Monday 18th July

Monday 18^th July – Day 2. Mile  0 - mile 16.  Lees Ferry to Hot Na Na Wash Camp

5 Rapids today: (grades shown in brackets)

Paria Riffle (1), Badger Creek (6), Soap Creek (5), 13-mile rapid (1), Sheer Wall (2).

Breakfast is at 6am and we are to be ready to leave at 7.30am.  Despite our paperwork saying that all meals were included today, we had to pay for our breakfast.  We took our bags outside to wait for the trailer and noticed how small our bags where compared to those of the people who had done the same trip a number of times.  This gave rise to a feeling that we had left essential things behind!! However, we had done as instructed, and kept our gear to a minimum!  We were later to find others had taken many luxuries like posh frocks, bottles and bottles of nail varnish, makeup, temporary tattoo stickers, bottles of spirits…..

We loaded the trailer and set off at about 8am and soon got to Lees Ferry where we got our first sight of the rafts and loaded our bags onto them, had a final briefing and set off.  I went in a raft with Julia, Kevin, Mitchell, Doug and Bob Katz with Tom (tour leader) as our Guide. 

There were some small rapids before our first real one at Badgers Creek (grade 6) mile 8.  As we approached the rapid it started to rain and by the time we got to Soap Creek Rapid (grade 5 at mile 11.5) a full thunder storm struck and we went through the rapid in torrential rain! (you get wet in the rapids so it did not make much difference).  We stopped for lunch which was, as we later discovered, the regular thing of make-your-own sandwiches with lots of choice.  Excellent lunch! We then went for a 10 minute hike to see some ancient rock carving of a rocket man and an inscription to an engineer who had drowned while surveying the canyon for a railway line!!!

We went into a cave with a waterfall (very hard to get into the narrow opening) and another where surveyors had left carved markings.  We saw a family of ducks and ducklings, lots of martins skimming the river, a tiny tree creeper of some sort, 2 mountain goats and hoards of bats at night!

There was another downpour as we were pitching our tents and preparing dinner (steak, jacket spuds & salad.  We camped just above House Rock.  We noticed that the experienced rafters knew the best places to pitch their tents and would drop their day bags in the best spots before coming to help unload the boats.  We pitched our tent near Mitchell and Doug – and this proved to be the pattern for the next 4 nights!!  While helping to do the washing up after dinner, Ian (one of the supply raft guides) commented that he hoped I would be on for the whole trip as few people helped with the chores.  As we had been told there would be 2 people to a tent, I was expecting to be sharing with another woman but some old hands had nabbed a tent for a single person, so there were not enough to go round, so it looked as though we would be sharing, 3 to a tent, until Tania gave me her tent and said she would sleep outside, but share Rosie’s tent if it rained, so I ended up with a tent to myself.

Each evening, when we get into camp, we form a human chain from the oar boats, which carry all our supplies, to a large blue ground sheet,  then we pass all the equipment – tents, personal dry-bags (2 each, one with clothes etc, the other with sleeping bag and liner plus any overflow from your clothes bag), kitchen equipment, 2 huge bags full of folding camp chairs etc etc.  Once all the stuff is unloaded from the boats we collect our things and go to find somewhere to pitch our tents.  In the morning after breakfast this arrangement is reversed, passing all the bags etc from the ground sheet back to the oar boats where it is all strapped down securely before we can set off for the day.

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