More Grand Canyon Photos

 There were talented photographers on our trip down Grand Canyon.  People with far better abilities and cameras than Chuck and I have.  So here are a few additional pictures, including some rapids shots.

Chuck, doing a little climbing

Granite Falls.  Chuck rowing, with Mark Smith and I punching up front.  "Punching" just means that, when we hit a wave, Mark and I lean way forward to hold the frontoif the boat down and hopefully stop it from flipping over.  

Two of the guys on our trip are professional sand sculptors.  People make a living at that?  Who knew!  So, we had works of art like this at a bunch of our camps.

This is Chrystal, legendary for its difficulty.  Look at Chuck.  He looks like he's driving a car down the freeway.  That's because, after scouting Chrystal for a long time, he decided to go down the rapid on the right side of the river.  He went so far right that we kind of missed the action altogether.  We didn't even get wet.  Right after this picture was taken, he  let go of an oar and waved to the camera.  I felt ripped off.  He made me wear a helmet for THAT?!

Chuck and Bill building sand castles

 This is a hanging garden caused by a spring coming out of the canyon wall above.  We thought this one was cool because of the minerals that had been deposited by the spring.  Water is showering down inside of all that travertine.

Granite Falls

The next three photos are taken in Lava, the biggest, meanest rapid.  The water is chocolate-colored with sediment this far down river.  Mark and I are punching again this time.

We amused ourselves in camp in any way we could think of.  Music, bad jokes, shadow theater with a flashlight held up behind a tarp, beer-pong, And king-of-the-mountain battles on the overturned inflatable kayak.

Desert bighorn