1 00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:05,680 Speaker 1: What John Wesley Powell accomplished first in the eighteen seventies. 2 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:09,640 Speaker 1: Float the length of the Grand Canyon. You can do 3 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: today and it's still the Western wild lands experience of 4 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:19,440 Speaker 1: a lifetime. I'm Dan Flores, and this is the American West, 5 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 1: down the West's grandest Canyon. Our personal motives for experiences 6 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:48,839 Speaker 1: in the American West have always been many. Some of 7 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:51,960 Speaker 1: us move west or relocate within the West for a 8 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: new start in life. Some come to seek wealth and 9 00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 1: become rich. Some of us are lured westward because everything 10 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:05,000 Speaker 1: from scenery to wild animals is new and exciting. But 11 00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:08,319 Speaker 1: in a region of America where the landscapes are supersized 12 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 1: and grand eloquent, the river's mysterious and even furious, The 13 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:18,080 Speaker 1: animals often large and occasionally dangerous. The human search for 14 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:22,880 Speaker 1: adventure has forever been a part of the West's mystique. 15 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:26,520 Speaker 1: From hunting buffalo on yellow grasslands under a dome of 16 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:30,880 Speaker 1: blue to making an ascent of every one of Colorado's 17 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: fifty three official fourteen thousand foot mountain peaks, the possible 18 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 1: interactions with the Western world are colored by the excitement 19 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:44,440 Speaker 1: of living large. It's entirely possible to reside in the West, 20 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: or come to the West and spend your days checking 21 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:50,920 Speaker 1: account balances, watching sports, sitting in front of a computer 22 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:53,400 Speaker 1: screen are endlessly scrolling on. 23 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:56,200 Speaker 2: Your phone, but you can. 24 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: Still be your own personal version of Amelia Earhart are 25 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: Bob Marshall Here, the West, wildlands and rivers offer adventures 26 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:10,960 Speaker 1: enough for several lifetimes. I've lived in the West and 27 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 1: in different parts of it almost all my adult life, 28 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:17,680 Speaker 1: luckily with good health, a strong constitution, and since I'm 29 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:21,520 Speaker 1: a biped a propensity for seeing the world around me 30 00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:22,440 Speaker 1: from on foot. 31 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 2: So like a lot of us, I've hauled a pack. 32 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:28,160 Speaker 1: Into many of the remote corners of the West to 33 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:31,480 Speaker 1: be able to breathe the Champagne air of the heights 34 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:35,600 Speaker 1: of Ranges, like the winds, the Tetons, and the Sierra 35 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:39,360 Speaker 1: Nevadas are passing to sleep as a juniper fire pops 36 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:43,960 Speaker 1: and hisses while the Escalante River waxes lyrical feet away. 37 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:47,440 Speaker 1: I'm not quite as addicted to seeing the West by 38 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:51,400 Speaker 1: river as many Western adventurers I've known, but I have 39 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:55,280 Speaker 1: canoed the White cliffs of the Upper Missouri, shot through 40 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:59,960 Speaker 1: the rapids of Cataract Canyon and canyonlands National Park, descend 41 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:02,399 Speaker 1: to the canyons of the Rio Grande and Big Ben, 42 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:08,800 Speaker 1: soloed in inflatable kayaks through Idaho's giant wildernesses on the 43 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 1: Snake and the Salmon, and paddled a raft for twelve 44 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:15,640 Speaker 1: days down the Hula Hula River through the Arctic National 45 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:19,960 Speaker 1: Wildlife Refuge at the top of Alaska. But with strong 46 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 1: competition from the Hula Hula and anwar, no Wildlands trip 47 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:28,040 Speaker 1: I've done so far has been quite the equal of 48 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:32,360 Speaker 1: that top tier of all Western adventures, a two and 49 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:36,400 Speaker 1: a half week descent by rubber raft of the Colorado 50 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:41,280 Speaker 1: River through America's grandest canyon. I've hiked the Grand Canyon 51 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: on foot, and while nothing remotely like walking the park, 52 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:50,160 Speaker 1: writer Kevin Fadarco's year long trek down the length of 53 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 1: the canyon with a buddy, that Rim to Rim passage 54 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:58,640 Speaker 1: from South Rim to North Rim over the course of 55 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 1: a day is an a bad taste. You get some 56 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:07,440 Speaker 1: twenty four miles of trail through spectacular canyon scenery and 57 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 1: an ever changing ecology, plus a combined ten thousand plus 58 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:17,320 Speaker 1: feet of elevation change for your trouble. Even that, however, 59 00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: pales against the wild lands rhythms that come with descending 60 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:27,279 Speaker 1: the river through this magnificent canyon, day after day after day, 61 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:32,279 Speaker 1: knowing what's looming ahead, but not knowing, because of course, 62 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:43,720 Speaker 1: every descent through a canyon like this is new and fresh. 63 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:46,120 Speaker 1: I've long been in the habit of taking a little 64 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:49,760 Speaker 1: notebook and a couple of pins with me to record immediate, 65 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:55,159 Speaker 1: first hand accounts of wild lands trips. Here, then, is 66 00:04:55,240 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: what one Grand Canyon descent was like September, the twenty sixth. 