In case you missed the first installment of GCRA, click here. Eventually the whole series will be here.
On a warm June morning, my husband and I departed our little Ozark homestead, bound for western waters. We had had several months to prepare for our adventure. We had made several trips to the big city–Little Rock–in search of the best non-perishable food. We had purchased new gear–cots, to keep us off the hot sand; a breezy, bigger tent; high-floatation PFDs (personal floatation devices, as in life jackets) in extra-bright yellow–and crammed what would be our worldly possessions for four weeks into our car and trailer.
I departed home with a sense of trepidation. I like summer in the Ozarks, and I knew I would get a bit homesick. I also knew that some of the most dangerous whitewater that rafters regularly run in the US awaited us. I had already gotten assurances from my husband that I could walk two rapids, Crystal and Lava, but I knew I would be seeing other big rapids up close too. (And my dreams of walking Crystal and Lava eventually were dashed, but those are stories for later dispatches.) Meanwhile, I felt a little reassured by our friend’s 17-foot cataraft, more suited for the Grand Canyon than our 14-foot raft, which the friend had happily taken to smaller water. I was not reassured by the fish-tailing of our trailer, but a bit of re-loading at a highway interchange straightened it out.
From the back of the trailer you can see the army-green, waterproof rocket boxes, re-purposed for carrying food, ashes, and, um, poop (yes, you’ll learn more); milk crates, which make great places to secure large propane bottles on rafts; dry bags for personal gear (seen in red to the left and yellow to the right); the raft pump (gray); the upside-down oarsman seat; and other items too numerous to mention.
Our destination this day was to make it as far as we could, which turned out to be Elk City, Oklahoma. Elk City has such great billboards and is on historic Route 66, so I had high hopes for staying there. I was a bit disappointed. Still, we pushed further west the next day until we reached Gallup, New Mexico, which is a delightful place. We split a big Navajo taco (taco fixings on fry bread) at the legendary Earl’s (no, they’re not paying me). Gallup is famous as being the filtering point for up to 90 percent of the American Indian crafts that find their way around the world, and I’d read that Earl’s was where the traders went to eat after their day of trading. Imagine my surprise when I found out that they trade at the store, including while you’re eating. I bought. I wish I’d bought more. Prices are ridiculously cheap for really high quality jewelry. I’m no jewelry collector, but these pieces made me want to collect.
The next morning we were back on the road, headed for Flagstaff by way of the Petrified Forest National Park. We were lucky to arrive at a puebloan ruin a few days before the summer equinox, enabling us to see when a shaft of light hit a petroglyph, signifying the longest day of the year.
Other petroglyphs in the park were more artistic. This panel includes some of my favorites.
The petrified trees were huge, laying as if some giant woodsman just felled them.
petrified log
We also saw where Route 66 ran through the park’s desert landscape, now marked by this great old car.
But we couldn’t stay long at the park. We wanted to reach Flagstaff by noon, and that we easily did. Over the afternoon, a caravan of other rafters showed up at our hotel (which I would recommend–and, no, they are not paying me either), some rafters with boats already rigged and inflated and almost ready for adventure.
We still had to finish our grocery shopping for our most perishable items (deli meat and cheeses, bread), so we hunted out Flagstaff’s health food store and whole-grain bakery and then came back to meet almost everyone with whom we’d spend the next twenty days. I’ll tell you all about them and rigging for launching at Lee’s Ferry in my next post.
Copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader. including photographs.
oh, this sounds like the beginning of a fantastic adventure, I can’t wait to read the next installment. You are a better woman than me. I probably would have drawn the line at the poop boxes.
The rules on these western rivers are “Pack it in, pack it out,” and that includes all of our waste. Thank goodness we had a more sophisticated system for this trip, and our rocket box was just an emergency pooper.
Better woman, Polly? Oh no, just a bit nuttier.
I love that part of the country. We lived in Gallup, NM for five years, and Earl’s had the best chocolate cake that the owner’s sister made. I craved it when I was pregnant, so your mention of Earl’s and Gallup brought back memories. Also, my husband and sons took a motorized trip down the river some years back, and we plan a similar trip with our daughter who was too young at the time. They loved it.
Also, you may enjoy a beautiful documentary film entitled “River Song: A Natural History of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon”. Here’s a link about the film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286002/
(We met the writer, Michael Collier, an incredible individual with many talents who was also a physician where my husband was working with the Public Health Service there in Gallup.)
Lucky you and your family; we will look forward to reading the story of your trip.
Christina, I think that film is one that friends loaned us before the trip. I’ll have to check it out.
I confess: I fantasized about the motorized trip.
Do you have a target date now for returning to the Canyon?
I thoroughly enjoyed Earl’s. I’ll have to go back for the chocolate cake. And the jewelry.
Argh! That car pic would have been *perfect* with better framing! Yes I’m being critical (but in a friendly manner believe me! This was a great subject for a picture.)… but the Rule of Thirds would have made a good picture into a great one. Put the vehicle offset to one side with a bigger view of the desert and sky and wow! If what is on the page is a cropped version of the original you might be able to crop again to get better framing.
Sorry if this comment comes off as bad….it really isn’t meant to. But the one thing *everyone* can do to make better pictures is better framing….no special equipment needed.
Jason, I must have so much to learn! I was trying to center the car. Thanks for the helpful criticism.
Your eye for good picture subjects is obvious. And looking at the other pictures on the site you have a good sense of lighting and framing but might just not know the terminology
Rule of Thirds you basically imagine three rows and three columns across the viewfinder (or screen if no viewfinder). You place the main subject at one of the intersection points (or..in the case of something like a landscape maybe its better to constrain the main focal point to one of the rows). its easy! and its pretty much guaranteed to make your pictures look awesome.
If you look at the petrified logs picture you’ll see that you actually have the main subject in the center of the screen with the other two, smaller, logs offset to the sides….in thirds. The framing is great.
Same applies to the second petroglyph picture. the eye is drawn to the glyph on the left…which is in the left third almost at an intersection point. there is a nice line in the center of the picture and you have the small bit of rock with sunlight on it to the right….which has totally different lighting and looks great…and again is in the right third of the picture.
So….you’re already thinking that way intuitively.
Keep up the good work! Love the blog.
Thanks for the kind words, Jason. I’ll try to keep in mind the rule of thirds in future photographs, especially landscapes. I wonder, does the rule of thirds contribute to perspective?
I did check the original photo, by the way. That’s it, un-doctored, un-cropped.
I recently got a new camera, a gift from my husband, who used to be a professional photographer back in the film days. The new camera is making life much easier, because my old camera (a hand-me-down from my husband) was no longer focusing properly unless you took several shots. I used the new camera first right before our trip. Neither, sadly, let’s you focus by hand, but the new one is water resistant and drop resistant, so it’s perfect for whitewater.