the canyon around 8am and were greeted by two dead Coyotes under the bridge. We made excellent time down the canyon especially considering no one in our group had done it before, we had a solid crew that were used to working together and an exceptional trip leader. To be honest I was a little worried about the big sequence, but once the moment arrived I found it to be extremely fun. You really cant help but grin ear to ear when standing at the “Edge of the World”, I was lucky to be able to spend some time there and really soak it in.
We arrived at the Colorado and were ready to start the pack raft after some unforeseen delays at about 7pm. Then it was time to pay for our amazing day. A strong headwind picked up and made travel very difficult, you had to paddle your brains out and if you stop to catch your breath the wind takes you back up stream. After a while everyone pulled off the river and after dealing with an emergency hypothermia situation we found the trail and hiked out. I’m not sure what the average raft time is but I’m sure its not even close to the 4 hours it took us, got back to the truck at 11pm.
Even with the exit issues we all loved this trip, I can’t wait to do this one again.. maybe after they fix the road to Page.
As of 5/10/2014 all necessary bolts were in place and we only encountered the one swimmer that most of us got to zip over.
Jeremy Freeman
Great TR and photos @El Cu Cuy! One of these days I’ll get around to doing this one, it seems to make for a pretty unique day!
El Cu Cuy
Funny what a few small condition changes can do. It was a warm day for us as well, we really only did the zip line because it was fun. I can see how that ledge would be an awful place to be in the sun, the clouds rolled in and it actually started raining a little while we still had 4 people up top.
I brought a 3/2 and the person that had issues was wearing a shorty but that wind just ripped the warmth right off, I think my wind shirt was the only thing keeping me OK until I could start hiking. I also went for an unplanned swim after suiting up, hence the “unforeseen delay”. This was my first pack raft and I was expecting a float down the lazy river, boy was I wrong.
After the fact someone mentioned a technique of using your helmet on some line in the water to catch the current and pull you along. Do any of you have any experience with this?
Mike Zampino
Thanks for the trip report. I feel grateful that when we did the canyon 10 days ago we had a tail wind and just floated down the river. Our only paddling was if we wanted to get into the faster current.
We did not set up a zip line over the water. It was not worth the effort given the hot temps out and waste deep water.
I too got to spend a lot of time at the edge of the world anchor, too much time. Because unlike your photo of you in standing in the shade, once I got down to the anchor the sun shifted. So I was baking in the sun the whole time. So we had the opposite problem and dealing with minor heat related issues and running low on water.
We all used wetsuits for the float which made it worth the effort to carry them in. So even floating out in the dark we were comfortable.
I agree it is a long day and I will most likely wait until they fix the road (I hope they fix the road) before I do another run of waterholes. Great canyon!!!
We thought it was strange for two coyotes to be dead side by side right under the bridge. I doubt coyotes would jump from there and if they were washed down from upstream they wouldn’t end up side by side. So I call foul play!
Ram
Thank you for the TR and pictures. You were facing a head wind AND low water too. Not much current there normally anyway. When I paddled that section we had more water and only a slight head wind and I still ended up winded, with blistered hands from the effort. The only Colorado River passage I had that was unpleasant. Still worth it. Thanks again