67 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:06,479 Speaker 1: Rafting the Grand Canyon has to be high on the 68 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 1: bucket list of half the people who live in the 69 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:11,920 Speaker 1: American West, and a good percentage of those who are 70 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:16,119 Speaker 1: from elsewhere. I'm not sure exactly when it climbed close 71 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:18,800 Speaker 1: to the top of mind, but I do know that 72 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:23,240 Speaker 1: my first readings of Rod Nash's Wilderness in the American 73 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:28,760 Speaker 1: Mind and Ed Abbey's Desert Solitaire had the idea teasing 74 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:33,040 Speaker 1: my consciousness way back in the nineteen seventies. I've been 75 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:35,760 Speaker 1: telling myself I would do this trip for a very 76 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:39,279 Speaker 1: long time, and with university life out of the way, 77 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:43,640 Speaker 1: the time has come. I'm at this very moment on 78 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:47,279 Speaker 1: the banks of the Colorado River, our party of fourteen, 79 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:52,280 Speaker 1: having launched into the Grand Canyon from Lee's ferry mid 80 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:56,680 Speaker 1: morning today. Everyone on this adventure is connected in some 81 00:05:56,839 --> 00:06:01,120 Speaker 1: way to Betsy Rogers, a New York patron of the 82 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:05,760 Speaker 1: arts and biographer of Central Park who's had a lifelong 83 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:10,600 Speaker 1: dream of rafting the Grand Canyon. We're all from Santa Fe, 84 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:16,840 Speaker 1: New York or London. This is no applying for a 85 00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:21,000 Speaker 1: permit and waiting fifteen years kind of trip. We're on 86 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:24,080 Speaker 1: the sort of guided rafting excursion most people get to 87 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:27,400 Speaker 1: do in the Grand Canyon these days. So in addition 88 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:31,920 Speaker 1: to our fourteen, there are river guides and boatman, starting 89 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:35,679 Speaker 1: with Christa Sadler of Flagstaff, a veteran of this trip, 90 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:39,120 Speaker 1: and many others in the West, who's our guide. The 91 00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:44,400 Speaker 1: boatmen include John originally from Kentucky but now Durango, who 92 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:47,840 Speaker 1: rose one of the ore rafts, Ali, who is a 93 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:50,839 Speaker 1: nurse in her day job, rose one of the passenger 94 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:55,600 Speaker 1: rafts and is also from Flagsaff. Greg a former National 95 00:06:55,600 --> 00:07:00,000 Speaker 1: Park Service archaeologist from Los Cruses pilots the fourth raft 96 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:06,000 Speaker 1: gearboat rowers are Chris from California and Marcus, a Navajo 97 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:09,880 Speaker 1: from Bluff, Utah who's rowing the canyon for the first time, 98 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:15,120 Speaker 1: so our whole party is twenty strong. The guests are 99 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:18,160 Speaker 1: a willing group, no question, a majority of whom have 100 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:22,040 Speaker 1: done wilderness river trips. But there are some folks among 101 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:26,080 Speaker 1: us who have barely ever camped, are done outdoor things 102 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:29,360 Speaker 1: of any sort. For them, this is a bit like 103 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:34,120 Speaker 1: never having left home to travel, been landing wide eyed 104 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:37,800 Speaker 1: in Paris for a first try in a new place. 105 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:42,119 Speaker 1: We've made camp on a high bank on the east 106 00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:45,400 Speaker 1: side of the river well before sunset this afternoon, to 107 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:48,320 Speaker 1: give everyone a chance to sort through tents and gear 108 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:52,320 Speaker 1: and find their spots within a bankside grove of willows. 109 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 1: Most of the people on this trip are couples. I'm 110 00:07:55,960 --> 00:08:01,200 Speaker 1: traveling solo myself, and as is my inclination, camp. 111 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:02,920 Speaker 2: A bit apart from the rest. 112 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:06,320 Speaker 1: Dinner set up followed the plant of most river trips 113 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:10,600 Speaker 1: like this, with everyone helping fashion a public space so 114 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:13,480 Speaker 1: we could eat and drink and get to know one another, 115 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:17,360 Speaker 1: because even if you know someone in the city, you 116 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:21,120 Speaker 1: don't yet know them on a long multi day river 117 00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:31,440 Speaker 1: trip like this. September twenty seventh and twenty eighth, we 118 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:35,000 Speaker 1: made seventeen river miles down from Lee's ferry two days 119 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:37,920 Speaker 1: ago on a first day on the river with fine 120 00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:43,720 Speaker 1: sunshine accompanying us, but the normally turquoise Colorado was brown 121 00:08:43,840 --> 00:08:47,040 Speaker 1: and muddy as we set out today, and soon enough 122 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:50,600 Speaker 1: we found out wine the first fall storms of the 123 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:54,760 Speaker 1: year often drop around the autumnal equinox, and sure enough 124 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:59,000 Speaker 1: today a weather system hit with much cooler temperatures, and 125 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:02,480 Speaker 1: not long after we'd pulled over for lunch then set 126 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 1: out downstream again, rain began to fall that shortened the 127 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:11,080 Speaker 1: day's float on a Colorado river that took us into 128 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:15,360 Speaker 1: a great many early trip rapids in what's called the 129 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:19,800 Speaker 1: Roaring twenties, and finally to a camp at mile twenty eight. 130 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:23,840 Speaker 1: While we were dining in the river, road timelessly passed us. 131 00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:29,400 Speaker 1: Big horned sheep worked carefully through the rocks nearby. Like 132 00:09:29,559 --> 00:09:35,400 Speaker 1: Day two, today's Day three started with sun obscuring cloudiness. 133 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:40,200 Speaker 1: It gradually became a lovely descent through narrowing canyon cliffs, 134 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:44,200 Speaker 1: although at Red Wall Cavern, where we stopped for lunch, 135 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:48,240 Speaker 1: light mists fell through the sunlight to produce a kind 136 00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:54,400 Speaker 1: of gossamer magic of scores of tiny rainbows. I overheard 137 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:59,840 Speaker 1: this snippet of conversation nearby this morning, So it's not 138 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:08,040 Speaker 1: just a tent, it's a tent without National Public Radio. 139 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:18,679 Speaker 1: September twenty ninth. It's daybreak of day four, and at 140 00:10:18,679 --> 00:10:21,680 Speaker 1: the moment everyone is outside their tents to gaze on 141 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:25,160 Speaker 1: an arcing rainbow that's formed over the canyon in the 142 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:29,920 Speaker 1: light morning rain. Today is beginning with overcast and light rain. 143 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 1: It ought to clear up soon. I think by now 144 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:37,000 Speaker 1: the classic rhythms of a river trip have set in, 145 00:10:37,640 --> 00:10:41,080 Speaker 1: and the first three days down the Colorado are already 146 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:44,880 Speaker 1: running together in my mind. I remember it being hot 147 00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:47,920 Speaker 1: and sunny as we started down the river, although it 148 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:51,720 Speaker 1: hasn't been like that since. But this system, which clearly 149 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:54,959 Speaker 1: dumped some significant rains up the tributaries to the west 150 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:57,400 