OKC Kayak Word Soup

Depending on whose groundhog you have been talking to, we may or may not have six more weeks of winter. What better time to get your kayak shopping done than a grey day of winter? Bring your tax refund money by for some outstanding deals (on the web page under kayak specials!)

Much has been happening around the shop. I am only about 12 months behind on blogging about these happenings. I could let the Grand Canyon Adventure Story drop off, allowing me to move on to other exciting topics, but I just cannot do this. We still have many exciting stories to tell from the GC. If you have not read the beginning of the story, visit the archives from last spring. Here we go…..

Grand Canyon continued……

From the day Kevin and I met up with the rest of the group, Angela had been lobbying hard for a layover day. This was understandable since she had been on the water for well over a week, battling hard winds, snow flurries, and cold temps. But, I was still fresh in the saddle and chomping at the bit to see more river miles. Day after day, the winds continued to hamper our downriver progress, which would continue to delay the layover, for yet another day. In a mini-tirade (well not actually), Angela put her foot down and insisted that we would be taking a day or two hiatus from the water.

After reminding us that we were a guest on her much prized permit, we gratefully agreed to a day of rest, water filtering, laundry, and R and R. The day had dealt us brutal up canyon winds, the sun was setting and it was time to make camp. We pulled over to shore just above a rapid where Angela had previously flipped a raft. None of us wished to deal with this scary beast at an hour in which little light was left to dry our bodies out, much less deal with righting a flipped raft. (These rafts weigh tons when all the gear is strapped to them). One by one, we lined our rafts at the most remote campsite. No other rafting parties were using this, and we were so deep in the canyon that no hiker could access this. ….Or that is what we thought.

Our much needed layover site already had an occupant. Unbelievably, a lone backpacker with not much more than a climbing rope, a small pack, and nor much of an inclination to share his campsite with a bunch or rafters, had already staked his claim to our site. This somewhat odd individual had climbed weeks into the backcountry for some solitude. He informed us that there was another camp below the rapid and we WOULD be running the rapid in the twilight. This was not what we wanted to hear.

We loaded back into the rafts, sent Randall in his cataraft down first as our sucker, uhm, I mean guinea pig. After seeing that he did not die, one by one, the rest of us continued. Angela cried just a little bit out of fear of again flipping her raft, but thankfully the rafts were self bailing, draining her tears out the bottom of the craft. Four rafts made the eddy and were now parked for more than one night.

Layover days are a great time to explore the endless number of side canyons that feed into the canyon. Hikes up these offshoots reveal amazing waterfalls, wonderful geology, and plants and critters with incredible adaptations for survival in the tough desert environment.

Will, Kevin, and I opted for a hike up to some falls. Will was a very quite, but introspective individual. You could sense his deep appreciation for the canyon and for the emotions one experiences in a place like this, just by feeling his spirit. Will opted to leave our trio after the falls in an attempt to spend some time in solitude and do some writing inspired by the mother of all inspiration. Kevin and I chose to climb a ridge for a dramatic view of the surrounding landscape. Our hike was a herpetologist’s dream, as nearly every rock harbored about 4 different species of lizards. One highlight of the trip was seeing a Chuckwalla. This lizard, about the size of a large iguana, has a special adaptation. If something is threatening it, this reptile finds a rock with a narrow crack in it, goes inside and inflates his body with air to wedge himself, preventing removal by the predator. Other members of our group were lucky enough to see rattlesnakes on their journeys.

Desert beauty was everywhere. From pastel colored spines on cactus, to flowering plants, brightly colored pollinating moths, hummingbirds, or bighorn sheep, a photograph awaited you at every step. Sunsets in the canyon were more than amazing as well. What would begin as a rest day, really had become a much greater opportunity to see the canyon in depth. I now would eagerly await the next “Rest Day.”

I am at the Tulsa boat show this week, so I promise to do loads of blogging. Come back later and I will reveal the culprit behind mysterious mischief in the canyon. Find out what happened when idle hands in the canyon decide to prank another in the group.