We had calculated it at least three times the night before, but we had to make sure we could actually leave at 9am and get to the Glen Canyon Raft Trip along the Colorado at 9:15 after a 75-minute drive - but yes, that’s how we did it.
I booked the lodge because it said it had breakfast. Well, it had packaged croissants and coffee. So we left for Wilderness Adventures.
Now that it was light outside, it was amazing to drive around. We pulled off a few times for photos, including down a dirt road where a dog barked its head off at us. We didn’t stay long there.
Once we got to the address, we drove all around the building before we found the front for checkin. I used my National Parks Pass (whoo!) and we got the run down. It’ll be hot, but the water is freezing, so don’t expect to swim. There will be beaches for swimming, but your stuff will stay dry.
We had plenty of time before the meeting time, so we headed to the gas station for snacks. Alisa also had her bag of vegetables from her farmshare that she made into snack bags of green beans, peppers, and tomatoes.
They couldn’t find record of me requesting a veggie lunch for Alisa, but, after we went through security (because the dam needs similar security to an airport - who knew) and got on the bus, they found one to switch hers out with.
The bus took all the passengers for the day’s activities at one time, so we didn’t know yet who was on our boat. To get down to the boat landing, the bus took a road through the cliff along the side of the downriver part of the dam - it was actually used for transportation when the dam was being built as well. The bus driver said it would take us five minutes; it took us nearly exactly five minutes in the darkness. Every fifteen seconds, a light would flash - these were the holes leading sideways out from the tunnel into the canyon. We slowed down at one halfway down to see... not much. Kinda the other wall of the canyon.
Once we got down below the dam and the suspension bridge that crosses it, we were given hard hats for the 100 yards down to the boat. Essentially, if anything came flying off the bridge, they wanted our heads protected.
We all made it to the boats with no concussions, and Alisa and I were sent to the boat with just six others, and our 27-year-old captain, Andrew. The other passengers were all traveling together from Missouri - we got to know each other by the end of the day.
Given that these boats can fit over twenty people, it was luxurious how much we could spread out. It was our own tanning bed while seeing the views.
First, we got a brief history of the dam. It was started in 1956. Blah blah. The interesting part to me was that there was important equipment at the bottom of the dam that they didn’t want a rock slide to crush, so they drive bolts into the side of the canyon flanking the dam to ensure nothing falls. Those that do that job swing around on rappel lines!
Being down in the canyon seriously warped our sense of perspective. At one point, Andrew pointed out a chunk in the rock above us that was football fields tall! Crazy.
The wildlife in the canyon was fun to spot. Not fifteen minutes into the tour, I spotted a roadrunner! It was odd but not unheard of down in the canyon.
The more typical fauna were ducks. Merganser ducks specifically had very pronounced stripes on their head. A few heron flew through and stalked their fish. Rainbow trout was the majority, and we could see them, the water was so clear. Another type of fish, though, is not loving the river since it’s been dammed. Primarily, the temperature of the river. Since the water comes from the bottom of the lake, it is a brisk 47 degrees - not ideal for this fish.
Also changing the habitat were invasive trees that held the river banks together and also sucked up tons and tons of water. The Fish and Wildlife Service introduced a beetle to help quell their numbers - but I’m just thinking now that beetle is going to have ripple effects.
Andrew told us the story of Powell, the first white explorer of the canyon. He went down it twice - and he was missing an arm! (We found out later it was only a hand, but still.)
We pulled over to the side of the canyon for a water break - water that was clean enough for drinking had been filtered through the layers of the canyon and was coming out in a natural spout for all of us to try.
Afterwards, we pulled over to a beach. After staring at our boxes from Subway for two hours, we were all ready to dig in. Post-subs, Andrew took us up to petroglyphs from natives found in the canyon. They had stick figures of important people, and the mountain sheep they had hunted. The Park Service built a wall to keep visitors back from the edge of the canyon, which changed the wind pattern, removing another few inches of dust and sand and exposing more sheep. They aren’t going to do a dig on this site because the drawings are more protected if they are still buried.
One of the reasons is because they can’t get defaced. He showed us where “Trent” had written his name over the thousand-year-old masterpiece. Trent had been kayaking alone down the river, and one of the guides had seen the tag after he came through. They radioed it in, and officers asked for a Trent at the takeout point. Thinking he must have won something for solo kayaking, he quickly volunteered himself - for a $10,000 fine and hundreds of hours of community service. Some German teens had also defaced it, and they had to answer for their crime or else never be allowed in the US again. They took these crimes seriously - thankfully!
Only one of our boat opted in for a dip at that beach.
After lunch, we continued down the canyon. Andrew showed us where a sluice (channel) had been carved out from the rock for panning for gold.
We came upon a pinnacle, and our entire group of adults agreed it looked like a middle finger. Andrew is supposed to ignore that pinnacle with school groups.
The second beach was just across from a high wall which made an impressive echo. It was here that I decided to take the plunge, and I hopped in for a single, brief, breath-taking shoulders-under second. It was refreshing once I wasn’t in the water anymore, but I had to wait to dry off to apply my fifth coat of sunscreen. The boat did not have a roof.
Speaking of echoes, Andrew said that one of the ways they measured the distance of the canyon was by shooting a pistol near the end of our tour. That shot took 24 seconds to echo back.
We rounded Horseshoe Bend (which, based on Instagram, looks better from the top of the canyon, but we didn’t make it to that lookout).
Side canyons would cause rubble in the main channel when they flooded or had rock slides, and that was what caused rapids. We had a “Class .5” as Andrew put it as our only occurrence of that.
As we rounded the last bend, the walls of the canyon sloped down to land on either side. To our left was a small group of wild horses - more fun critters!
To our right, after we peered down into the water, was a boiler from a sunken ship. That was our last attraction before getting to the dock at Lee’s Ferry and looking for our bus.
Alisa and I took a bathroom break that also got us out of the scorching sun, and, when we got out, they had discovered that our bus was now a shuttle, and we were ready for the 30-40 minute trip back.
I definitely feel asleep on that one.
It was time, now, to drive to the Grand Canyon! Our snacks would last us through the three hours to the entrance station.
It was twenty minutes before sunset when we arrived at the east entrance gate. The ranger wisely guided us to the Tower for a sunset view. We grabbed our sweaters (first time we’d needed them) and joined the crowds sitting along the outcropping to the canyon to watch the colors change within and above the canyon.
Great, a sunset, but now we were hungry. Grand Canyon Village was another 45 minutes into the park, and we stopped at the Tavern, the first restaurant we saw in there. It was cafeteria-style, and we found enough food to satisfy.
With that, we found the parking lot closest to our hotel, El Tovar, and after spending a few minutes trying to determine if an end cap was a spot, someone came to move their car and we grabbed theirs.
The hotel was majestic at night - a wide front porch with a parked roof just visible. We hauled our bags up the six steps to the lobby, which had giant wooden beams and animal heads. A rustic look, with leather chairs and old carpets with large, beige and brown patterns.
Our room was on the third floor, and we definitely had the bellhop lug our luggage up (and tipped him too - prepping for Vegas meant I actually had cash!) The pro - the bathroom was up-to-date. The con - it was one double bed.
Good thing we were (mostly) too tired to care.
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