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Grand Canyon - Sept 22 thru Oct 9, 2005 - 225 Miles - Day 7-12

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Day 0-3 | Day 4-6 | Day 7-12 | Day 13-18 | What Day Is It Anyway?

Trip Itinerary:
Day 	Camp			Bank 	River Mile	Rapids(Class,Event)/Comments
7	Granite			Left	93.4		Grapevine(7); Phantom Ranch; Horn Creek(8,F,D) A truly fun rapid :)
8	Granite			Left	93.4		Layover Day
9	Lower Bass		Right	108.3		Granite(8,F) Hermit(8) Crystal(9) Serpentine(7), and the "Gems"
10	Opp. Blacktail		Left	119.9		Walthenberg(6,F); Elves Chasm Hike
11	Tapeats			Right	133.7		Bedrock(7) Deubendorff(7) aborted layover; groover across creek
12	Below Kanab		Right	144.2		Deer Creek Falls Hike

F= Flipped Raft;	D=Dump Truck (Swimmers Only)
FYI - My 15' Aire Cataraft was not an "F", nor did I "D"!

Rapid Ratings from "RiverMapsTM - Guide to the Colorado...", Martin and Whitis, 2005 2nd Ed.

Day 7 - Kaibab Bridge, above Phantom Ranch


Relaxing at Phantom Ranch (PR) after a cold lemonade (bought all their available cooler ice, some SuperSalve because I couldn't find the Bagbalm I packed, and the required T-shirt). The T-shirt was compressed into a 4"x6"x1" package to save volume. It's the only T-shirt I ever had to wash to make it expand enough to fit!


PR has cabins for rent @ $80/night. What a deal, if you don't mind hiking down here, or coming down from the rim by mule!


Below Horn Creek Rapid (8). The guide book called this a "truly fun rapid" (NOT!). At the 8K level it is very tough. One raft flipped, another dumptrucked, and I bent an oar


Regroup below Horn Creek, after reflipping the raft


Camping in front of the 'Bat Cave' at Granite Camp (Monument Creek). Our only layover day


Looking downstream at Granite Rapid


Day 8 - Morning panorama of Granite Rapid, a class 8 where flip #2 occurred the next day


Across from Granite Camp


Day 9 - 9/30 From Steve's web site - my run thru Hermit Rapid(8). I did the read n' run while the others were scouting.
For me, this river day was the most satisfying of the entire trip. Read and Run as the lead boat on the "Gem's" (except Crystal)

Steve and Jeanette thru Hermit (8)


Dennis thru Hermit (8)


Jim and Gaylynn thru Hermit (8)


Scouting Crystal Rapid (9). Obvious ledge hole at top center. Ran cleanly down right


Casey is "one" with the rock


Unique striations, and 'square-cut' peak


Don convinced me into a late afternoon for supposed pictograph or artifacts that we never really found. At least the view was good


Day 10 - More geological oddities


Approaching Elves Chasm


Elves Chasm hike. RM 116.5


Jim and Gaylynn at Elves Chasm hike


Day 11 - Tarantuala near my raft. Even though not poisonous, the bites can be nasty (I'm told)


Jim and Gaylynn thru Bedrock Rapid (7)


Don and Michael (the pirate ship) thru Bedrock Rapid (7)


Jerry thru Bedrock Rapid (7)


Carol and Dennis thru Bedrock Rapid (7)


Tapeats Creek Camp. The creek splits the camp area, and the groover was placed on the other side. Combined with the high winds on arrival made this a lot less appealing for a layover day (potential for long hike to Thunder River)


Hikers returning from Thunder River sojourn. Part of our group tried to make the late afternoon hike start even thought we were told to allow 4-5 hours. They had to abort early to return before dark


Day 12 - Deer Creek Falls


View on the hike up to Deer Creek Falls


Deer Creek Falls #3


Deer Creek Falls - Relaxing in the higher pools


Deer Creek Falls - the gaggle of rafts indicates how popular the hike is


Day 0-3 | Day 4-6 | Day 7-12 | Day 13-18 | What Day Is It Anyway?
    Credits:
  1. U.O.N., Olympus C-740 UltraZoom Digital Photography by William F. Smith (3.2 MP, 2048x1536, 10X optical 38-380mm)

Last Update 4-Dec-05