The Grand Time
Tom's Journal
June 15, 2007 - Day 31
After a good night’s sleep we got packed quickly.
It was a good thing too, because a really nice group of people on a Wilderness River Adventures trip wanted to stop at our beach and take a short hike.
While the rest of their group was gone, I had a chance to talk with a nice lady named Peggy from Athen’s GA. When the others returned, guides Steve and Susan were kind enough to give us some ice, which is a precious commodity here.
Within a mile after launching, we came upon Vasey’s Paradise, where a large spring flows from the cliff wall on the right. We stopped to fill our water vessels and chew on the tasty watercress that grows along with a very healthy stand of poison ivy.
About a mile farther along this mostly calm stretch we stopped at Red Wall Cavern, a huge, sandy undercut area carved into to the sandstone by the river’s current making a sharp right turn. Major Powell estimated 50,000 people could be seated here and he may have been right.
Back in the boats once more, we enjoyed one more rapid and the smooth water below it that lasted for about five more miles to Buck Farm Canyon at mile 41 on the map. The afternoon upstream wind reared its ugly head and we had to employ the rocket box “sea anchor” system we used so many miles upstream near Moab to make progress.
Along the way we saw what appeared to be a quite healthy group of desert bighorn sheep along the shoreline.
At Buck Farm we again met our new friends on the Wilderness River Adventures trip. They shared the large beach and some beverages with us; better yet, Susan had a recording of Jack Johnson playing. He is a favorite of my family and many of our friends, and it was great to hear him where he should be heard-on the beach.
Soon they departed and we were left to enjoy the beach, the setting sun and a nice hike in the shade along the trail up this classic side canyon.
It is impossible to overstate the impact made by the constantly changing colors combined with the unfathomable scale of this place. Even our own colors are changing as no amount of sunscreen can keep it from happening.
It truly does feel like we somehow are beginning to belong to this National Park even though we know it is supposed to be vice versa.
It was a good thing too, because a really nice group of people on a Wilderness River Adventures trip wanted to stop at our beach and take a short hike.
While the rest of their group was gone, I had a chance to talk with a nice lady named Peggy from Athen’s GA. When the others returned, guides Steve and Susan were kind enough to give us some ice, which is a precious commodity here.
Within a mile after launching, we came upon Vasey’s Paradise, where a large spring flows from the cliff wall on the right. We stopped to fill our water vessels and chew on the tasty watercress that grows along with a very healthy stand of poison ivy.
About a mile farther along this mostly calm stretch we stopped at Red Wall Cavern, a huge, sandy undercut area carved into to the sandstone by the river’s current making a sharp right turn. Major Powell estimated 50,000 people could be seated here and he may have been right.
Back in the boats once more, we enjoyed one more rapid and the smooth water below it that lasted for about five more miles to Buck Farm Canyon at mile 41 on the map. The afternoon upstream wind reared its ugly head and we had to employ the rocket box “sea anchor” system we used so many miles upstream near Moab to make progress.
Along the way we saw what appeared to be a quite healthy group of desert bighorn sheep along the shoreline.
At Buck Farm we again met our new friends on the Wilderness River Adventures trip. They shared the large beach and some beverages with us; better yet, Susan had a recording of Jack Johnson playing. He is a favorite of my family and many of our friends, and it was great to hear him where he should be heard-on the beach.
Soon they departed and we were left to enjoy the beach, the setting sun and a nice hike in the shade along the trail up this classic side canyon.
It is impossible to overstate the impact made by the constantly changing colors combined with the unfathomable scale of this place. Even our own colors are changing as no amount of sunscreen can keep it from happening.
It truly does feel like we somehow are beginning to belong to this National Park even though we know it is supposed to be vice versa.
Mile 675
Mile 676
Mile 677
Mile 678
Mile 679
Mile 680
Mile 681
Mile 682
Mile 683
Mile 684
Mile 685
Mile 686
Mile 687
Mile 688