On Day 5, I did not mention the wonderful dinner that that night’s cook team has done: hamburgers with all the fixings and brats (bratwurst), plus the first of the Dutch oven cobblers which we actually end up eating for breakfast.  We have 5 large ice chests that we are getting into only once a day and only 1 at a time – our fresh food is divided into 4 chests with lots of ice that we are “managing” by keeping them covered, locked down, strapped tightly, and by emptying any ice melt out through a small valve on one side.  Hopefully, we will have fresh meat and frozen veggies for the whole trip, although the menu has been planned for a lot of canned food the last week of the 21 days to Diamond Creek.  Scott Morris will be bringing in fresh food for all of us when they join us on day 21 at Diamond Creek for the Diamond-to-Pearce Ferry part of this trip.  I was part of the group 2 years ago that came on at Diamond Creek and got to help row the bots in a 30-40 mph wind down to Pearce Ferry; it was a lot of work but oh so worth it.  That section of the canyon is beautiful as well, and there is some great hiking and beautiful vistas, so we have invited along other people to join us there.  We will be taking out at Pearce Ferry at 10 a.m. on day 25, which is the 29th of March.

Nankoweep is one of several places in the canyon that has a lot of special meaning for me.  Nankoweep Trail is one of the hardest of the trips into the canyon from the North Rim.  There are lots of sections where the trail is exposed (one false step and you fall to your death), and it is long but it is also the first of over 80 trips to the river I have done since my first hike in 1972.  I was dating a seasonal ranger named Jim King, who was at the North Rim that summer and he invited me to come along as he did a trail patrol hike down Nankoweep with 2 new rangers he was suppose to be showing the ropes to.  Those 2, who I will not name, did not want a woman along to slow them down and made a lot of condescending comments meant for me to hear that a woman did not belong in the canyon, etc., etc. I made it to the camp at the mouth of Nankoweep Creek just before dark (that trip is usually done in 2 days, we did it in 1).  Less than an hour after they got there, the 2 newbies were discussing among themselves about what point they should radio in that they had an overdue hiker. Jim was just sitting there with a smile because he knew I had the stamina and strength to do the hike.  We hiked out the next day and I beat both of them to the rim by about the same amount of time. With a huge smile on my face.  And while I have not hiked Nankoweep again, every time I have been there on a river trip I have fond memories of that trip.  Jim King was the ranger who took me and several of my friends into a lot of areas I probably would not have tried by myself: Hopi Salt Trail to Tanner, North and South Bass, into Thunder Falls Cave, and many, many others. As a seasonal ranger, he spent 9 months usually at the Grand Canyon, either at North Rim or at Desert View on the South Rim, and then the rest of the year either at Joshua Tree NP, where he taught me to climb, or as winter keeper at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon for the concessioner who ran the lodge, or, finally, after he left the Park Service, as the manager of the Babbitt’s store at Tusayan. His love of the canyon was as great as mine turned out to be. At his own expense he usually had a search and rescue dog and was frequently called out to do searches in Grand Canyon and if I was around I was also certified as a volunteer and got to go. They would usually drop us by helicopter with the dog to see if she could pick up a scent in the places they suspected the hiker had been and either picked us up again if she did not identify any scents and put us down in another location, or if she alerted it gave the helicopter the direction to search. Very rewarding work. Jim died of a heart attack in 1995 and he is still missed by people in my hiking group.

After leaving Nankoweep we have lots of little riffles and then Kangwunt Rapid and 60 Mile Rapid that are rated 4-5, and then the Little Colorado River and 3 miles to go to camp at Lava/Chuar where we have a layover day. Greg Hatten starts the day in Susie Too and I start the day in Portola, where he agrees my oar stands are about 2 inches too short. He had dealt with that after the last trip by adding wood to his oar stand and getting his oar locks forged with a 6 inch shaft to raise them 2 inches, which appear to be perfect.  I will do the same at the end of the trip, probably getting them done by  his same supplier.  We switch back just before Kangwunt Rapid so each of us, if we are going to hit a rock at this low water level will do the damage to our own boat. The Little Colorado River is running muddy and where we stop just upstream of the mouth you get a clear view of the chocolate water of the Little Colorado River mixing with the clear green of the Colorado so that a half mile downstream it is all chocolate brown and will probably remain so for the rest of the trip.

