🌊🚣The Ultimate Whitewater Experience: Rafting the Grand Canyon🚣🌊

High on my bucket list every since I can remember: rafting down the Grand Canyon. Finally, this summer I fulfilled my lifelong dream! 

The Colorado River starts at 14,000 ft in elevation in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and drops about 7 feet per mile, carrying rocks and debris that help cut through the sedimentary rock of the Colorado Plateau. Side tributaries add smaller canyons, and rain, ice wedging, and snowmelt contribute to weathering and erosion. After passing through Marble Canyon, it enters Granite Gorge and cuts down a mile in depth, exposing some of the oldest visible rock on earth. 

This is the Grand Canyon, one of the most famous whitewater rafting trips in the world. I was lucky enough to join the TIES (Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science) Grand Canyon rafting trip. For 7 days, 28 science teachers and one geologist traveled by motorized raft down 188 miles, from Lee’s Ferry to Whitmore Wash with Hatch River Expeditions. 

I was particularly excited for this trip since I'd visited the South Rim of the Grand Canyon just two weeks prior, learning about deep time and the many layers of rock that surround the region. At the top of the Canyon where the Visitor Center stands, the rock is part of the Kaibab Formation – deposited 270 million years ago. But the further down the river we traveled, the deeper into the past we went – all the way to the 1.8 billion year old basement rock. We were about to see it all!!

Sunday, June 25 

Early on Sunday morning I flew to Las Vegas and met with several other teachers for the shuttle to Cliffdweller’s Lodge.  We'd meet up with the rest of the group and prepare for the next morning, where we'd be shuttled to the put-in at Lee's Ferry. (Funnily enough, there's no ferry at Lee's Ferry, just as there's no cliff dwelling at Cliff Dweller's.) For the next 6 days, we'd raft 188 miles of the Grand Canyon.

The fresh-faced, eager, CLEAN group.

Mon June 26 

Getting ready to load up!

The next morning, we gathered to prepare for our departure. We were to put our night bag into the large orange waterproof bag affectionately known as a pumpkin, which also contained our sleeping kit of a sheet, pillow, and sleeping bag. We also could get a small day bag (I used my own, which was much easier to find since it was neon green instead of orange). Then, we headed off to Lee's Ferry, at river mile 0 to load up our rafts!

AHOY! I'm ready to go!

There are three main areas of the S-Rig motorized raft - the front, known as the Bathtub, was the wettest since it was constantly getting splashed, even in the smallest riffles. The sides were a bit more protected but still got splashes coming in from the edge of the pontoons, and the 'tea room' in the back was the driest - but still got wet in the larger waves. Our charter group split between two boats - one captained by trip leader Josh and helped by swamper Zack, and the other by Holden who we later learned was Josh's son (and way later, on our final day, we learned this was his first ever trip driving his own boat)!

Ready for our great adventure!

At this point, though we were technically within Grand Canyon National Park, we were actually in Marble Canyon - we wouldn't get into the actual Grand Canyon until Nankoweap. Our final glimpse of civilization was the Navajo Bridge, the last car crossing of the Colorado River until Hoover Dam, 350 miles away. Looking up, we actually saw two condors on the support beams under the bridge.  

That's me in the far left of the bathtub, as seen by
Amanda's family from the top of Navajo Bridge!

The Grand Canyon uses its own rapids rating system - while most rivers use a I-VI system (I being calm water and VI being unraftable), the Grand Canyon rates its rapids on a 1-10 scale. We started the trip with several significant rapids, including Badger Creek (5-6), Soap Creek (5-6), and House Rock (7-8). But most of the ride was peaceful and scenic, and we just enjoyed the majesty of the canyon.

Justin, enjoying a groovy view

Swamper Zack, preparing
another delicious meal!

That night, we camped at Lone Cedar (mile 23). Getting the boats unpacked required a 'fire line', where we all helped to unload the pumpkins, cots, chairs, and kitchen. We then found our individual spots to camp and set up our cots. We learned how to use the groover, our portable bathrooms that were set in private places on the far end of camp, often with the loveliest of views. Dinner each night was delicious and plentiful, including appetizers and dessert. It was amazing what they can do at the bottom of a remote canyon! 

Tues June 27 

The day began with a series of rapids in quick succession: Georgie, 24.5 Mile, Hansbrough-Richards, Cave Springs, and Tiger Wash.

