Start: Nankoweap Camp
Finish: Below Cape Solitude
Daily Mileage: 13.5 *includes rafting distance
Trip Mileage: 733.3
Elevation gain/loss: 1155/469ft
It was a warm night. I was sweating a little bit under my quilt, even though I had it completely open. Since I dropped 6,000 feet yesterday down to about 2,700, I knew it was going to be a lot warmer down here. I’ve got several days down here, so it’ll be nice to not have to deal with some of the overnight cold for a bit.
I was tied to the rafter’s schedule today since they were my ride. We had a breakfast of bagels with cream cheese, lox, and all the fixings. Way better than my normal cold soak meal. Once again, they invited me to partake and offered to send me on my way with more food since they had way too much. I’ve got plenty though, so I declined.
I had to configure my gear to put on the whitewater raft. We were only going to see one decent rapid today, along with some normal riffles, so I wasn’t too concerned. I have been carrying a light dry bag, which I’ve been using as a pack liner. I knew I’d be crossing some areas where I might have to go through deep pools, so I’ve been carrying this bag for those types of eventualities. This is the first time I’ve had to use it as a dry bag though. The pack was a tight squeeze, but I got everything in except my food, which is in a separate dry bag. All the rafters were in dry suits, but all I had was my rain gear, so I just used my raincoat, rain pants, no socks, and my shoes.
I got into Dan’s raft, and we headed out. As we passed down the river past the riverbank that I would have been walking, I’m so glad that I am taking a raft instead. I definitely could have hiked the riverbank, but it was pretty bushy, lots of boulders and small rocks, and steep in some places, and it pretty much just would have been a miserable grind for nine miles to get down to the point where I would still need to cross the Colorado. Sitting on the raft, I was swept along by the river’s current, and I could just look up and enjoy a magnificent canyon surrounding me. The walls were sheer, and in this portion of the canyon, you could see up and down pretty far, and it was incredibly scenic.
We went through the first rapid, and Dan took a soft line to avoid getting us too wet. After that, he offered to let me row since I told him I had done it before the last time I rafted the Grand Canyon. I was excited to row. When you’re rowing, you are completely in control of the raft. The toughest part of this river is staying in the current since there are often huge eddies. The rafts are very heavy, and you just sort of nudge them this way or that to put them in the right spot, till the river takes you. You don’t row for forward progress. It was a fun challenge to row and keep the boat in the current. I did pretty well and didn’t get eddied out I managed to take good lines through the small rapids or riffles that we passed.
We soon pulled into to take lunch at the Little Colorado River, which is where I would get off. I took my stuff off the raft and was getting it situated to go from rafting mode to backpacking mode when Alicia said that they would be insulted if I didn’t also join them for lunch. Well, it’s not going to take much to twist my arm on that. Especially after I heard it was tabbouleh, which is one of my favorite dishes that I make at home almost weekly. I stuffed myself with three helpings, plus the other sides that they had. Then I grabbed some drinking water from the Colorado, and we all took off to hike up the Little Colorado for a day hike.
With the rafting trip, I basically did the mileage I needed for my permit for the day, so I had time to kill, and I planned to hike up the Little Colorado a bit to see it. The last time I was here, the river was a muddy mess. This time, however, it was its normal light turquoise creamy blue. The most perfect color for water. There’s a lot of calcium in the water, which gives it the white tone, and the Indians used to mine salt in this area, so it’s salty. We hiked up the river on ledges and stopped off and took many pictures at the scenic spots with the riffles with the perfect water coming down over them.
Eventually, the rafters got back in the river to float down to the Colorado and their rafts. We said goodbye and parted ways. I continued upstream a bit, seeing what was around the next few curves before it got a bit bushier and the trail harder was harder to find and follow. Then I crossed the river and picked up the National Park trail on the other side to head down it. You could hardly see the river from the trail though, so I’m glad that I had the hike up river to see it.
I headed back down the Little Colorado, and my trail curved into the cliffs above the main Colorado when it got to the confluence. It wound through the cliff bands along the Colorado and gave me great views up and down it. I had to get a mile from the confluence to camp since it’s a sacred area. I’ve got another short day tomorrow, so I didn’t want to go too far. I made these shorter days on my permit in case I had difficulty crossing the river, so now I just have some more relaxing days instead.
I wound above the Colorado River, stopping off and then taking many pictures. It’s so awesome being down in the bottom of the canyon with the huge walls surrounding you. Once I got more than my required distance from the confluence, I found a flat spot on a promontory which spoke my name. It’s on a slab of rock, so I can’t set up my tent, which isn’t free-standing, so I will try my hand at cowboy camping again. Hopefully, no more bird issues this time. I relaxed watching the river go by straight below me, just lounging in this magnificent canyon, enjoying it.
Unfortunately, there were a lot of thorny flora of various types, thorn trees, bushes, and cactuses on my way to camp, and by the time I got to camp, I saw that one of my bladders was now leaking from several puncture holes. Damn. Now I’ve only got one of my three bladders in perfect condition. I put my stuff down at one of the rafter camps and saw that there were some rafters in one of the other campsites. I spread out my stuff to dry, patched my bladder, and walked over to talk to them.
The rafters invited me over, and we’re friendly, and we got to sharing our journeys. I asked them if they could take me down across the Colorado River tomorrow, and they agreed! I was hoping exactly that would happen. This is a popular rafter campsite that I’m at, so I expected to see people here, and I was really hoping they could help me make the nine miles of bushwhacking and boulder hopping tomorrow disappear. I also had to get to the other side of the Colorado River, and rafters are the only way to do that safely.
We sat in the shade for a bit, and they asked me if I wanted lunch. Of course, I answered in the affirmative, and I was offered two grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, guacamole, and carrots. Amazing fare compared to my dry hiking food. Since the rafters were friendly and agreed to take me down the river, I brought my stuff over and set up camp in their camp. We hung out for the rest of the night, sharing our stories. A lot of them were pretty interested and impressed with what I’ve accomplished so far. They are from the Montreal area and spoke a mix of French and English, and French was their fallback language, but they often switched to English.
They also invited me to have dinner with them, which was also great and let me eliminate one of my cold meal replacement bar meals. That is a great thing because my first meal replacement bar was not that good. We had rice-seasoned tofu and veggies for dinner, and it was great to have something fresh. We had some goo that didn’t quite set up like it was supposed to for dessert, but we ate it anyway. Also had some adult beverages, which is always nice. They had a campfire at night, and we all took turns telling war stories in English. At the end of the night, they mentioned that I didn’t tell any stories, so I told them my favorite Iceland stories. They’re a funny and very friendly bunch, and I’m glad that I bumped into them and went over to talk to them. It was a great night!
