Grand Canyon Rafting - Day 7

Friday – we knew it had to come eventually!
I was awake again before the coffee this morning, and started packing up for the last time into my own bag which until now has been stuffed in the very bottom of my large personal E6 bag. It is sad to be packing up, as I’ve had a great time, and would be happy to continue down river for at least another week. I know some in the group are anxious for a proper bathroom, hot water, and a real bed. I had good night’s sleep, though I did wake several times, and checked the water level for rising water each time. I think I finally proved that I can indeed sleep anywhere. As I went to roll up my bed, under my sleeping bag was my camera, a notepad and pen, a stick of deodorant, and MaryBeth’s waterbottle! I guess those were the rocks I thought were poking me in the night. My next surprise was that the valve on my sleeping pad was not closed. It’s not exactly airtight in that state! The water level is much higher than when we went to bed. It is also much muddier than we have seen the whole trip. Trey later mentions that he has not seen the river this high in about 8 months and speculates that the muddiness is coming off beaches, just like ours here that got flooded last night, but have not been wet in some time.

Breakfast this morning was Breakfast Burritos. I sure will miss having breakfast cooked for me. After breakfast everyone finished packing their gear into our own travel bags instead of the waterproof bags, and we all gathered on the beach for our final duffle line. The crew made busy preparing the boats for their continuing journey down river. They will deposit us on a beach a few minutes downstream of here, and pick up a new, and larger group for a 1 ½ day, 1 night trip down the remainder of the canyon to Lake Mead. We know they won’t have as much fun as we have had, and we are sorry that we have to leave. I would gladly continue down the river with them. The only thing that prevents me, apart from the minor details of flights arranged, work and home to go back to, etc. is the fact that the water is no longer the clear green that I have become used to. I decide to save the lower canyon until I have another opportunity and hope for clear water next time.

Finally, with the boats loaded, we gather for a group photo, and reboard the rafts for the last time. The last few miles are calm and quiet. At least until we hear, and then see, the helicopter in the distance, coming down from the North Rim. It’s small. A 6-seater, and doing flips in the canyon turning round to get the correct angle to land. I know I’m not the only one hoping it goes steadier than that when it goes out again. I start looking for ways to hike out!

In the last half mile before the beach we saw much more columnar lava.

The passengers from the Hatch boat we had been playing tag with all week was already up at the pad when we arrived. They had 2 full helicopter loads. There were already a couple of incoming passengers for our onward traveling boat waiting on the beach. We unloaded our bags for the last time, shared hugs and goodbyes with fellow passengers and crew, then the crew started setting up the personal and day bags on the beach for their new passengers. It was like we never existed! Just kidding. I know I will never forget them, and the wonderful experiences they had shared with us, both on and off the river. I hope we left them a few good memories too, and not only the times they had to pick us up, dust us off, and shove us up over rocks!

As each group of 6 loaded onto the helicopter, 6 more new passengers would stagger down onto the beach, and 6 more of our group would move up to the pad. The new passengers were instructed to pick a bag number, just as we had been, and transfer their luggage into it. Some of them seemed to have more luggage for an overnight trip than we had for a whole week, and I suddenly found myself grateful that I won’t be in that duffle line! Like the old hands we were at this, we found ourselves helping the bewildered few: pushing out air from heavily packed bags, rolling tops down tightly, explaining the metal clasps, etc...

It really was hard to be leaving, but soon we were down to 7 left on the pad. Not that I would deliberately chose to be deserted from my group, but realizing that 6 into 19 is always going to leave 1 over, I volunteered to be the remaining straggler as long as I got to ride the shotgun seat. The weight has to be evenly distributed in the helicopter, and I could just see myself being stuck in the middle of the back seat between 2 strangers (the next boat to unload, I think a Western River Adventures, had by now pulled up on the beach). Not the way I wanted to finish my grand adventure! There were actually 5 from the next boat going to the Bar 10 Ranch, so we made a full load. I was glad I had bagged the front seat. The helicopter returned, and we quickly loaded, strapped in, and were off. I took a final picture of our rafts, just as they were loading on their new passengers.

