A pretty laid back river day. Only three rapids, all class 3 or lower. The big exciting adventure of River Day 17 was our stop at Havasu Creek. Havasu Creek is my absolute most favorite place in the entire Grand Canyon. It.is.beautiful. The turquoise blue water is so surreal that you almost can't believe it's … Continue reading GC2017 Trip Report [Day 17 | 31 January 2017]

River Day 16 started out with a bit of "excitement". We encountered Tapeats Rapid, a class 5, as soon as we pushed off from Racetrack Camp. I had decided the day before that I was going to row this rapid. I saw it at varying water levels since we were camped right above it. There … Continue reading GC2017 Trip Report [Day 16 | 30 January 2017]

Layover day!! Getting tired of hearing about layover days yet?? We had so many of them on this trip and it was seriously fabulous. Just this past weekend during our 8.6 mile run Nick and I were reminiscing about GC2017-- talking about what, in particular, makes the Grand Canyon so hard. From my perspective, it … Continue reading GC2017 Trip Report [Day 15 | 29 January 2017]

River Day 14 was a big day for me. It was the day we would encounter Bedrock Rapid, a class 7. Bedrock Rapid is not traditionally considered one of the major rapids that oarsmen are super concerned about. It's no Crystal or Lava Falls. Frankly, if you hit your line and make it down the … Continue reading GC2017 Trip Report [Day 14 | 28 January 2017]

Layover day!! Loving these back-to-back layover days. Upper Blacktail Camp was not an originally planned layover. However, for the canyoneers on the team, Blacktail Canyon was a must-do. Blacktail Canyon can only be accessed from the river so it is super special for the canyoneers to get the opportunity to go canyoneering in this canyon. … Continue reading GC2017 Trip Report [Day 13 | 27 January 2017]

As I go back through my journal, I realize that I wasn't as good about writing every day as I wish I had been. Some days were just hard-- and maybe those were the days I should have been chronicling my feelings, but instead I was lazy about getting my journal out and writing. River … Continue reading GC2017 Trip Report [Day 12 | 26 January 2017]

Layover day!! After three big days on the water everyone seemed ready to relax. Although-- I use that term loosely because we all spent some time hiking during the layover. Bass Camp was absolutely fabulous. Definitely makes my Top Five Favorite Grand Canyon Camps list. It was a bit cold first thing in the morning, … Continue reading GC2017 Trip Report [Day 11 | 25 January 2017]

Back-to-back BIG rapid day three of three. Our last big rapid day for a little while, but it's a doozy. Today we enter the "Gem Series". Similar to the "Roaring 20s" but a bit bigger with a lot of rapids to run-- ranging from class 3 to 8. Crystal Rapid is considered one of the … Continue reading GC2017 Trip Report [Day 10 | 24 January 2017]

Back-to-Back BIG rapid day two of three. River Day 9 started out sunny-- with a nice relaxing stop at Phantom Ranch. Phantom Ranch sort of feels like Disney World when you've spent several days in the wilderness with only the team you launched with. Nick hiked up the Bright Angel Trail for a bit to … Continue reading GC2017 Trip Report [Day 9 | 23 January 2017]

River Day 8 was an anticipated day for the team-- it was the first of three back-to-back BIG rapid days. And, surprise, surprise-- it was raining AGAIN. We encountered our first class 8 rapid of the trip, Hance Rapid, just over a mile from camp. Hance is considered one of the more technical rapids in … Continue reading GC2017 Trip Report [Day 8 | 22 January 2017]