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Day Seven, from Tapeats Creek to Mile 156. I was with Pete Gross in "Sespe". We started the day with a hike up Tapeats Creek to Thunder Falls, then to Surprise Valley to Deer Creek and back to the river - total of about 9 miles. Thunder River pours out of two holes in the Muav Limestone and makes a beautiful thundering falls. Deer Creek cuts a narrow notch in the Bright Angel Shale and Tapeats Sandstone, making beautiful falls and plunge pools for swimming. The river looked muddier today, and I forgot the rules and washed my hair in the estuary of Deer Creek. Martin Litton named his boats after now flooded rivers and neat places as his silent protest to dams. If it weren't for Glen Canyon Dam, however, the Colorado would be runnable only 6 weeks of the year or so. It would be too high in spring and too low in summer. We ran the river through the long, bouncy Kanab Rapid (3) to Matkatamiba Canyon and hiked up there in a beautiful little stream in the Muav Limestone. We left at 6 pm expecting to camp just around the bend, but the camp was occupied as well were all others nearby, so we had to run 8 more miles in growing darkness using flashlights from Upset Rapid (6) at Mile 150 to some ledges at "Last Chance Camp", a short distance upstream from Havasu Canyon at Mile 156. Pork chops for dinner. |