Rafting-Grand Canyon, 2009

Well we're finally back from our trip here are some pictures I took with my neww camera, I am definitely a beginner wanna-be photographer. We had a great time, a trip of a lifetime as Dave would say, maybe two. We all went into the trip feeling a little anxious/excited not quite knowing what to expect, none of us ever having been on it before. The rapids turned out to be big, weather and water levels were in our favor and we were able to get through unscathed with no flipped or ripped boats, thank goodness... We rafted about 15 miles a day and all in all did 26 hikes from the river, a lot of these were slot canyons with waterfalls at the end or Indian ruins or reservations such as Havasupai.
Thank you thank you my sweet hubby for having an adventurous nature and putting all the time and effort into making it all a success, you are seriously the Best ever! (ahhhhh I know... so cute)

P.S. this post is also a ploy to get all of our friends to buy rafts so you can put in for river permits so we can eventually take over the world, or something.......um more on that later..

Notice how we're all fighting over who gets to get in first, it was hard, but we were able to make it over that steep rocky section but didn't get a whole lot further than that.

Charles is contemplating how to single-handedly slaughter the rapid
While his sister Geneva is getting ready to get pounded by the waves the ???time

Alex this is no time to be practicing your ninja skills

Dave was pretty excited to see some of these 4-legged friends, one of his big dreams is to go sheep hunting someday but the drawing odds are awful.

Seeing this old metal thing makes me grateful for our pretty rubber boats.



















The small squares in the background is a grainery. We hiked up to in extremely hot temps, bring on the gatorade-and bacon Add caption

Dave turned 35 while on the trip, best birthday ever!
We did whatever it took to stay cool, one night we went to bed and it was 90 degrees at 11 at night, didn't help we camped by some black canyon walls.




















I managed to get stuck with some prickley things multiple times I attribute it to my abnormally long feet and tendency to be clumsy



Charles documenting the trip










Scouting the route


One hike we did was Havasu Canyon. I was really excited about having been there years ago. It was a little different this time around, I guess when you hear the word "blowout," it usually isn't good because that's what happened to the place last summer in a flood. This hike was 12 miles round trip and half-way through a few of us had been scratched by the branches of small shrubbery around our calves and ankles and were really, really sore and red, then it was time to turn around and get more ripped to shreds on the way back and then there the ingenious idea to put some aloe vera on our sore legs, which by the way contains alcohol oh and by the way so does lotion and most other topical agents....just thought you would all like to know that. One thing I've realized though is that sometimes suffering is part of the fun and makes almost anything more memorable maybe that's why Dave enjoys it so much or else he's just really sick in the head, who knows?

It was hard to come back to reality and to convince myself all over again as to why I live a conventional, semi-normal life and am not a river guide living in a teepee, actually I never want to live in a teepee, maybe a broken down bus instead So here's to all the "Fun Hogs" as Dave would say that we were able to spend so much time with on the riv. Let's do it again soon so we'll have a reason to empty those blasted toilets.

I am finally getting around to posting our Grand Canyon trip that I have been very slow at doing.  The trip was wonderful!  The group consisted of Dave and I, Charles and his sister, Geneva.  Ken and Alex, two of our regular boating friends were also there.  Another great group that was fun to boat, hike and camp with.  The weather was pretty much perfect, nice and warm in the beginning with a few little storms coming throughout each day but became progressively hotter as the trip went on.  We were really feeling the heat one night when we camped next to a big black rock wall.  We literally felt like hot dogs on briquettes.  There were a couple nights where we felt pretty desperate even in our desert-camping tent with mesh sides as we tried to fall asleep with 80 degree temperatures.

We were continually amazed at all of the variety of canyons and vegetation on the river.  Every day felt like a new adventure not knowing what the rapids would be like and where we would get to hike as well as the people we would meet. 

After waiting to get a permit for 12 years it was well worth the wait.  We wish we could do the trip every year, if only the permit were easier to get and we had unlimited vacation time, from start to finish the whole time away from home was 20 days and we still weren't ready to get off the river after that long, I guess that's what you call feeding the rat though.