Trip Report--Grand Canyon Arizona

Fishing and Rafting the Colorado River

Grand Canyon, Arizona

May 12 – 20, 2006

Seven adventure seekers collected in Marble Canyon, Arizona on Friday afternoon, May 12th with great anticipation of what was to come in the following week. Walt Weirich, his daughter Wendy and I had driven there from Tucson. Chris Boyle flew to Albuquerque from New Zealand the week before and he along with Steve Fox and John Heidrich traveled by car to Marble Canyon. Bo Jackson traveling from Lakeland, Florida arrived by Vision Air commuter plane from Las Vegas.  Hatch River Expeditions was very cooperative in providing us with a crew who would allow fishing opportunities.  However, with a group smaller than expected, Hatch added 5 more folks who would join us. The Donald brothers, Dave and Jim, were from Houston, TX.  Roger Chassay and Gary Peterson by way of Huntsville, AL are long time friends and do a lot of adventure traveling together. Tanya Owen, known in San Diego as the solo lady traveler, was the 5th added member. The crew was headed by Dave Kashinski, same Boatman we had in ’04, his brother Mike as Swampier and our fly fishing guide, Dave Trimble who resides in Marble Canyon, Costa Rica and San Diego depending on time of year. The 18 X 35 ft - 4 ton white water river raft has a capacity of 18 so we were good to go with 15.  After checking into the Marble Canyon Lodge, we enjoyed welcome reception, refreshments and dinner thanks to the generous support by Novartis Animal Health.

We were met by the Hatch van at 8:30 the next morning for the short ride down to Lees Ferry. After a brief orientation by Boatman Dave and fitting of life jackets, we were ready for launch for the 187.5 mile trip down the Colorado River.  May is a relatively dry month which means the water remains clear through the Canyon. Because of the deep pools and high banks in the lower part of the canyon, trout fishing is only possible in the upper stretch between Lees Ferry and Bright Angel Canyon where Phantom Ranch is located, a distance of 88 miles. Lees Ferry is the 0 mile marker and was an important river crossing from the 1850s until 1929. Navajo Bridge at mile marker 4 spans Marble Canyon 470 feet above the river connecting Grand Canyon National Park on one side with a Navajo Indian Reservation on the other. The 750 ft. long steel bridge has been judged to be the most historically significant bridge in Arizona. It replaced Lees Ferry in 1929 as the only crossing of the Colorado River for a stretch of 600 miles and was still the only crossing between Glen Canyon Dam and Hoover Dam when it was taken out of service in 1995 and the second and wider Navajo Bridge of the same design was opened. The old bridge now serves as a pedestrian crossing with a museum located at the west end. Opening simultaneously with the bridge in 1929 was Marble Canyon Lodge and Trading Post.

In 1963, an important chapter of Grand Canyon history was closed when natural flows of the Colorado River were halted by completion of the Glen Canyon Dam. They were replaced with energy-related daily releases and flows are generally kept below 30,000 cfs.  The lowest documented flow since construction of the dam was 1000 cfs in 1977; the highest at 92,000 occurred in 1983.  Pre-dam highs may have exceeded 300,000 cfs. There were 52 rapids in the section we traveled over 7 days with Lava Falls at mile 179 being the most significant. It is a class 5 rapid in comparison with other white water rivers. For the Colorado River, ratings are given on a scale of 1 – 10 with 10 being the most difficult at flows between 5000 and 25,000 cfs.  Lava Falls is graded 8 – 10 with a 13 ft drop.  Hance Rapid below mile 76 is rated 7 – 8 with a 30 ft drop.

Water released from Lake Powell is about 46 degrees and warms to the low 50’s by the time it reaches Phantom Ranch.  Water depth ranges from inches to a hundred feet or more. Width ranges from 76 ft at Granite Narrows, mile 136, to about 750 feet at mile 193. We left the river at the Helicopter Pad, mile 187.  Average smooth water speed is 3 – 4 mph with 8 – 10 mph at steeper rapids. The raft is powered and maneuvered by a 40 hp - 4 stroke outboard engine. A second engine is carried as a spare and both are used to take the raft another 100 miles from the chopper pad.

