Day 1 on the Grand
The group: BJ, Scott, Tom, Lisa, Julie, Ben, Mike, Shannon, Goose, Kate, Drew, Jaime, Andy, Dave, Brian, and Don.
Yesterday (Day 0), we took a short drive into Page for a few last-minute supplies like more beer and then parked atop the Glen Canyon Dam to take a look at 40,000 CFS flowing out of the dam. Quite a site. We have been told that the water levels will start going down tonight and by the time we put on tomorrow they will be fluctuating between 9-12,000 CFS for the remainder of the trip.
Day 1: Outfitter showed up at 4:30pm yesterday so we spent most of today packing the boats and getting all our crap together for a 3:30pm launch. Only 8 miles and one rapid (Badger) and camp. Everyone seems pretty tired. We are psyched for the trip . . . pretty solid group of folks, good humor, great conversation so far. Goose, our trip leader, is just about as good as it gets.
A fine layer of sand covers pretty much everything already, especially inside the sleeping bags. We plan on staying as clean as possible and trying to take care of the skin with sunscreen, baby wipes, cream, bag balm, etc. The only thing I am really going to have to get over is peeing off the side of the boat. As NPS protocol we have to pee right in the river, that means no peeing on the wet sand either. So pee off the boat it is . . . with boat strap in hand, I hang it out there, try not to show too many people my butt, and succeed! (in peeing all over the side of the boat). Oh well.