Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 17, 1994 TAG: 9404190008
SECTION: TRAVEL PAGE: F-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MARTIN PFLIEGER ALLENTOWN (PA.)MORNING CALL
DATELINE: GRAND CANYON, ARIZ. LENGTH: Long
Badger Creek, House Rock, Horn Creek, Hermit and the granddaddy, Lava Falls.
The relentless thundering of the Colorado River's rapids is unmistakable. At the bottom of the Grand Canyon, nothing else makes noise like white water.
Ten days of rafting covered 188 miles of the river, from the launch at Lee's Ferry 15 miles below the Glen Canyon Dam, through the spectacularly colorful Marble Canyon and the Grand Canyon's ancient inner gorge, to the trip's end at Whitmore Canyon.
Seeing the Grand Canyon from the bottom up offered a perspective of this natural wonder unlike any you get standing atop the popular North and South rims looking down. It was an intimate and rugged perspective.
Seventeen travelers slept on the ground sans tents, bathed in the 50-degree river water, baked in the 100-degree heat, swam, hiked and ate far better than one would expect in the wilderness.
There were few complaints.
The rafts became a means of reaching deeper into the Earth to view a surprising diversity of wildlife and the colorful rock strata and the geologic history it represents.
The intense sun bleached the canyon walls at midday. So it wasn't until the sun disappeared from view late in the afternoon that the true colors of the canyon walls emerged.
Reds faded into grays, which faded into oranges and browns.
Each colored layer represented an era of the Earth's 4.6 billion-year history.
There were miles of quietly moving water where the desert's other sights and sounds came into focus: The screeching of a peregrine falcon as it took off from the canyon floor with a lizard in its claws; the whistling of a canyon wren; a trout breaking the river's surface to make lunch of an insect.
As the group made its way down the river, nimble bighorn sheep, well concealed against their surroundings, peered down from their rocky perches. Mule deer fed quietly at water's edge. A beaver swam quickly and quietly toward its burrow on the river bank.
A great blue heron escorted the rafts one morning. And a dozen snowy egrets provided an exclusive showing one afternoon.
Flying in precision formation, wing tips just off the water but never getting wet, they moved back and forth along the shore past our boats.
Broken peace
Even after drifting among this beauty for hours, the rafters were never far from one of the river's more notorious rapids.
The rapids grew more intense daily, and by day four the group came upon Horn Creek Rapid, rated an eight on the Grand Canyon National Park's 10-point scale.
One option was to ride this rapid on the Stealth, so named for the less than graceful path it cut through the water. But the Stealth had what the three other five-man rafts did not: two large pontoons that allowed its two-man crew to sit out on the extreme front end of the raft and take the rapids head on.
The Stealth rafters slid into the ``V'' at the top of the rapid and from their perch looked 12 feet down into the first gaping hole in the maelstrom. Grips tightened as the front end dropped into the hole.
At the bottom the Stealth plowed through a wall of water curling over the rafters' heads. The next two waves took crew members high in the air and threw them onto their backs as the raft slid down the wave's backside.
All managed to hold on, but that wasn't the case at other parts of the river.
Nasty rapids
The last serious rapid of the journey was also the nastiest.
It came on day nine.
Lava Falls, named after the lava flows that have poured into that part of the canyon in the last 1 million years, is rated a 10. The river drops 37 feet in elevation at this rapid. And it takes only 15 seconds to ride.
Three times the rafts plunged into massive holes of swirling water. Three times members of the group were hit square in the chest with waves that left them gasping for air and struggling to hold on.
Three individuals, including a guide, were sucked off their rafts in Lava Falls. All floated through to more tranquil water and were pulled wet and wide-eyed but unhurt into the rafts.
Several days of the trip were spent entirely on the rafts.
When covering a lot of miles wasn't required, trip participants hiked into the smaller canyons that snake off the Colorado or used the sandy beaches as campgrounds for volleyball or horseshoes.
On day three, the entire afternoon was spent on the banks of the Little Colorado River, swimming in the turquoise-colored water. And at 70 degrees, the river's water was a welcome respite from the cold Colorado.
On day four, stops included the famous Phantom Ranch, a stopover for hikers trekking in from the South Rim. A half-mile up a trail from the river are campsites, cabins and a canteen selling snacks, drinks and other necessities.
The six river guides, headed by Michael Geanious, a 17-year veteran of Colorado River running, were patient and knew their canyon geology, history, wildlife and safety.
Adventures
Eighteen companies offer trips through the canyon from May through mid-October. Trips range from three days to three weeks and $ 600 to $ 2,100 a person.
Some are oar trips. Others are on large motorized rafts. If you want a leisurely pace in smaller rafts without the constant drone of a motor, take an oar trip.
What companies supply for the cost varies. The $1,500 package our group took included camping gear, hotel accommodations in Page the night before the trip began, a helicopter ride out of the canyon at the trip's conclusion, an airplane flight back to Las Vegas to catch a commercial flight, food, beer and soft drinks.
The meals the crew prepared were a highlight. The crew had organized well the logistics of feeding 17 passengers and eight crew members for 10 days.
Reservations for white-water trips down Arizona's Colorado River should be made up to a year in advance. For a list of rafting companies and their addresses, write: The National Park Service, Division of Concessions Management, Grand Canyon National Park, Box 129, Grand Canyon, Ariz. 86023.
by CNB