Day 9 - Mile 119 Creek to Bonita Creek Rapid

Thursday, September 25th was an easy day on the river. After the exhilaration of yesterday's events it was nice to have a relatively calm and relaxing day. We would travel just 14.5 miles (from mile 119 to mile 133.5), stop for two short hikes, and cross through 7 minor rapids.

A panoramic view of the Colorado River and our campsite at Mile 119 Creek.

Two miles after leaving our campsite, we stopped at Blacktail Canyon for a hike through its slot canyon. It wasn't a long hike. There were no big boulders to climb over nor any major obstacles. At last! A hike that I could do!

It was a fairly easy walk. Slightly uphill with a sometimes smooth, sometimes rocky canyon floor.

To give a little perspective as to the height of the canyon walls... there's a person at the bottom-center of this photo.

The end of the "trail" was marked by a pool of emerald green water at the bottom of a drainage area.  Simply marvelous.

Upon our return to the entrance of the canyon, one of the private groups was waiting to go in.

One of the little rapids we encountered.

Not the first bighorn sheep we had seen but this one and several others were fairly close to shore. We were told this was most likely a female.

Enjoying the calm water as well as the scenery.

Going through another rapid.

At mile 132 we stopped for another short hike, also one that I could do! It was an easy walk back to a little waterfall along Stone Creek. We took our time here. Standing beneath the waterfall for a little shower, albeit without soap, was so very refreshing.

Our campsite at Bonita Creek was just a mile and a half downriver. It was a leisurely float, as most of the day had been. There were times when we simply drifted, when not a word was spoken by anyone. Those were truly magical moments.

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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 9 - Mile 119 Creek to Bonita Creek Rapid," Kinexxions, posted November 6, 2014 (http://kinexxions.blogspot.com/2014/11/day-9-mile-119-creek-to-bonita-creek.html : accessed [access date])