A rafting/kayaking journey through the Grand Canyon, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World is highly coveted and hard to come by. It is the longest rafting trip in the United States, and one of the most spectacular as well. It is said that the only way to truly experience the Grand Canyon is to float through it. My Journey began on Dec. 2nd, 2011, when my younger brother Juraj and I boarded our flight in Ottawa and flew to Las Vegas, Nevada to start our drive to Canyon R.E.O. our outfitter in Flagstaff, Arizona. We landed in Vegas at around 10:30 P.M. and started collecting our gear and sorting out our very expensive rental car. At around 11:30 P.M we were finally on the road. As we crossed to Arizona I started to see snow (in the dessert). The bit of snow quickly turned to a full on blizzard. When we finally arrived at 3:30 A.M. at the motel in Flagstaff where we were meeting the rest of our crew there was at least 10inches of snow on the ground (way more then Ottawa had when we left). I was very worried that the next 24 days on the Colorado River would be way colder then I expected. When we arrived at the outfitter the next morning and started loading up the trucks with all our gear, everyone was asking the same questions (Is this normal for Arizona to get this much snow?). The reply we got was assuring… “This is typical weather for Flagstaff but it will be warmer the closer we get to the put-in…) However once we started driving to the put-in it continued to snow and our driver kept saying that he has never seen snow this far down. (Great) We arrived at the Lee’s Ferry put-in around 2:30 leaving us about 2 hours of daylight to inflate our rafts and get everything rigged and loaded. As it was still cold out (a lot colder then we were hoping for) everyone agreed that it would be better to stay at a motel one last night instead of camping and keeping all our tents dry. The next morning (Dec. 4th, 2011, LAUNCH DAY) we were met by to Grand Canyon Park Rangers at the Lee’s Ferry put-in to go over our gear and to fill us in on some of the Leave No Trace practices used in the Grand Canyon… (ex. Put a ground sheet on the floor of your kitchen area to collect food scraps. Pack away your ash. Urinate in the river, etc…) We were finally packed and ready to go around 11:30 A.M. and our Grand Canyon trip was officially started. The Following 24 days were Amazing. We spent the 1st few days figuring out our camp chores and the best way to pack and unpack our rafts. We split the groups into 4 and set a rotation system (Shitter, Dinner, Day off), so your chores would start as follows: You start by setting up the Groover (an amo can with a toilet seat and a hand washing station) in the evening. The next morning you are responsible for packing up the Groover and then will be on dinner duty that evening. The third morning your group will be responsible for breakfast and lunch. Once lunch is finished you officially have a day off. This system worked great for us. We were lucky to have high water between 21,000 – 22,000 cfs for this time of year which made going down the river very quick. Having 24 days to cover 283 miles (456km) meant we didn’t have to do too many long days. We would normally be packed up and ready to go around 10:30 A.M. and would normally do about 20-30 miles in a day getting off the river about 3:30 P.M. and set up camp. We decided to take a number of layover days at specific camp spots to be able to do some of the many hikes or to just relax and enjoy a bit of sunlight (which would typically not last long in one spot). The Grand Canyon is very beautiful and everyday I was amazed how the Geology and Scenery would change (I will let the photos do the talking). We were lucky to spend Christmas in the Canyon. It was my 4th Christmas in a row where I was unable to be at home (which has been a bit hard in the past), however, this one will go down as one of my favourites. We shared some great laughs and exchanged our secret Santa gifts as well as received our stockings in the morning. One of the coolest experiences I had was on the final 34miles of the trip. In order to get to the take-out at Pierre’s Ferry, most people do a night float. (This is because there are no campsites on the final stretch of the canyon. We put on the river at 11:30 P.M. and tied our rafts together. We set up our solar lights, Euchre Table, and sleeping pads and proceeded to float the 34miles to the take-out. Geoff and I took the oars and made sure we didn’t hit any of the walls as we floated. We arrived at the take-out at around 9 A.M. and out Grand Canyon Adventure came to an end after 24 amazing days…
For more info on the Grand Canyon, Check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canyon