The Canyon
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"We are now ready to start on our way down the Great Unknown. Our boats, tied to a common stake, chafe high and buoyant, for their loads are lighter than we could desire. We have but a month's rations remaining...
"We are three quarters of a mile in the depths of the earth, and the great river shrinks into insignificance as it dashes its angry waves against the walls and cliffs that rise to the world above; the waves are but puny ripples, and we but pigmies, running up and down the sands or lost among the boulders.
"We have an unknown distance yet to run, an unknown river to explore. What falls there are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls rise over the river, we know not...
"With some eagerness and some anxiety and some misgiving we enter the canyon below and are carried along by the swift water through the walls which rise from its very edge." August 13, 1869 John Wesley Powell
We obviously knew many people had made it through the canyon and had the advantage of maps and guides to show us the way, but some of the same anxiety Powell felt was there as we started down the canyon.
Click on images below for enlarged view.
Canon EOS 1Ds, Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS @ 120mm, ISO 200
Canyon from above Deer Creek Falls
The play of the moody lighting on the canyon contrasts with the peaceful reflections of the river.
Canon EOS 1Ds, Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS @ 130mm, ISO 400
Peaceful Canyon
Flat stretches of water with beautiful reflections interspersed the exhilarating sections of rapids. There are more than 150 named and rated rapids in the 280 miles the Colorado travels from Lee's Ferry to Lake Mead.
Canon EOS 1Ds, Canon 24-70 f/2.8L @ 27mm, ISO 100
Canyon at Nankoweap
Walls lit by the late afternoon sun reflect in the river below Nankoweap Canyon. The barrel cacti are a reminder that without the water of the river this is a desert. Of course, the over 100° (F) temperatures in the afternoon remind you of that as well.
Canon EOS 1Ds, Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS @ 120mm, ISO 200
Escalante ferrying at Deer Creek
Our raft, the Escalante, ferrying hikers from trail head at Deer Creek Falls to our camp just on the other side of the river. Is this service, or what?