We were fortunate that we took out when we did. The Colorado rose to 16K cfs at Diamond Creek the day we took out and Havasupai flashed to over 2K. The road to Pearce Ferry could have gotten bad later the day we left. In addition, we were lucky that our vehicles were not damaged by hail. Michelle had done most of the organization and leg work for this 55 mile trip, and it went really well. The permit was free and easy to get, but we had to pay $55 plus tax to the tribe for each person, including the shuttle drivers, and for each vehicle, to use the Diamond Creek RAP. This trip was during an 8000 cfs constant flow experiment (released from Glen Canyon Dam), but the actual flow where we were was higher due to inflows within the Canyon. The flows were lower than usual, however, which may have made the river a little bit more technical. One thought for future trips is that it would be a good IK trip, especially if you had time to float most of the flat water rather than paddling so much. As usual, it would have been nice to have more time for hiking and exploring as well, but we did not really have any time to spare on this 4-day trip. I could see taking more days. I had a very sore lower back before the trip and probably would have bailed if it wouldn't have impacted the rest of the participants. As it turned out, however, my back did a lot better once we were on the water. Paddling did not seem to bother it, and I was able to lift and carry things and slept just fine. I stopped taking ibuprophen after day 2. Michelle and I used the air mattress to sleep on, which was very comfortable when both people were still. I used a three season bag over me, but did not have to zip it up. I wore a hydroskin top on the whitewater days 1 and 2 without a splash top and just a splash top on the flat water days 3 and 4. Once we launched, I was not hot at all, and was only cold when we were waiting in the rain and wind on day 3 for other boats to catch up.

We saw no other paddlers on this trip except for one group taking out at Diamond the day we launched. One Hualapai snout boat went by on day 1, two on day 2, and two or three on day 3. They appeared to be day trips. We had the take out to ourselves. The road from Pearce Ferry was damaged by flooding, but we did not have to use 4wd.