A Calcutt's Pictures

With the awesome sunrise from the previous day I was inspired to get up early once again and see what the sun had in store for Bridge Canyon. My hopes weren’t all that high given how tight the canyon is here, and the relatively thick clouds all above. I was completely wrong though, and this turned out to be the best sunrise of the trip.

The sunrise came in two phases. The first was pretty, but mostly consisted of muted pinks and some blues hinting at purple. There were a few pockets of more vibrant color near the horizon, but of course my view of that was limited. Soon the color faded and I started to look around at the waves and water instead. However, before I could capture much of anything the sky lit up all over again, this time with wild colors all around.

It was really something quite special. I had a great time photographing it all, even though my photos didn’t really do it justice. The second round of color was short lived, and before I knew it we were on to the early morning light without any of that color. Don’t worry – I did get back to those photos of the waves.

The paddling from Bridge Canyon down included the last few rapids of the trip. None were particularly difficult, but they were fun none the less. Before we knew it we had arrived at Separation Canyon where we stopped for lunch. We spent some time relaxing in a very large bowl eroded out of the rock at the mouth of the canyon, took a few photos and then continued downstream. From here on out the water was consistently flat and we constantly had a view of the “bathtub ring” from when Lake Mead was at full pool in the 80’s.

We continued through the flat water to Surprise Canyon where we stopped for the evening. It was a very spacious camp due to the silt bank formed by the lake. I took some time in the evening to explore up Surprise Canyon. Unfortunately, it was not as interesting as I had hoped. When the lake was full the canyon had clearly filled with silt deposited by the creek running through it. These days the water level is much lower due to the drought, so the creek has slowly been carving a path through the silt layer. It’s an extremely slow process though, so the canyon mostly looks like it is filled with river debris.

After my little hike I simply enjoyed the quiet evening at camp and unpacked my kayak for the final time. I would be on the rafts for the rest of the trip. We did get just a bit of nice color for the sunset, but nothing compared to the last couple evenings, so I’ll leave you with an evening photo instead.

Taken 11/9/21

You know what’s a great way to start the day? This view:

After the amazing sunset the previous evening, I woke up early and took a look at the sky to see how things looked for the sunrise. Of course this is a pretty easy task when you are sleeping on the ground without a tent, so what I really did was just roll over and look up. I could tell those wispy clouds from the night before had stuck around, so I figured there would be a good chance of a colorful sunrise, especially given that we were in a fairly open section of the canyon. As it turns out, that was correct, and I had a great time capturing it all from the far side of the debris fan that we were camping at.

As usual, we had our breakfast and set off downstream before long. The river started off quiet that morning as we made our way down to Diamond Creek, the takeout used by most of the trips through the canyon. We were on the last day of our permit at this point, so we were right on schedule passing Diamond Creek. Unfortunately, we were slowed down a bit by a stomach bug that hit one of our boat captains. Fortunately she was able to make it through the day with some extra rest, and we continued on.

Given Diamond Creek’s reputation as the typical end point of river trips, I was expecting the canyon to remain more open and have less interesting whitewater. After all, if it’s just as good downstream, why take out at Diamond? Apparently I was wrong though, and the rest of our day turned out to be as good as any that came before it. There was tons of great whitewater, including a three rapids rated 5 and one rated 7. We also stopped for lunch at the Travertine Grotto, a really cool little cave/slot canyon/waterfall combination that was just off the river.

We all spent some time walking up and down the grotto, taking pictures by the waterfall, and admiring the intricate stone structures all around. The grotto gets its name from the travertine limestone it carves through. This limestone is created by water that rapidly deposits minerals to form all kinds of small structures. You can really see how the deposits have changed over time as the flow of the water shifted. At a larger scale the rock looks almost molten because of the way it follows the flow of water. It’s really something else.

Once we were passed the grotto the whitewater really picked up. The river started carving down through schists and granites again, tightening the flow of the river creating more and more whitewater. The highlight of the day was Killer Fang Falls, a rapid with a fearsome name, but one that did not end up causing us any trouble. Everyone avoided the schist “fangs” that are so feared.

In the interest of letting our under the weather boat captain some extra rest, we got off the water a bit early at Bridge Canyon Camp. The camp was tucked into a tight section of the canyon without much flat space to set up our chairs, but it had some neat rocks and cliff formations right there at camp. I was able to climb up on one to get some neat views of camp, as well as the sun setting further downstream.

Before long it was time to head to bed. The sounds of the nearby rapids made for a soothing background noise, so it didn’t take long for me to pass out. Good thing too, because I was up early again the next morning. But that story can wait until next time.

Taken 11/8/21

Day 5 of our trip brought a change of pace: our first layover day. As opposed to our usual schedule of breaking camp and moving downstream we instead left the kitchen set up, the sleeping bag out, and spent some time enjoying the same spot again for the entire next day. I started taking advantage of the slow start right away with some photos of the sunrise over the river. This was one of the first days with any clouds, so it was a special treat to have so much color in the sky.

After breakfast we packed up for our biggest side hike yet, a loop through Deer Creek to Thunder River. Because our camp was on the opposite side of the river we first ferried across the river and hiked up the bank to the trail head. After a few minutes to take in the waterfall it was up the steep slope just downstream to get above the falls and into the Deer Creek slot canyon itself.

The Deer Creek narrows was one of the most interesting side canyons we explored on the entire trip. The trail ran along a patio well above the river, but also well below the rim. It quickly wound it’s way into the hillside. The sound of the rushing water was quite loud below, though the stream was mostly out of sight. In addition, the trail was quite narrow in some places – probably about 3 feet from the wall to the edge. It all combined to get you to really focus on your footing and hug the wall as you shimmied around the tightest corners.

In addition to the natural beauty, Deer Creek is also a cultural site for the Southern Paiute people who have lived in this area for centuries. It’s easy to understand why they felt this spot was special. The Ancestral Puebloan people before them also visited this spot and left hand prints on the walls which are still visible next to the trail today. It’s a very cool thing to see.

It didn’t take long for us to hike out the top of the Deer Creek narrows and into a beautiful green valley above. From here the climb continued up and over a pass towards the next major destination on the hike, Thunder River. The hike was a steady climb followed by some easier traversing. The views through here were substantially different than what we had been seeing along the river. Much more open, flat, and green.

After all of the incredible beauty we had already visited on this hike, I was not expecting to have it all outdone once again. I was wrong – the Thunder River spring ended up being my highlight of this hike. Our first view of it came after we crossed Surprise Valley started to descend down towards Tapeats Creek. The Thunder River simply pours out of a hole in the cliff wall. It must be fed by a cave system, as there is no sign of water above the top of the falls. The volume of water was also impressive, and made for a lot of noise as it rushed down. We worked our way down to the base of the waterfall which was surrounded by lush vegetation. A true oasis in the desert.

From the falls we started the long hike back down to river and out of Tapeats Canyon. We first followed the Thunder River to the confluence below, and then followed Tapeats Creek out to the Colorado. The trail through this section started off with some steep descent, and then became a set of rolling climbs and descents as it meandered it’s way through the side canyon.

The hike turned out to be longer than expected, coming in at around 9 miles. We all had to stop on the final section to re-fill our water and rest a bit before we finished off the remainder of the (hillier than expected) traverse to the river. Once we made it to the river it was time to grab a drink, relax, and float back down to camp on the boats we had left the previous day. It was a treat to be able to float through the narrows again a second time, but our camp was definitely a welcome sight as well. After all, dinner always tastes great after a long hike!

Taken 10/31/21