Weather was sunny all days and temps ranged  from the 60’s to mid 90’s. This is primarily a rainbow trout fishery and the National Park Service would rather there not be any trout if they had their way. The Hump Back Chub is endangered specie that spawns in the Little Colorado and the feeling is that declining populations of the chub is because of the trout that were planted in the river during the 70’s. The first 50 miles of river provided the best fishing for a couple of reasons. Rafters usually don’t camp that close to the launch site and there were many more riffles and pools in that stretch. Once we reached a camp site, fish were waiting for real food (scraps from dinners), not bugs.  The trick was to find where the current would bring food to fish and throwing various colors of buggers or streamers worked.  Fly fishing in the canyon is not all that common so one would think that this would be an angler’s delight.  But not to complain since the places we fished were beyond spectacular. Redwall Cavern is a massive chamber carved by the river and a great place to stop for lunch and fish. By late morning of the second day, we camped just above Nankoweap Rapid at mile 52. This provided time for lunch, CE, fishing and hiking to ancient Indian structures 800 feet above the river and to Little Nankoweap Creek. The highlight of the next day was the stop at the Little Colorado River with warm turquoise colored water. Body surfing through rapids and over rocks made us feel like kids again. And yes, we did see some of those revered chubs. By the end of day 4, we had reached Phantom Ranch where we restocked 5 gallon containers with drinking water. From there on, carp fishing was the word. They are a fun fish to catch but sure are ugly. They were looking for camp scraps as well and would come begging.

There were many things about this trip that were very special. Dave and Mike provided great meals and did a great job in keeping everyone safe. As promised by Hatch, cracked ice was available every night for cocktails. The education content was outstanding with Steve Fox providing many new approaches to management of acute and chronic pain.  We got to know everyone really well and it was a great mix of people. With 15 people living in 600 sq ft space for 7 days, it better work. Somehow, we picked up the Hatch Heaves along the way, the same sort of virus known to occur on cruise ships. Nine of the 15 had the bug either on the trip or within a few days after. Not fun for anybody. Chris Boyle was a special traveler from New Zealand who shared with us his experiences of a trip he took with 4 others in vintage cars and a 3-wheeled vintage motorcycle (2 wheels in front, 1 in back) from Beijing, China to Paris, France: 10,000 miles in 59 days. Watch for it on the Discovery Channel. Having the father – daughter pair was also very enjoyable. Weather was fantastic as we slept under bright stars and moon light. Tents were not needed was it was still warm with head on the pillow at 8:00.  Most mornings, we were up by 5:30. We had a little rain one night but it didn’t last long. No flying bugs but we had 3 encounters with scorpions: Roger being stung first, then Dave Trimble and Steve Fox 2 days later. Roger said he still had numbness in his hand a month later. Unfortunately, I was the one who brought the scorp on the boat that got Dave and Steve riding on the back of my life vest but didn’t know about the freeloader until it was too late. The sting is very painful and lasts about 8 hours. We passed many other groups along the way and on one occasion, we talked to a couple in a 2 person raft who were on the river for the 5th time------he with a total hip replacement and age 76. We all gave them a standing ovation.

The trip through Lava Falls was wet and wild as advertised. We camped at mile 185 on day 7 and were at the chopper pad by 7:30 the next morning. It takes a few trips in the 4 seater to get everyone out to the Bar 10 Ranch.  With about 2 hours to wait for the fixed winged Vision Air planes to arrive, a hot shower and flush toilet are a great welcome back to civilization. Six of us were flown to Marble Canyon with the others going to Las Vegas. It was a fantastic trip even with the HH and freeloader stings.  If you have any interest in making this trip next time, let me know.

Don Sawyer

Organizer