We'd just started getting hot when we turned a corner to find an interesting sight. An underground karst system brings groundwater to the side of the canyon, creating surprising waterfalls that appear out of the side of the dry limestone cliff. This was Vasey's Paradise - Powell named the unexpected patch of green after his botanist friend George Vasey, who had traveled with him on a previous expedition. 

Redwall Cavern looks so tiny!

In this area of the journey, the steep cliffs of the canyon walls rose up directly from the river. We were traveling through the Redwall Limestone formation, and just around the next corner, a natural amphitheater was carved by the outer bend of the river during high river flows. Redwall Cavern was dwarfed by the tall canyon walls around it, but as we got closer we could see how big it actually was. 

John Wesley Powell estimated the cavern could hold 50,000 people!

Nautiloid

After a brief stop in Redwall Canyon, we continued on to Nautiloid Canyon where we stopped to look for paleozoic fossils. We found several corals, crinoids (fan-like sea lily), and brachiopods.

Fossil-hunting with Len

Thank goodness the Marble Dam proposal failed!

In the 1940s, the US Gov’t wanted more hydroelectric power and proposed a dam in Marble Canyon. Luckily, there was huge public outcry led by the Sierra Club and the proposal was scrapped. Nonetheless, we could see remnants of the Marble Canyon Dam site around mile 39.

The logs were huge, but barely
discernable on the towering cliffs

Near here, about 300 ft above the river, we could just make out the remnants of a prehistoric pine footbridge used by ancestral Puebloans to hike in and out of the canyon. The giant logs were probably huge, but from the river they looked like toothpicks.

Camp on the second night was at Nankoweap (mile 53). As we were setting up camp, we endured significant gusts of wind, and one of the heavy kitchen tables blew over and hit our boat driver Holden in the leg. For a while, they thought his leg might be broken and debated calling a helicopter to get him out of the canyon, but luckily after sitting in the river to ice it down, he felt better and was able to continue on the trip. Very scary!

High above Nankoweap on a steep slope are four granaries – storage units that Puebloans used 1,000 years ago to store the crops grown on the delta below. The hike isn't that long, but it's a steep (and very exposed) climb up.  

We could only imagine those ancient people carrying their corn and pumpkin seeds up the nearly vertical cliffs, keeping their food dry during floods and protecting it from hungry critters. 

Nankoweap: Not for the acrophobic!

From the top, it is an amazing view downstream into the Grand Canyon, our camp, and the meandering river below. 

That evening, we gathered around to get to know each other - there are 28 teachers and one geologist, plus our three guides (Josh, Holden, and Zack). While we were standing in a circle, something flew into my hair - Roger who was standing next to me confirmed that it was a bat!! Who knew bats really did that??

It's an unbelievable blue

Wed June 28 

Such a contrast between the waters of
the Little Colorado and the Colorado

My favorite stop of the trip was the confluence of the Little Colorado River with the main Colorado, at mile 62. Dissolved calcium carbonate in the river water has turned the Little Colorado River an unbelievable robin’s egg blue - I'd seen pictures but had always assumed they were manipulated or oversaturated - nope - it really was a vibrant baby blue. Additionally, travertine deposits on the rocks turn them white, so it looks like a long swimming pool. We stopped to swim in the river, wearing our life jackets as sitting floaters as we bobbed downriver. Ali and I even made a little train! Glorious!!

With my new pals Jenny and Dustin

The 1956 crash site

This is also where the canyon becomes deeper and becomes the proper Grand Canyon. Soon after leaving the Little Colorado, Josh pointed out the remnants of a crashed airplane. In 1956, a TWA Super Constellation collided with a United Airlines DC7 in what was at the time the greatest aviation disaster in history. At the time, rules of flight were by visual contact even though the number of flights had skyrocketed after WWII. The crash, which killed all 128 people on board both flights, caused the creation of the FAA. 

Three weeks prior, I'd looked down at the Colorado River from the South Rim overlook at the Desert Watchtower. It was weird to look up from the river at the teeeeny tiny tower high up on the rim at mile 66!

Zoom in to see the teeny tiny tower!

The view of the Colorado River from the
Watchtower, on June 5

Fluid escape structures

Our lunch stop also included a hike to see “not that interesting geology” (around mile 70). It was on a shadeless open beach, which was very very hot! It wasn't that far to go into a nearby canyon where Len showed us some fluid escape structures, caused by dewatering - when water got trapped in the earth but was agitated, it would eventually 'erupt' out of the ground causing these swirling wave patterns in the sand.

