2008 Grand Canyon - Part 2

I'm mostly surprised with myself for actually getting back to continuing this Grand Canyon story. I guess it goes to show that I really want to record this for my own memories and to convince at least one other person to go take a trip with Grand Canyon Expeditions! (Hey, I can plug anyone I want...it's my blog:)
Where was I...just starting the trip, right? Oh yeah, we still had clear water in my story! Like I said, that didn't last long! Fortunately, the brown water didn't come with a lot of wet nights or rainy day for our group...we got lucky and had a pretty dry weather trip...it was just up and down stream that was getting pounded with rain storms and dumping all sorts of sediment into the river from the side canyons.

We hiked Nankoweap up to the granaries...one of my favorite hikes in the Canyon because of the great view that you get from the top. If you can see behind the people in the photo...this is an ancient food storage location for the Native Americans that farmed on the fertile land directly below the cliff walls. My joke for the day was something like: "Can you imagine doing this 45 minute up-hill hike every time you wanted to get something out of your kitchen pantry??" I think it got old after the third or fourth time I said it to the people on the hike...but I was still laughing:)

See what I told you about the GREAT views from this hike! This photo has a lot of meaning because Sally and I posed here about seven years ago on my first trip down the Canyon. The photo was enlarged and framed on my Mom's piano since that trip...now we can update it (and flip the frame 90 degrees) with this new one!

I was really in the 'landscape' photo mode for this trip. I'm looking back through my pictures and I think I might have gotten carried away because there are so few photos with any people...just lots of water/sky/rock shots. What do you think of this one for the photo wall? It might not be the winner but it could be in the running for consideration.

Finally, a shot with some people! This is me with the fun group of Australian guys that were on the trip. L to R is Don, Dave, Chris, me, Pete, and Ron! Check out that memory...I didn't even have to try hard to recall those names...it'll be a long time before their "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi" cheers have been forgotten (or before the sounds stop echoing in the Canyon:)

I took this shot to record for myself (and for my viewers) what it looks like when we pull our boats into camp for the evening. That's the Toc on the left, Art's boat...and the Tic on the right, Sally's boat. We carry all the equipment and food supplies that we need for the whole trip. Most of the stuff is actually under the floor boards of the boat...staying cool and clean down by the water level. I'm standing in the middle of the kitchen...the dish-washing table is to the left (you can see one of the buckets) and the grill table is to the right (you can see the blaster on the ground).

Now I'm standing upstream to get a shot of the whole kitchen while Den, Art, and Nan are working on dinner. There are two prep/serving tables (along with the two I already mentioned) in this view. You can also see the water jug, the hand-washing station and some of our passengers lounging in the chairs waiting for dinner to be served.

Boating through one of the areas of schist with some rocks sticking up midstream. (Yes, there really is a rock layer in the Grand Canyon that is called 'schist'...I'm not 'sh*ting' you:)

And, another potential photo for the landscape wall. This is called the 'owl' formation...Sally pointed it out as we motored by...not too hard to see how that name was originated.

Den and I smiling at the top of the Deer Creek Falls hike...we are smiling because the hike ended at a beautiful, clear waterfall and pool and we had a refreshing swim and splash before heading back down to the hot air and the muddy river.

Art and I at the top of Deer Creek Falls. I respected him so much for his knowledge and admiration of the Canyon. Even on his 163rd trip (or so he claimed) he could still find things among the rocks that were amazing and breathtaking. It was an honor to listen and learn from him every day...how many times in your life are you shown a rock with asbestos in it and then explained how the material is formed?? Thanks Art!!