Day 1

A little over a year ago, July 30th to be precise, I embarked on an 8-day rafting adventure on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.

On July 29th I traveled to Phoenix where I met up with my uncle, Ken, and together we drove to Flagstaff to meet my aunt, Evelyn, and her friend, Tammy. We checked into our hotel and met up with nine strangers that would be joining us on this trip.

The morning of July 30th started rather early. We feasted on a hotel breakfast, packed our dry bags and boarded the bus that would take us to starting point of our float, which was just above Lee's Ferry.

The View from the bridge over Lee's Ferry

We slowly made our way through the beginning of the canyon and around noon we pulled over for a nice lunch of chicken salad wraps (they were so good!) I felt that this was an opportune time to take my first picture of the raft we'd be on for the following seven days.

I don't remember the name of the raft or if we even gave it one




Evelyn is in the green, Ken in the middle, and Tammy in the purple
On the boat are our three guides-Ernesto, Dave, and Dave

When I saw that this was our boat I was a little confused in the beginning. I thought certainly this was the kind of thing one could easily be thrown off of amidst raging rapids, but alas we didn't lose one soul to the water and any point during our eight day trip. This was a motorized raft which meant we never actually had to do any paddling. We sat on top of those blue boxes and there were hand holds to cling to during the rough parts. The water was incredibly cold but I found it to be such a thrill sitting on the end and facing the rapids head on.

We journeyed for a couple more hours after lunch and then pulled over to our camp spot. I learned throughout the week that our rafting company doesn't have set camp spots. There are spots all along the river throughout the canyon (these spots all seem to have names that everyone knows) and as you pass other companies and other rafters you ask where everyone is staying and based on their responses you pick one of the remaining campsites. We came upon our stop, unloaded our boat, set up camp, and were instructed on bathroom use.

Our first camp site

We initially chose to sleep outside but due to high winds (leading to a free micro-derm abrasion experience due to blowing sand) and eventually some rain, Tammy and I ended up in our tent that first night. I was very grateful that they encouraged us to set up tents even if we chose to sleep outside. It made for great changing shelter and it was nice to have a Plan B for inclement weather.

The Living Room

Once everyone set up their individual camps we congregated together to chat and get to know each other better. From the above picture you can see the kitchen in the background, which our guides set up at every campsite and made us breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Before we got too settled, our head guide, Dave, gave us a tour of the bathroom where he talked about the rules and courtesies regarding the "Groover". From this little oration I remember a few things: 1) when the toilet paper can is not visible then the bathroom is occupied and you must wait by the water station until you see someone making their way back from the bathroom. 2) there's only so much room to pack toilet paper so when going #2 please refrain from making a catcher's mitt.

The Bathroom




The "Groover"-for solid waste only




The Pee Bucket-for liquid waste
You guessed it, if one had the need to go #1 AND #2
you were supposed to take care of business on one bucket
and quickly transfer to the next.




Reloading the Groover back onto the boat.
This became a morning ritual, watching our guides carry that
loaded box onto the raft where it would be stowed away
in an unknown compartment.

I ended Day 1 with a journal entry:

"We started our rafting trip today. There are 13 people on our boat and 3 guides. It's been a lot of fun so far and I hope the fun continues.
"At the beginning of the trip you could see the bottom of the river. Then the silty water started to work it's way in. You could see the transition. It was crazy!"