COLORADO RIVER CANOE EXPEDITION 1 of 6

COLORADO RIVER CANOE EXPEDITION

October 6-11, 2010

Judy, Jim, and Jessie  KO, Amy and Jeanette 

Coffee Pot Granary

COLORADO RIVER - Spiders 2 of 6

I did something this month that was particularly hard for me. I stewed and fussed and hoped something would happen so I wouldn’t have to go but in the end I went and, believe it or not, had a remarkable time. Amy was planning a canoeing trip down the Colorado River with friends. I thought she asked me to go because she needed a canoe partner but she claims she’s been trying to get me to go for years. She knew I would love it like she does. At first, I just blatantly said “NO”. Then I got thinking about it. DeRay can take care of Ed; I just had hyalgan treatments for my knees and they’re supposed to be at optimum right now. There may never be a next time. So I told her yes and was immediately sorry. Sleeping in a tent? Sitting in a canoe all day? What if I get sick? Stomach ache? Eye infection? Acid reflux? What if I can’t sleep? What if I bother people? Have to be airlifted out? Nighttime bathroom breaks? Snakes? Spiders? I didn’t even think about having to break camp every morning and set camp up every night. I haven’t camped in a tent for 45 years (motor home, trailer, houseboat – luxuries); the hardest part is always the first day and the last day. Every day would be like that.

Besides, we were raised with a fear of the Colorado River. We all knew people who had drowned. When we went to Lee’s Ferry we stayed far away from the bank.

COLORADO RIVER Explorers 3 OF 6

Just call Amy and me Lewis & Clark. Picture this: Floating down the Colorado River for five days; brushing and flossing our teeth along the way (Amy would hand me my toothbrush on her paddle), eating popcorn balls; drinking chocolate milk and grape juice, connecting up with our party of three canoes and playing “Password” as we leisurely float down the river. We would float 1½ to 3 mph, about the same as when we paddled! After the first two days, we enjoyed “floating lunches,” preparing the salads during breakfast.

Rewind: On Monday at the confluence of the Green and Colorado, we loaded onto a Jet Boat and in three hours we motored back up the river seeing everything rapidly and backwards: The campsites where we cooked in the Dutch ovens, and visited and played games around the campfire; when we loaded and unloaded everything we had with us and set up our kitchen and tents; and bathed and swam in the river; we whizzed by the Indian granaries, especially the Coffee Pot; Dead Horse Point; the openings to the grotto, petrified wood; Petroglyphs; the whitewater, the sandbars where we got stuck.

COLORADO RIVER Tail Wind on the Colorado 4 of 6

The three hardest things for a 74-year old with dysfunctional knees: Getting out of 1. The canoe; 2. The tent; 3. The canvas chairs.

Best thing: Not having to look in the mirror for five days; and the quietness; the calmness, the peace, the beauty of the cliffs and rock formations; the dark nights and bright stars; the mysterious Indian granaries; the Petroglyphs. The only sound was the pounding in my ear that is always with me. In our group, I met my soulmate who had an Acoustic Neuroma (except my tumor is outside the ear canal instead of inside and is called an intravestibular schwannoma); she is also deaf in her right ear and has lost her balance on the right side. The only difference is, she is 20 years younger, and her tumor was larger. She went to the same doctor I go to. She was scheduled for surgery when they decided to check out radiation. Less risk; no pain, higher success rate; less time; no recovery. Her tumor is gone. They were thrilled. From the information Brent sent me, I already knew I wouldn’t have surgery without checking out radiation but now I know the exact doctor to go to at the Huntsman Cancer Center, if necessary.

And another connection, her boss owns a house in Orderville and spends nearly every weekend there. He’s an Atmospheric Science professor at the University of Utah.

She was one of the few Utahns diagnosed with West Nile virus. Fortunately, I didn’t follow her there.

Most valuable personal equipment: 1. Headlamp that Verda gave me for my birthday; wherever you go, there is light! 2. Goggles Amy gave me that kept out the sand and had soft foam around eyes and nose. They were so comfortable I didn’t even know I had them on. Tied for 3^rd: a. Amy’s water bottles; b. my desert cap that shielded my neck as well as my face. Oh, yes, and c. Amy’s canoe chair.

Most mystifying encounter: We both thought we were heading for a sandbar and had no time to turn. It’s the only time Amy slightly panicked. “We are in big trouble.” We braced for the collision. Nothing. It was a mirage, as real as any sandbar on the river, leaving us feeling peculiar and perplexed. Whew.

Unlike Lake Powell with multiple signs, markers, and buoys, there was only one sign the entire distance: Entering Canyonlands National Park, United States Department of the Interior.

How long has it been since I’ve been pampered? Since I didn’t have to feed someone else before I could eat myself? Amy treated me like a queen. She set up the tent; laid out the pads and sleeping bags; she cooked all the scrumptious gourmet meals. I cleaned the Dutch ovens the first couple of nights and then she asked if anyone would like to learn how to clean Dutch ovens. Jessie fell for it and we worked on them together after that. Amy insisted I use her canoe chair that Brent and Jan gave her many years ago. She went without for the entire trip. I think she might have regretted it a couple of times but she would never take it back. When one pair of goggles broke, she went without. She took the tent down, stuffed the sleeping bags, pads, and chairs, loaded everything into the dry bags and loaded and unloaded the canoes. She tried to teach me canoe skills, finally aborting that effort (although even she had to admit I’m a strong paddler). She was a dynamo.

COLORADO RIVER value 5 of 6

Amy said she would rather go on a canoe trip than a cruise. Would you believe they cost about the same? This trip cost each of us $260 and we had to prepare all our own meals, do our own dishes, and make our own beds. About $50 a day, not counting the gas. We did most of our cooking in Dutch ovens. We had a small camp stove to heat water, etc. BTW, I slept so soundly on my thin mat in Amy’s little tent, I’ve decided beds and bedrooms are highly overrated.

What an expedition like this does that a luxury cruise doesn’t do, is get you back to the basics. Survival. It takes all your time and energy and we bought our food in a grocery store before we left home. We weren’t hunting or fishing or tilling the soil. It gives us a great appreciation for our pioneer ancestors and for the simple satisfactions in life. Restorative. Nourishment for the soul. Replenishment for our depleted psyches. Things money can’t buy.

In our group were Judy and Jim, their daughter Jessie and her college friend KO, who lives and works in Washington DC.

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Oh, I was going to say, what made the river trip so expensive is that it cost $160 each to ride the Jet Boat back up the river for three hours. When Amy used to take the Girl Scouts down, they didn’t ride the jet boats but Mineral Bottoms’ road is washed out now. That’s why they chose the Colorado River instead of the Green River. It’s actually the first time Amy, Judy and Jessie have canoed down the Colorado River, even though they’ve been on the Green River several times. Amy thought there was more to see as far as Indian ruins and other points of interest. Of course, with no markers you had to use the river    map, GPS, and have sharp eyes to find the cutouts in the tamarisks. (Judy’s job.)

Judy is a Troop Leader with a very active Girl Scout Troop. They’re going to Washington DC and New York City next summer; last summer they went to Seattle and Vancouver. They’ve been to Costa Rica several times because they have a connection there. They always do service projects. They did a service project down to Amy’s Navajo Trails Camp the weekend before we left.

When we got home,

DeLoy wrote:

Did you survive?

Did Amy survive?

Answer:

Yes, I survived.

Yes, Amy survived;

that's why I survived.