Grand Canyoneering, Experienced From River

First came a few moments of apprehension; then the joy that radiated from the faces of our children was almost as exhilarating to Joanne, my wife, and me as the icy water that drenched us all. It poured over a rubber raft that pitched wildly down a white-water stretch of the Colorado River, carrying us swiftly through the Grand Canyon in brilliant sunshine.

We had discovered yet another adventure, which during nearly 30 years has held excitement, isolation and tranquillity for our increasingly large, increasingly dispersed family.

Within a few minutes we were once again floating gently, warmed almost too quickly by the heat of the sun that contrasts so startlingly with the near-freezing water. Moments of calm allowed us to experience the fascination and grandeur of that magnificent canyon whose varied and mile-deep sides reveal such a huge portion of the geological history of the earth.

Ancient Limestone

As we floated down the river, one of our five children--they are ages 23 to 32--pointed excitedly to a 350-million-year-old limestone wall that loomed ahead. At the same time, our guide shouted, “OK, everybody, brace yourselves, hang on tight, here we go again!” And once more we were caught in the swirling rapids that tossed our raft like a chip on water, providing us with a sense of danger that was far more imagined than real.

After our raft had carried us safely through another of the innumerable Colorado River rapids, we floated gently onto a sandy bank where our family camped for the night. We helped unload the food, tables and other equipment, unrolled our sleeping bags near the rushing water, shared cups of wine and waited for the guides to prepare our dinner.

Earlier, we had driven from Los Angeles to an airport near Las Vegas, and flew from there in a small plane to Lees Ferry, Ariz., the starting point for our Grand Canyon trip.

Watching Wildlife

During the week of rafting down 187 miles of the river, with its alternating calm and rapid waters, we seldom saw another person. Often we stopped to lie on the river bank watching birds, lizards, snakes, beavers, big horn sheep and other wildlife.

Sometimes together, sometimes separately, we swam in the warm small streams and beneath waterfalls that feed the mighty Colorado. Often we unwrapped our books from their watertight containers and read in the warm sun.

The adventure cost about $100 a day per person, including the round-trip air fare from Las Vegas, meals and the guides who prepared them, cleaned the camps and maneuvered the rafts along the river.

We had seen the imposing depth of the Grand Canyon before, but from its rim. That first night, about 30 miles from Lees Ferry, we had time to orient ourselves to our first view from below one of the geological miracles of the world.

‘All Its Yesterdays’

We were helped by reading sections of the fine book by Joseph Wood Krutch, “Grand Canyon, Today and All Its Yesterdays.” Some of us knew of the various wonders of the canyon that Krutch describes, including the trilobites, those fossils we saw in the Paleozoic rock around us, and other wonders.

The river has never changed its height above sea level. As the earth around it rose, the river that once meandered haphazardly through a huge meadow was gradually narrowed into a swiftly moving flow of water, cutting a bed through the rising earth.

The trip was far more of an emotional than an intellectual experience. We needed no words to astonish us when we first sighted the Little Colorado River pouring into the Colorado. The Little Colorado’s water was warm, the color of bright aquamarine due to its long trickle through a huge, mountain-wide strata of limestone.

The more timid of us stood or swam in water that gushed from rocks 30 or more feet above our heads. The less timid--the children--climbed through a cavern and then to the top of the phenomenal formation, diving gracefully through the water into the deep pool.

Past Adventures

We used masks and snorkels and admired a wide variety of trout, carp and other fish swimming in pool after lovely pool.

In the darkness of evening we reminisced about our other family adventures: When our eldest daughter, Rachel, was an infant and our income was small, my wife, Joanne, and I began looking for reasonably isolated holiday destinations we could enjoy.

The first was Joshua Tree National Monument, which cost us only the price of camping equipment, meals and fuel for the car. We carried Rachel on our backs or hiked through the barren beauty of that spectacular Southern California desert. It was as if we were strolling on the surface of the moon.

With increasing regularity we backpacked into the Sierra, those spectacular mountains that allowed us to find the isolation we sought. Even after dozens of trips, we are still amazed that we can be by ourselves so quickly in this nation’s most populous state.

Recently we rented a boat in Ventura for a three-day trip to the Channel Islands to swim and snorkel through gorgeous beds of kelp, and hike for hours around Ana Capa and Santa Cruz islands. We slept on the boat and again enjoyed our sense of family, as we did on the Colorado. The U.S. Department of Interior manages Channel Islands National Park. Such trips may be arranged through Island Packers, phone (805) 642-1393.

Those holidays continue. And when we are by ourselves--just the 11 of us--rafting, sailing and hiking, we tend to forget what differences we might have. We enjoy each other. We are family.