I awoke to the soft light of dawn and for a moment was quite disorientated. In the early hours it had grown quite cold and I had climbed into my sleeping bag. I enjoyed the sight and sounds of my surrounds for a while and then heard Wil’s Coooooffeeeeee! call. We helped ourselves to some freshly brewed coffee and sat just experiencing the early morning Canyon and river sights. After packing up and getting our gear on board the boat, it was breakfast time. Again the crew came up trumps with a delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage and even blueberry pancakes. We then made our own lunches with the variety of breads, salads, pickles, cold meats, cheeses and fillings on offer. Packed and labelled in our own little lunch packets they were ready to go for later on. It was quite chilly in the early morning as the sun was not hitting the river directly so it was pretty icy when we went through the first rapids. The biggest one was called House Rock Rapid which was huge - we went in sideways into a hole and all I could see was a huge wall of green water descending. I closed my eyes and hung on, and we were through! Mid morning we came to the Red Wall Cavern - a huge overhang, far larger than anything I have ever seen in the Drakensberg and filled with soft white sand. We spent some time enjoying this area with the guys playing frisbee. We also saw the tracks of a snake on the sand and wondered whether it was a rattlesnake. We stopped a little later for a short hike up a gully to see an impressive cutback and cave - it was pretty hot in this spot as we were surrounded by superheated rock walls. After this we went past a rock feature called ’the kissing rocks’ named after Homer and Marge and also saw the Bighorn Sheep that are prevalent in this area. The crew brought out lovely snacks from time to time that kept us happy as well as electrolyte flavoured powders to add to our water ( all brought fresh from Flagstaff) to encourage us to keep hydrated. At lunch we tied up at a beach and did a walk to the Saddle - quite a long walk that ended up at a beautiful little slot canyon and waterfall. The red cliffs on all sides were mind boggling. We enjoyed our packed lunches at a cool spot along the way. We again dunked ourselves in the river before setting off and the same when we returned to the boat. Later in the afternoon we came to the side tributary of the Little Colorado River. This area is a considered a sacred area by the Navajo so we could only go a little ways up. The water here is an incredible turquoise blue, apparently because of the dissolved travertine and limestone in the water. When it has rained, this water turns to a muddy brown, so we were lucky to experience it in dry weather. We walked up the valley a little way and arrived at a spot where it was possible to take a ride down some little rapids. We had to keep our life jackets on as the water currents were strong. We all took turns getting in to the milky turquoise waters and then feet first, riding down the rapids. My head was submerged several times during my ride down and due to the surprising force of the water I found it quite difficult to swim to the side to get out, but then me and water have never got on that well. The others took numerous turns but once was enough for me! On the walk back to the boat I started getting the beginnings of blisters from the abrasive sand and JJ kindly used plasters on them - with the intention of using something stronger and that would stay on, the next day.
After a full day, we got to our camp spot for the night, a sandbank against cliffs which had us spread out all over. We managed to find a lovely place with the view of the river in front of us. After a quick wash in the river we sat and had sundowners with the group. Supper was delicious, barbecue chicken over hot coals, with scrumptious salads followed by chocolate cake for dessert. On both nights we experienced incredibly warm breezes that were coming directly off the superheated walls of the canyon and we slept with no coverings at all. We would get a respite every now and then when the wind changed. Tonight I was able to stay awake for some time watching the stars above -they seem to glow with an intensity and ferocity - an experience I will always remember.