Since it was so hot and we were about to hit some big rapids, Dustin convinced me to sit in the bathtub for the rest of the afternoon ride. And we did have several large and fun rapids, including Hance Rapid (8-9) and Sockdolager Rapid (7-9). In the bathtub, you are constantly bombarded with walls of water - and since the water comes from the bottom of Glen Canyon Dam, it's COLD - around 48-50°, as compared to the 105° air temperature. But while you're moving down the river, the wind continually blows on your wet clothes (which stay wet with the splashes from the river) so I was surprised that on several occasions I was actually shivering!

The black Vishnu Schist is intruded
with pink Zoroaster Granite

This is also the area where Vishnu Schist and Zoroaster Granite first appear - so now we knew we had entered the inner gorge. These basement rocks were formed during the early Proterozoic around 2 billion years ago.

The bridge to Phantom Ranch

We passed Phantom Ranch at mile 88, and camped that night at Trinity Creek (mile 92). 

Behind the canyon groover, there was a nice hike into the gorge, so Dustin, Jenny, and I decided to explore before dinner. It was fun sliding down the rocks to get out! After dinner we even tried to find scorpions in the gorge with my blacklight - even though we didn't find any, we did find some strange day-glow orange fluorescent rocks.

There were some pretty fun animals that we saw in the canyon, like bighorn sheep, pink rattlesnakes, collard lizards, and even one poor ornate tree lizard who had grown a second tail:

 

Thurs June 29 

The next morning started wet, with a series of rapids (Granite, Hermit, Crystal, and the gem rapids) in quick succession.  Crystal rapids became much larger overnight from a debris flow in 1966, when car-sized boulders came down the side canyon during a flash flood. Pre-dam times, periodic flooding would disperse smaller boulders to make the rapids smaller, but not anymore! 

One lovely side hike was to Elves Chasm, a moss-covered waterfall not far from the river. There was a deep pool so a few people jumped in from an opening in the rock, but many of us were way too cold to get in!

We did stop at Blacktail Canyon to see (and touch!) the Great Unconformity. This is where we could see a nearly billion year gap in geologic history, between the 505 million year old Tapeats (marine/beach) sandstone sitting directly above the 1.2 billion year old Vishnu Schist. For our group of science nerds, this was geology heaven! 

A billion years, at my fingertip!

For an extra treat at our Stone Creek campsite (mile 132.5) that night, a small waterfall lay at the end of a short hike. This became our first “shower” in 5 days! 

Fri June 30 

Dustin, jumping into the narrowest
(and deepest) part of the river

After passing the narrowest point in river, at 76 ft wide (and where a handful of people braved the cold and jumped in), we stopped for a leisurely morning at Deer Creek Falls. 

The hike to the Patio

While some of the group stayed at the bottom of the falls,  the majority chose to hike up to the top, following a narrow canyon carved into the Tapeats sandstone. 

At one point, we had to hug the cliff as we maneuvered across a narrow ledge with a sheer drop into the slot canyon below. Hidden along the walls were different pictographs of handprints - some say they were put there by the Ancient Puebloans, others thing they're a hoax left by bored boatmen. At the end of the hike, we found a lovely little oasis with an unexpected stand of cottonwood trees - an area known as the Patio. It was a nice area to lounge around and relax.

Cooling off after a hot hike!

Camp that night was at the Matkat Hotel, a narrow ledge nestled at the base of a sheer cliff wall. With virtually no beach, we found sleeping spots in a row against the rock. It was like sleeping next to a furnace, since the rock sat baking in the sun all the day and radiated heat all night. 

Sat July 1 

Our final full day in the Canyon started with a harrowing (for our boat drivers) stop at Havasu Creek. Since the pullout was in the middle of a rapid, it was harder for them to tie off (and in fact another boat that came after us pushed our (Holden's) boat so close to the adjoining boat that we couldn't unhitch from Josh's boat, so when we left Zach had to make a daring quick-clip-jump maneuver to get us safely out of the rapid.) 

The lovely waters of Havasu Creek

But Havasu was worth it - we climbed around in the Travertine ledges and boulders and played in lots of small pools and waterfalls. The area was much more crowded than any other place we'd been - the guides called it HavaZoo, but it was still well worth the visit.