Speaker 1: of us. By the looks of the river this morning, 151 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:00,000 Speaker 1: shows every sign of retreating now. 152 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:02,200 Speaker 2: As an indication of how. 153 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:05,560 Speaker 1: The days are already beginning to bleed one into the next. 154 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:08,760 Speaker 1: I forgot to mention here that soon after lunch on 155 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:13,000 Speaker 1: our first day, I spotted the gliding black form of 156 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:18,199 Speaker 1: a California condor circling through the intense blue higher up 157 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:21,679 Speaker 1: than the rim above us and ascending with each circle, 158 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:25,640 Speaker 1: but the forward cant of the wing set and the 159 00:11:25,679 --> 00:11:28,880 Speaker 1: white stripes running from body to wing tips on their 160 00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:32,960 Speaker 1: forward edge made us know this was a bird not 161 00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:38,120 Speaker 1: seen before. A condor with its nearly ten foot wingspan 162 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:41,640 Speaker 1: is a worthy sighting and a canyon this grand. 163 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:47,760 Speaker 2: This trip entire. 164 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:51,600 Speaker 1: Will include sixteen days on the river, so we're really 165 00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:56,200 Speaker 1: just underway camping now at mile thirty nine, not yet 166 00:11:56,280 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 1: out of Marble Canyon. Today we're going to float past 167 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:03,960 Speaker 1: the opposed damn sight from plans back in the nineteen sixties, 168 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:08,480 Speaker 1: when uber engineer Floyd Dominie and the Bureau of Reclamation 169 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:14,199 Speaker 1: were designing a reservoir some forty miles long in this 170 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:18,160 Speaker 1: part of the Grand Canyon. I've had students at the 171 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:23,320 Speaker 1: University of Montana read about this almost incomprehensible attempt to 172 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:27,880 Speaker 1: compromise one of America's grandest national parks, but I've not 173 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:32,520 Speaker 1: confronted Dominie's plans in the flesh like this until now. 174 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:36,320 Speaker 1: This part of the National Park, Marble Canyon, is a 175 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:41,000 Speaker 1: gorgeous red rock marvel. A reservoir here is an even 176 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:45,240 Speaker 1: more horrifying thing to contemplate when you actually witness first 177 00:12:45,280 --> 00:12:50,240 Speaker 1: hand the beauty of this canyon. It's brick bread, multi layered, 178 00:12:50,559 --> 00:12:55,719 Speaker 1: and deepening and narrowing by the mile. During slack moments 179 00:12:55,760 --> 00:13:00,880 Speaker 1: in camps, I'm reading John Wesley Powell's account his first 180 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:05,000 Speaker 1: descent of the Colorado River in the early eighteen seventies, 181 00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:08,960 Speaker 1: but right now in my progression through his narrative, he's 182 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:13,280 Speaker 1: still up in Echo Park, far upstream of where we 183 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:21,360 Speaker 1: are on the river. September thirtieth, it's day five on 184 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:26,160 Speaker 1: the Colorado and we're camped beneath the famous Granary View, 185 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:31,840 Speaker 1: an iconic scene looking down the winding river that's so famous. 186 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:37,520 Speaker 1: It's actually on the Arizona Quarter. It's the southwestern version 187 00:13:37,679 --> 00:13:40,520 Speaker 1: of the view of the Tetons, with the Snake River 188 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:44,560 Speaker 1: coiling below their jagged peaks up in the Northern Rockies. 189 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:48,920 Speaker 1: We hiked up fifteen hundred feet or so to the 190 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:53,040 Speaker 1: Granary ruin itself yesterday late, and I shot probably too 191 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:56,679 Speaker 1: many photos of this scene. But the setting sun reflecting 192 00:13:56,760 --> 00:14:00,040 Speaker 1: onto the water from the last cliff face at the 193 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:04,480 Speaker 1: end of the view was mesmerizing, changing repeatedly as the 194 00:14:04,520 --> 00:14:10,160 Speaker 1: sun dropped. We're at mile fifty three now, about twenty 195 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:13,760 Speaker 1: percent through the two hundred and thirty total river miles 196 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:18,400 Speaker 1: of this trip. We had calm waters and lovely floating yesterday, 197 00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:22,280 Speaker 1: but the river water is like chocolate sludge from the 198 00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:24,920 Speaker 1: storm runoff out of side canyons like that. 199 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:25,960 Speaker 2: Of Pariah Creek. 200 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:30,640 Speaker 1: As we raft through rapids, the spray spatters every inch 201 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:34,240 Speaker 1: of us and the boats with latte colored spots that 202 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:38,560 Speaker 1: simply won't wipe off. It's impossible to bathe or wash 203 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:42,200 Speaker 1: your hair in the river lest you become a permanent mudhead. 204 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:46,640 Speaker 1: While we drifted in the current yesterday, though, a pair 205 00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:50,600 Speaker 1: of coyotes hunting from ice along the right bank paid 206 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:55,240 Speaker 1: no attention whatsoever to a flotilla of colorful rubber rafts 207 00:14:55,440 --> 00:15:01,520 Speaker 1: spiraling by. The skies having cleared, we're getting glimpses through 208 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:05,440 Speaker 1: the cliffs of a waxing moon well up in the afternoons, 209 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:08,880 Speaker 1: and just now beginning to bathe the canyon in silver 210 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:12,160 Speaker 1: light before it sets. It's going to be full in 211 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:15,400 Speaker 1: a few days, and no doubt still up in morning 212 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:21,280 Speaker 1: skies until we're off the river. Throughout yesterday's descent, we 213 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:26,360 Speaker 1: continued to pass the high boreholes of the Marble Canyon Dam, 214 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:31,320 Speaker 1: once proposed for this section of the park. Teddy Roosevelt's 215 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:35,080 Speaker 1: line about how humans could in no way improve this 216 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:39,320 Speaker 1: canyon should thus leave it as the ages had fashioned 217 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:43,040 Speaker 1: it came to mind every time I saw one of 218 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:48,440 Speaker 1: these initial, very real attempts to transform this sandstone cathedral 219 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:50,560 Speaker 1: into something unrecognizable. 220 00:15:51,400 --> 00:15:54,040 Speaker 2: It was significantly cooler on the river this morning. 221 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:57,800 Speaker 1: Everyone was bundled up against the instant chill of the 222 00:15:58,080 --> 00:15:59,040 Speaker 1: icy river spray. 