Clay's Grand Canyon Report

By Clay Wright

OK, so Ej got shots up first but there’s way more to the story .. like the helicopter visit.

This was my 3rd trip to the Canyon and I’ve been with kayakers and canoes each time. On the other hand, this Outdoors Unlimited trip actually catered to us paddlers, stopping at each play spot and never ‘motoring away’ in the flats (because there were no motors!).

Boat Choice:
No need to dust off a dinosaur; All-star is fantastic on the Canyon! If you like to play every little rock, eddy-line, or wave-train on the river – then low-flow on the Canyon is play-boating central. We found small pourovers, pillows, whirlpools, eddy lines, and quarter mile wave trains at every turn of the river. Sometimes we would all float by spots the would have lines anywhere else just because we were so tired already. As a general rule – with 10,000 cfs .. if you can see it, you can surf it. Even a tiny white riffle down to the side might be bigger than Hell Hole when you get closer. Unless you are chasing motor rigs, for every wave you’ll miss due to speed you can surf 5 other spots. I estimated 4 good repeatable play-spots a day, plus endless downstream opportunities. I got wave-wheels where my bow didn’t touch, the biggest righty-kick-flip of all time, as well as my 3 biggest macho-moves ever.. you just get SO many big waves at each little rapid you can’t help but get some giant moves eventually.

What to bring:
In July everything but the water is HOT! Wore 1 pair of board-shorts, one long-sleeve Silk-weight Capilene, 3 capilene/cotton T-shirts, Crocs for camp, Teva’s for hiking, and a light rain jacket for cool mornings and rain. On the water I wore an IR thickskin under a drytop and some fleece shorts under boardshorts which was perfect. My water-filter bottle, Smith ‘Interlock’ sunglasses with multiple lenses, a 360 brimmed hat, and the cotton sleeping-sheet (to soak in the river before bed) were crucial accessories too. Don’t forget thick lotion and sock to prevent heel / finger cracks .. it’s a ‘dry heat’!

Scenic Wonders:
Of course you’ve seen Elves Chasm, Deer Creek, and Havasu shots. You’ve heard about the Vischnu Schist and Great Unconfomity. But just being so ‘entrenched’ within that canyon for so many days in a row is the real experience. By the time you see the Little Colorado’s aqua waters and white clay bottom your whole world has been shades brown and green so long it’s as if blue and white are as exotic as ice or eskimos. The geology isn’t just a side-hike for the interested, it’s color and texture variations all around you in big bands that lift away as the river cuts into older and older layers. And you can feel the extra heat coming off the deep black schist as well as the blocky lava flows long after the sun has left them. You are immersed into a crack in the earth for 13 days, so it’s impossible not to appreciate it’s wonders.

Our Trip Highlights:
1. The Guides! Between Phil Boyer, Mike Fentress and Hilde, Orea, KJ, and Chad Stone (+Saul and Jorge hauling our stuff) we couldn’t think of a question they didn’t know the answer to. It wasn’t like they were droning on like tour guides the whole time, just that when you wanted to know about a canyon, rock formation, lizard, or even the next rapid they had way more info that you could imagine. They knew so much about the early explorers and changes due to floods that each little riffle came to life if you asked. They also worked seamlessly from guiding to cocktails and cooking without ever seeming busy, tired, or ‘over it’. Quality folks really make a difference on a long trip.

2. The Group! While not everyone was kayaking and many had never even been rafting, complaints about the heat, sand, bugs, etc just didn’t happen. Or at least not over appetizers, cocktails, dinner, horseshoes, or frisbee. Maybe the fact that we were so engaged in the river, the camping, the food, games or songs kept us too happily entertained. A few people forgot their dishes. A few people forgot their gear. Some were late to the bag-line. No stress.

3. The Drama:
We had little dramas daily.. like would Susie get her combat roll, would Tara run Crystal, Would Tony run Lava, would Mathew drop into the big nasty hole we were surfing, would Bill get his kick-flip, and of course would Alex find his helmet (all ‘YES!"). Then we finally had real drama. While playing ‘who can dive over the paddle’ from the beach, Bill found a shallow spot and came up wincing. As a Doc himself, he knew the pain in his neck and the numbness in his arm was nothing to joke about and immediately called for attention. This is on day 9 or 10.. vertical walls all around and no motor rig in sight. In an instant, one crew was immobilizing Bill while another was on a Sat phone and everyone else was moving kayaks from the beach or dousing the sand all around with water to make a chopper landing. An hour later, a buzz could be heard in the distance and the noisy chopper swooped in, set down, and a guy in a funny orange suit (Tim – a kayaker I’ve met on the Russel Fork) was taking over the scene. Who knew rescue would be faster here than practically anywhere else n the world? In no time Bill was gone and our quiet returned but with it some of our spirit. Something about an evac takes the kick from your cocktails and the spice from your sauce.

4. Re-Union:
The next couple of days were still fantastic. The Lunt Family stayed strong and upbeat – I think even Annie (Bill’s daughter) was seen having fun. The paddling was amazing and the side hikes were too. A morning sat-phone report confirmed that Bill had broken a chip off his C-3 and though he wouldn’t be kayaking, he would be re-joining the trip via a boat from Diamond Creek. Such a cool sight at lunch – a motorboat zipping up the canyon with Bill standing shotgun. Full recovery expected within weeks.

5. The Lower Canyon:
Having always taken out via Diamond Creek, I assumed the remainder flattened out quickly. I was wrong! The wall rise right back up, the Schist re-appears, and the river constricts down to form boily, seam-filled rapids one after the other for 12 more miles. It’s one of the most rapid-packed sections on the river then calms abruptly. The fear-inspiring ‘Separation Rapids’ are no more, as the lake used to back up this far and the silt remains. Great to have everyone all back together for our last camp, and we still had plenty of alcohol to finish off and no paddling left to hold back for. Great night. We took a jet-boat out the last day – zipping through the gradually receding walls down the the 2 ‘new’ rapids that have re-appeared from under the lake due to drought. Some fantastic surf waves and holes for sure, which our jet-boat driver avoided with skill and precision before blasting on down to the turquoise waters of Lake Mead. This ‘Lower Canyon’ would be a bit too long without the jet boat, but those first 10 miles were sweet, we got to end the trip with the whole team we started with, and there’s something about dropping out of the canyon, winding though the flats, and ending up in a lake that makes the journey seem complete.

Phil, Hilde, Mathew, EJ, and I paddled all 240 miles in our play-boats. Dane rowed a raft some days while still seated in his Shooting Star so he could jump out and surf whenever we found a spot. Almost every kayaker paddled all but a couple of days due to ability or fatigue. I would highly recommend the Canyon in a play-boat so long as you have others playing with you. While we hiked much less on this trip (100 degrees anywhere but near the river) the Canyon is still the experience of a lifetime – and has some good play-boating to boot.

Can’t wait to do this again! Maybe May, or June next time ..I hear at lower water the play gets even better!

Clay Wright