bilzablog

Welcome Home

no wait, that is supposed to be for me that big welcome home.. I returned late last night from my trip down the grand canyon, and let me tell you that first step is a doosy.. buh dum pah. .. no but seriously.. a week ago monday we hopped aboard a raft in Lees Ferry Arizone just a few miles from the Lake Powel Dam. We then began a 6 day rafting adventure down the colorado river through the grand canyon. We Traveled 189 miles in those days, went through a bunch of rapids, some of which were category 5 on the European scale, they classified them as 10 on the grand canyon scale, I don't understand nor try to. We took 200 pictures, still have to get my film devoloped otherwise I would like picture, I'll do that later. I had never seen the grand canyon, I thought this was a pretty decent way to see it for the first time.. it was pretty amazing. We had on our boat a gentlemen by the name of Gary Lind we saw his book it was beautiful. I am now looking to see if I can find it to purchase it. We slept on the ground no tents, just the stars over our heads, and a hot wind blowing. What happens is the rocks absorb all this heat, then at night, it is all released, and it just becomes this hot wind.. some nights the wind just stopped around 11 pm and it was almost as if the canyon sighed and then a gentle cool breeze would blow, those nights were the ones where we could sleep. We hiked into many side canyons and that was where I thought the beauty really was, one of the cool things about the canyon is how isolated it seemed in there, only a few times could we see people looking over the edge.. otherwise, we almost never saw another person. I think it was the 4th day I got what the boatman called water poisoning.. basically my electrolites got too low and my body stopped absorbing water, so I threw up and got incredibly week.. fortnunetly it was minor and within a few hours I was feeling much better, of course I had gotten myself cooled down by then to. Then it was only water and Gatoraid for the rest of the trip for me. I really enjoyed seeing the stars at night, I saw many shooting stars and satelites.. It was so dark in the canyon the first few nights, the last night the moon was a waxing gibus phase and it was lighting up the canyon pretty well. I think the most interesting part of the canyon isn't what I saw or did or any of that, they were all great, but the amazing part is what I feel now.. I have this incredible feeling of disconnect from the world, I just feel like it doesn't make sence, it was so simple in the Canyon.. I can see why someone would want to be a boatman there, I don't think it is the life for me, but it does have its appeal. The days just became a blur, they didn't mean anything, time didn't mean anything, except when it was getting to that hot part of the afternoon, when you would want to be at a place where you could escape the heat. Our guide did a great job of finding places to seek refuge, normally a small hike, and then a small waterfall, a stream, a place where pools of water and shadows bread tadpoles and greens. I know, that sounds like a really nasty salad. Anyway, I think that about sums up the trip.. words don't really describe the adventure.. the rapids were fun, we got wet, but they were such a secondary part to me.. the real part to me was the escape, the things I saw and the people I was with.

Music LIstened to: I was living in the grand canyon, no power, no music..

Food EAten: lots of veggie burgers, some really cool lunches and basic breakfasts

Moral of the week: You can't let the little things get in the way of your good time...they really don't matter.