Image (right): Elves' Chasm (Royal Arch Creek) - Mile 117.Around mile 116 the river emerges from the upper granite gorge and enters softer, friendlier, sedimentary formations again. The rapids become less severe and side canyon hiking opportunities abound.
Image (right): Elves' Chasm (Royal Arch Creek) - Mile 117.
Hiking up this small tributary is indeed like entering a fairyland. Most river runners stay around the bottom pools. The hike further up is difficult and, in places, a bit dangerous.
Image (left): Conquistador Aisle - Mile 120.
This is the longest straight stretch of river in the canyon. It's three miles long, but the current is good, so the rowing is easy.
The river plunges back into the schist formations again for a few miles.
Image (right): Thunder River (Tapeats Creek) - Mile 134.
Tapeats Creek, a wide, clear stream, enters from the river right. Four miles up this stream is one of its tributaries, Thunder River. It literally gushes from the canyon wall and becomes the shortest river in the world. If you can, make this hike!
Image (left): Dear Creek - Mile 136.
Deer Creek plunges over 100 feet into a pool only a few feet from the river. Splashing around at the base of this waterfall is a favorite activity on commercial and private trips alike. A hike above the creek will reveal that it is fed by a spring that is a small version of Thunder River.
A moderate hike leads to a harrowing passage and into a wondrous canyon of pools and Anasazi petroglyphs.
Image (right): Matkatamiba Canyon - Mile 148.
Matkat is one of those gems that makes you want to relax and just absorb the peace of being here.
Havasu is one of the most beautiful, and crowded, places in the canyon. If you have the time, take all day and hike up to Mooney Falls. Trust me, it's worth it. Before you go though, don't forget to get a permit from the Havasupai to hike tribal lands.
At mile 166 comes the National Canyon. Hiking in the canyon very often calls for creative methods of negotiating the narrow and the vertical.
Images: (left) A western motor rig runs "the shelf" on the flood level
flows. (right) A rafter makes his run in Lava.
Running Lava is a highlight of any canyon trip. It's just plain huge, dropping 37 feet over an ancient lava flow in a quarter mile. Watching boats run Lava gets the adrenaline pumping as you wait your turn!
In recent years, commercial river companies have made it possible to end a river trip just below Lava Falls. Leaving the river around mile 186 allows passengers to save more of their vacation time and river companies use less of their permitted user days.
There is, however, a great deal to be said about staying with the river all the way to Lake Mead. From around Whitmore Wash (mile 188) to mile 222, the canyon changes drastically. It widens again, and takes on a decidedly Sonoran desert look. Then, it plunges again into yet another, the third, granite gorge.
Image (left): Wild Burros! - Mile 188.
Before the burros were removed from the Grand Canyon in the early 80's, they could be seen on the beaches along this portion of the river. This photo is from a trip in 1977.
At Granite Park canyon, there is another one of my favorite camps. Since the canyon is wide here, star gazing is especially good. For that matter, night sky watching can be magic anywhere in the canyon. On moonless nights, the sky blazes with an eternity of starlight.
Image (left): Diamond Peak - Mile 226.
This unusual peak looks down on Diamond Creek, where a primitive dirt road from the Hualapai Indian town of Peach Springs makes its way to the river. Many trips take out at the mouth of the creek to avoid the long trip across Lake Mead.
Image (right): The bronze plaque at Separation Canyon - Mile 240.
At Separation Canyon, at what was a significant rapid, three members of Powell's 1869 group left the expedition in an attempt to exit the canyon overland. They were never seen again. This bronze plaque commemorates the event. There are no rapids beyond this point now.
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