By the time I got up to the Bar 10 Ranch the group going back to Vegas were already loaded on a bus waiting to ride out to the small airplane. So much for a shower, cold drink and souvenir shopping! I ran into the gift store, grabbed a T-shirt, then realized I didn’t have money (not surprising after a week without using it!). I found my bag sitting on the lawn where presumably it had come up and been dumped with the last full load of our group. At that moment I remembered I was supposed to have checked in with some guy (or two), with a clipboard. I saw him and checked in. He offered to carry my bag, and hustled my purchase in the gift shop. I completed the T-shirt purchase and ran to the bus, totally forgetting to check that my bag had indeed been carried there. After all the relaxation and easy time, suddenly I was being jerked back to reality in a rush! I finally remembered my bag at the end of the ride when we departed the bus, but only because I happened to see it as I got off! We transferred to the plane for the flight home. I also forgot to get the picture of the “International Airport” sign. I guess I’ll have to go back now!

On arrival in Vegas the group quickly started to scatter. Some were met at the airport, the remainder loaded on a bus for the ride back to the hotel and airport. I called home as soon as I could get a cell phone signal, but was told that ‘Yes, I had to go home today, and could not go back and go around again!’ It was stuffy and hot on the bus, without the benefit of the naturally cooling river breeze. The glitz of Vegas seemed completely unreal after the natural beauty of the canyon. I really did want to go back to the Canyon.

At the hotel most of us piled off and collected checked luggage, while several went on to the airport. Once bags were claimed many were transferring to other hotels on the Strip for a true Vegas weekend. We contented ourselves with a ‘check in now – don’t care what we get’ room at the Hawthorne Suites. We would not get to sleep in it anyway, as we are flying out on the redeye back to Atlanta. Paul decided to share our room as we would not be needing it overnight anyway, and it was already paid for. He was welcome to it. All I wanted it for was the shower, which I took cold. The remaining purpose of the room was to repack the bags and make them suitable for checking if necessary. MaryBeth’s bag took the most packing, with all those heavy Bellagio souvenirs! As soon as we were suitably packed we left the room to Paul for a while and went for a repeat lunch at Alladin. I confess I did not enjoy it near as much this time after being spoiled all week!

So what is next? Need I say I want to go back? My bruises have begun to fade but the memories certainly have not. The trip was awe inspiring and exhilarating. I would love to do it again. I would love to be able to talk Mark into joining me, and have not given up on that yet. But almost. If I did it again without Mark, I would want to go even slower this time, with more time to “stop and smell the canyon.” I enjoyed the rapids immensely, so would not worry so much about them, therefore, I don’t have the same limitation of needing a big solid boat that I imposed on myself this time. I would still be cautious about a boat flipping. I have been in that cold water - fully dressed and almost unable to swim in it! I would definitely consider an oar trip but it would have to be with the right guide. TJ or Trey were both great drivers that I would trust, but I’d probably have to feel that safe with a driver before I could commit to a smaller boat. I would definitely book with Arizona River Runners again. The food was great, the equipment good, clean, and comfortable. They kept safety paramount, and were constantly concerned for our welfare. They encouraged us to succeed, and helped us up when we began to falter. They took genuine care of us. My expectations were very high, and they were exceeded 200%.

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Grand Canyon Rafting - Day 6

Thursday
In the morning I was back to my habit of being up before the coffee boiled. For the first time the whole trip I noticed a change in the water level. The little pool I had used to bathe in yesterday was now dry. As this was drop in the level not a raise I assume the river must have already gone up yesterday afternoon and had now dropped again as I would not have expected the level to drop below the already low 8000 cfs we had seen for the majority or the trip.

Breakfast this morning is Trey’s wonderful cooked to order eggs, toasted muffins, and assorted cereals.

Our last full day on the river! Back in TJ’s boat. Today starts with a peaceful, if a little cool, cruise down through 20 miles of canyon from Deer Creek to Havasu Canyon. Time to reflect on the river and its canyon. It’s easy to believe that the river has not even noticed our passing. My passing through however, has made me realize that for every balanced rock that looks ready to drop any second there have been years, centuries, or perhaps millennia of seconds at which it could have dropped. In a hundred years people will likely still see those same rocks and expect they could fall any second. The canyon is timeless. Life has slowed to river pace for me in the past 5 days, but that has been a mere blink of an eye for this river. For every artificial power producing, water and silt retaining dam we could create in the path of this river, it has surpassed, surmounted, or carved it’s way around greater natural blockages and dams in the millions of years of it’s existence. This natural wonder should be preserved for our future generations, but in it’s grand scheme our 200 year life expectancy dams, or anything else we create, we will have little long term affect on the river and it’s canyons. It was here before man walked the earth, if we destroy it, we are only continuing down a path that ultimately destroys ourselves, and it will recover without us when we’re gone.

