Day 2 - Part 1 :: Hot Na Na Wash to Boulder Narrows

Thursday, September 18th was a short, but busy, day on the river. Traversing just 10 miles we would go through 10 rapids and stop twice for hikes.  In the photo above, taken at our campsite at Hot Na Na Wash as we were preparing to head out for the day, I have absolutely no idea what everyone else was looking at!

Our first stop was at Rider Canyon, less than a mile from Hot Na Na Wash. Matt had told us that we'd start out by walking in a little creek that could be muddy so we needed to wear our rafting shoes. The little creek was non-existent and in it's place was a wide, sloppy, mud hole! With each step you sank down to your ankles and the mud just sucked you in.  With my last step I nearly lost one of my shoes. But once we were past the mud hole, the trail was hard packed dirt and rocks.

Until we got to here. The trail goes up that trough in the rocks in the center. Matt sank almost up to his knees when he walked in so an alternate route was found that went up the rocks on the right.

Sue and I both opted not to go any further. Instead we simply explored the area a little and took a few pictures.

The sides of the canyon reflected in a pool of water.

Erosion of the canyon floor caused by flash floods.

Sue examining the opening of the canyon through which we had entered.

To provide a little perspective regarding the height of the canyon walls, Sue is in the center of the picture shown sitting on the floor of the canyon.

After about 90 minutes, the hikers returned.

Fred most likely took some photos of the hike and, if so, I'm sure Sue will be posting them on her blog. When/if she does I'll add a link here.

Back on the river with House Rock Rapid (rated 7-9) in the background. 

Rapids on the Colorado River are rated on a scale of 1-10, increasing in difficulty depending upon four water levels: very low, low, medium, and high. The water level when we went through was considered high. As a result many of the rapids were not as difficult as they could have been but, strangely enough, some of the rapids are considered more difficult at high water levels. Regardless, many of them were still challenging and all of them were fun!

Going through House Rock Rapid.

Matt is doing what I think KJ called a Reverse Ferry, where they enter the rapid backwards, turn sideways, and somehow come out of the rapid going forwards. The rocks on the right are reportedly as big as a house at low water. At high water they are like an iceberg with just the tip showing above water.

Redneck Rapid, less than half a mile downriver from House Rock, was only rated a 3. Short and sweet, Chelly and two other rafts made it through with no problems.

But Justin got walloped by a rogue wave!

A note on photos of rapids... positioning was crucial to being able to get action photos. It all depended upon which raft I was in and where that raft fell in the lineup for each rapid. Also, with some rapids (like House Rock) the rafts entered with some distance between each of them while with other rapids (like Redneck) the rafts were closer together thus affording a better opportunity for better photos.

The thee photos below show the paddle raft crew navigating through Redneck Rapid. No, we weren't as close as it looks... these images are cropped.

Redneck Rapid might not have been a big one, but it sure was fun... Justin even thought so!

Another mile downstream we passed through Boulder Narrows. It was almost lunchtime and we'd only gone two miles on the river!

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Note: The page Grand Canyon Raft Trip lists all of my posts published about this Grand Adventure!

Published under a Creative Commons License.
Becky Wiseman, "Day 2 - Part 1 :: Hot Na Na Wash to Boulder Narrows," Kinexxions, posted October 27, 2014 (http://kinexxions.blogspot.com/2014/10/day-2-part-1-hot-na-na-wash-to-boulder.html : accessed [access date])