Colorado River Trip

So far, I have traveled to Vegas a few times, skied the slopes at Breckenridge, Appalachian, Winterplace and Snowshoe, scuba dived the Caribbean a couple of times, kayaked into the ocean more than once to get to the outer banks, paddled the Uwharrie River at flood stage, taken classes at the White Water Center in Charlotte 3 times, flown to TX to see friends and my Cousin and check out the Longhorns at Fort Worth, been to Disney more times than I can count (I still love it), tried out all the water parks that I could find, but nothing compares with the Grand Canyon/Colorado River Trip that I took in October 2008.

A scenic trip the whole way thru.  From Vegas, Hoover Dam, camping at Grand Canyon, Mexican Hat, Monument Valley, Valley of the Gods, Moki Dugway, Arches National Park, Moab Utah, the Colorado River by Canoe from Potash to the Confluence.  47 miles of water that also held secrets.  It was quiet.  The water moved at 2 and a half miles an hour, making for nice timing.  Eva and Tamas knew just where to stop for special surprises.  After a days worth of paddling, which could be as long or as short as we wanted, we would set up camp for the night.

We camped 3 nights along the River and did not see another person the whole time (except for the jet boat that passed each day picking people up from downriver).  We had the entire place to ourselves it seemed (with the exception of cows, big horned sheep, and wake up ducks)!

Here it is, December, and I am just looking over my notes from the trip.  I wish I had taken more!  Below you will find the info I created from my journal entries I took while laying on my stomach in the tent (usually right before or after dinner).

October 14th, put in canoes at Potash, 9:30 am.

Take out for 1st night's camp at Canadian Geese Landing .  Along the way, we stopped 5 times to either stretch or site-see.  Dinner was corned beef hash, onions and green beans cooked in foil.   We watched a full moon rise with a sky full of stars.  Went to sleep early.  

Woke to sunshine....in the desert.  Caught my arm on fire.  Put the fire out.  No damage, just coffee.  Warmed up to the fire that Tamas built - cooked bacon and pancakes - heated water for some oatmeal too!

Off to see more.

October 15th, this is a landmark day.  Tamas used the TEX river potty for the first time ever! 

We saw the sign for Canyonland.  I laid back in the canoe while John paddled.

We saw writing on the shore at one landing....that said 1800TTBOOKSHIP, so we wrote

"Death Ship" underneath it, just for kicks and giggles. While paddling this day, I told Eva and Tamas that boats with blue lettering are doomed (only to find out that our boat has the same)!

Made great time getting to Lathrop Canyon.  Hiked (yes, I hiked again) up to the Indian Ruins.  Saw more drawings by indians, some that were painted by mouth!  This is the place where the death sheep attacked!  Big Horned Sheep came running thru the indian ruins on the mountain, in the desert, by the river!!! Caught most of it on video.  There were seven in all!  This was a huge thrill to experience, trust me.  We were up so high on the rocks and they were fast and could jump far and fast.  UP or down. WOW.

Oh, before this death sheep hike, we set up camp and took naps and Eva and Tamas took baths in the river.  We also cooked lunch which was Spam Animal, corn, and Kerry Gold semi soft Gouda on toasted rolls that Eva toasted on her cool setup.  It was great.  After the hike, I had my turn at bathing in the freezing cold water!  It did feel wonderful afterwards.  

We gathered firewood and everyone relaxed by the fire.  It was almost 7pm before we cooked hot dogs and beans and marshmallows over the fire.  The moon rose right across from the campsite.  Although we were aware of her ability to cancel FRIDAY once before, Eva allowed the moon to rise this night.  LOL.

I can't wait to go back to this place.