ran either brown or your typical dark blue river water color. It depends on what the damn is releasing and if rain or snow melt is washing muddy water down side creeks. Out of the many hidden gems along the way Havasu was probably one of my favorites. The water in this side canyon is a surreal pastel baby blue color engulfed in tall dark orange canyon walls will miles of hiking to be done.
As we started our trip, Rico the shuttle driver left us with some sage advice he credited to Brady (owner of Moenkopi) who tells folks that "If you're not having fun, you are fucking up!" It is safe to say we did not fuck up once on this trip.
The Colorado River ran either brown or your typical dark blue river water color. It depends on what the damn is releasing and if rain or snow melt is washing muddy water down side creeks. Out of the many hidden gems along the way Havasu was probably one of my favorites. The water in this side canyon is a surreal pastel baby blue color engulfed in tall dark orange canyon walls will miles of hiking to be done. As we started our trip, Rico the shuttle driver left us with some sage advice he credited to Brady (owner of Moenkopi) who tells folks that "If you're not having fun, you are fucking up!" It is safe to say we did not fuck up once on this trip.