Day 4 - Eminence Break to Kwagunt Creek

Monday, September 20th was a short day on the river - just 12 miles (from mile 44.5 to mile 56.5) and two small rapids.

The day started at Eminence Break. As usual, after breakfast the rafts were loaded with all of our gear. But Matt had a "little" hike planned for this morning.

The group heads out on their trek that begins on the sandy beach at the Eminence Break campsite.

And they go up there. See the little stick-figures way up there? Sure you do - there in the center of the photo where the ridge starts to flatten out.

How about now? Yeah, they went up there. Those weird-looking, shadowy, stick-like figures are them.

I'm sure the view was fantastic but I don't know. You guessed it - I didn't go. But I wasn't the only one. There was Deanna with her sprained ankle, Priscilla, Sue Elliott, and me that opted to stay on the beach. We had a couple of hours to read, gather our thoughts, get caught up on note-taking, and just plain relax or take a stroll along the beach.

No pictures were taken while on the river today 'cause I was in the paddle raft!

Deanna, shown above riding with KJ, had fallen off of the paddle board the day before and sprained her ankle. Her misfortune was my good fortune. I eagerly volunteered to fill her spot. Of course, I was aware that we weren't going to do too many miles and there were only a few small rapids to get through.

Still, it gave me a feel for what it was like to paddle a raft. The company was great, and it was fun! It would definitely be challenging for a 15-day trip. This and the photo above were taken by Dawn.

This photo was taken later in the afternoon by Sue Elliott.

We arrived at Kwagunt Creek, our campsite for the night, with the sun playing hide and seek with the clouds.

The shadows of the clouds and the light from the sun simply danced around the canyon walls. It was absolutely beautiful!

But a heavy layer of clouds was moving in our direction.

We were still in what was called the Monsoon Season for the Grand Canyon and it looked and felt like it was going to rain. The guides recommended that tents be put up, just in case. And so we did. As night fell, I noticed that the stars weren't as bright as usual. It was like they were covered in a sheath of thin mesh cloth, you could just barely see them through the layer of clouds.

Photo courtesy of Sue Elliott - their site at Kwagunt Creek.

The heat of the day did not dissipate after the sun went down and it was still rather warm when I laid down for the night. I decided to stay outside, with a view of the night sky. The air was still, no breeze was stirring.

Shortly after laying down, I thought I felt a few sprinkles, then nothing. A short time later great big raindrops started falling and the wind started blowing. I jumped up, grabbed my sleeping gear and rushed into the tent just in time! The rain came down... and the thunder rolled. Oh, did it ever!

It was like nothing I had ever heard before. It bounced off the canyon walls.  It rolled and rolled, grumbling its way through the canyon.  It wasn't frightening, at least not to me. It was awesome and, quite simply, enhanced the overall incredible experiences of this journey.

The thunder eventually passed but the rain stayed, stopping and starting throughout the night. When morning came, the sun-filled blue sky was once again dappled with white clouds. What would this new day bring, I wondered.

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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 4 - Eminence Break to Kwagunt Creek," Kinexxions, posted October 14, 2014 (http://kinexxions.blogspot.com/2014/10/day-4-eminence-break-to-kwagunt-creek.html : accessed [access date])