Day 13 - Hell's Hollow to Pumpkin Springs

Monday, September 29th would be our longest day on the river. Traveling 30 miles (from mile 183 to mile 213), we would go through six rapids (two good sized and four small ones). Much of the day would be spent floating in calm waters.

Taken as we were leaving Hell's Hollow campsite.

The darker areas in the canyon wall are remnants of ancient lava flows.

The same lava flow as we passed by.

That group of scientists that we saw back on September 21st studying the Humpback Chub had completed their research and were heading to their take-out point at Diamond Creek (at mile 226).  There were at least half a dozen boats/rafts of various sizes, all with motors, that zipped past us and were soon out of sight.

As a side note, Diamond Creek is the only place in Grand Canyon National Park, aside from Lee's Ferry, where there is vehicular access to the river. However, Diamond Creek Road is a 20+ mile long, non-maintained, dirt and rock road through the Haualapai reservation that starts at Peach Springs. There are some raft trip concessionaires that end their trip at the Diamond Creek take-out.

I don't know if the formation on the right has a name, but we dubbed it "The Cathedral" and we named the formation to the left "The Organ."

To us, the basalt columns beneath the overhang looked like the pipes of a pipe organ.

A huge lava rock in the middle of the river. (Taken about 10:30 a.m)

Ocotillo Cactus were prolific in this area. Taken about 2 p.m.

Just some more interesting formations.

This was most likely Kolb Rapid, at mile 205, since the photo was taken mid-afternoon.

It had a heck of a drop to it.

Jim took a turn at the oars for a while.

If you've been following along on this journey, by now you probably realize that I was totally captivated by the reflections on the river!

Matt's raft dropping backwards into 209 Mile Rapid, the last one of the day.

Holes in blue-gray colored canyon wall...

Getting close to our campsite at Pumpkin Springs and bringing to a close another magical day on the Colorado 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 13 - Hell's Hollow to Pumpkin Springs," Kinexxions, posted November 12, 2014 (http://kinexxions.blogspot.com/2014/11/day-13-hells-hollow-to-pumpkin-springs.html : accessed [access date])