Sunday 31st July – Friday 5th August

Sunday 31^st July – Friday 5^th August

We spent our last few days in the USA visiting Bryce and Zion National Parks (amazing rock formations!), going on a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon, walking on the glass platform called The Sky Walk (which was nowhere near as scary as I thought it would be), riding the Vegas monorail and going to see the Cirque du Solei spectacular ‘Love’ with Beatles music. A Spectacular few days to end a memorable holiday of a lifetime!

Saturday 30th July 2016

Saturday 30^th July 2016

All the camp was up well before 5am and we had everything ready for the jet boat at 7am.  We formed the usual bag line to load everything onto the jet boat then boarded ourselves for the 40+ mile journey to Pearce Ferry.  It was great seeing the canyon slowly get lower and lower, or the water level getting higher, as we entered Lake Mead and the approaching Hoover Dam.  We saw the “Sky Walk” high up on the rim in a side canyon.

We arrived at Pearce Ferry and saw our deflated rafts already loaded onto a huge trailer with all the other kit, ready for the return to Lees Ferry and another party of people ready to raft the great Colorado River.  After collecting our packed lunch and downing a few very welcome cups of ice cold water, we said our goodbyes and loaded our bags onto a (supposedly) 5* coach for the 3-hour trip to Vegas.  It soon became apparent that, again, the air conditioning on the bus was not strong enough to circulate the cold air around the driver’s seat to the passengers sitting more than 2 rows behind him so we all sweated and melted for the whole 3 hours.  The first 7 miles were on a dirt track where the air-con was turned off altogether (to stop the filters clogging up with the dust).  During this time the air in the coach got extremely hot and the dust filled the coach like a fog.  After that we drove another 4 miles to the nearest town (a desert town with widely spaced bungalows, square and functional but ugly, and a convenience store where I bought a milk shake with ice cream and vanilla and some sweets for Axel.  After that it was just miles of desert!!

We got into Vegas and booked back into The Bellagio, showered (oh how we had been longing for that first, long, clean, shower in warm water after 13 days of bathing in the freezing, sand-ladened water of the river).  We then went to a small mall for bottles of water, crisps etc, got back and snoozed for an hour.  We then went to look at the restaurant which Bob Katz had booked for our post-trip meal.  This was in The Bellagio (The Harvest Restaurant) and we asked to see the menu.  We were told that it was a private party and the menu had been pre-selected by Bob and was a set price of $75 plus drinks, tax and tips.  We all agreed that it was extremely presumptuous of Bob to book a meal in the most expensive, glamorous Las Vegas Hotel, without canvassing our opinions, where we were being forced to pay quite a high price for one meal without being able to choose what to eat!  As we all felt more than a little jaded after the gruelling 3 hours in the roasting coach, we decided to give the meal a miss and Kevin went down at 7pm to pass on our apologies.  He was presented with a yellow duck as a memento of our trip (one of the ducks given to the ‘swimmers’ – people who fell out of the boat.

The next day we packed our things again and got a taxi to the MGM Signature Towers where we had an apartment on the 34^th floor for 5 nights.  The room was spacious and contained a large king-size bed, a sofa bed, easy chair, dining table and chairs and kitchenette.  We had to request bedding for the sofa bed as well as crockery and cutlery for the kitchenette.  However, they did hand out free bottles of cold water, unlike the Bellagio where they charged $50 per day just to store your own water in the room minibar fridge.

This is the view out from our balcony, then the view down!!

Friday 29th July.

Friday 29^th July.  Day 13.  Mile 213 – 243. Separation Camp

13 Rapids today:

Three Springs (2), 217-Mile Rapid (7+), Trail Canyon (3), Granite Springs (2), 224-Mile Rapid (3), Diamond Creed (4), Travertine (3), 231-Mile Rapid (5), 232 Mile Rapid (5), 234-Mile Rapid (4), Bridge Canyon (4), Gneiss Canyon (4), 237-Mile Rapid (4)

Foot Clinic

Our last day in the paddle rafts!  Ended up in Dave ‘s raft again today, unfortunately.  Before setting off  he did his, now normal, foot clinic but the guest first aid kit had gone missing so he had to use the staff first aid kit.  Julia located the guest one – Bob Katz had it in his tent, self-medicating his foot rot. When Julia told him that lots of people were waiting to be treated, and that Dave had instructed that he return the kit immediately, he replied “they will get it in a while”….. selfish, arrogant, know-it-all beep, beep beep!.  Bob and Arline have done the trip 7 times before yet they constantly kept everyone waiting as they were the last to pack up their tent and bags – yet the first to get a pitch for their tent and always the best one.

