"Grand Canyon Day 2"

Tuesday 23^rd April



Hermits Point

Coffee call at 5.45am; which was too early for Alison but she managed to be dressed for cooked breakfast at 6.30. 

After de-camping and loading the boat we all went for a ‘short’ hike up into one of the side canyons, “Monument Creek”.  This also gave time for the river to rise a little more before we negotiated the first rapid of the day. (They close the dam a little at night to restrict the flow of water into the canyon).  As we hiked up the changing layers of rocks were outstanding.  We stopped at one point where we were looking up at Hermits Point, which is the furthest west of the view points at the top on the South Rim.  

Alison on the slide

Going back down a parallel side canyon we had to negotiate a creek.

 

The rest of the day was spent on the river, with a stop for lunch on a sandy beach.  This day was when we travelled the most miles on the river and consequently the most rapids.  Paul took his turn in the “Bath Tub” which is right in the front of the boat where you get totally drenched.  Alison stayed in the “Chicken Coop” to the rear of the boat but still managed to get wet.  The water was really cold and over our water gear it helped us cool down in the hot sun.

 

Alison ready for bed

We spent the night at Race Track campsite.  We had a Mexican theme to the evening with Tequila and American Honey Whiskey served as pre-dinner cocktails.  We tried to watch the stars as we lay in our camp beds but couldn’t keep our eyes open for long and quickly fell asleep.

 

Wednesday 24th April

Breakfast again at 6.30 and we watch the sun gradually creeping on to the furthest mountains. 

We set off down river for a few miles and then landed part of the group who were off for a 9 mile hike with a 2000ft elevation change.  Those of us who didn’t fancy such a tough hike continued on down the river to Deer Creek Waterfall having stopped part way to listen to Dan read us a story from a book of GC River Stories.

Our hike started at the base of the waterfall which gushed out from the rocks about 150ft above us.  It was a quick ‘straight up’ climb of around 800ft and then we followed the slot canyon of Deer  
Creek.
We were treated to wonderful views of the Colorado from above the waterfall.


At one point we had to squeeze along a narrow 2ft ledge for about 20yds with the sheer drop below us.  ( Alison was on her hands and knees). Eventually we arrived at our goal “The Patio”.  It was a lovely area of flat rocks with trees, butterflies and lizards as the water flowed down the creek.  We spent some time here, bathing in the water etc.
 

When we returned to the boats down on the river we had lunch and bathed by the waterfall whilst we waited for the rest of the group to meet us from their ‘long hike’.

We then continued down the river.

 

Our camp site was at Mat-Kat Hotel and was surrounded by high canyon walls.




Day Four and Five to follow.