Big Bar to 222 Camp – Grand Canyon Day 12

Now that we were nearly two weeks in, the daily routine was getting close to feeling routine. This day in particular didn’t hold too many surprises on the river map, and the canyon was starting to feel more and more open around us. It really was starting to feel like the canyon was petering out.

The Colorado didn’t let that feeling last long though, and we came across the Pumpkin Spring shortly after we left camp that morning. The spring is quite unique, with water slowly seeping over the walls to form the distinctive pumpkin shape with colorful mineral deposits. It briefly seemed like a neat spot to take a dip, until we saw the water that was covered in a nasty green algae, and then heard that it has a notoriously high arsenic content. No one even touched it.

The “inviting” waters of the pumpkin spring

From there the float continued more uneventfully to 222 Camp. Apparently the camp naming scheme get’s less creative as you go. We arrived fairly early with plenty of time to explore and enjoy the evening. As usual I started by setting up my sleeping area. This camp had many great options, with great views of Diamond Peak to the west.

The camp was covered in tracks from various kinds of wildlife. I never saw any sign of them after I set up here though

I decided to go for a short hike up the wash behind camp to get a better view of the canyon around camp. It was a short, but pretty hike with some interesting bushwhacking up to the ridge for an impressive view. On the way back down the ridge I came across a couple of ammo cans hiding a cache of notes and trinkets. Apparently this is a way for raft guides to pass messages and jokes between groups. It was a pretty neat find that I never would have found if I hadn’t essentially stepped on it on my way down the hill.

The view from the ridge above camp. We were set up on the little sandy area to the left of the ridge

A cache of trinkets and messages behind a rock on the side of the hill

A little taste of what was inside. Lots of the stuff was surprisingly old

222 Camp may not be a very memorable name, but the camp has a good reason to be definitively burned into my memory. It had the best sunset we saw in the entire trip. Over the course of about an hour we all sat around the fire and watched the clouds slowly thin out, start to glow pink, orange, reds, and purples. The view is impossible to convey in words, so I’ll let my photos do the talking on this one. What an end to the day!