We landed at Havasu Canyon. A rather precarious landing, with water pouring into our motor well and the raft bouncing choppily at it’s mooring at the upriver end of around 5 boats already tied in the rapid. Trey’s raft pulled in further downriver in a newly vacated spot. The Hatch, GCE, and Canyoneer’s (snowflake) rafts were already there when we tied up. Lindsey hardly even got a chance to talk to Travis before leading us into Havasu Canyon, heading for a swimming hole where we can all enjoy the cool water for a while. The scramble over rocks, through the creek twice and over the debris pile of tree trunks was well worth it to swim below the falls. Many of the group jumped from the rocks above the falls, others just hung out in the cool spray and water. No-one was ready for the hour to be over and have to get back to the rafts for lunch.

During our absence there was much activity at the rapids. A raft coming downstream had flipped, another already tied up had popped out of the water and landed up on the ledges. Fortunately neither of our rafts was involved and no-one on the other rafts was hurt. By the time we all scrambled down the rocks our own two rafts were all that remained, firmly tied to shore. For the next several miles until our lunch stop several pieces of raft debris, including a lettuce and a Coors Light were recovered from the river. Lunch was on a small beach on river right, opposite another group from Grand Canyon Expeditions on a similar shaded beach. They were almost finished when we pulled up, and as our shade increased, theirs was decreasing. They soon moved on. Lunch was chicken salad sandwiches. Delicious as usual. Back on the river again there are not many rapids in this section. I was looking forward to the next change of scenery which would be the introduction of volcanic rocks, and our final big rapid at Lava Falls. We also got our best view of a Bighorn sheep taking his own lunch at the water’s edge on a small grassy beach.

Vulcan’s Anvil is believed to be either the volcanic neck; the core left behind where a volcanohas eroded away, or the plug of a volcano when was ejected in an eruption. I prefer the neck theory myself. Not sure exactly why, but it seems easier to believe that a volcano could have been here once and that the river was then capable of wearing away 360 degrees of softer rock hillside, than a several hundred foot long piece of lava shooting through the air and landing unright exactly in the path of a river. Totally non-scientific reasoning! As we passed Vulcan’s anvil we were told to prepare for the biggest rapids of our trip: Lava Falls, the fastest 8 seconds of navigable white water anywhere. I had totally lost any trepidation I originally had for rapids at this point and was quick to volunteer to ride the duffle pile, face first and flat on the belly, through Lava Falls. One other passenger also wanted to enjoy that ride. Julie donned her raingear and attempted to make herself waterproof, while I chose to go down without extra gear. It was fairly late in the afternoon, the sun was hot, and I knew we would be stopping for the night fairly soon anyway, so I wasn’t too concerned about getting wet. Everyone added or removed gear to suit their choice, checked the security of the day bags, etc. and Julie and I rearranged the duffle pile so we could position ourselves flat on top, get good handholds, and not have anything fly up to hit us hard.

When we were all ready, and hanging on tight, TJ lined us up on the rapid and we slid in. The next few seconds were some of the most exhilarating I can imagine. We slipped over the the first wave, though with quite a splash, bucked on the second wave, and then looming right in front of my face was a wall of frothey green and white water! Needless to say, it did not stay in front for more than a fraction of a second before we crashed into it and it broke over our heads and all around us. I felt myself lifted briefly up off the duffle pile and shifted left, but thanks to a good hold did not actually move too much. It was an incredible 8 seconds, if that’s all it was. I was very wet, and I think I can say I definitely do not have a problem with rapids! (at least in the hands of a skilled and competent guide). Given the chance I would have immediately turned around and done it again. Instead we satisfied ourselves with turning in the backwater below to watch Trey’s raft come through. They too had an awesome ride, though no-one rode the duffle on their raft (possibly due to the 3 children being on that raft – it is likely that it was just not mentioned to save fights over who should do it, or perhaps to save any parent from having to say no!)

