I always thought that if I went on a rafting trip it would be down some small river with tiny rapids. Then, my husband Jim started reading about the Grand Canyon rafting trips. He said that we would see lots of wildlife, and I could get lots of photos for my North American animal paintings .
So began my Grand Canyon Rafting adventure. We arrived in the park in the early morning and everyone assembled at the top of the path leading down to the river. We had been told what to bring along for the trip. Every one had to carry their own 25 lb pack down to the bottom of the canyon to the staging point where we all would take off down the Colorado River for the beginning of our ten day rafting adventure.
I failed to ask how far it was down to the river. It turns out that it was seven miles, all down hill in 80 degree heat. I thought, how hard it could be if it was all down hill. We started off very early in the morning. I did pretty well the first mile or so. I drank plenty of water and enjoyed the scenery as I trudged down the path.
After the second mile though, I noticed that my calf muscles were beginning to feel pretty sore. By the third mile, I was having problems with the heat, and leg cramps. I began to see donkeys trotting along down the path. I started to wish I was on one of those donkeys. By the fourth mile, I was limping along and whining. My pack had become very heavy and I was beginning to lose my enthusiasm. Finally, I stated that I could go no further and would rather die right there rather than continue on to the river.
We had to be at the staging area by a certain time or the group would leave without us. So my husband Jim decided to go on ahead and leave me to drag my self down to the camp. After an hour or so, I looked up and saw an athletic young man racing towards me. He grabbed my pack, told me to hurry up as the group was leaving very soon down the river. I said thanks and with my water bottle in hand, trudged a little faster down the path.
I finally arrived at the staging area, sunburned, in pain, suffering heat exhaustion and disoriented. The group leader threw me a waterproof bag and told me to pack all my gear into it pronto as they were waiting for me and I had held them up long enough. I began to take my carefully packed possessions and attempt to shove them into what appeared to be a rubber inner tube with a zipper. I was hurrying as fast as I could. Then, one of the leaders tossed me a sandwich and I gulped it down. Two minutes later, we were loaded into a raft, one of ten or so and we were on the river.
The first thing that happened was that I immediately threw up over the side of the raft. That was the beginning of my rafting adventure. More to follow…….
