WHITEWATER RAFTING THE GRAND CANYON
280 Miles - June 01 to June 18, 2018
Cliff Schinkel, Charles Kersch, Carlin Kersch, Kevin Lay, Triorco Unanue, and Lara
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Rigging Day | Day 01 | Day 02 | Day 03 | Day 04 | Day 05 | Day 06 | Day 07 | Day 08 | Day 09 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15 | Day 16 | Day 17 | Day 18
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DAY 9
Halfway through the journey, we have decided to make this our layover day. Until now, we have been clearing camp and packing rafts every morning,
and then finding and setting up a new camp every evening. As you can imagine, this consumes a lot of our day's leisure time. On a layover day, we stay in our camp
for an extra night, giving us time to go for...a hike. Now, let's define "hike" for what it really was: 6 hours long, almost 12 miles of desert trail, going up steep carve-outs,
often on narrow paths with slippery shale edging sheer drops of hundreds of feet. Skirting cactus, watching for snakes, crossing the creek 3 times, and using our bare hands
to climb over very hot boulders, was quite a challenge. Then, from another group of hikers ahead of us, we learned of a fatality ahead, a man who died from heat exhaustion.
Charlie had the best working satellite phone, and hiked 5 miles back to make the call to the helicopter to pick up the body. Kevin and I pressed on, hiking nearly to the rim!
Then we beheld this enormous cascading waterfall that springs right out of a rock. The group ahead of us was kind enough to filter the cold water into our jugs for us...
and after some glorious minutes standing under the spray of the waterfall, we turned around and hiked back down to camp for a nice dinner and relaxation.
Do I look tired?
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