After Lava, everyone celebrated with a beer. We had made it down the river, tackled rapids at low and high water (TJ commented that Lava Falls was running big by this time). We had only a few miles to continue before our stop for the last night. The Canyon landscape had changed to primarily volcanic. We passed several large volcanic chunks midriver, and started noticing the layered columnar lava flows in the canyon walls. The hexagonal columns are formed when lava of a specific viscosity and chemistry cools. The difference in column size and composition can help distinguish the different flows, which are often layered on top of each other.

Lava flows dammed the canyon several times in this area, sometimes these natural dams caused a lake 150 miles long. The river’s response to this was to cut a new channel for itself in the softer sedimentary rocks, and leave the old lava dammed channels behind.

We soon arrived at the campsite for our last night’s camp. I believe it was around mile 186 or 187. We considered a sandy ledge as a potential place for our site, but I had been concerned that the water level may rise. That concern eventually came to fruition. By the time we returned from Dinner this night the water had risen up and was lapping against some bags and the group camped there had to move to higher ground. About one hour after they moved the ledge was completely under water. At this point we also moved MaryBeth’s tent. As it happened the water never reached as high as her tent had been, however, she may have got wet feet getting in and out.

Throughout the trip we have had a variety of unique bathroom locations, from sandy outcrops surrounded by trees, to cavelike openings up rocky cliffs. Tonight’s toilet was set up in a dry wash, with columnar lava walls, and a balanced rock backdrop. Definitely unique.

Dinner tonight, our last night, is grilled steaks, with mashed potatoes, veggies, and salad. Need I say delicious? Dessert is a little bit special. Joe is celebrating his 60th birthday, and the crew managed a wonderful dutch oven birthday cake, cooked in the ashes of the grill, and complete with chocolate frosting and candles. We all sang happy birthday to Joe, very off key, but I’m sure he didn’t care. After cake, in the dark, we had our “disorientation” talk of what to expect tomorrow, etc. We had already organized the collection of a gratuity, which was presented to the crew. I hope they felt we treated them as well as they had us. Then several of us shared stories and anecdotes regarding the trip. I think it was unanimous that it had been a great trip, in a magical place.

We eventually all trickled off to bed. That was when the Chicago group realized their beach was flooding and made the rapid exodus to higher ground, aided by MaryBeth and I on flashlight, trail-lighting duty. After they had left, we moved MaryBeth’s tent and settled down to sleep.

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Grand Canyon Rafting - Day 5

Wednesday
This was the only morning that I was not already awake when the coffee boiler started! Something to do with my late night moonlight reading I think! I was up and about by the time it was boiled though. This morning we start off the day with Pancakes and Sausage. In a break from our usual schedule we also have the lunchtime sandwich bar set up to make bag lunches too. The plan is to hike to Thunder River Falls. It’s around a 4 mile hike each way, steep and strenuous. It is not a hike that is regularly undertaken from the motor trips, and even our guides have not visited in several years. Twelve of our group elect to try it. I am not sure I can make it, but decide to try anyway when I’m told that there are cool places beside Tapeats creek if it gets too much. We load our rafts as well as possible before we leave, and see several groups from other boats set off on the hike before we are finally ready to get started. They are smart. They make it up the first several hundred feet steep incline before the sun hits us. As we do finally get started we run into two more hikers who we had seen come down the final slope by flashlight after dusk last night. It turned out they were hoping to meet up with our 2 hikers who came to dinner last night, but did not expect then to be camped in the midst of our big noisy camp, so assumed that they had camped elsewhere. They had missed meeting up again this morning as Larry and Alvin had headed off up river early this morning, so now they intended to go downriver instead to Deer Creek and meet up later in the week. They were hoping to ask a passing boat for a ride downriver to save them some of the hike.