We camp on river right on a windy day and I have learned from talking to the office at lunch that we are probably due for a high wind day tomorrow, which we are taking as a layover day here to rest, reorganize, and do some great hiking.  Dinner is pulled pork, cornbread, and salad.  The night is warmer than the last 2 and several of us sleep out, or in tents without the rain fly so we can see the moon and stars and the incredible sight of the moonlight on the Palisades of the Desert – that wonderful cliff of while/yellow limestone.  The Desert Watchtower is on our horizon at the cliff line to the west and will be so Tuesday and Wednesday, and then we will move north of it and past it.

~Helen Howard

We leave Buck Farm Canyon fairly late, about 10:45, and head down to President Harding Rapid. This was named by one of the early survey trips who supposedly heard about the death of President Harding while they were working in the area.  Dave wants to film the dories going through this rapid to match it to film he has of the original  boats going through the same rapid.  Izzy takes the oars of Susie Too from camp to the top of the rapid and decides she wants to photograph us going through, so I take back the oars.  It is a straight forward rapid with a large rock in the middle and the right channel blocked with rock fall at this level of the river and is an easy run.  Stef takes his inflatable paddleboard through and has so much fun he walks back up and does it again. We are mostly in the sun today, which is nice because the temperature has dropped a bit and it can be cool in the shade of these high walls at this time of the year.  Most of us get into splash jackets when we are in the shade and get out of them when we hit the sun.  A short time after the rapid, we find a great beach and pull over for lunch. I set up one of the solar chargers to get the Goal Zero large battery recharged and we laze around for an hour with setting up, eating, and cleaning up.

We have been divided into 5 teams and we rotate through 3 assignments and 2 days off in every 5.  The assignment starts with dinner and goes through lunch the following day.  The first and most important assignment is the groover.  When first we come into camp, that box is unloaded as soon as it is uncovered and a spot for its placement is selected.  Most of the time there is an obvious spot that has been used before and the box carrying our solid waste is carried and placed.  Another box with the fitted lid and toilet seat is also carried and the seat lid fitted.  A large, well-marked pee bucket is put out with a small child’s seat for the women to use and the seat is easily removable for the men to use.  Most trips are using a pee bucket system these days since there have been several unexplained drowning deaths on river trips over the years where it was assumed that the unlucky victim got up to pee in the middle of the night, slipped into the river and drowned.   Toilet paper is set out in a covered plastic box, small stakes with reflective arrows are set back along the trail so we can find it with a head lamp at night; the hand sanitizer is set out both at the toilet site and at the entrance to the trail and most importantly the Groover Guy is set out at the entrance to the trail.  If the Groover Guy is at the entrance no one is using the facility.  If he is gone, you must wait your turn or determine if he has been forgotten at the groover by the last user. With 16 on the trip, there are times when there is a line. This team is also responsible for washing all the removable pieces at the end of the morning before we leave and packing them away and carrying the now heavier box back to the boats and getting the box and all equipment packed away.

The second team is the cook team. When we come into camp they retrieve the food box for the day, which has the menu, a list of all the food they need for dinner, breakfast and lunch, and packing the breakfast and lunch food away in the boxes that will be used for those meals, and then shopping through the coolers and commissary boxes for what they need, cooking the food and cleaning up the food.  Some of us have brought specialty equipment such as Dutch ovens (mine), or the raised fire pan (Doug), and we usually see if it is needed and get those out and set up for the group and getting those cleaned up.

The third team is the dishwashing team and they are responsible for getting water in 4 metal washtubs, heating it on the blaster (specialty 1-burner stove designed for heating water fast), and setting it up in a line with the first being hot soapy water designed to get all food particles off the dishes, pots, and pans.  The second is also hot soapy water to make sure everything is clean.  The third is a clear water rinse with Clorox, but the bleach does not work well if soap is present so it is really to get the soap residue off.  The fourth and final rinse is cold water with bleach and dishes need to sit in this for a short time and then are put into a net dish drainer that ties onto tall tables that we work from, cook on, and wash dishes on.  When they air dry, they are put away in the kitchen boxes.

