Situation:
The Mayor, Brad Owen, organized a 6 day all paddle trip down the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park with Arizona Raft Adventures. The cast of characters assembled rivaled the previous trips and everyone had a truly unique and remarkable life experience. One day, I hope to go back and complete the remaining 8 days with Uncle BJ.
Other Photo Albums
Paul's Kodak Gallery Photos
Brad's Kodak Gallery Photos
Ray's Kodak Gallery Photos
Cast:
Brad "The Mayor" Owen
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Jamie "A Mouse Pee'd On My Face" Bauersmith |
Jason "Linus" Rogers
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Matt "Easy Travel" Noone
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Ray "A Bat Is On My Face" Gutowski |
And me, Paul Chen, paulchen, paulchen |
Crew:
BJ Boyle - Trip Leader
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Alexis and Eric |
Derik |
Matt |
Kiwi Roo |
Neal |
Trip:
The Colorado River just below Lee's Ferry.
Leslie and Larry in the boats.
Rebecca, Jamie, Matt, Ray, Brad, and BJ discuss logistics while Mitch looks on.
BJ took us on a lot of "easy" hikes involving hot, sharp, brittle rocks, sun exposure, ropes, and plenty of opportunities to hurt yourself. I'm exaggerating a little but, but it was AWESOME!
Our hikes required various moves in order to safely traverse certain tricky sections.
Brad's sitting in a waterfall at the end of a box canyon.
Our first camp site. We slept on mats outside under the stars. It was spectacular.
Ray ignores BJ's instruction about wearing shoes or using a flashlight in the dark and ends up stubbing his toe three times on the first night.
Brad closely examines the "Groover". The groover quickly became a frequent and fun topic on the trip, especially in the morning when the line would start.
Brad and Ray in the "locker room". Since we didn't use tents there wasn't much privacy. I'm pretty sure everyone saw bare ass at some point of the trip.
Breakfast. Folks always gathered around the kitchen for food and hanging out.
Jason sleeps on BJ's bed on his raft. It's about 8:00 PM. The rest of the crew would quickly learn "Linus's" frequent sleeping patterns.
Jamie's favorite flower, the Sacred Datura, which is said to be 10 times stronger than Pioti.
Brad uses a rope to scale a particularly tricky section.
Matt swims in very "stinky" water.
Everyone pitched in with cleaning dishes or camp maintenance. Everything that is, except handling the Groover.
Lisa spills blood from a falling rock on one of our "easy" hikes.
Jason found this scorpion on a hike. They glow under a black night and BJ took us on a scorpion hunt one night. Those suckers can really move!
A Desert Spiny Lizard. These guys were everywhere.
The Little Colorado was a great place to cool off and play in a natural waterpark.
The food on the trip was fantastic. This night, we had steak.
Derik prepares some cake for desert.
Hoover Dam.
Caesar's Palace in Vegas. We spent two days there post trip.
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