So off we set on our hike. Our price for dallying is a full sun hike all the way up the steep talus slope. At the top is a narrow loose rock trail around the canyon edge. Not exactly stable or fun, but we’re told it will wind down to the creek shortly. And it does. We cross the creek and again climb up, but this time onto a wide level plain, which is of course my excuse to twist my ankle over and fall. TJ to the rescue, picks me up, dusts me off and we continue. AS we walk on and talk more about the hike ahead I realize that while I could probably make it to the Falls, I would need a much longer rest there before returning than we will be able to take. After another couple of stumbles on that weak ankle, and the knowledge that the steepest section of climb is still ahead on the other side of the creek, I make the decision to not complete the hike. The next time we meet up with the main party waiting for us by the swift running creek I have decided to find a suitable rock and hold it down until the party completes the hike, turns back, and meets me back here. I knew I had reached my limit. At this stage, no-one forced me to stop, nor encouraged me to continue either. Everyone respected the decision to push myself as far as possible, but to accept my own limits too. I respect them all in return for their support up to my break point but their acceptance of my decision The creek was cool and shady. I have my lunch, and no desire to attempt my own way back. So I found a sunny spot a little above the trail where I can watch the trail for my party returning. The canyon was quiet and peaceful, with only the Canyon Wrens and the rushing stream to accompany me. After eating my lunch, the sunny rock became a little too hot and I moved back down to the creek and into the shade. A couple of additional parties who had set off even later (and hotter) than us passed through while I waited. I sent messages with each group that I was holding steady and doing just fine.

Pretty soon TJ reappeared. He had been to the falls and back and had set off ahead of the main group to collect me and give me a chance to walk back at my own slower pace. I guess if I had been really smart I would have sent my camera up with him so I would at least have got a photo of what I did not make it to see! We started off back down the trail. Again I stumbled several times and was glad for the decision to stop when I did. One stumble was at a particularly narrow, loose and high part of the trail. I was glad to have TJ by my side. We stopped when I needed to rest, or wanted to take a photo, and it was a fairly pleasant hike back (for me at least). We saw a large Chuckwalla lizard on a rock ledge right above the trail. Then, as we reached the final steep downhill section of the talus slope the remainder of the group caught up with us from behind. By now the rocks were extremely hot to hold onto, a necessity on the steep loose trail when you have short legs. Some of the groups passed us by, but we finally reached the level ground in the midst of the group. Back at the rafts I once again made use of the creek delta to cool off, this time fully clothed and in the water! It felt great to lay cool and wet. MaryBeth brought me a great big water bottle of fresh water to drink. Shame it wasn’t cold, but even warm was better than none! Eventually, feeling refreshed and wet we loaded the last gear onto the rafts and set off downstream.

Today would be a really short river day. We were headed only around 3 miles downriver to Deer Creek, taking the hitch hiking hikers with us. At mile 135, in the narrowest part of the river the raft were set to drift and anyone who wanted took a cooling river swim. The guides did everyone proud with their multiple twisting, flips and jumps into the water.

The hikers were dropped on river right while we claimed the campsite on river left. During this time, another boat pulled up, the white ‘snowflake’ Canyoneer’s raft. The swamper on this boat is Travis, the boyfriend of our swamper Lindsey. A short stop is made for the two to share a quick personal moment and for introductions between the 2 crews. Snowflake then moved on downriver. This was to be a source of amusement for us all at Lindsey and Travis’ expense for the next couple of days every time the 2 rafts were within shouting distance. Having claimed the beach with the rudiments of camp setup we ferried back across the river to Deer Creek falls. About half of the group set off for a hike to the top of the falls and the spring beyond, but the hike involved a very narrow ledge that was not recommended for anyone with height problems, and many of us were hiked out for the day anyway. We chose to just sit in the cool canyon by the side of the 1000’ waterfall.

After a while beside the waterfall the twisted ankles and knees from the hike began to bother me and I begged a ride back across the river for painkillers. I had the beach all to myself so I took a relaxing bath, set up my bed, then helped Lindsey prepare dinner veggies as the rest of the group were brought home from Deer Creek and settled themselves for the evening. There was a pleasant surprise for a lucky few on their return. The river water that had been sitting in the wash buckets was much warmer after 3 hours of sitting and was offered upto anyone who wanted it for washing. MaryBeth took advantage to have a warm hairwash for the first time this week.

Dinner tonight is chicken fajitas, dessert is fruit salad and MnMs. The full moon never made it over the rim of the canyon at this site. It was an early night and a dark and restful night’s sleep.