In addition to the chores, each of us is responsible for unpacking and packing the boats, carrying gear, and generally helping out to make sure everything works in addition to setting up our individual camps and tearing them down the next day.  In our spare time most of us photograph, journal, hike, nap or, in my case, write our descriptive blog.  Except for Shy’s unfortunate accident the trip is going well.  There is a lot of laughter, a lot of conversation and a lot of fun and the Canyon is beautiful.

The weather is warmer than expected and life is good.

~Helen Howard

We cook breakfast and load up the rafts and dories.  CeCe, Stef, Natalie, Doug and Shy leave early to do a loop hike involving leaving one raft at Fault Canyon and leaving another raft at Shinumo Canyon, where they will hike and rappel back to, then pick up  the second raft and follow us down the river to Buck Farm Canyon where we will all camp. Those 11 leaving earlier have a lot to do.  We have to stop at a large spring to refill our water jugs with 25 gallons of fresh water from Vasey’s Paradise and do it in such a way that  we don’t step on any of the endangered snails that live in that little microcosm of space.  We also have to be careful not to get into the poison ivy which also grows there, one of the few places in Arizona where it is prolific.

Two of the rafts are full of the empty water jugs. The raft left at Shinumo has all our spare life vests for the hikers to wear after their hike and on their way to the second raft, which will have the ones they are using for the trip. The rest of us, after Vasey’s Paradise, head down to Redwall Cavern, a large solution cave at a little above the water level and full of sand.  You can walk around it or sit and feel the immensity of it.  Powell, who led the first exploration here said that you could seat 50,000 in it.  That is an exaggeration, but 5000 would fit comfortably.  We film the 3 dories, recreating a video that was made by Dave Mortenson’s father, Brick Mortenson, in the 1960’s, as well as video interviews with Dave Mortenson who explained the importance of these dories in saving the Grand Canyon from 2 additional dams scheduled to be built here in the 1960’s, for the so popular rafting trips such as we are doing and the commercial trips are doing as well that puts 30,000 people into this narrow corridor in a year on trips.

We spend a couple of hours waiting for our hiking group to catch up with us, but when they still have not arrived we head down to the Marble Canyon bridge site and then finally towards Buck Farm Canyon where our hikers minus 1 join us  before we get to camp.  Shy had taken a fall on the hike and had to be airlifted to Flagstaff for medical attention. This is a wilderness area and with the wonder of the satellite phones our group caries, help in the form of the Grand Canyon National Park Service Helicopter arrives shortly after notification.  A paramedic assesses his condition and they take him out of the canyon.  CeCe is able to speak to him in the ER in Flagstaff that night where he is still being treated, also with one of our satellite phones.

~Helen Howard

Today is an 8-mile day, taking us through what is known as the roaring 20’s – a series of bouncy rapids, all about a class 4-5 and all about half a mile apart.

CeCe Mortenson rows Susie Too today and I play back seat passenger and sometimes back seat driver, as she sometimes takes a different line than I would have.  Susie Too offers a short learning curve to an experienced paddler using her for the first time.  CeCe reads water better than I do and her lines are better than the ones I would have taken, so I turn to taking photos and enjoying the scenery and bailing at the foot of each rapid from the passenger foot well.  We have built the Susie Too with a sump pump under the rower’s seat and with drain holes from both the rower’s foot well to the front and the passenger foot well to the back, so I can bail from the back and the water will drain through the sump pump in the front and I can empty the boat from one spot.  Only one of the rapids today puts enough water in her to trigger the pump.  That splash guard keeps all water from the front except one wave, which totally covers CeCe in Georgie White Rapid out of the boat.  Most of the water that hits us comes from the sides as we move though lateral waves coming from both sides, common after the holes and standing waves in a lot of rapids.  Fun stuff.  At the end of each, we find an eddy current out of the main current and watch everyone else make their runs and then go on.

