Colorado River 1978:
Day 4 - Redwall Cavern
Day 4 - Redwall Cavern
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Tuesday, August 15, 1978: I woke at around 6:00 AM, got dressed, folded my cot, closed my wet bag, and headed to breakfast. After that, I piled my gear on the beach and went exploring with Doug and the others. We climbed up a hill which was nothing but boulders, and on the other side found sand bars and some small caves. |
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We left at 8:00 every morning. We were greeted almost instantly with Cave Spring Rapid, the rapid that we had heard all of the previous night. Since the sun was not yet high enough in the sky to reach the depths of the canyon, the cold water was a rude awakening. When the sun finally did reach us, there were no rapids for a long while, thus heating us to the other extreme. |
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Our first stop of the day was Vasey's Paradise at Mile 32, which is a little oasis with waterfalls and lush plants. In climbing across a slippery rock to pose for a picture, I flopped on my back and looked quite foolish. Once settled, the picture was taken and I limped back to the boat, but no record exists of this photo. |
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Our next stop was just down the river: Redwall Cavern at Mile 33. |
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As we arrived, other boats were leaving, and others were coming in behind us. |
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We each got something to drink (our choices were Coors, Budweiser, Hawaiian Punch, Country Time Lemonade, Coke, and 7-Up) and went exploring. |
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There were several young men from Arizona University playing Frisbee which captured my attention for a while. |
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We spent about an hour relaxing here before moving on. |
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Here's the view south from Mile 34.5. We continued on our way until we stopped for lunch. The site was unique – there was a very steep sandy slope, which was quite a challenge to climb. Those who tried ended up with sand on most of their bottom half. Unfortunately, I have no notes as to where this site was, nor are there any photos. |
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At Mile 47, we passed the rock formations called "Triple Alcoves," ... |
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... and Saddle Canyon off to our right. |
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Our camp that night was near Mile 58. It was a pleasant, relatively flat area, where we encountered our only snake of the trip. The guys, Bob and Jim, told me there was a rattler under a large rock, so I peered closely. Someone tossed a rock, the snake's tail rattled, and I fled. We had steak for dinner, then we were told that we could mail postcards the next day from Phantom Ranch, marked "Mailed from the bottom of the Grand Canyon," so we all sat down and filled out our Sanderson postcards. (Camp photo: GMSV) |
Copyright © Deborah Schilling/Thomas Bundy