Woof, it’s been a minute since my last post. You may know that my writing energies are more often going into my Mantra Ray Yoga newsletter, over here on Substack. This here will be a travelogue post.

Steve and I have returned from an epic trip in the desert southwest: a weeklong raft trip down the Colorado River. 187 water miles in the Grand Canyon!

I’ve been back 6 days and only today are the rougher parts of my skin – mainly on my thighs, so yay for mineral and fabric sun protection habits, on river – feeling a bit back to normal. The fact that the thighs felt like sandpaper after spending most of the week under pants or a sarong is still baffling to me. Ahhh, sand. The tool of choice (+time) for sculpt the Canyon, itself but that took millions of years, so … what to do with that fact?

Is the rest of me feeling normal?

Not sure: I’m still busying myself with longer versions of Canyon stories shared by our guides: I just finished listening to this great Kevin Fedarko interview on Radio West, and I’m about halfway through reading Sunk Without a Sound, a book about a couple of newlyweds who disappeared on the river in 1929. Tragedy? More like a fun mystery.

I’ve been to the gym once, when I did a full-body weightlifting session. It reminded me that I was thankful to be strong for this trip, but the gym session still felt … easy. Soft?

Nah, not feeling normal yet. Travel has been frequent this year and 100% in the West. I’d like to say it wasn’t be design, but things happen for a reason.

Anyway.

What it was like

Very fun.

A lot of water (despite a relatively low flow of 3000 cfs) and just enough sun/heat. Rollicking good rapids (and yay, they bucked off not a single traveler nor guide!) Hikes, every day. Interesting critters: California condor, mountain goats, ravens, lizards. A whole week with my brother Mike, and sister-in-law Laura, who live far enough away that we only see them once or twice a year. Good laughs with new friends.

Nourishing.

Great people: 32 split between our two motored rafts, four of them staff: the two head guides were highly experienced and friendly female leaders. We all got along surprisingly well, especially considering how small some of the group campsites were (and how cozily we needed to perch, on the rafts!).

Some geology and history lessons from the guides. Did you know it took the river 6 million years to carve the canyon? Out of layers that took 2 billion years to form? I felt tiny, and young. And fortunate to witness and learn firsthand about this Natural Wonder of the World. 

Good and plentiful food that we didn’t have to cook. One night, after a dusk hour camp arrival, we ate Dutch-oven-baked lasagne in the dark (with headlamps and a few creative elements of party lighting by the guides). Lots of water, electrolytes, snacks available (and pushed on us, for safety in the sun) throughout the day.

We chose this season (mid May), outfitter and trip length because we wanted some time and reasonable temperatures to hike. We also desired some spectacular views of the stars: it was a newish moon AND we slept in cots, though tents were available.

My brother and I, and our partners, did this trip to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversaries together. (On that note: shout out to Azzurra Cucina, for a fabulous pre-trip dinner (with tables and wait staff) in Henderson, NV!) On river, too, our guides helped us celebrate 20 with a Dutch-oven baked chocolate cake as dessert, the last night.

Mike and I did a similar trip as a kid, with our parents. We felt a weeklong, motorized trip was a darn good way to do it… if you’re crazy enough to want to raft 187 miles of the Colorado River. It was fun to reminisce and to honor Mom and Dad, who have passed in the last 6 years. They introduced us to this place, experience, and love of the outdoors.

Also nourishing was the respect and love for the Canyon’s history, composition (geology) and magnificence, shared with us by our guides. Good guides come in all shapes, but it was refreshing, but three of our guide staff were women and the one who wasn’t, was a young Navajo man who had a talent for keeping spirits upbeat, mindful and loving. (Rachel, Paige, Maya and Gabe

Exfoliating.

That much water + sun + sand + wind, most minutes of any 24 hour period, gets us to my title! Some of the orientation that our guides did for us in hours 1-2 was expectation-setting: “A saying we like on the river is, ‘Just the way we like it.'”

Outdoor adventures, like other adventures that take you our of your comfort zone, do just that: take you out of comfort. Depending on your personality, it can be overwhelming and all too tempting to fall into a mindset of complaint and dissatisfaction. Your hands are raw from holding onto raft straps for dear life, your skin starts to chemically bond with sunscreen, you’re on the 5th day of assembling the sturdy but recalcitrant cot, and the steep sand dune that the group has to mount while doing a bucket brigade to unload the raft … these can just add up! And every single person is going through it, too. Better to reframe the activity and get it done, so you can lay down and stare at the stars. Eventually.

Anyway, there was a sleep or two where the wind and sand made for less than ideal sleep: my sleeping sheet or bag was most helpful as a sand screen. The feeling of a layer of fine sand on my face, in the middle of the night was unusual, and when it got into my eyes, turned to frustrating and worrisome.

Just the way I like it.

Also just the way we liked it: we didn’t get a lot of downtime, despite the packing list suggestion of “a book” and “a deck of cards.” I suppose we always had the option to skip the daily 1-2 hour hike, but why do that? (An additional valid reason to skip a hike or two was: some of the routes had some steep drops/exposure.)

Some more info and imagery

Interested in taking such a trip? We went with Grand Canyon Whitewater, as outfitters/guides, and chose the 7 day motorized trip. We booked this almost a full year ago. 

Here are the rest of my photos (and a few videos) from the trip. All taken with my iPhone 15 which. Most of the time, it was in an Aquapac waterproof jacket, which worked well until the last day or so. The JUST THE WAY I LIKE IT sand had abraded it enough that the phone kept telling me to clear its lens.

There aren’t many photos or videos of rapids because we had to hold on with both hands. I didn’t have a GoPro and anyway it was fun to focus on the now of the day, now the future photos! However, I shot one video of Bedrock Rapid: the water level was so low that our guides had all clients lighten up the two boats by having us hike around to meet them and the rafts, below the rapid. Rachel’s handling of that water violence and beauty was impressive! Same goes for every rapid we rode with her, and with guide Paige, as well.