Day 3 August, 30, 2009
After breakfast, we were called down to the rafts to start our daily transfer of gear back onto the raft. We were greeted by a crew that had morphed to something else for the day. Tres had sprouted a large pair of fuzzy white rabbit ears, Matt now had an afro, Kelly’s hair turned bright orange and Amber’s a florescent shade of blue. I cannot remember what Tyler ended up with, maybe dreadlocks.
We formed another gear brigade. While passing the blue bags of personal gear from hand to hand, one could not help but notice a significant difference in weight. Mine was in the upper middle, some were really light, and a few were really heavy, especially one. Who’s was that anyway? I wonder what was in it. Reflecting back, I didn’t need half the stuff I brought; especially the extra dry clothes and shoes to wear around camp. Nothing in this desert climate stayed wet for more than 15 minutes.
Today would be our biggest white water day. There would be an increase in both the frequency and average size of rapids; some with 15 – 30 foot drops. Nights and mornings were always cool and the canyon was still in the shadows when we left camp. My fuzzy Mysterioso top was perfect around camp in the morning. I rate my white UnderARmor shirt -5 for insulation factor when wet. I didn’t want a repeat of the hypothermia experienced on day one. Mysterioso is known for its ability to insulate even when wet. I decided to wear it under my rain jacket today. Today would also be our hottest day so far; an interesting dichotomy I would have to balance. If it got too hot, I could always take it off at the first rest stop.
I took the front seat today and twice experienced getting floated. I loved it up front and the Mysterioso was doing its job at keeping me from freezing. It also helped that the river by now was another 4 degrees warmer. It was a fun morning. We would start rotating the front position more today. When I wasn’t up front, I moved out to one of the pontoons. On the pontoon I could face forward and was closer to the water. It was comfortable, kind of like riding a big horse with an air cushioned saddle. If we were approaching a bigger rapids I would get an “Up and in.” command from Amber or Tres. It meant I was to move inboard and grab onto straps.
Near mile 86.5 we were passing through what appeared to be shear canyon walls. Both rafts pulled over and butted up against the wall on river right. There was a section of polished glasslike rock that was tilted up a full 90 degrees along a fault line. I didn’t understand why we were stopping here. Each thin layer within these sections had eroded at a different rate providing an exceptionally uneven surface. Amber scrambled up about 15 feet with big ropes in tow. She set chocks and tied us off.
As soon as the rafts were secure, Amber faced us and pointed to her right, “We are climbing up over there”. It was a steep climb, but there were footholds and hand holds everywhere. The climb led to Clear Creek nestled in a small canyon. We followed the warm (compared to the Colorado) stream up to a small waterfall were we had snacks and hung out for a while. Side canyon water fall hikes were always a good place to reset body temperature and “shower” (no soap allowed) or rinse off each day.