Saturday 23rd July

Saturday 23^rd July – Day 7.  Mile 878.5 – 98.5. Crystal Camp.

7 Rapids today:  Bright Angel (4), Pipe Springs (4), Horn Creek (8), Salt Creek (4), Granite (9+), Hermit (9+), Boucher (4).

We said a sad goodbye to Doug and Mitchell and the rest of the first group then we packed up the camp and set off 1.75 miles downstream to Phantom Ranch. J, K and I went for a short trek to 2 bridges which Julia wanted to walk over – one of which spanned the Colorado and joined 2 trails, the South Kaibab Trail and the Bright Angel Trail.  We called in at The Canteen and had ice cold lemonade (non fizzy), bought some souvenirs (me and J bought a bandana and K bought a new head torch).  We also wrote some postcards which left the canyon by mule post!  

 At 10.30 we set off for a 1 mile paddle to meet up with the newcomers, to have lunch and then set off rafting for the afternoon.

Our new group contains 5 Brits!! – 3 men from Olney near Milton Keynes and a Mum and daughter.  We started off with 2 relatively easy rapids – good for the newcomers to get the feel of the paddling.  We then had a short walk/scramble to see some wooden oars left behind by earlier explorers in a cave.  Our next rapid was Horn Creek, a grade 8.  I was now sitting behind Bob with Kevin on left front (Bob had offered for Peter (one of the newcomers) to come up front but then expected Kevin to give up his seat and move back, I said I was not happy to go into Granite Rapid, a grade 9 with a newcomer at the left front, which was the lead paddle).  I had been behind Bob for a while and I felt either he did not know what he was doing, or was physically not up to the job.  We survived Granite which is a series of confusing waves which hit the wall and bounce back, dragging you one way then another with lots of powerful surges and waves which try to unseat you.  After Granite came Hermit, a grade 9+  with a series of 10 high waves.  The 5^th almost stopped us dead but we managed to power through.  Boucher rapid, a grade 4, gave Kevin a shock with a wave full in his face.  At some point Bob managed to hit me across the knuckles with his paddle (thin edge) which was quite painful.

Some terrific rapids and another day over, with no swimmers or flips! The new group seems much more friendly than the old group (with the exception of Doug and Mitchell) so it looks like it should be a good week.  Glen was on cooking duty and did honey-glazed BBQ chicken with creamy tortellini plus salad -  VERY good.  In bed by 8.30 and light out by 8.45!!