A River Once Grand

On Monday, we woke up in Kingman, AZ, and drove to meet our river guides, Dan (‘09) and Carter. We drove into the canyon and watched the landscape change before us. We arrived at our river put-in and rigged up the boats to float a mile down the river to our first camp at “Truck Stop Beach.” We set up camp, made some delicious pasta in the rain, and enjoyed a blanket of stars overhead during our first night. We set off the next day with clear skies and warm temperatures. We hit some of our first rapids and got wet! We made stops along the way to check out waterfalls and fresh springs. Our second campsite was near Surprise Canyon, which we explored by walking up the creek bed while listening to wild stories of Powell’s expedition down the grand from our guides. On our third day, we paddled 30 miles! The river started to widen at the start of Lake Mead, and our rafting became a luxurious float in the sun surrounded by red canyon walls. We padded to our takeout, where we spent the night. We woke up, packed our gear, and took a small hike to see the 'unrunnable' rapid just below our takeout. That water was moving!

 

We then gave a huge thank you to our guides and set off for Hoover Dam! We took a tour of the dam and saw where the mighty Colorado River comes to a halt behind a giant wall of concrete built nearly 100 years ago. We’re now excited to shower and hit the town for some dinner before our final meeting tonight, where we’ll discuss our reimagined version of the Colorado River Compact.