223 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:00,400 Speaker 2: But we're we're. 224 00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:04,600 Speaker 1: Clearly in a warmer ecology, at least now, with mesquite 225 00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:09,000 Speaker 1: trees and cat claws appearing along the banks. I rode 226 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:12,320 Speaker 1: in the raft with Ali yesterday. She's a long distance 227 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:16,359 Speaker 1: runner and a climber, and waxes romantic about the climbers 228 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:21,080 Speaker 1: in Yosemite, who she refers to as dirt bag climbers. 229 00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:25,040 Speaker 1: That would seem a slight In fact, it's high praise. 230 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:35,360 Speaker 1: October first, I woke before daybreak this morning to see 231 00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:39,400 Speaker 1: Venus and Jupiter in the dawn sky. On day six 232 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:44,080 Speaker 1: of our adventure, yesterday, we emerged from Marble Canyon and 233 00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:47,680 Speaker 1: soon came to the mouth of the Little Colorado, which 234 00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:50,840 Speaker 1: enters the main river on its left bank. Here we 235 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:53,880 Speaker 1: saw for forty five minutes to bask in the bright sunshine, 236 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:56,560 Speaker 1: and that gave me a chance to walk a mile 237 00:16:56,680 --> 00:17:00,480 Speaker 1: or so up the bed of this famous tributary before 238 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:03,360 Speaker 1: we loaded up in the rafts and began swinging around 239 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:08,520 Speaker 1: to the west and into the big, soaring Grand Canyon proper. 240 00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:13,879 Speaker 1: The little Colorado was not running its classic turquoise. In fact, 241 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:18,480 Speaker 1: was even redder and muddier than the main stream. Helicopter 242 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:23,320 Speaker 1: overflight tours now began appearing overhead as we approached the 243 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:29,000 Speaker 1: developed south rim of Grand Canyon National Park at lunch yesterday, 244 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:32,719 Speaker 1: Chrisa led about half the party on a canyon ascent 245 00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:37,800 Speaker 1: back up into the Kaibab Formation's Watermelon through which the 246 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:43,119 Speaker 1: Colorado long ago cut its present course. We passed the 247 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:47,840 Speaker 1: Tapeatz Formation and the bright Angel Shale via a steep 248 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:53,800 Speaker 1: handhole climb, saw one point seven billion year old fossilized 249 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:59,280 Speaker 1: sino bacteria boulder near a major fracture fault atop the divide, 250 00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:04,159 Speaker 1: then descended a gradual stream bed down another canyon to 251 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:07,280 Speaker 1: our river camp, where the rest of the party had 252 00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:11,640 Speaker 1: already set up for the night. This was another fine 253 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:16,640 Speaker 1: beach campsite beneath looming red walls with a nearby rapid, 254 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:21,840 Speaker 1: providing an oral background. I sleep deeply with river sand 255 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:25,840 Speaker 1: beneath me and the rising and ebbing of a nearby rapid. 256 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:29,120 Speaker 1: I can tell at breakfast that most of us are 257 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:33,760 Speaker 1: falling into that rhythm. The rapid near camp had another 258 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:37,920 Speaker 1: meaning too. On this sixth morning, in the first day 259 00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:42,800 Speaker 1: of October, we face big rapids, including hants rapid, a 260 00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:47,760 Speaker 1: Class ten, on a river that has redefined whitewater classification 261 00:18:48,119 --> 00:18:50,879 Speaker 1: to include ten categories. 262 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:51,200 Speaker 2: Rather than five. 263 00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:55,480 Speaker 1: Wild rides are in shore today as we drop into 264 00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:57,760 Speaker 1: the deep gorge of the Grand Canyon. 265 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:00,000 Speaker 2: The weather's now in. 266 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:03,959 Speaker 1: Entirely cleared, but it's still cool and the rapids today 267 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:08,120 Speaker 1: require a full splash outfit to stay warm against these 268 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:12,399 Speaker 1: frigid waters. Out of Lake Powell, the Colorado is still 269 00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:15,040 Speaker 1: too muddy to wash your hair in, although most of 270 00:19:15,119 --> 00:19:20,840 Speaker 1: us bathed yesterday despite the swirling marl. My reading material 271 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:25,600 Speaker 1: now has John Wesley Powell below today's Dinosaur National Monument. 272 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:29,280 Speaker 1: His party is traversing the canyons on the east side 273 00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:35,600 Speaker 1: of the Yuena Mountains, bound for Desolation Canyon. We've planned 274 00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:39,720 Speaker 1: twenty miles of river travel today from the river miles 275 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:42,720 Speaker 1: in the sixties to those in the eighties, as we 276 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:45,560 Speaker 1: have to be at Phantom Ranch on October the second, 277 00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:48,960 Speaker 1: where two more members of our party are hiking from 278 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:52,400 Speaker 1: the South Rim down the South Kaibab Trail to join 279 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:56,439 Speaker 1: us at the ranch. As everyone has been suiting up 280 00:19:56,480 --> 00:20:00,680 Speaker 1: for the rapids. I've continued reading Powell this morning, tracking 281 00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:04,480 Speaker 1: him through what he calls the land of Standing Rocks 282 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:09,800 Speaker 1: present Canyonlands National Park, through Labyrinth Canyon to the Greens 283 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:14,160 Speaker 1: Junction with the Grand to create the full Colorado River. 284 00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:19,400 Speaker 1: Down from there, they're in Cataract Canyon, and Powell begins 285 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:23,399 Speaker 1: discussing whether they might encounter at some point a fall 286 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:27,119 Speaker 1: too violent to run, with walls too steep to land 287 00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:32,000 Speaker 1: and portage. Their barometer shows they have thousands of feet 288 00:20:32,119 --> 00:20:35,960 Speaker 1: left to descend the sea level alson. That's quick reads 289 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:39,200 Speaker 1: of power for the rest of the trip. On numerous occasions, 290 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:43,879 Speaker 1: I've looked down canyon and wondered how much anxiety it 291 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:46,920 Speaker 1: must have created a run a river like this through 292 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:51,440 Speaker 1: canyons like this with absolutely no sense of what might 293 00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:52,080 Speaker 1: lie ahead. 294 00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:57,800 Speaker 2: October the second. 