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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