July 8-16 Grand Canyon Tour - Post #13 (Sunday, July 15, lunch to bed)

In July, I had the unique opportunity to spend 9 days in Arizona, 7 of which were floating down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.  I’m in the middle of blogging through the amazing week from my hand-written personal journal.  Bite-sized chunks ... I hope you enjoy them. 

July 15, 8:15PM – camp @ Whitmore’s Wash, mile 188.5

The end of a long river day!  It was, of course, glorious.  I sat up front the whole day, all 52 miles.  It was a very wet afternoon – I was thoroughly soaked the whole time!  The most spectacular sight today was the lava flow from Vulcan’s Throne – a fairly recent volcanic eruption in the Canyon.  The lava flow came over the rim and poured over all the layers of rock, coating them.  Apparently, when the lava reached river level, it flowed both upstream and downstream, and piled up to form massive dams that blocked the River.  The water pressure built as the lava cooled and condensed.  As water filled the resultant cracks, some dams eventually burst, sometimes

changing the course of the River into a newly-cut channel.  Fascinating! 

Seeing all the lava filling the hillside again is just a good reminder of the forces involved in God’s Creation.  God’s power is incomprehensible!  The two coolest parts of the “lava gorge” portions of the river … (1) Vulcan’s Anvil – a 20-tonne (15x15x40 or so) deposit from the volcano that rests in the middle of the Colorado River – it’s quite a monument to the massive eruption.  (2) Lava Falls, a 10-rated rapid at mile 180.  At the front of the raft, it was quite a “moving” experience – I was thrown around a bit, but loved

the ride!  We had an absolute blast!

We are camped at the helipad at Whitmore’s Wash (right after Whitmore Rapid), where we will take an 8-minute helicopter ride in the morning to take us up to Bar-10 Ranch.  Our campsite is “Whitmore’s Wash” – the helipad itself is about 8ftx10ft – hard to believe the copter will land there.  It is surrounded by rocks and bushes, so not much room for error.  It’ll be interesting!

The suppers on the trip have been very good – some were close to gourmet fare.  Tuesday: salmon steaks & rice pilaf.  Wednesday: lasagna and garlic bread.  Thursday: stir fry steak & veggies.  Friday: pork chops & rice.  Saturday: chicken fajitas.  Tonight: steaks & mashed potatoes – the steaks made to order and cooked to perfection.  Really impressive job by the boat crew from Arizona River Runners.

with Cliff McManis

I’m exhausted.  It’s after 9pm now, and I’ll certainly be up by 5.  Time for bed … I pray, Lord, that you keep us safe on all the travels tomorrow.  Keep Mataeo and the Bandy’s safe while camping in Colorado.  Be with Vanessa and the girls, flooding them with Your love.

  

Vulcan's Anvil - impressive weight!

Vulcan's Anvil coming into view