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GRAND CANYON HIKE AND RAFTING TRIP
July 2007
There's definitely a consensus among the 16 participants on the Grand Canyon
Hike and Rafting trip that it was one of the most amazing things we've ever
done in our lives! No words can adequately describe this trip but I will do
my best. We began by all meeting in Fabulous Las Vegas for a few days
before we flew to the South Rim to begin our descent into Grand Canyon.
Each member was free to enjoy Vegas at their leisure.
Mark and I (River) checked out Krave!.... A very happening
gay dance club next to Planet Hollywood Casino. I finally dragged Mark off
the dance floor at 4 am! Then we hailed a cab with a female hooker inside
trying to molest us! When we told her we
were gay she calmed down dramatically and said "oh I love gay
men, they are the best friends, they will be your friend for life"! We
gave her a big hug and kiss like we had been friends forever when we had to
leave her upon arriving at our hotel. We all stayed at various motels and
resorts; many staying at Blue Moon Resort which is a very nice clothing
optional gay resort not far off the strip.
There were 10 WNG members and 6 of their guests on this trip along with 6 guides from
Hatch River Expeditions. The members who participated were: River Byrd and Mark Duncan
(Trip Leaders), Dedrich B., Michael S., Steve Y., Steve J., Harris B., Stan A., Bob S.,
and David M. (New Member). Dedrich's friends, Rob H. from DC and his friend John Q. from
NY joined us as well as River and Mark's friends, Dr. V. and Tina W. from TN and his
brother and sister-in-law, Peter and Mary Lou W. from Ottawa, Canada.
We flew from Vegas to the South Rim of Grand Canyon and stayed one night at
Maswick Lodge before beginning our hike along the 10 mile Bright Angel Trail
to meet our rafts at Phantom Ranch on the Colorado River. River had a
fractured big toe, Mark fell and sprained his ankle about half mile down the
trail, Steve J. lost two toenails, and everyone had very sore calves
for a few days after that backpacking hike to the river; it was worth it.
We packed our gear onto the rafts and immediately hit the
first rapids before finding a nice place to set up camp for the night on a
sandbar along the river. The 6 guides cooked up a delicious meal and we ate
every crumb before retiring for the night.
In general, we had delicious food, breathtaking scenery, fantastic hikes to
many side canyons where we found lots of waterfalls, wildlife, and diverse
geology. We would raft through awesome whitewater rapids for about 5 or 6
hours a day traveling about 20 miles each day along with one or two short
hikes into side canyons. We rafted a total of 99.5 miles on the river. There
were 6 rafts, two were for gear only and the other four held gear plus 4 of
us, and one guide. They were oar rafts so we did not have to paddle down the
river unless we wanted to try our hand at the oars. The guides did most
of the work as we soaked up the scenery and the rays! Man were there some
rays, it was around 110 to 115 degrees during some days on the river.
Generally there were thunderstorms in the late evening to cool things off for
sleeping; there were only a couple nights that were very unpleasant. One
afternoon just before dark there was a tremendous thunderstorm that caused
flash floods in the canyon. It was the most awesome event I've ever
experienced, all of a sudden there appeared hundreds of gushing
waterfalls of various sizes at various elevations along the canyon walls all
around us ... it was Magical! The only upset to the magical event was that
we had four members of our group trapped in a side canyon that was flash
flooding! Bob, David, Harris, and Michael were all trapped upon a narrow
ledge just above the rapidly rising waters in the side canyon floor. They
were worried at how far the water would rise for there was nowhere else for
them to climb due to the sheer cliff above. The rest of us were
frantic wondering if they were going to be ok; we were unable to do anything for
them due to the water level in the side canyon. Four hours later, and
after dark, the water receded enough that we could go in
and rescue them. They were ok, but shaken, especially David, this was his
first camping trip ever and said it would be his
last. He was better the next morning and ready to continue.
We saw lots of wildlife including, Red spotted toads, Red Scorpion Wasps,
Canyon Wrens, California Condors, Ravens, Desert Bighorn Sheep, a snake,
lots of squirrels and lizards, and a beautiful moth that was determined to
drink my cranberry and vodka cocktail.
The final night on the river we gathered on the beach for a special treat.
Tina, who is a writer and storyteller, filled this misty evening with a few
of her treasured tales that made a special finale to an amazing week.
On the 7th day we were helicoptered out of the canyon to Bar 10 ranch where
we were able to take a clean shower before boarding our plane back to Las
Vegas. We had a nice flight over Lake Meade and Hoover Dam. Upon returning
to Vegas many of us stayed an extra night or two at Blue Moon Resort before
returning home.
A few photos are featured below, if you would like to
see all of the photos that everyone took (about 1,000 photos) you can go to:
http://grandcanyonrafting2007.snapfish.com/snapfish
River Byrd and Mark Duncan
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