Simon’s scorpion sting caused him severe problems and he had to ride on an oar boat so he could lay down.  He said he tingled all over, had a sore throat and was feeling very spaced out.

We had to make a packed lunch as the plan was to hike up to a waterfall where we would eat lunch.  There was no option of staying with the rafts instead of trekking, so I went along, despite very sore feet. The climb was not too bad, even the knotted rope climb up a huge boulder and the rope ladder up a short, vertical waterfall was enjoyable – my years of climbing up the ratlines and along the yards on The Stavros made it easy for me!. 

 We climbed up, had a photo shoot under the top spectacular waterfall inside a cave then had our lunch and lay in the shade for a snooze for an hour before descending and continuing our rafting.  Julia actually fell asleep lying in the stream at the top of the waterfall!!

There were some good rapids today with high waves – Dave told Kevin off for not keeping up the rhythm of the paddling (Kevin was lead paddler on the front left).  Kevin got cross saying “I can’t bloody paddle if I can’t reach the bloody water”!  One high wave almost knocked Dave off the back of the raft (wish it had!). During the afternoon we tied all 8 rafts together and floated downstream drinking beer and soft drinks and having a laugh.

Our campsite was rather small but we pitched our tent on an elevated flat sandy ledge.  Near us were Simon, Paul and David as well as Vicki and Ronnie.  As thunder had been threatening a storm all afternoon, we decided to erect one tent to use in case it did rain though we lay our tacco pads outside in front of the tent.  My feet were excruciatingly painful so I retired immediately after supper but the rain arrived at 10.45pm and we scuttled into the tent.  Julia and I stayed in for the rest of the night (despite it being incredibly hot) but Kevin went back out after the first and second downpours. Julia had to nudge me at one point as she said I was snoring like an express train – even the 3 Brit guys heard me!!

I don'rt like beer!!

Our last campsite. You can just see the "tide mark" where the last flood scoured the canyon wall

Thursday 28th July

Thursday 28^th July.  Day 12.  Mile 186 – 213.  Pumpkin Springs

Only 5 Rapids today:

187-Mile Rapid (4), Whitmore (3), 205-Mile Rapid (7+), 209-Mile Rapid (7), 212-Mile Rapid “Little Bastard” (3)

We had 2 rapids in the first 2 miles, then 17 miles of paddling without benefit of a single rapid!  We stopped for lunch at 196-Mile Creek intending to have lunch then a trek.  We all huddled beneath the umbrellas and sat in the cool water at the edge of the river as it was too hot to sit in the sun and there was no natural shade.  In the event, the trek was cancelled as it was 102 degrees in the shade!!  

 We encountered 2 power rafts, one of which had a load of youngsters on board all dressed as pirates, it was flying a skull and crossbones and the guide was wearing a T-shirt saying “Captain Bob”.  As they came near our rafts they sprayed us with their water cannons.  The 2^nd boat stopped to chat to Tom our guide who knew their guide and they gave our raft a tow for about a mile.  This was a blessing as there were miles of flat water with little decent current to carry us along.  We tried out a new type of “mosey” where you paddle for 20 seconds then have 10 seconds break, but each pair of paddlers rotating so one pair is resting while the other 2 pairs paddle.  We found it much better than the standard "mosey" where everyone paddles together but one stroke every, say, 5 seconds.

We slept outside again but we did erect a tent as rain threatened and thunder rumbled.  I put my mat behind my tent so people could access a way to the river to bathe etc.  In the night I felt a lizard run across my foot and something crawled into my ear – that woke me with a start!!  Simon, one of the 3 English guys, rolled over in the night and put his elbow on a scorpion, which promptly stung him (Rosie had been stung by a scorpion on the first section of the trek when she went to the Groover without her torch and it got her between her toes – she said it was agony for about 2 hours, then calmed down).

The eczema/foot rot on my left foot is very painful and it is now beginning on my right foot too.  Dave strapped it up again for me (he is now doing a regular foot clinic as 90% of us seem to have foot rot). 

 Tom was our guide today and succumbed to requests to tell the clown ‘joke’ which went on for about an hour and which I found extremely distressing.  I told him that I agreed with the owner of Outdoors Unlimited who had given instructions banning the telling of that ‘joke’ and that I found it very distressing and it had ruined my whole holiday.  I later gave Tom a hug and told him to forget it as I was OK, but I doubt that he will tell that particular sick and disgusting tale on any future trip.