March 28th dawned a bit cooler than most of our nights had been. Some people avoided getting up
but everyone greeted the day with a grin, even if it was the last full day on the river.
Those that did get out of bed wasted no time in finding a hot cup of coffee. Helicopters started flying about 7:30 waking even the last stragglers.
The famous Hualapi Skywalk was visible shortly after we started down river.
It's located quite a ways from the river on a small branch canyon.
Like yesterday, there was a lot of boat swapping going on. Elmira rowed the Flavell II while Craig caught up on his rest.
Once he was rested, he restored his energy with Chips Ahoy cookies.
We stopped as close as we could to Columbine Falls. Many of the folks located the trail and walked to the falls. Very different from my visit in 2000 when I was able to paddle the kayak directly to the base of the falls.
While at Columbine, Helen and I decided that the dark shelf paper had been on the inside of Susie Too's splash guard long enough. It came off surprisingly easy, exposing the beauty of the quartersawn oak.
The Grand Wash Cliffs at river mile 277.1 marks the western end of the Grand Canyon.
We made camp on the river bank - a location that would be over 100' under water if the lake was full. One last night together before returning to civilization.
Down over a hundred feet! That's many times the total depth of many reservoirs East of the Rockies. Do you think it will ever recover? Really enjoyed following along on your latest adventure.
ReplyDeleteThere are mixed opinions on the long term status of Lake Mead. I see it as a glass half empty and doubt it will ever recover. State water allocations from the lower Colorado were based on higher numbers than the average river flows so there is clearly a problem. On the other hand, both Lake Powell and Lake Mead nearly overtopped the dams in the mid 1980's, so your guess is as good as mine. ;-)
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