After hiking down the long seven mile trail to the river, our group of adventurers were each assigned to one of the ten rafts. Each raft had a leader who was the expert rower as well.
Our leader was an experienced athletic young woman who rowed us down the river with great skill.
During the first hour of the trip down river, while seated in the raft, I became aware of a small furry stripped animal looking up at me from under the raft seat. I thought to myself, how cute, the raft leader has an adorable pet who likes to ride the raft. I asked the raft leader if this was her pet.
She took one look at the animal, which turned out to be a wild ring-tailed cat and exclaimed” NO! That is not my pet!” Then all of the five people on board started to scoot around trying to catch the animal. It raced back and forth leaping from seat to seat. Meanwhile our raft leader was rowing us to the side of the river towards the shore.
I grabbed the animal by the tail and we let it loose to jump off the raft unto shore. I expressed some dismay that the cat would not be able to find its family as we were a few miles from where it jumped into the raft. The leader ignored me and kept on rowing down the river.
After riding down the river for a few hours, we came upon a shore on a beach where we camped for the night. The crew prepared a great meal then we all did clean up. We were given the rules and regulations of camping on the river. Everything had to be packed in and everything had to be packed out. We were each in tents and a latrine was set up.
The toilet area had minimal privacy and a view of the river. While I was sitting on the open air privy behind the rocks, I was looking out at the river. Soon I saw a rafting group come down the river. The whole group smiled and waved at me sitting there on the toilet. I was mortified. I guess I needed to lighten up, but this was way beyond my comfort level. I think the raft leaders had a sense of humor when they set up the latrine in the semi private area every day. They were all comfortable peeing in the river when ever the urge struck them. It must have been hilarious to them when they saw how squeamish some of us were about using the privy out in the open.
Later in the trip, we were on the raft and got caught in the current which took us past our camp. Our raft leader who was the main leader for the whole group told us that we all had to paddle really hard to get us up the river, against the current. We all got into the raft and began to paddle as hard as we could while the raft continued to go backwards.
Finally, our leader rowed ashore and had us all get out of the raft. She said that one of the leaders in the group would come back for the raft. We had to hike overland back up the canyon to our camp. I was already exhausted from rowing. I was still crippled from the down hill hike. I started to climb over the 8 foot high rocks. Then I started to hear the rattlesnakes. Then I saw the rattlesnakes, here and there among the rocks which I was struggling over. I told the leader that I was not going any further. She said that, yes I was. I said, no I am not going to risk getting bitten by a rattlesnake or falling on the rocks. She said yes I was going to finish the hike. I said no, I would just say there on the ground and wait till morning.
Without pointing a gun to my head, the leader made it very clear that, I did not have any option and I would be finishing the hike. So, I struggled up the rocks and down the rocks with tears streaming down my face. I fell several times cutting my hands and skinning my knees, cursing and vowing to never go on any rafting, hiking trips ever again if I got of this alive.
I hoped that I would see wildlife in the Grand Canyon. The ring-tailed cat which I met on the first day on the trip was the only wildlife I saw on this whole trip. I never had an opportunity to take a photo for any North American animal painting. The group leaders were pretty wild though. Their idea of fun was telling stories of drowned rafters from previous trips who they zipped up in black bags for the rest of the trip. This image stayed with me for the remainder of the trip. I was very relieved when this trip from hell was over and we returned home alive.
