Grand Canyon Expedition July 2011

Day 1 - 6am at the Bright Angel trailhead, south rim.

 

 

The cloud cover made the 6 hour hike down a bit more tolerable.

 

 

5,000 foot descent over 7 miles!

 

 

Minutes after this photo was taken a thuderstorm soaked all of our gear as we transferred it to dry bags.
The first boat to put in tipped at the beginning of the rapids you see, dumping 2 passengers!

 

 

Laurie thinks we're going for a 3 hour tour of the canyon.

 

 

Due to the tremendous snowpack and resulting melt, The Glen Canyon Dam was releasing 25,000 cubic feet of
water per second, which is the capacity of its power plant. We face the highest flow of the season - indeed, in years!

 

 

Laurie dons goggles for the larger rapids so if she falls out, her contacts will stay intact.

 

 

Hey, it's been 3 hours, where's the take out?

 

 

Did I say 3 hours? I meant 9 days sucker!

 

 

Life vest, scuba booties, paddling gloves - $120 - lack of common sense - priceless.

 

 

Day 2 - Striking a sexy pose for skipper Casey while Dave hams it up.

 

 

The flotilla is hot on our trail.

 

 

80 year old Ron lets Laurie do the work - perfect form, btw.

 

 

Hey, this isn't as scary as I thought it would be! (little does she know what lies ahead)

 

 

Hey, is that a condor? Yes, we saw a few, along with some Blue Herons, a few Big Horn Sheep,
and lots of lizards. Surprisingly little wildlife overall.

 

 

Thanks to the fast moving water we had lots of free mileage. Wouldn't want to paddle the whole thing at 8,000 cfs!

 

 

Various types of sandstone, limestone, shale, basalt, and others form the many layers of the canyon.

 

 

Look ma, no hands - oops!

 

 

Kickin' back on a slowly spinning raft, watching the canyon unfold was magical.

 

 

Does this life vest make me look fat? No dear!

 

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