Technically I was not the first one up since I did not go to sleep. The morning light is something special. People had lox, eggs and onions for breakfast, which I skipped, secure in the knowledge of the granola bars in my pack.
Two park rangers stopped by. They were going down river on a pontoon skiff and going to run the rapids. Their patrol led down to the Glen Canyon Dam, which is near the Arizona border. Built to prevent silt build-up behind the Hoover Dam, the Glen Canyon Dam has damaged the ecology of the Grand Canyon. The patrol down and back takes long enough that we would not be on the river when they return. Did not get a picture because my camera was not in my pocket. Learned a lesson.
Helped Sharon pack her tent. She was my canoe partner for the day. Met her a year and a half ago on a Mosaic ski trip, but neither of us remembered where we met during this trip.
Her bag, though less full, was a lot heavier than mine, and being too heavy for her, I carried it. I have two sisters and a girlfriend (or had), and carried all their bags, and I still do not know what they put in them to make them so heavy. They know they can not carry the bags themselves. They must pack them that heavy on purpose so some guy will carry their bags for them. Just another example.
Sharon was in the front. The canoe was stable and well-balanced. Sharon was my lightest partner. Though Sharon was probably the least experienced and certainly the least powerful, the ride was smoother and easier than any other day.
Took my camera out of the water tight case, bobbled it, dropped my paddle in the river, and with the camera fumbling in one hand, lunged to the side to grab the paddle and almost swamped the canoe. Not too bright, plus we had an extra paddle.
Paddled for two hours and made camp at a great spot, east of Shafer Canyon, on the great Goose Neck turn of the Colorado River. This was the place we hoped to get to yesterday. There was a nice wide, deep and high, sandy beach, with huge cliffs all around and canyons to the side. One thing you have to make sure of is not to camp in the mouth of a canyon where a flash flood might sweep you away.
Pitched our tents and made lunch. Had a tasty tuna sandwich on great bread we got from Costco. Some kind of whole wheat. Really good. Hope we have that back home. One thing about a Mosaic trip, the food is good; yet another credit to Rick's shopping technique.
The cactus above looks like a long star fruit with spines. The cactus is folded in long creases in the dry season. After a rain, the cactus fills with water and the folds fill up until the cactus is cylindrical and without creases.
The topsoil of the desert sands, cryptobiotic crust appears as a coarse and lumpy black surface mat, yet it is actually a vital community of lichens, algae, fungi, and cyanobacteria that combine to stabilizze the sandy soils. In its developing stages, it is nearly invisible. One footprint or bike track can wipe out decades of cryptobiotic crust growth and have significant deleterious impacts on the green plant growth around it. Interestingly, cyanobacteria is one of the most prevelant lifeforms on earth, yet it defies classification as either plant or animal. It is the major constituent of cryptobiotic crusts, which upgrade nutrient-poor sand by fixing atmospheric nitrogen and sponging up water. And by 'holding the place in place,' these crusts provide nursery conditions for grasses, plants, and ultimately, pinyon and juniper trees.
- from the back of my map
Took a three hour hike east behind our campsite over rocky projections and small cutouts. Gabe found some flint. We saw a rattlesnake, petrified wood and great scenery.
Part of the way we followed a camel trail, the result of a local entreprenuer. Each camel print is actually two tracks. The camel, and other animals, walk in their own tracks and so you see two tracks instead of four. In the close up, of a female track, you can see the second print on top of the first and slightly to the outside. The female has wider hips and so steps slightly to the outside.
This whole area was once the bottom of a sea. The layers in the canyon walls were sediment layers on the bottom of the ocean. Petrified wood and uranium is from the Chinle layer.
Back at camp, high up on a canyon ledge, maybe a mile or more away, we could make out the speck of a person. Gabe had told us that this was the only point, confirmed by the map, that a dirt road, Shafer Trail, approaches the river and that we might see someone. This was the only person we saw the entire 6 days on the river, except for the two park rangers this morning and the jet boat on Wednesday morning.
Got back as the sun slipped behind the canyon walls. The canyon walls make for a third time of day, between day and night, still light, but the temperature drops. Lasts for an hour or two in the morning and evening.
Took a sponge bath in the river. The water was freezing. Happy to have washed and felt clean.
Heard Rick announce, "Last call for dinner". Few people were there. Dinner was meat and baked potatoes. Jesse was head chef and did a fine job. Gabe packed some potatoes with mud and threw them in the fire. After cooking, the mud fell off like a shell, no washing needed. Kati with help wrapped the rest of the potatoes in tin foil, cooked them, and we had them for the next few days. There was no salad left for me. Did have a small, delicious piece of grilled salmon and a yummy mud-potato.
At dinner, in an attempt to add fiber to my diet and influenced by my girlfriend, ex-girlfriend, who must have fruit for desert, asked if anyone would like to split an apple. No one. Went around from person to person and faced nothing but rejection, my life story.
Sat in a little circle, took a knife, cut off a slice and handed the slice to Jeff Gaynor. Cut off another and handed the slice to Kati and another to Yaacov, then to Luba and Rick. Within minutes, those in our little circle were impatiently demanding more apple slices. The very people who turned down the apple moments earlier.
Funny, you cannot sell a whole apple, or go partners in an apple, but hand someone a slice of apple and they take it and ask for more. A lesson in economics is in there somewhere.
At the campfire, Gabe led a talking stick circle. The rule being only the person with the rule talks. As Mike commented, it was a lovefest, until yours truly, in character, managed to create the trip's most serious controversy.
Suggested that the group do away with time for the rest of the trip. Meaning, we should all put away our watches and go by nature's clock. To determine when we do things, what I had in mind was to use phrases like: "dawn", "when the sun clears the canyon wall", "midmorning" - when the sun is at a 45 degree angle, "midday" - when the sun is directly overhead, and the like. Also, you can use your fist to measure an hour. When you hold your arm straight out, your fist measures about 15 degrees of arc, or about an hour. So you can count the number of hours that the sun is above the canyon walls. Thought that would be kind of fun.
Gabe liked the idea, and after the talking stick circle, asked the group if we wanted to give up our watches. That started a heated discussion. What was once a lovefest teetered on the brink of civil conflict, and Gabe quickly put an end to the disharmony by putting off a decision indefinitely, which was a decision not to put my suggestion into practice. I would have prefered a vote, even one requiring a two-thirds majority, but however wise, nice, sweet and benevolent, we were living under a dictatorship.