Friday evening I headed over to Trevor & Brandy's place w/ my car in case we decided to go in that so we'd have more room and offroading options if needed. Since there was a wall of traffic that held me back for over 25 minutes to get there, Trevor had already loaded the canoe, and car and was ready to jet out. We kept things simple, hit up some stores for last minute supplies and firewood, then blasted out of the valley. The drive was scenic with the sun setting over the southern Price landscape. By the time we hit dirt roads, the sun had set, and we were chasing daylight. Soon it was dark and we set up camp at the edge of the canyon near the Wedge Overlook. Got a fire going, set up some chairs, and heated some food for dinner. Sleeping situations consisted of a large blue tarp placed close to (a couple of feet for safety) the edge of the canyon lip, and sleeping bags. The stars were out, and shooting stars were in high abundance.
By sunrise, there was light spilling in the canyon, and the view was spectacular. We quickly packed up, hopped into the car, and blasted out towards the Fullers Bottom road crossing. On the way we saw a coyote sprinting across the road with a jackrabbit clutched in its jaws. Our passing spooked it, and it jettisoned the heavy cargo, and scampered off into the desert. We got to the crossing, packed up a backpack with some water, food, and some random items, and piled everything into the old orange fiberglass canoe. Like we expected, the water level was low, but we remained buoyant and could paddle around just fine for the first long segment. It was a silent decision that we were going to go for it, all the way to the SanRafael Campground. My GPS stated that our destination was a little under ten miles as a crow flies, but I knew there would be many curvies ahead. It wasn't long before we ran into shallow rapids, and sections where we had to hug the shore to remain afloat. One particular passable section got really narrow and fast. The current accelerated us close to the shoreline where there were several large branches overhanging the water. Trevor was in lead, and did his best to battle the leafy attack. For a split second it appeared that he had successfully thwarted all known forces and would be able to manage, but he was immediately flung backwards onto the canoe floor with a thud. Brandy ducked, and the canoe was eaten by the branches, and tipped over. We pulled our stuff to the shore, and Brandy was able to retrieve a lot of the loose floating things downstream. I was immediately thankful that I placed my digital camera and cell phone in two ziplock baggies. We recovered, and were off again.
The biting flies were pretty bad, and they all knew exactly when there was a critical maneuver required for canoe navigation involving two hands. We encountered a log jam, but were able to squeeze through one semi opening. Most of our travels were 80% careful navigation through generous to narrow passageways where we remained afloat, and 20% what we referred to as "skateboarding" where we pushed the canoe through shallow rapids like a skateboarder. Several rocks along the SanRafael were stained orange, but the canoe remained intact. We stopped here and there for snackage, and a few nice swimming stops along the way where the river got deep. About when the GPS said we were about half way, we all were pretty tired, and sore from paddling. Nonetheless, we continued onward through the amazing scenery, vertical walls, and interesting rock formations. Right under our campsite there was an amazingly pleasant swimming hole with a great jumping rock, and deep deep water of the perfect temperature. We stayed there for a while before continuing on. Much later we got closer to our destination, and came across a downed tree across the river. There was just barely enough room for the canoe to slide under, but Trevor hopped over the tree, sat back down, Brandy leaned far back safely in the canoe cavity, and I hopped over the tree and back onto my seat. It might have been "cooler" if it had taken us less time to perform that maneuver fluidly while making comical "uh-oop!" noises. Soon we paddled our way to the bridge at the SanRafael campground. Exhausted, we pulled the canoe to the shore, and collapsed in the cool river.
After recovering a little, my GPS told us that our trip was over 29 miles with all our twisting in the canyon. The bugs were horrible at the campsite, and everywhere around except for a few spots in the middle of the river. After snacking on the remainder of food in our supplies, Trevor headed out to hike back and try to hitch a ride back to the car at Fuller's Bottom. While he was gone, Brandy and I talked to a few of the campers in the area, and asked some nice old guys if they could pick up a hitchhiker named Trevor as they were heading north. We rested in the stream while little fish guppies nibbled at my leghair. Eventually Trevor arrived just as it was getting dark. He apparently hiked about 5 miles before someone was nice enough to give him a ride the rest of the way to his car. All in all, he was gone for about two and a half or 3 hours. We fired up the little stove, and heated up the best tasting soup and chili in the world. Afterwards, unsure if Bryan was going to rendezvous with us there that night, Trevor and Brandy returned into town to call him. (all of our cellphones were dead on battery, and had no service there anyways) Eventually they returned, and instead of staying at a campsite infested with aggressive biting insects, we decided to return to our first "campsite" at the edge of the canyon. We rolled out the sleeping bags, and I fell asleep almost instantly. That late night, some noisy rednecks were drunk-joy-riding around some of the nearby dirt roads, and passed our campsite once. The time when they came by again, they stopped for a moment... possibly debating whether or not to steal some of our scattered camping gear and equipment. Due to our complete remote location, I was glad I had my 1911 .45 with me, but even more relieved when they decided to peel out and go skittering off somewhere else. The next morning we explored a bit looking at petroglyphs, and even got to see a dinosaur footprint. The sun was baking us though, and we all were pretty tired, and sunburnt. We headed back for slushies, and grease-burgers.
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