The Best Travel Writing 2011 - James O'Reilly [54]
Yet we share Powell’s appreciation of the Canyon. We see the “cathedral-shaped” buttes, towering monuments, and “grandly arched” half-mile-high walls reflected in calm stretches of the river, and the polished ochre spires that tower above it all. Our spirits soar as we float through Marble Canyon, with its pink and purple hues and “saffron” tints.
At a bend in the river, we find a deep oval opening scoured into the rock by millions of years of the river surging into it. Powell estimated that if it were a theater it could seat 50,000 people. Now called Redwall Cavern, it’s a perfect spot for an impromptu game of soccer, and we exhaust ourselves chasing a ball over the sandy beach. A Frisbee gets pulled out and flung towards the water. We dive off the boats attempting to catch it, plunging into the chilly eddy like eager dogs.
Just downstream we pull over to explore a delicate waterfall spraying from peach-colored rocks. Lush green vegetation surrounds the cascade; the sunshine lights up the misty veil with all the colors of the rainbow. Powell named this place Vasey’s Paradise for a botantist who had previously traveled with him through the Southwest. Downriver we hike into Nautiloid Canyon—I expect to see fossils of chambered nautiluses preserved in stone but we find evidence of yard-long creatures with tail fins for propulsion that I learn were ancestors of squid.
Every day my sense of wonder grows. I appreciate the perfect balance of water, desert, cliff and sky, and find myself agreeing with desert gnostic Edward Abbey who wrote: “There is no shortage of water in the desert but exactly the right amount, a perfect ratio of water to rock, of water to sand, insuring that wide, free, open, generous spacing among plants and animals, homes and towns and cities, which makes the arid west so different from any other part of the nation. There is no lack of water here, unless you try to establish a city were no city should be.”
We take a day off from paddling and spend a layover day at Nankoweap, the first place we’ll camp for two nights. High above us native peoples built granaries to store their grain. I hike a few hundred feet above the river to explore what appear to be windows in the Canyon walls. I sit alone among the ancient spirits and feel gratitude for this trip, the bounty in my life, and the now famous vista of the Canyon as it bends to the right and the river disappears from view.
With limited rations, “an unknown distance yet to run” and “an unknown river yet to explore” the mood of Powell’s party turned serious at the Little Colorado. For us, the Little Colorado is another gorgeous canyon feature to explore. The sky-blue river is brightened by chalky mineral deposits which have ever so slowly created tiny (a foot or two high) travertine falls, little steps in the river over which the shiny water fans. I sit mesmerized by the sounds of dozens of these falls and their gentle music accompanied by the song of canyon wrens overhead.
Back on the water, upstream gales hit us full force. The strength we’ve built during a week of rowing helps, but still we make only 1 mile per hour, compared to our average speed of 4 or 5 mph. At camp we play bocce among the stones, thickets and sand, the terrain adding new elements to the old Italian game. That night we make s’mores from graham crackers, chocolate bars and toasted marshmallows. River guides say most accidents happen on land and that night is the closest I’ve come so far to injury. As Jason, who is Kristen’s boyfriend and so pretty I call him “Boy Band,” tells a story, he excitedly gestures and a flaming marshmallow vaults off his stick and leaps across the fire, landing on my leg. But the burn is mild and easily remedied with cool water.
As we break camp on a rainy cool morning, I put on my Neoprene hood for the first time—it’s a wetsuit for the head and makes me look like a dorky aviator from the 1930s. I can’t picture Powell or his rugged men in one of these, but I’ll gladly put vanity aside and don the hood, my fleece top, nylon splash jacket and Neoprene