Rafting the Colorado

We left Grand Canyon early on the morning of the 3rd and headed north on Highway 89 towards Page, Arizona, as we had booked a half day rafting trip on the Colorado river.

Oh boy, was I excited! The Colorado river! Full of wild rapids and rough water - we were going to have a whale of a time! I mean, I rafted all the river greats, you know - the Zambezi (Zimbabwe), the Ayung (Bali), the Tirol (Austria), and of course that dare-devil of all dare-devils, the Tully (North Queensland). So I am certainly no stranger to the dangers of the white water - Colorado, bring it on!

After 3 hours drive we finally arrived at the rafting place, and I could already see lots of people gathered at the front of the building, queuing up - and something didn't seem quite right. I couldn't really put my finger on it - but then it dawned on me. These didn't look like adventure types...

You had very young children, barely out of nappies, then very old people, some unable to walk, and then some extremely obese people... surely the likes of these wouldn't be able to manage the sheer physical hell that comes with paddling a rubber raft down grade 4-5 rapids? What's going on?

It all became clear to us once we entered the building. Unfortunately the only 'proper' rafting trips that this company (or indeed any company) offer which actually involve white water rapids are trips of 3, 5, 7 days duration. What we were booked on, was a smooth water trip - where there is absolutely none, zero, zippo chance of getting wet at all. Or even rowing. Hmmm. Suffice to say I wasn't happy...

But the credit card had already been charged and there was a no cancellation, no refund policy - so we had to go for it. Fortunately though, it was a really pleasant, enjoyable experience.

Firstly, our guide DJ was a native Navajo Indian, so we got a lot more than the regular tour as he told us a lot about the Navajo culture as well as about the surroundings there at Glen Canyon. Like, the fact that the Navajo people are a matriarchal society, so everything comes down through the mother - including your tribal name and all. And he told us a lot about the language. And later in the trip, when we were moored up at a small beach, he took us to see the ancient petroglyphs that the native Indians had carved into the canyon's rock walls, and gave us a bit of an interpretation. It was very informative. It was all like something out of "The River Wild" - without the wild river bit, or the bad guys...

It really was very beautiful being on the river. Extremely peaceful, especially when DJ turned the boat's engine off so we could just listen to the sounds of nature around us. The water, the birds in the trees, the crickets and so on. It was lovely.

At one point we came across Echo Peaks, and that was where all calmness and serenity ended - for as DJ was telling us the story of some explorer of the river, who climbed to the top of the peaks, and fired off a shot to let those below know he'd made it safely (which sounded like a cannon going off by the time the sound reached the rest of the group) - and Agnieszka pipes up, "We've got an echo expert on board this boat, too"... So in front of the 22 other people on the boat, I rather reluctantly get up and, with serious pressure on me, and the reputation of the Australian nation at stake, let rip with a serious whoop-ass coo-ee... 4 second echo, thank you very much. Applause all round.

We hopped off the raft at Bridal Creek (no, sorry, that's the movie) - at the old ferry - where the lovely Pam, our bus driver, was patiently waiting to take us back to town.

Once back in town we really needed to do some serious recharging and Agnieszka was champing at the bit for a bit of Pawel-internet-time, and that's how we discovered free internet in the lobby of the Best Westerns. So we (well, Agnieszka) hi-jacked the interet for a bit there and then afterwards we headed off to their restaurant for more recharging and a lovely grill.

Headed back to our campground, but it was soooo hot and stuffy in the tent that sleep was virtually impossible until the wee small hours... when I was dreaming of being chased by Kevin Bacon down the Colorado river... mm mmm.....