Shortly thereafter, we reached the edge of the National Park and the border of the Hualapai Reservation. The landscape was distinctly volcanic, with dark black waves of lava clearly identifiable - this area is known as the Uinkaret Volcanic Field, an area of 213 cinder cones. All around we could see remnants of the lava dams that once reached from Lee's Ferry down past Lava Falls, as well as peacock tail and fan structures formed by cooling lava. 

The columnar basalt of the Uinkaret Volcanic Field

August 25, 1869 – “Great Quantities of lava are seen on either side; and then we come to an abrupt cataract. Just over the fall a cinder cone, or extinct volcano stands on the very brink of the canyon. What a conflict of water and fire there must have been here! Just imagine a river of molten rock running down into a river of melted snow. What a seething and boiling of waters; what clouds of steam rolled into the heavens!” ~ Powell Report 

Soon we saw a large volcanic plug jutting out of the river - Vulcan's Anvil, the marker that warned us the most notorious rapid on the river, Lava Falls, was just a mile ahead. It's flat water for that mile, but as we got closer, the low hum became louder and louder until it was an ominous thunderous roar. Lava Falls, a class 10 (on the Grand Canyon 1 through 10 rapids rating system), was formed in the sediment debris of the alluvial fan accumulated at the foot of Prospect Canyon. The rapids at Lava Falls are famous for the giant Ledge Hole that has capsized many boats, and the V-Waves along the side. Nonetheless, we tackled it head on (much easier to do in a motorized raft), and came out the other side with no casualties.

The final night was spent at Whitmore Wash, where in the morning we were picked up by helicopter and taken to Bar 10 for a cleansing shower. In that final 24 hours, I took a raft, helicopter, van, plane, bus, train, and car. Phew.

Bye, Colorado River!

The plane back to Las Vegas

Things I learned while rafting the Grand Canyon:

1. After crossing Navajo Bridge, you’re completely cut off from the rest of the world. No phones, no internet, no signs of civilization! It hit home when Holden was injured and we wondered how they were going to get him out, and how a replacement guide would get to us. I also wondered what it would have been like for a group to set off right before the start of the pandemic, then come out at the other end not realizing the world had completely shut down. What a surprise that would have been!

2. There is sand E V E R Y W H E R E. In all the places. In your hair (but you aren’t washing it anyway), your sleeping bag (after day 1, you’re dirty anyway so who cares), your sunscreen (which makes for a lovely facial every time you reapply), and in all your food and drink. Nuthin' like crunching your Gatorade.

3. It’s dry dry dry down there! Your fingers and toes start feeling like sandpaper, and you have to constantly drink water...

4. …which makes you have to pee a lot, but there is zero privacy, and after half a day, there’s no shame. At each stop, all the women go in one direction and just squat together, in a line, butts in the river - when you gotta go, you gotta go.

5. Speaking of pee, you aren’t supposed to pee in the groover, so you have to learn to pee first into a bucket, do your business in the groover, then carry your pee to the river to dump it out. Makes for some strong pelvic muscles.

6. There’s something ineffable about sleeping in the open at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. At night, the looming black cliffs tower above you, and only a slice of sky is visible - full of the brightest of stars. A palpable blanket of heat radiates off the rocks, making even a sheet too uncomfortably warm. The constant roar of the river sings you to sleep. It’s sublime.

7. Nothing can prepare you for that heart-pounding buildup as you approach Lava Falls. There’s smooth, calm water in the mile leading up to it, lulling you into a sense of complacency. Then the low rumble reaches your ears, and you sit up straighter and hold onto your straps tighter, As the thunder grows louder, you begin to feel it in your chest. Your hands tighten into a death grip as you plunge into that first hole, a wall of water crashing over the entire boat and you bounce off your seat as you plummet into the second drop in a disorienting, dizzying rollercoaster ride. It’s thrilling and humbling and impossible not to let our an exuberant whoop of triumph when you come out the other side, soaking wet but still in the boat!

8. It’s a jarring transition to return to the ‘rim world.’ After six days of lazily floating down a pristine and isolated wilderness, getting pulled out by helicopter is instantly going from 2 billion years in the past to the epitome of technological advancement. Being at the bottom of the canyon is hard. But being at the top makes you appreciate every moment of the experience.

Thank you to Bertha, Kenny, Len, TIES, and all the teachers who made this a wonderful memory!

We survived!