MargeauxRita: The Grand Canyon

The Dollhouse - This was an awesome hunk of granite that had
been carved out during periods of high water flow for millions
of years into a perfect natural jungle gym for boaters!

We played at the Dollhouse before we scouted
this rapid - I think it's called Bedrock?

The water is rising!
We knew the water was going to be getting really high, so
we were anxiously awaiting! We noticed the water start to turn
from green to brown so we pulled over and set up camp for the night!
We all climbed up on a rock at the edge of camp and just watched the
water come up! It went from 9-13,000 cfs up to over 37,000 cfs!!!!

Now the water is brown instead of the lovely green it had been
during the first half of the trip. No more showers in the river!

After it got dark, the river rising entertainment was over,
so we learned how to play Mafia!

(Henry's photo)

Deer Creek:
This hike was one of my top favorites of the whole hike!

A lil' reptile of some sort!

There is a little hole in the rocks, a 'mailbox', where
people leave treasures for their friends who are following
on a trip coming down river after.

Deer Creek Falls

The trail follows the edge of the slot canyon.
See the person on the bottom left?

And then you get here! This is The Patio.

Mermaid pools at the Patio.

This was THE BEST hang out spot! It was hard to leave it.
We spent most of a day here. I think we only floated a mile this day.

Our super duper trip leader of the century took us to this secret
spot one evening. This bowl is tucked away in the perfect spot
to protect it. There is a thought that it was perhaps moved here
by the Park Service, but there is also a chance that it was just left
here to live out eternity.

Matkatamiba (Matkat for short):

This was another AWESOME hike! It was a shortie.
You had to walk right up the creek through the canyon to get to
the open area . . . where you can make a butt dam!!!

The approach was kind of hard in the high water!
It was a pretty tight squeeze!

Enjoying the scenery!

Looking back down the creek that we walked up.

The 'Matkat Patio'

The Butt Dam!!!
We all sat down in the stream of water and clogged it, and then
on the count of three, jumped up and watch it 'flash flood' the little
community that Meredith built below us! Cheap entertainment.

(Mary's disposable camera photo!)

National Canyon:
This was another short, but REALLY cool hike!

We came to a spot on this hike that wasn't passable without ropes if you weren't
skilled in rock climbing, soa few of us ended up just hanging out and playing
in the creek. We tossed Sheela in and watched her go around and
around and around in this 'infinite eddy.' Again, cheap entertainment.

LAVA FALLS!!!!

The mac daddy of whitewater on the Grand Canyon -
ESPECIALLY at 37,500 CFS!

Scouting the rapid and watching the group ahead run it.
It was pretty cool to watch another group run the rapid like
a rubber ducky getting flushed down the toilet!

Our scared faces before we hopped in the boats!

Pictographs

Lava Falls is near the end of the trip, so after we passed it,
it was smooth sailing until the take out. We enjoyed the last
of our river time and tried as hard as we could to finish our beer supply!

One final 16-shotgun salute to the river gods at the take-out.