295 00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:04,560 Speaker 1: Pants Wrap yesterday was a twisting, yanking, thunderous Class ten 296 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:09,359 Speaker 1: that got everyone's pay attention or dialed up the full game, 297 00:21:10,359 --> 00:21:14,320 Speaker 1: but accompanied by whoops of exultation. All the rafts got 298 00:21:14,359 --> 00:21:19,120 Speaker 1: through unscathed. Then an early float this morning through the 299 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:23,680 Speaker 1: brown and black schists of the Grand Canyon Gorge got 300 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:27,399 Speaker 1: us to Phantom Ranch before nine point thirty. Here we 301 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:32,399 Speaker 1: picked up Betsy's thirty something signs, lolled around picturesque little 302 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:36,159 Speaker 1: Phantom Ranch, where Bright Angel Creek bounces down from the 303 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:40,640 Speaker 1: north rim with its clear water and cottonwood canopy, and 304 00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:41,679 Speaker 1: got ready for. 305 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:42,800 Speaker 2: More big rapids. 306 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:48,120 Speaker 1: Horn Creek, rapid with really big waves, looms just ahead. 307 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:51,800 Speaker 1: It's now mid afternoon and we're camped at about mile 308 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:56,000 Speaker 1: ninety three at the top of Granite Falls, Rapid whose 309 00:21:56,119 --> 00:22:01,120 Speaker 1: thunder absolutely fills the oral space of this camp. From 310 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:04,400 Speaker 1: Phantom Ranch, I sent a car to Sarah, who's buried 311 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:08,680 Speaker 1: in the fall semester teaching her university classes up in Utah, 312 00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:11,960 Speaker 1: telling her all was well and I now know how 313 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:16,480 Speaker 1: this canyon became Grand. Mail is still haul out of 314 00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:20,840 Speaker 1: Phantom by burrows, but Burrow mail is efficient enough that 315 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:23,760 Speaker 1: she should get my card within three or four days. 316 00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:25,800 Speaker 2: I'm sitting on the beach with. 317 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:28,840 Speaker 1: A handful of others of our group this afternoon drinking 318 00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:32,639 Speaker 1: beer and reading Powell, whose venture into the unknown one 319 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:35,640 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty years ago is catching up with our 320 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:40,800 Speaker 1: present location. Today is day seven on the river. Tomorrow 321 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:50,080 Speaker 1: we're halfway through the Cayn. October third. It was a 322 00:22:50,119 --> 00:22:53,879 Speaker 1: gorgeous clear night last night, and calm and lovely this morning, 323 00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:57,760 Speaker 1: day eight of our journey, with cold air settled into 324 00:22:57,800 --> 00:22:59,760 Speaker 1: the deep gorge. It was a little chilly in the 325 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:04,160 Speaker 1: tent last night. We've got a Category nine rapids soon 326 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:08,120 Speaker 1: after we start today, and another nine and our second ten, 327 00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:11,640 Speaker 1: Crystal Rapid, in the first five miles. 328 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:13,800 Speaker 2: Today Crystal Rapid is. 329 00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:16,600 Speaker 1: At mile ninety nine and we need to make about 330 00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:20,480 Speaker 1: mile one thirteen for camp tonight to be halfway down 331 00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:22,400 Speaker 1: the river in terms of distance. 332 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:24,800 Speaker 2: I'm well and. 333 00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:29,639 Speaker 1: Healthy, happy, very alive, and present on this adventure, and 334 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:33,320 Speaker 1: an adventure is what it is. Ours may be without 335 00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:37,159 Speaker 1: the mystery of Powell's descent, but that one can still 336 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:41,000 Speaker 1: travel the length of the Grand Canyon means an enormous 337 00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:45,080 Speaker 1: piece of high drama America is still there for the asking. 338 00:23:46,520 --> 00:23:48,679 Speaker 1: One of our group I've struck up a friendship with 339 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:53,200 Speaker 1: is a quite famous actor named Mark Rylance. Who's managed 340 00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:57,320 Speaker 1: a sabbatical from a movie he's filming with Steven Spielberg 341 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:03,320 Speaker 1: and Tom Hanks working time Bridge of Spies, Mark's prime 342 00:24:03,359 --> 00:24:08,600 Speaker 1: director for the trip Don't Get Sunburned. Mark, Marcus Buck, 343 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:11,880 Speaker 1: our Navajo Botman, and I spent much of the evening in. 344 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:13,320 Speaker 2: Conversation last night. 345 00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:17,080 Speaker 1: Mark's career has primarily been as a stage actor, which 346 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:20,320 Speaker 1: led us into a long discussion about the actual identity 347 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:26,719 Speaker 1: of William Shakespeare. In Mark's opinion, Shakespeare's plays weren't written 348 00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:31,119 Speaker 1: by an individual, but by a committee of writers directed 349 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:36,879 Speaker 1: by Francis Bacon. Somehow that topic veered into the Peote religion, 350 00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:40,760 Speaker 1: I'm not quite sure how, which further digressed to Marcus's 351 00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:44,879 Speaker 1: account of the discovery of a skeleton and combe wash 352 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:48,679 Speaker 1: near his Utah home that some thought might be the 353 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:53,720 Speaker 1: remains of Everett Ruis, the young vagabond for beauty who 354 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:58,480 Speaker 1: disappeared into the Colorado Plateau country more than a century ago. 355 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:02,800 Speaker 1: And in joy both these guys and our long late 356 00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:08,440 Speaker 1: night digressions. As the river murmurs by Christa once again 357 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:11,439 Speaker 1: wants me in the front of her league boat today 358 00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:16,000 Speaker 1: to help provide an extra safety net or some of 359 00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:20,119 Speaker 1: the group that's riding with her. I'm concluding that this 360 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:28,960 Speaker 1: is one of the great experiences of my life. October fourth, 361 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:33,480 Speaker 1: on the morning of day nine, we're at a terrific camp, 362 00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:36,440 Speaker 1: my favorite one so far, in the sand of one 363 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:40,119 Speaker 1: hundred and ten mile rapid. Yesterday was another day of 364 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:44,960 Speaker 1: running big, daunting class nine and ten rapids, including Granite 365 00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:48,800 Speaker 1: and Crystal, the latter a rapid famous for upsetting boats 366 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:52,880 Speaker 1: and sending swimmers downstream into a rock garden, and as 367 00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:55,920 Speaker 1: we watch from shore, damned at the very first boat 368 00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:59,560 Speaker 1: from another party didn't end up capsized in the big 369 00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:04,120 Speaker 1: waves of Crystal. Our boats, however, all got through safely, 370 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:09,320 Speaker 1: although Ali did lose an oar. The weather remains calm 371 00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:13,639 Speaker 1: and sunny and gorgeous. This was a moon camp open 372 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:16,920 Speaker 1: to the sky, although we're still in the upper Gorge 373 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:21,359 Speaker 1: with its black schists and narrow canyon and rapid water, 374 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:25,200 Speaker 1: but the canyon spread out here and the waxing moon 375 00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:29,160 Speaker 1: bathed us and the spot in a beautiful moonlight. Last night, 376 00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:33,520 Speaker 1: once again had a late night confab with Marcus Mark 377 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:36,720 Speaker 1: and David, one of the new additions to the group 378 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:40,320 Speaker 1: at Phantom Ranch, who lives in Manhattan and is also 379 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:44,639 Speaker 1: an actor. We have only one big rapid coming up today, 380 00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:47,720 Speaker 1: but there's a promised hike to one of the river's 381 00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:56,720 Speaker 1: fairyland alcoves, elves Chasm. 