Camp kitchens

"Now you all stay out of my kitchen! There's plenty for everyone." These words are the first one's you hear when you get up in the morning. Not long after though, you hear, "All right, it's time to clean up, everyone in the kitchen!" Make up your mind will ya? On this river trip I did three kitchen duties and four clean up duties. I'll take the cooking anytime.

Grand Canyon, Marble Canyon

Val took this photo on our last Grand Canyon trip. It was in Marble Canyon, maybe mile 35 or 40. What strikes me about this really nice photo is the dark blue sky and inky dark water in contrast with the red wall limestone cliffs crowding the banks of the Colorado, all dimly reflected in the water. What a beautiful place.

SNAKES!

I've never gone near a snake. I think we both like that! Some snakes can travel as fast as people. I'd like to bet on that. We were pretty sure this was a king snake and "harmless" as snakes go. Hmmm.... is that tent door open over there?

More rafting continued...

I forgot to mention on my previous post that we had a "spa day" on our raft trip. Gary and the ladies decided to enjoy a mud pack to improve their skin and remove unhealthy toxins. They just added toxins as far as I'm concerned, but it looked like fun.

We also saw a few lizards on our trip. This tiny one crawled up on Cathy's foot looking for a place in the shade I think. Anyway, we all made friends.

On our hike up to the rim we stopped to see the sites and look at the river. There was this nice little rock bench made perfectly for us.

Rafting the Colorado, cont.

Our trip on the Colorado River took us through Ruby and Horsethief Canyons. We stopped twice to overnight, once at Cottonwood and then two nights at Black Rock. The trip offered great weather, and beautiful vistas.

One day we hiked up a trail to the top of the rim. Below is a photo of Nancy and Joan taking in the views from on high.

The swimming at Black Rock was as nice as ever, except the water was a few feet lower than spring time. A favorite thing is to walk a half mile or so up the bank ( a 30 minute walk) and then float down through the small rapids with our life vests on (5 minutes down but loads of fun).

I took many photos of bald eagles and this was the best one I could get. He didn't seem too interested in us and certainly not fearful.

We spent a lot of time sitting in camp, eating and talking and deciding what to do next. There was lots of talk about Allison and Gary's upcoming wedding. And the food... there was so much food.

Rafting the Colorado

Nancy and I got back from a four day rafting trip on the Colorado River yesterday. We went from Grand Junction to Westwater, UT. We saw 4 bald eagles, 3 river otters, 1 king snake, 1 turkey, 1 coyote, and only a couple of mosquitoes. The trip was wonderful even with 100 degree heat because the water was nice and cool. More on this tomorrow!

Ruby-Horsethief

We're planning another trip down Ruby-Horsethief this August. It's a three day trip and involves rafts, lots of food, fun, swimming, hiking, and generally enjoying the outdoors.