A stop for lunch on a great little beach looking upstream to one rapid and right next to another rapid allows us to dry out and eat.  Some fun showing quicksand off to the unwary by adding water to an already low area of wet sand has Natalie and others quickly sinking to their knees, with the rest of us ready to pull them out.  We sit in the sand after lunch and make like lizards basking in the heat before dawning our wet gear and going out to face the water, which is always in the 40’s here.  Those of us who run other rivers and are used to water in the 50’s and 60’s notice the difference.   Some of us are dressed in fleece and rain gear over long underwear and with waterproof boots; some us are dressed in 2-piece waterproof clothing over long underwear and fleece; and some of us are wearing drysuits, which are one piece contraptions with tight gaskets at the neck and wrists, have waterproof feet socks built in that we put river boots over, and have a waterproof zipper across the chest, which makes it both hard to get into and out of and totally waterproof.  It also makes it very hot, so most who are wearing those struggle to get out of the upper part when we land and then struggle to get into it before we leave.  I am wearing a waterproof top with an inner liner that tucks into my waterproof pants, and then a heavy-duty top layer that tightens over the pants.  I have a drysuit with me, but will probably wear it only on the days that the weather is bad, or that I feel I have a chance of swimming because of the rapids we are to run that day.  I think I have 2 more days of what I am wearing and then will be in the drysuit for about 10 days – Unkar, Solkdologer, Hance, Horn, the Gems, Crystal, and Lava, to name just a few of what we have to come.

We arrive earlier at camp at Shinumo Wash, which has been much improved with more sand from the artificial flood the Bureau of Reclamation ran in November and December last year.  The cook team makes dinner of tacos while I make brownies in my Dutch ovens for dessert.  We have enough sun to set up all the Goal Zero batteries and solar chargers we are using to keep the cameras, laptops, notebooks and storage devices going for 16 people, most of whom have more than one camera to record this trip of a lifetime.  These charge merrily along as long as there is sun, and then do a trickle charge as they get into shadow.  One of my batteries that has a percent charge meter reads that it has charged 5% additional after then sun is off of it just by evening light.

Lots of stories are told around the campfire after dinner.  Dave Mortenson talks about the early trips that he was on as a teenager.  Stories of Martin Litton, the conservationist, who went on to use these 3 original boats to found Grand Canyon Dories.  The Susie Too ran private trips in Grand Canyon with him from 1964 to 1974 as the Music Temple.  His Portola was renamed the Diablo Canyon.  He founded Grand Canyon Dories as a commercial company in 1969, specializing in rowing trips only using the dories, but soon moved to the 18-foot Briggs Dories that can take 4 passengers.  The boatmen who worked for him were devoted to their dories.  After rowing Susie Too I can certainly understand why.

~Helen Howard

We leave camp fairly late and row for 12 miles. There are a few riffles that are bouncy today and then there is the first bigger rapid at Soap Creek, which we scout; Nate, Izzy and Dave film and take photos of the rest of us running it. While scouting, a couple of us turn around to watch 2 condors and a red tail hawk soaring the cliff lines, while standing against the cliff watching us is a desert bighorn sheep ewe and she soon moves behind a bush.

We run 2 rafts through and the dories, with Susie Too going first.  On the original trip, Pat Riley always led off in her followed by the other two.  One long tongue of green water and a hole, another wave to go over, another hole and then lesser waves and holes until the rapid disappears in swirling water.  Susie Too dances well and I feel well protected.  We pull to the side, river left, and wait for the others.  Whistles blow and we look upstream, ready to assess the situation, and see what help is needed.  Leif Mortenson has attempted the rapid in the Jackson Fun Runner and has flipped and swam, becoming the first member of this trip to join the Colorado River Swim Team.  He has his paddle and is making for the right shore where he can walk back up and join a raft; the kayak, upside down, is floating in eddy currents on the right side of the river and Craig Wolfson and I both move to intercept it.  I take a position towards shore and he takes one further out; he snags the kayak and brings it on board the Flavell II and ties it down.  Everyone else makes a good run and we head downstream for lunch and more whitewater fun.

