Sunday, July 10, 2011

Rafting the Colorado River in Grand Canyon Part 8

These are the better pictures from my third roll in the Minolta waterproof camera. (Sorry if this is posted somewhat out of order!)

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I occasionally rode a rapid on the pontoon, but near the back!

 

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Serpentine Rapid, said to be “technical” by Nate, our boatman. He turned the boat sideways with the bow pointed to the right bank to pass the series of rocks jutting out from the right bank, and once past them used the motor to avoid the rocks downstream jutting out from the left bank.

 

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Our companion boat coming down the rapid we just completed.

 

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We were told by Nate to wear our rain gear the morning we went through this area. He called it Icehouse Canyon due to the lack of sunlight penetrating down to the river for many miles.

 

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Two desert bighorn sheep are right of the tallest part of the big tree. Their white rumps make them easy to pick out. We saw  several of them while on the river, but only one mule deer.

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This rapid was mild, so Nate allowed a few to ride on the pontoon. Note the spray.

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Our companion boat just completing our last major rapid, aptly named Lava Falls. The combined drop of the upper and lower parts is 27 feet (13 for the upper and 14 for the lower). The upper is rated as a difficulty of 8 -10, the highest rated one we went over. 

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