On Down the River
Several things characterize this lower part of the Grand Canyon. For mile after mile, the walls right at the river are of sediments into which have been carved into countless small pour-overs. Each of these spouts would flow as a small waterfall after a rain. Many of them cascade over several ledges on the way down.
The lower Grand Canyon is full of dark basalt that once poured molten into the canyon, or was erupted within it. Vulcan's Anvil, the column of rock that rises from the river a mile above Lava Falls, was the center of one such eruption. There are other volcanic plugs on the cliffs above. In another place, a former river channel is obvious in cross section though it is now filled with lava and the river goes a different way. Much columnar basalt lies along the river. That's where a flow of lava cooled into basalt, which cracked into columns as it solidified and cooled further. A famous example of the same process is seen elsewhere at Devil's Postpile, near Yosemite National Park in the California Sierra.
Our finest moment in the lower canyon was certainly at Fern Glen Rapid (mile 168), where we camped on the beach beside the huge eddy there. That eddy was so large, there was actually an eddy off the eddy.
But the storm was best. Rain started falling not long after we tied up. Jeanette and I put our ponchos on and stood up against the cliff behind camp. It really rained! And it rained, and rained some more. We could do nothing besides stand there and watch in awe. We were entirely comfortable in our ponchos, standing against the rock watching the water pour down from the clouds. Presently, the storm moved on and we set up camp for the night on the freshened sand. We still talk about that powerful 20 minutes in the rain at Fern Glen.
When we arrived at Lava Falls (mile 179) the next day, it was like Crystal in that nobody else was there. We knew we'd have a left run at high water, so we scouted only on the left. The stop is an easy one just above the rapid, where the gravel fan from Prospect Canyon begins. It would be a straightforward run, not hard at all, about a third of the way out into the river with about 10 feet of lattitude at the entry. The waves were large and the Ledge Hole was quite impressive. The run went fairly near the Ledge Hole, and Jeanette commented on it later. You don't ever wanna go there! If we'd had lower water and a right run, we'd have waited for others to come down the river. As it was, we had an easy shot through. You don't want to miss that entry in either direction, but we hadn't gotten as far downriver as Lava Falls by doing that.
We camped that evening at Whitmore Wash (mile 188), where I tested the motor. It ran beautifully. If it hadn't, it would have changed our schedule a bit since we'd have had 40 miles of heaving on the oars after reaching Lake Mead. The next night, it was river-right at a beautiful place: Fall Canyon (mile 211½). I walked down a short trail to set up our portable toilet, and right beside the trail was a large rattlesnake in the brush. This snake was not very animated. Must have just eaten. I prodded it with a long stick but it barely moved. Didn't coil or rattle at all. It was only slightly more active in the morning. But I brought the toilet back and set it up right beside camp, which is where we've put it on every trip since unless we have companions along. Thus do river practices evolve.
There's a fine water source at mile 215½. You land on the left above the easy Three Springs Rapid, and walk a trail up onto the bluff there. We didn't need water, but there was a nude man there pouring cool river water over himself. Few people are very self-conscious down there, and you just do what feels best.
We did two long days toward the end, since it was hot and we didn't feel like camping in the heat. Some people think the Grand Canyon ends at Diamond Creek, I guess. The topography does become less dramatic right above there, but upon passing Diamond we immediately entered the Lower Granite Gorge and the feeling was again just like it was in the Inner Gorge up near Phantom.
In fact, I'd launched short trips at Diamond a couple times and floated out onto Lake Mead. It's a really nice stretch of river. Diamond Creek is mile 225, and at 229 is Travertine Canyon. There, you can walk and climb up a short way and enjoy the cool water that pours down. Mile 232 Rapid is easy at high water, but at low water it becomes "Killer Fang Falls!" It's not hard then, either, but is said to have destroyed more boats than any other rapid in the Grand Canyon. If you don't bother to scout at low water but just run it the way it looks like you should, you'll be lined up for the fang. At mile 234 is another rapid and a fantastic travertine formation on the left, where a small flow of water has built a large cone of rock against the canyon wall there.
We camped at Separation Rapid (mile 240), mounted the motor on the cataraft for the trip out in the morning, and got an early start. We touched the beach at Pierce Ferry on Lake Mead (mile 280) by mid-afternoon. Our car arrived just as we were unloading the raft. Lucky: We were two days early. Took us 16 days instead of a planned 18.
Fast food and a motel in Kingman were the first order of business. Yeah, we'd talked about steakhouses all the way down the river, but it was fast food we finally wanted and got. And it rained! Oh, did it rain as we drove east on I-40! If we'd stayed on schedule, it would have been a wet trip out, but we'd have seen those many pourovers running. This is called "monsoon season" in Arizona, when moist air sweeps up from the south.
We stopped at the South Rim on the way home. Jeanette had never seen the Grand Canyon from the rim—only from the river! After near-solitude on the river for 16 days, we could barely find places to park on the South Rim. What magic we had experienced down below! We were unimpressed with the crowds on the rim, and drove on home to Colorado.
Next season, Jeanette and I camped at Lee's Ferry one evening and drove down to the Colorado River bridge near Marble Canyon. We walked out over the river. The moon was full, and it played on the water below. We thought of the Grand Canyon that lay downstream.