There are a number of smaller rapids and then House Rock Rapid, which can eat boats.  We climb to scout and are silent.  This rapid has a 90 degree bend at the foot of a solid wall and some large rocks sticking out into the rapid, one of which is next to a huge hole.  Robb and Izzy leave to set up the safety boats at the bottom of the rapid and to film, both making good runs.  I run the first of the wooden boats through.  I make my initial line and, into the drop before the turn, the river takes the left oar out of my hand and sends the handle outward.  I am now leaning out of the boat to the left to try to grab it while still pulling backwards on my right oar to try to stay out of the wave train that leads to the huge boat-eating hole.  We do 3 smaller holes and 3 smaller waves before I get the oar and pull hard and turn her just as the BIG hole flashes by on my left.  I have missed it by feet and gotten a better look at it than I had ever wanted to see.  Most people thought I would flip, but because I was leaning in just the right spot to try for the oar, I kept the boat balanced and she did the rest.  Comments from others watching, that someone had been watching out for me, echoed my sentiments exactly.  I finished the run backwards and full of water and spent 10 minutes at the bottom bailing with a large bucket, while the sump pump we had installed labored to clear the load. Everyone else makes good runs, although the Flavell II lives up to her wet reputation and fills to the top of the boxes.

The dories and Doug, with Nate and Dave aboard to film, make a short stop at the Boulder Narrows and climb high while we bring the wooden boats through to duplicate a film shot from the 1962 run with the original boats and head down to North Canyon to camp.

~Helen Howard

Back in the 1970’s and 1980’s, the population of condors fell so low that the decision to capture all of the remaining condors in the wild was made and done.  Captive breeding programs were established at the San Diego Wild Animal Park and a few other locations that had successfully bred endangered species, and the population slowly grew until the 1990’s when several breeding pairs were released in a few safe locations away from civilization and where there were areas where there would not be any interference from people or hunting using lead shot, which is poisonous to a lot of wildlife, but especially to condors who eat carrion including animals that have been shot but not retrieved by the hunters.

So, once again, there are condors flying over the Grand Canyon and every once in a while you would see one.  They have a massive wingspan of almost 10 feet and to see one close up is really awe-inspiring.  The scale of the canyon is pretty massive and sometimes it dwarfs these impressive birds.  They hang out at the Navajo Bridge, which crosses the Colorado River at Marble Canyon, and a really fun place to see them is to walk out on the old bridge and look down to the support structure and sometimes you can see 2 or 3 of them sitting there.  Their talons are as big as the bolt heads used to hold that bridge together.  They sit about 3 feet tall.  The breeding success rate for new fledglings is pretty good and Peggy, our ranger, told us there were 4 new fledglings hanging around the Marble Canyon bridge still being fed by their parents.  These birds are long lived and they have detailed records of the parentage of all the birds .  All the captive released birds hade shoulder tags to identify them and fledglings when they come into the original release site, which can be baited with food to bring them in are also tagged.

So there are 4 new condors this year and one was sitting on top of the cliff, about 400 feet east of the Navajo Bridge and it looked almost as big as our friends who were standing on the bridge watching us go under the bridge.  We saw condors soaring over the canyon yesterday as well when we stopped to scout Badger Rapid, and they were soaring with a red-tailed hawk, which is a big bird but looked sparrow-sized when compared with the condors. They are always amazing to see and was a highpoint in a day filled with highpoints on Wednesday.

~Helen Howard

There is a condor on the cliff at the skyline on river right and 300 feet up.

Today was launch day so we all had to have everything we were bringing with us on the River Runners Beach just downriver from the Lee’s Ferry Boat Launch Ramp by 9 A.M. for the ranger orientation. Long time ranger Peggy, who had met a good number of both groups launching, was our assigned ranger for the talk, which usually lasts a little over an hour and serves to reinforce what we already know about keeping the Grand Canyon clean and safe for all of us. Pam Mortenson puts out sweet rolls for everyone and we do the last minute packing and loading of the rafts and wood boats, making sure everything is tied down. There is an old adage that anyone who takes up rafting or kayaking hears often: “Rig for a flip and Dress for a swim”; in other words, be prepared not to lose what you have loaded on the raft and dress safely so you won’t get caught with loose clothing or flapping lines – anything that you could get caught in and drown if your raft flips in any of the rapids we will begin running today.

