It was an amazing eighteen days bouncing down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon on dories: great whitewater, fabulous hikes, a crew of very dedicated and talented boatmen, and congenial travelling companions. The scenery was spectacular, the rapids were exciting, and food was delicious and plentiful. We learned about the amazing geology of this area, saw some wildlife, and enjoyed nearly perfect weather. The river ran clear and green and the two major tributaries, the Little Colorado River and Havasu Creek, were amazingly colored vivid turquoise.
The trip almost didn’t happen, but the Governor of AZ got the Grand Canyon open just in time. A few hours later and the trip would have been canceled due to the stupid government shutdown. I will be forever grateful to Stephen Plume for asking my to join him on this trip. And for agreeing we were heading to AZ and UT whether or not the canyon opened.
In the pages that follow I show some of the photos I took and share some impressions and experiences.
There are 19 pages of photos — one for each day of our trip plus a page of Milky Way Images. You can go to any page by clicking the link below. If you want to step through the pages in order just click the “NEXT” button at the bottom of each page.
Day 1 Lees Ferry to Hot Na Na Camp
Day 2 Hot Na Na to South Canyon Camp
Day 3 South Canyon to Marble Canyon Dam Site and Eminence Camp
Day 4 Eminence to Saddle Canyon and Upper Nankoweap Camp
Day 5 Upper Nankoweap to Lava Chuar Camp
Day 6 Lava Chuar to Escalante Camp
Day 7 Escalante to Cremation Camp
Day 8 Cremation to Phantom Ranch and Trinity Camp
Day 10 Crystal Creek and Garnet Camp
Day 11 Garnet to Blacktail Canyon and Galloway Camp
Day 12 Galloway/Stone Creek Up-and-Over Hike
Day 13 Galloway to Deer Creek and Below Kanab Camp
Day 14 Lower Kanab to Havasu Canyon and “Love Nest” Camp
Day 15 “Love Nest” through Lava Falls to Upper Chevron Camp
Day 16 Upper Chevron to Parashant Camp
Day 17 Parashant to Pumpkin Springs and Mile 220 Camp
Day 18 Mile 220 to Diamond Creek takeout at Mile 226
Milky Way from the Grand Canyon
