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Anxious Melancholy
Mountain climber
Between the Depths of Despair & Heights of Folly
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Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 3, 2012 - 06:05pm PT
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Took a little trip to the Grand Canyon last weekend, my first foray into combining canyoneering and pack rafting.
Its a long way from Descanso, but I was ready to hit the water!
After picking Herve' up at the airport in Phoenix, and a night in Falgstaff, and pulling a permit from the Navajo Nation, we drove dirt to the top of a side canyone leading towards Shinumo Canyon, a canyon which ends at the 29 mile mark of the Colordao River in the upper Grand Canyon's Marble Canyon
An old native trail to the river was improved back in the day to get mules and materials down for a river survey in preparation for a future dam, which luckily was never built. The trail's in disrepair, and is a little hard to find here and there, but was good enough to wind its way thru the initial cliff bands.
As we navigated trail remnants thru Shinumo, the north rim got closer and closer, we knew we'd need to drop into the slot pretty soon.
After leaving the truck at 11:30, and 4 hrs of hiking and scrambling, we get to the top of the slot, get our wetsuit and harness on, and begin down climbing, sliding, and rapping through the Shinumo slot and Silver Grotto
An incredible series of raps, slides, and swims lead one after the other for the next few hours.
Swim w pack assist
The adventure continues
70' slide or the alt anchor! LOL!
Gorgeous
Typical Shinumo Slide
At this point, I'm a bit chilled, but we begin to hear the roar of the mighty Colorado in the near distance, and can see the North wall of the great gorge itself. Just a couple of more pools and slides will get us riverside and a chance to strip out of our wetsuits.
Dry bags had held our clothes, sleeping bags, and food, and as the evening wore on it was nice to be able to stretch out along the banks of the river and warm up.
A night beside the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon is a special treat. Morning Joe!
Herve' sleeps in
Having packed our rafts all this way, early morning saw them inflated and we readied our selves for our first float on the Colorado. We had chosen this trip in particular for it easy float, wanting to get the hang of it in preparation for future efforts.
Herve' had the lightest raft, a 5 lb beauty, but the jury was out on how it would really work. Joe and I had lugged 9.5 lb rescue rafts, tough and very buoyant.
Nothing like floating in Marble Canyon
With the end in sight, we all turned to look up river, not wanting this pleasurable moment to pass any sooner than it had too.
As much as we hated to leave the river, we knew we had a big hoof in front of us. After getting back out of our wet suits, life preservers, and deflating the rafts, we packed up and scrambled the 3rd class bluff above our exit beach, and picked up mule trail above.
How fitting. We wound our way across benches and canyons, with red streaked walls on every side, till we emerged once again on a barren plane, with darkening skies and a rising moon. Though this monastic landscape holds its attractions, I can't wait to be immersed once again in nature's intimate embrace.
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OlympicMtnBoy
climber
Seattle
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Looks like a great trip! I've done some canyoneering and have always wanted to do something multiday with a raft like this (although my 5.5 lb "packraft"/discarded emergency life raft may not handle the waves). Thanks for the pictures and write up!
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Anxious Melancholy
Mountain climber
Between the Depths of Despair & Heights of Folly
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 3, 2012 - 06:20pm PT
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Olympic,
Pool toys work for some of the packraft trips in the GC. I've seen photo TRs of people with Sevolyor (SP?) rafts, ya just got to pick the right canyon, and be ready to portage. Course PFDs are essential, too!
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Anxious Melancholy
Mountain climber
Between the Depths of Despair & Heights of Folly
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 3, 2012 - 06:29pm PT
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toadgas,
Joe and I had the rescue rafts that were 9.5 lbs. Herve's 1.5 lb raft is specialized for flat water pack rafting. You can see it here:
http://www.supaiadventuregear.com/
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Sweet trip! Man I gotta do some of this stuff. Did not know there were parts of the GC that could be rafted without a 10 year wait (or whatever it is) for a permit.
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Anxious Melancholy
Mountain climber
Between the Depths of Despair & Heights of Folly
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 3, 2012 - 08:12pm PT
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climbski2,
yup, up to five miles without a river permit for now.
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LuckyPink
climber
the last bivy
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nice trip! love that GC.
bumpd up so bobinc sees it
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F10
Trad climber
Bishop
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Cool
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Anxious Melancholy
Mountain climber
Between the Depths of Despair & Heights of Folly
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 4, 2012 - 12:36pm PT
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Tami,
I've had practice and lost some weight since this picture was taken!
LOL!
So I knew my raft was good to go. 'sides, unlike my partners, I've had my rig out before for some trial runs, several hours in the Pacific surf, soem time with the wife in the boat with me Mission Bay side, and my first packraft trip down the Lyle Fork.
However, it was funny to watch Herve' start out with his butt in the wrong end of his raft(read: in the narrow end w less floatation). He immediately started taking on water and beat a hasty retreat to shore, dumped water, flipped his pack to the opposite end set sail once again, this time to better effect. Not sure I'd want to be in his boat for anything more than flat water!
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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That looks like way to much fun. Got to try it.
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Zander
climber
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Great trip report. The GC is so much fun and beautiful. Looks like you had a great time. The upper Deer Creek TR was cool. Deer Creek and Thunder River are amazing. We saw a Bighorn when we were there too.
Thanks for posting.
Zander
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Anxious Melancholy
Mountain climber
Between the Depths of Despair & Heights of Folly
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 4, 2012 - 01:53pm PT
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Cosmic,
That's Perfect!!!!!!
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
overchalking on Grant's Crack
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Way cool! There's so much to see and do out there...
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