382 00:26:56,840 --> 00:26:57,959 Speaker 2: October fifth. 383 00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:02,399 Speaker 1: This is there's day ten in the Grand Canyon, and 384 00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:05,760 Speaker 1: it's breaking at a splendid camp on the right bank 385 00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:10,000 Speaker 1: at mile one eighteen, which means we made only eight 386 00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:15,680 Speaker 1: miles yesterday. We stopped to caress shist polished smooth by water, 387 00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:20,720 Speaker 1: then scouted Waltenburg rapid while the other party that flipped 388 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:25,800 Speaker 1: the boat yesterday, kids from Colorado and Bozeman, never bothered, 389 00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:30,239 Speaker 1: just crashed through the rapid on every line imaginable and 390 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:35,040 Speaker 1: somehow stayed upright. By the time we got to elves 391 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:38,359 Speaker 1: Chasm at mile one point seventeen, we were out of 392 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:42,359 Speaker 1: the Upper Gorge and back into the tapite sandstone and 393 00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:46,960 Speaker 1: the red wall formations. I must prefer this section esthetically 394 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:49,879 Speaker 1: to the black Granite Gorge that so lights up the 395 00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:55,080 Speaker 1: geologists among us. The falls and pools at Elves were magnificent, 396 00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:59,520 Speaker 1: and we all jumped into the cool clear water. Returning 397 00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:02,919 Speaker 1: to camp, we saw five big horns and Marcus played 398 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:07,800 Speaker 1: his flute for them to their utter astonishment. Friends from 399 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:10,600 Speaker 1: Santa Fe who've been setting up a tent near me, 400 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:14,040 Speaker 1: Robert and Jackie, invited me to share a flask of 401 00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:17,600 Speaker 1: twenty five year old scotch while we were fashioning our 402 00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:22,840 Speaker 1: camp this afternoon. That whiskey was smooth, smoky, delicious. 403 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:24,680 Speaker 2: We had a. 404 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:28,840 Speaker 1: Fine dinner and camaraderie around the campsite in the twilight 405 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:32,800 Speaker 1: of the evening today while Marcus told us his skin 406 00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:37,399 Speaker 1: walker story of a Navajo family attempting a cure with 407 00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:41,840 Speaker 1: a peote ceremony when he was thirteen years old, during 408 00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:44,880 Speaker 1: which the entire family, he said, grew. 409 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:46,440 Speaker 2: Sharp, pointy teeth. 410 00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:51,160 Speaker 1: Whoever, isn't mesmerized by a story like that, as the 411 00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:55,280 Speaker 1: River of the West murmurs by and Redcliff's sore overhead 412 00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:59,800 Speaker 1: isn't tuned into life. We have a big hike coming 413 00:28:59,840 --> 00:29:03,160 Speaker 1: to day and there's still one hundred and eight miles 414 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:05,920 Speaker 1: of river left to descend and only six and a 415 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:18,160 Speaker 1: half days to do it. October sixth This is day 416 00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:23,440 Speaker 1: eleven and follows another silvery moonlit night, a perfect flawless 417 00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:28,239 Speaker 1: sky morning is going. We're just above Dubendorf rapid and 418 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:32,520 Speaker 1: the Abyss has yawned at us throughout the night. We're 419 00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:35,920 Speaker 1: camped at river mile one thirty two with five and 420 00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:40,000 Speaker 1: a half days of travel left. There were two prize 421 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:44,440 Speaker 1: moments yesterday. One was getting to ascend the wonderful Slot 422 00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:49,440 Speaker 1: Canyon and the tappite sandstone of black Tail Canyon. It 423 00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:53,440 Speaker 1: was narrowed deep and ended in a pour off cascade 424 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:57,480 Speaker 1: into a small pool. I was the first end, so 425 00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:00,400 Speaker 1: had it to myself for a couple of minutes. Then 426 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:04,320 Speaker 1: some of the women, including Chrisa, tried out the ringing 427 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:07,800 Speaker 1: acoustics of the place with song, some of them a 428 00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:11,760 Speaker 1: song for the Colorado River film several of our group 429 00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:15,720 Speaker 1: are working on. Moment number two took place in the 430 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:20,240 Speaker 1: moonlight last night, when several of us learned a peyote song. 431 00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:24,400 Speaker 1: Marcus taught us. The song was quick to master, and 432 00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:29,720 Speaker 1: singing it in the moonlight somehow made you feel remarkably fine. 433 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:33,239 Speaker 1: The flask full of premium El Tasos silver tequila I'd 434 00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:35,360 Speaker 1: brought on the trip, no doubt contributed. 435 00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:37,040 Speaker 2: The song went like. 436 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:43,440 Speaker 1: This, Yaha who way niini yoh nah, yaha who way 437 00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:49,240 Speaker 1: nini who way yoh na. But now we're donning splash 438 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:53,040 Speaker 1: gear in preparation for heading down the river again with 439 00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:56,680 Speaker 1: a Class nine rapid for an immediate warm up to 440 00:30:56,760 --> 00:30:59,080 Speaker 1: another day on this roaring river. 441 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:10,560 Speaker 2: October seventh. This is day twelve. 