We have the 7 drivers from Bullhead City who will be driving our vehicles and trailers back to Meadview and Bullhead City where they will be stored until we come out on the 29th of March. We have people who have been on past river trips and friends and spouses who have come to see us off. We get everything tied down and push off shore and head downstream. The first riffle is where the Paria River comes into the Colorado River, and at higher water it can sometimes be a problem, but today the flow is low and it just contributes an “au Latte” look to the river because it is carrying a heavy silt load. This is a nice little bounce and most of the friends and family are waiting on the beach at the Paria Riffle to see us go through. John West is there taking photos so some of you have probably already seen us on Facebook. Then we run the 4 miles down to Navajo Bridge, going though a few small rapids and there are our friends waiting to see us pass under the bridge.

2014 Launch of Susie Too and Flavell II Replicas (Photo by K. Wolfson)

Arnie Richards is at the dirt road overlook another 3 miles down river and calls out to us as we get ready to run Badger Rapid – the first one that requires climbing out of our boats and climbing a small hill to get a good look at the rapid and decide how we are going to run it. We have a few new boaters with us so we discuss the relative merits of each feasible route there is, make our decisions, and make our way back to the boats. The raft carrying the photographer goes through first to get into position and Dave Moretnson hikes from the scout point, which is 75 feet up on a rocky hillside, down to the upper beach to get into position. Izzy also goes through first to get into position, rowing the raft through and then setting up. We three rowing the wooden boats (Greg Hatten in the Portola, Craig Wolfson in the Flavell II, and myself in Susie Too) float loose and tighten our PFD straps and then float down, sideways at first so we can pull and push on the oars to get the bow into final position to make the entry we want. The tongue goes into a hole over a ledge or rock and has a large standing wave breaking into that hole, which could stop forward momentum and flip a boat, so we decide to enter on the left side of the tongue just right of some large black rocks sticking out of the waves. I face right – position is exactly where I want to be – and pivot to face downstream and drop into another smaller hole. Susie’s bow rises up immediately as I push the oars forward and we are off with 3 or 4 good waves to go over, and then the lower end of the rapid with 2-3 foot waves coming latterly from both sides, which rock the dory sideways as well as up and down. We are dancing across the water just as she was intended to do until the upper part of the beach where I must land, so I pivot her right sideways and pull hard for the left shore against a strong current heading right. We make it with an assist from an upstream eddy, but I land with an elevated heart rate for the excitement and short, hard exertion. She took in about 3 inches of water – not enough to trigger the sump pump, but enough that I must bail and sponge for several minutes to get her dry. The rear seat hatch also has water for the first time so I had to sponge that out and will have to spend time working on her hatch gaskets. Greg Hatten makes a perfect and exciting run and later says that that was much better than his first run here two years ago and he is pleased.

We set up camp by unloading all the group gear and personal gear we will need for the night. I am on the toilet team so Leif Mortenson and I assemble the 3 pieces that make up the “groover” and go locate a nice scenic and private place to set it up, assemble the seat on the solid waste can and the smaller seat on the pee bucket. The word “groover” comes from what your butt cheeks looked like after sitting on the ammo can that the early river runners used here – even with the addition of a comfortable toilet seat mounted on a metal flange that fits the ammo can securely, the name and history has followed the equipment into modern usage. Ask anyone who has ever been on a river trip what a groover is and they can immediately tell you.

The cook team assembles a meal of salmon cooked over an oak firewood coal fire served with rice and roasted vegetables, after a first course of cheese soup and a fresh salad bar and warmed bread. We will all sleep well tonight.

~Helen Howard

Ed. note: Unfortunately, due to the limitations of the sat-phone, photos from the river will most likely not be sent in with the blog.