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Grand Canyon Rafting - Day 4

Tuesday
This morning we start the day with a little light cloud cover, and a great breakfast of ‘fill your own” omelets, expertly cooked by Trey. I thoroughly enjoyed my first, and attempted a second, but was unable to do it true justice. I am back on Trey’s raft this morning and the rapids came big and frequent. It was good riding all morning and I was really getting into this rapids stuff. I even rode one, I believe it was Serpentine, laying flat on my belly on the top of the duffle pile. The view is fantastic from there, as you seem to head face first into the standing waves at the bottom of the rapid. It is also rather wet. An exhilarating ride, and I believe I have lost my fear of rapids! Above Bass Rapids we saw the ‘Ross Wheeler’, built by Bert Loper stranded high on the rocks. Shortly after Bass Rapid the rafts pulled in at Shinumo Creek for a short walk up the creek to Shinumo Falls where we all played in and under the falls to cool off.

Somewhere around Garnet creek we stopped for lunch on another very hot beach. Lunch was the ever popular and good sandwich bar, made even better with the addition of soft and slightly melted chocolate chip cookies. They were delicious, but rather hard to prevent from crumbing! The landing point here had a rock ledge about a foot below the water level at the beach. This made a perfect place for cooling and splashing after lunch, and very quickly a water fight broke out between the kids (and some of the not so small kids too!) After lunch we visited Elves Chasm where everyone again had a good splash around in the waterfall; this time jumping down into the pool below the falls. Great activity on a hot afternoon.

After cooling off at Elves Chasm we continued downriver through Conquistador Aisle and into the Middle Granite Gorge. As we entered Middle Granite Gorge and were back into the harder rock and the stronger rapids the campgrounds also became fewer, and they all seemed to be full. I’m sure we passed both the Hatch and GCE rafts we had been traveling downriver with, and a couple of other groups too. We had some exciting rides down Specter, Bedrock and Deubendorf rapids. I think it was at Bedrock that TJ’s motor lost or bent a propeller ( I was on the other raft). It was quickly fixed, and we continued to move down river looking for a place to spend the night. It had been a long day of around 40 river miles. We also passed several oar trips who were also seeking night stops.

At Tapeats Creek we pulled into the upriver campground only to find a single tent with 2 hikers camping. Lucky for us they were happy to share their beach in exchange for a proper cooked meal and a cold beer. We quickly moved in with them and started campsite hunting. The creek has two good size camping areas, one on either side of the fast flowing and cold creek. The upriver side really only had 3 or 4 suitable areas that were not either already taken up by the hikers, or involve cutting through their camp to get to. Our group ended splitting up with some wading through the creek to find their spot for the night. MaryBeth and I preferred to be on the dry side with the kitchen and toilet. A couple of other tenters also chose the dry side rather than have to cross the fast flowing creek in the night. A rope was strung across the creek to assist those who camped on the other side. At some stage during the evening someone reported seeing a rattlesnake at the point where the trail crossed the creek, but it either did not want to hang around with all our activity, or was just passing through as it was not seen again.

On the left you can see my bed space up against the canyon wall. MaryBeth and I had to split up our camp for tonight. She didn’t like my lovely spot by the wall because there were lizards scampering all over the rock wall, and I could not find space near her tent without being in a walkway. Needless to say, we survived the night apart. The hikers, Larry and Alvin, did indeed join us for dinner, and were extremely grateful for the delicious grilled pork chops, apple sauce, beans and squash, with hot dutch oven brownies for dessert. They would have been eating navy bean soup if we had not camped on their beach. Now they were not only eating a great meal but they would be able to double up on rations another night too. They had hiked down from the north rim 2 days before, stopping at the upper Tapeats campground for a night on the way. They were photographing waterfalls and rapids and had a lot of heavy photography equipment with them and had packed very light on the food rations to save weight.

Tonight was the night of the full moon. It was a very warm night. The hot breeze felt like it was coming straight from an oven. My spot by the wall, with the radiant heat releasing from the rock turned out to be very hot in the night. The lizards running across the rock kept spattering sand on me. The moon was as bright as daylight. I was awake anyway, so I moved out into the creek delta and took up a place on a rock to enjoy the cool air. The full moon light was bright enough to read by, and I sat out enjoying the cool and the quiet for what felt like several hours until the moon went down behind the opposite canyon edge over Great Thumb Mesa. Finally, now in the dark, I returned to my bed and managed to drift off to sleep.

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