442 00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:12,880 Speaker 1: Of life in the Grand Canyon, and we're at mile 443 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:16,440 Speaker 1: one thirty eight, with nearly ninety miles to do over 444 00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:19,680 Speaker 1: the next four days. But the river is running faster 445 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:24,120 Speaker 1: here and our hikes are growing fewer. Knowing I was 446 00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:27,400 Speaker 1: writing a biography of one of the West's most famous 447 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:31,640 Speaker 1: and maligned native animals, the coyote, some of the party 448 00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:34,640 Speaker 1: prevailed on me to tell a few coyote stories after 449 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:38,440 Speaker 1: dinner last night, after which Marcus and Mark and I 450 00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:42,000 Speaker 1: sat on a rock and sampled the weeds. Someone brought 451 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:46,160 Speaker 1: and drank the dregs of my tequila flask while coyotes 452 00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:52,200 Speaker 1: howled most appropriately, we thought. Yesterday's highlight was Deer Creek Falls, 453 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:56,400 Speaker 1: a straight plunge of eighty feet into a blue pool, 454 00:31:56,760 --> 00:31:59,400 Speaker 1: the force of the water on impact so hard you 455 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:03,400 Speaker 1: couldn't stand beneath it. Followed then by the climb some 456 00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:07,560 Speaker 1: of us made up to the patio several hundred feet 457 00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:11,920 Speaker 1: higher in the cliffs above. The patio features a winding 458 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:18,520 Speaker 1: creek pools and falls beneath cottonwoods and cliffs with eighteen 459 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:21,320 Speaker 1: rafts and a dory tied off on the river below 460 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:24,200 Speaker 1: this spot, though, there were too many people up there, 461 00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:28,360 Speaker 1: and the climb featured one of those narrow ledges with 462 00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:32,400 Speaker 1: two spots maybe twenty five feet long, where the cliff 463 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:35,600 Speaker 1: face bends over and wants to push you off and 464 00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:39,920 Speaker 1: into certain expiration in the waters of the Roaring Defile 465 00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:45,840 Speaker 1: fifty feet below. It was a dicey little passage. We 466 00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:49,720 Speaker 1: have Havasu Creek with pools and falls of turquoise blue 467 00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:53,520 Speaker 1: waters coming up today at mile one fifty seven. The 468 00:32:53,600 --> 00:33:03,640 Speaker 1: main river, though, continues ruddy red. October the eighth, It's 469 00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:07,160 Speaker 1: day thirteen. We've been in the Grand Canyon almost two weeks, 470 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:10,920 Speaker 1: and we're once again breaking into morning twilight with the 471 00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:15,000 Speaker 1: roar of a rapid. This river has dominated our intake 472 00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:18,680 Speaker 1: of sound so long now I can hardly imagine silence. 473 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:22,719 Speaker 1: Every act for two weeks has transpired enveloped in the 474 00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:27,360 Speaker 1: sound of rushing waters. The sheer immensity of this canyon 475 00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:31,080 Speaker 1: has also become a constant presence in the psychology of 476 00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:34,840 Speaker 1: the trip. How long can these cliffs and rapids continue 477 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:38,240 Speaker 1: for Christ's sake, This canyon is the biggest thing I've 478 00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:43,880 Speaker 1: ever experienced, on some otherworldly Jupiter like scale. It's almost 479 00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:47,440 Speaker 1: impossible to hold in the mind as a single piece, 480 00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:52,760 Speaker 1: as one landform. We're camped on limestone ledges in the 481 00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:56,280 Speaker 1: Mauve formation on the right bank at mile one point 482 00:33:56,280 --> 00:34:00,280 Speaker 1: fifty nine, a couple of miles below the confluence. 483 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:01,000 Speaker 2: With have Asou Creek. 484 00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:05,400 Speaker 1: The day was a little disappointing. The sky was overcast, 485 00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:08,839 Speaker 1: obscuring both sun and moon and making the day too 486 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:12,319 Speaker 1: cool to ascend have Asu Creek by swimming up it, 487 00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:17,479 Speaker 1: which was the general plan. The biggest rapid on the river, 488 00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:22,239 Speaker 1: Lava Falls, now remains our only major obstacle to a 489 00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:26,279 Speaker 1: safe and successful descent. We'll get to it this afternoon 490 00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:29,840 Speaker 1: and run it either today or in the morning. Christa 491 00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:32,800 Speaker 1: has again asked for me in her boat for this rappid. 492 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:37,600 Speaker 1: She's run lava more than anyone here, and we'll go 493 00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:42,520 Speaker 1: first to see how it goes. As we rafted downriver, 494 00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:46,480 Speaker 1: there were asks that I tell more Coyote stories. I'd 495 00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:51,080 Speaker 1: related the Orpheus like nez Perce story called Coyote and 496 00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:54,919 Speaker 1: the Shadow People to the group the night before there's 497 00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:59,800 Speaker 1: an awful lot of pathos in that story. 498 00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:07,920 Speaker 2: October ninth. 499 00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:13,239 Speaker 1: It's daybreak on day fourteen and a camp on the beach. 500 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:15,880 Speaker 2: Just below Lava Falls rapid. 501 00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:20,200 Speaker 1: Huge matches of black lava protrude from the cliff behind 502 00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:23,319 Speaker 1: my tent. We're now at mile one point eighty with 503 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:28,080 Speaker 1: forty seven river miles to go to take out, so 504 00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:33,759 Speaker 1: our biggest rapid and biggest tests is behind us. We 505 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:37,920 Speaker 1: floated twenty two miles under cool, overcast conditions yesterday with 506 00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:41,040 Speaker 1: a lunch stop and a hike in National Canyon to 507 00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:44,319 Speaker 1: set us up to run Lava Falls rapid as a 508 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:48,879 Speaker 1: last act before camping. Last night, I was in Christa's 509 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:52,520 Speaker 1: lead boat, and I'm obliged to comment that I've never 510 00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:55,960 Speaker 1: been in a rapid as big as lava. It's quick 511 00:35:56,080 --> 00:36:00,400 Speaker 1: and over in seconds, but it's enormous, with trucks that 512 00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:04,960 Speaker 1: can devour you and waves curling ten to twelve feet overhead. 513 00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:07,200 Speaker 2: Hell of an adrenaline rush. 514 00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:11,160 Speaker 1: All six of our rafts got through without mishap, though, 515 00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:14,560 Speaker 1: so we ate steaks and broke out the bucket of 516 00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:20,319 Speaker 1: stupid vodka and fruit juice to celebrate. Stupidity was rewarded 517 00:36:20,600 --> 00:36:25,320 Speaker 1: as old Man America. Coyote smiled on us and yodeled, 518 00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:29,680 Speaker 1: and a stunner of a double rainbow formed over. 519 00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:31,160 Speaker 2: Lava falls as we drank. 