Shorewoods Photography-Boarding Group 2 Travel Blog

This morning we gathered at Cliff Dwellers with our gear packed in our camp “pumpkins” (large dry bags) and our day dry bag. We were welcomed by Steve Hatch who went over safety, and got us organized to head down to Lees Ferry.

Note: the important beverages accompanying us on our journey! There is some Blue Moon in there for us!

We arrived to Lees Ferry and met up with Josh and JP with our floating home for the next 8 days! We buckled into our life vests and loaded our gear onto the raft for our first day on the water! The weather was actually quite cloudy and a bit cool, but both were welcome. It has become clear to us at this early point of our journey that we are in the best of care with JP, Josh and Colleen!

The water is calm, and we begin at mile 0 of the river in the Grand Canyon. It is a bit surreal initially, all the planning and wondering, and imagining have now come to reality; but the sights are nothing we could have imagined, and I am taken aback by my inability to say anything but “wow”!

One of my favorite things to hear now is Colleen yell “Cameras out!” because if Colleen says to get them out, there has to be something amazing to be discovered! We took a few photos as we passed beneath the Navajo Bridge, which we visited yesterday from the top of the Canyon. As we continued down the river, the sun came out and provided us a beautiful sky.

As we pulled our cameras out on the raft, we felt a bit of resignation- it is what it is- the cameras will make it or not- but we had brought them on this adventure for a reason, so on with the plan! Plans are a very fluid thing here on the river considering weather, water levels, and other rafting groups looking for campsites. Colleen has taught us to expect that plans change and to remember something along the lines of : The Plan is the plan until the plan changes and that is the new plan”.

Our first photo stop was at a site with cliff overhangs that offered some phenomenal abstracts.

We experienced a BIG rapid today, the first of what will be many! 2 walls of water- ok, when I say walls, I mean water rising up at least as tall as the raft if not taller- 6-8 feet crashing down on us. We didn’t need to hear the key directions twice for what to do as we approached a rapid: Sit Down-Be Quiet-Hang On!

As the second and smaller walls of water drained off of us and out of the raft, we were thoroughly drenched, but also delightfully cooled down from the river water.

We enjoyed lunch along a beautiful stretch of beach. Lunch outdoors surrounded by beautiful views made the food taste better than ever!

The afternoon’s travel down the river took us past sights that awed the eyes- there were so many beautiful things to see, it was hard to take it all in!

We arrived to our camp for the night at North Canyon Beach, right before a bend in the river with more gentle rapids. We set up our cots, leaving everything else safe inside our dry bags to keep those sentient begins with more legs than us- in their respective habitat. And then…it began to rain. There is nothing like a sprinkling rain to make you instantly appreciate and understand what to do with the tarp in your sleep kit! So…with everything in dry bags and covered and protected with a tarp- the only thing left to do was play in the rain…in the Grand Canyon…on a beach…alongside rapids in the Colorado River!

We enjoyed a wonderful meal cooked by Josh and JP, and as the sun set, we brought out our sleeping bags and settled in for a sleep under the stars. It sounds romantic, doesn’t it? sleeping under the stars? There are no words to easily describe the ceiling of our sleep that night.

As I looked up into the night sky, Canyon walls surrounding me, stars shining with Milky Way mixed in, it was as if the universe wrapped her arms around me, singing a star song that echoed off the Canyon walls and mixed with the chorus of rapids and filled me wonder and peace. Throughout the night, the sky changed like turning the rim of a kaleidoscope: shooting stars, changing constellations, moon beams and shadows, all kept me company as I lie awake.

It was the most glorious night of insomnia I’ve ever had!