After parting from Jeff, Jesse, and Mike I drove to Flagstaff to meet up with Sara for our share of adventures. Sara had been wanting to try a packraft trip but I had mentally vetoed the Water Holes Canyon trip I had planned as being too big of a trip to start with. A bit more research turned up the possibility of packrafting from Lee's Ferry (Grand Canyon Mile 0) to Cathedral Wash (Mile 3) without needing a permit. This stretch of river has a couple very minor riffles but is easily the least committing three miles of the canyon and would make an appropriate introduction. A leisurely morning in Flagstaff was followed by the drive north. We rented a second lifejacket from a friendly Joe at Kayak the Colorado in Marble Canyon and drove the last stretch to Lee's Ferry, start of virtually all Grand Canyon river trips.
Early season dense thunderclouds hung ominously above the Vermillion
Cliffs. Very strong winds whipped up sand and dust into the eyes of
those readying their rafts on the boat dock and we could clearly see
waves on the surface of the river whipping upstream. Not ideal
conditions! Fortunately it was just before lunchtime and we would only
need a few hours for the trip so we waited in the car, packed and ready
to go, for a break in the weather. It took an hour or two before things
looked to have stably improved, the wind dying down to a manageable
level and the dark clouds staying above the cliffs.
We mobilized, quickly inflating the packrafts and setting off from Lee's Ferry. I was tempted to shout a "see you at the bottom" to the rafters, but didn't. We quickly encountered the first very minor riffle. Sara was not getting the hang of rowing the Explorer 200 so I switched with her so she could paddle my Supai. Next up was Paria Riffle. I went through the meat of it which ended up being a little wet, otherwise the Explorer did fine and so did Sara in her Supai. We past tens of fishermen and their families lazily lounging on the shores of the river. Most seemed somewhat surprised to see us float past. A short distance downstream the cliffs began to rise and the beaches became discontinuous. We floated the last 1.5 miles in solitude- it was just us and the river. The ominous roar of the bigger riffle at the mouth of Cathedral was an obvious cue for our take out.
The boats quickly dried in the wind. We packed up and began hiking the very scenic Toroweap narrows of Cathedral Wash.
The canyon had plenty of dryfalls and pools, but the nature of the
excellent ledges in the canyon meant that you could always keep your
feet dry and bypass dryfalls just by gaining a higher ledge. It was not challenging, but made for a very pleasant walk. As we ascended, the narrows became shallower and the canyon more wash-like. It took us about a half hour to get from the river to the road- this certainly wasn't the middle of the Grand Canyon where hiking out could take up to a full day!
Being Sunday afternoon there was plenty of trailer boat and fisherman traffic heading out but few cars heading in to Lee's Ferry which made hitching potential limited. We walked about 1.5 miles back along the road before scoring a ride with a friendly old couple from Morro Bay, CA and their pair of barky little dogs. Thanks to them we made it back to the boat ramp in time to return the lifejacket and drive to the head of Salt Trail Canyon for the next leg of our adventure. At a leisurely pace it took about 2.5 hrs from launch to road. A fun little trip!
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