| |
| Diamond Down - Grand Canyon rafting, AZ | |
|
| | Diamond Down - Grand Canyon rafting, AZ | | | |
|
|
Diamond Down - Grand Canyon rafting, AZ
| | |
|
| Rafting | 55.00 Miles |
|
| | Rafting | 55.00 Miles | 4 Days | | |
| | | |
| |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | Diamond Down is a quick Grand Canyon river trip, usually done in 3 to 4 days. There are several challenging rapids, and several more which are not so challenging. After a few miles, however, the river flattens out before reaching Lake Mead. It's still beautiful, and there is still current, but the lake has claimed many of the historic rapids.
I was put in charge of an 18-foot raft, the gear barge. The other folks had home-built wooden boats, replicas of historic boats. Tom Martin rowed the Gem, Craig Wolfson his Flavell II, and Josh Case his brand new, paint-not-yet-dry dory, Sweet and Low.
None of the photos were taken by myself because I lost my camera at the put-in. I think it fell off the deck into the water when I was distracted.
What a wonderful four days! We mostly had gorgeous weather, although it did try to rain. We hiked to Travertine Grotto and Columbine Falls. We camped at Travertine Falls, Surprise Canyon, and another one on the left just above Columbine Falls.
The only rapid in this stretch I had rowed before was Diamond. I rowed them all this time except Killer Fangs. I did chicken out on that one. Tom hiked back and rowed my boat down it. Maybe next time... It looked pretty scary to me. I had lost sleep thinking about it. Typical boatman's loss of sleep over the rapids downstream.
I feel very lucky to have been invited on this trip. I had a chance to be in charge of a boat with passengers, and I had a chance to teach others a few things, how to row riffles, how to keep things ship shape, how to rig, etc. I'm no expert but I now know enough to show someone a few things. I learned a lot myself from two of the best private boaters on the river. The wooden boats were fun to row, although I only rowed them on the flat water. |
| _____________________
There is a point of no return unremarked at the time in most lives. Graham Greene The Comedians
A clean house is a sign of a misspent life. |
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