520 00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:36,880 Speaker 1: Clearer weather and a calm float await us today. Three 521 00:36:37,040 --> 00:36:40,640 Speaker 1: decent rapids, two sevens and an eight come up tomorrow, 522 00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:43,520 Speaker 1: but that's about it till we get to take out 523 00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:54,239 Speaker 1: on the morning of day sixteen, October tenth. It's our 524 00:36:54,320 --> 00:36:58,160 Speaker 1: fifteenth day in the Grand Canyon and our last full day. 525 00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:01,640 Speaker 1: We'll make our final camp at about mile two twenty 526 00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:05,920 Speaker 1: two tonight to set us up for takeout the next day. Presently, 527 00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:08,320 Speaker 1: we're somewhere around mile two hundred. 528 00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:11,839 Speaker 2: Yesterday I rode alone. 529 00:37:11,719 --> 00:37:16,000 Speaker 1: With Marcus in the baggage boat all day, standing up 530 00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:18,640 Speaker 1: behind him for much of it, a fine way to 531 00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:21,799 Speaker 1: see the river in the canyon. Marcus and I had 532 00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:25,040 Speaker 1: a splendid day hanging out and talking, during which he 533 00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:29,200 Speaker 1: told me this story, which was as appropriate a way 534 00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:34,240 Speaker 1: to bring this adventure to a close as I could imagine. 535 00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:38,400 Speaker 1: Among the Indian and White homes of Bluff Utah, where 536 00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:43,600 Speaker 1: Marcus lives, a particular coyote had been causing trouble, killing sheep, 537 00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:49,080 Speaker 1: chasing pets, attracting attention to itself. Bluff is a town 538 00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:52,160 Speaker 1: of about three hundred and fifty people, and, like towns 539 00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:56,600 Speaker 1: big and small in America these days, it has resident coyotes. 540 00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:02,200 Speaker 1: Occasionally one becomes a problem, so the DNA chapter leadership 541 00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:05,759 Speaker 1: asked Marcus if he couldn't hunt down this coyote and 542 00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:09,520 Speaker 1: take it out. A few mornings later, Marcus was in 543 00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:12,800 Speaker 1: his truck on the edge of town, bouncing slowly along 544 00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:15,720 Speaker 1: a dirt road, his rifle in the gun rack behind 545 00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:19,759 Speaker 1: his head, when out of the waist high sagebrush, a 546 00:38:19,880 --> 00:38:23,279 Speaker 1: coyote steps into the road no more than twenty five 547 00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:28,239 Speaker 1: feet away. Marcus breaked to a stop. The dust from 548 00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:32,600 Speaker 1: the truck tires rose into the air, briefly obscured the coyote, 549 00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:38,080 Speaker 1: then settled. The coyote was still there, standing broadside to 550 00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:41,920 Speaker 1: the truck. Marcus reached behind him and grasped his rifle. 551 00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:47,120 Speaker 1: At that moment, we were floating through a calm mojave 552 00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:50,200 Speaker 1: desert looking stretch of the Grand Canyon on the way 553 00:38:50,239 --> 00:38:55,239 Speaker 1: to our final camp. Cremulated black lava flows and irregular 554 00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:59,239 Speaker 1: dikes and blobs of lava decorated both banks of the river. 555 00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:01,399 Speaker 2: The rest of our group was. 556 00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:06,279 Speaker 1: Bobbing along in five yellow craft downstream of us. I 557 00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:10,200 Speaker 1: was sitting behind Marcus, so couldn't see his face as 558 00:39:10,239 --> 00:39:16,359 Speaker 1: he described what happened. Then this coyote walks nonchalantly right 559 00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:19,160 Speaker 1: in front of me in the road, looks at me, 560 00:39:20,080 --> 00:39:21,080 Speaker 1: sees the rifle. 561 00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:25,920 Speaker 2: Then you know what he does. He yawns right in 562 00:39:26,040 --> 00:39:28,360 Speaker 2: my face, kind of stretches. 563 00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:31,640 Speaker 1: Then he turns to look back where he had come from, 564 00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:36,200 Speaker 1: and I hear coyotes howl aways back. So he raises 565 00:39:36,239 --> 00:39:39,839 Speaker 1: his nose, throws back his head and howls back at them. 566 00:39:40,680 --> 00:39:42,880 Speaker 1: I've got my hand on the stock of the rifle, 567 00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:47,320 Speaker 1: but I still haven't pulled it down. Now he stops howling, 568 00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:51,239 Speaker 1: turns back to me, looks straight as can be, right 569 00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:55,880 Speaker 1: at me for probably half a minute. Then he strolls 570 00:39:56,040 --> 00:40:00,120 Speaker 1: casually across the road in no hurry at all, as 571 00:40:00,160 --> 00:40:04,839 Speaker 1: if he knew something about me. So you never shot. 572 00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:09,359 Speaker 1: I'd known how this was gonna go. No, I never 573 00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:13,400 Speaker 1: even got the gun down. He was just too damn nonchalant, 574 00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:17,359 Speaker 1: too confident something. And I didn't know for sure if 575 00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:20,120 Speaker 1: it was the coyote. Everybody was looking for it. But 576 00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:23,239 Speaker 1: you know, something even if it was, I wouldn't have 577 00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:28,160 Speaker 1: shot that coyote was so cool, looking, so perfect. 578 00:40:28,880 --> 00:40:33,160 Speaker 2: He was way too pretty to shoot. I nodded. 579 00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:38,360 Speaker 1: Marcus had obviously experienced one of those sympathetic moments with 580 00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:42,200 Speaker 1: the world. It was a moment of animal to animal 581 00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:48,200 Speaker 1: mutual understanding and identification. Moments like that can be unforgettable 582 00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:53,640 Speaker 1: because the shared dialogue of body language isn't getting filtered 583 00:40:53,640 --> 00:40:57,719 Speaker 1: by the cultural thoughts in our heads. By loaded language, 584 00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:02,880 Speaker 1: both see the other for who he is. It was 585 00:41:02,960 --> 00:41:06,000 Speaker 1: exactly the kind of story you want to tell or 586 00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:09,719 Speaker 1: here after more than two weeks in a place like 587 00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:12,160 Speaker 1: the Grand Canyon of the American West. 588 00:41:23,520 --> 00:41:26,480 Speaker 3: So Dan, in this episode, you took us down the 589 00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:31,320 Speaker 3: Colorado River, and I want to begin where you did, 590 00:41:31,640 --> 00:41:36,719 Speaker 3: which is you began this episode by discussing the endless 591 00:41:36,760 --> 00:41:40,320 Speaker 3: possibilities of the Western landscape in terms of just getting 592 00:41:40,360 --> 00:41:46,960 Speaker 3: lost and pure adventure. And what struck me is then 593 00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:51,200 Speaker 3: as you embark on this trip, you're describing the lottery 594 00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:54,279 Speaker 3: system to get a permit to go down the Colorado, 595 00:41:55,480 --> 00:42:00,640 Speaker 3: and I sort of wonder what your thoughts are in 596 00:42:00,680 --> 00:42:04,640 Speaker 3: the tension between recreation management and the endless possibilities. 597 00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:06,359 Speaker 2: I mean, I'm I'm in the camp that. 598 00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:10,759 Speaker 3: There's too much to do in too little time, and 599 00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:14,759 Speaker 3: there's endless opportunities out there. But obviously to live in 600 00:42:14,800 --> 00:42:17,799 Speaker 3: the West today, with the crowds that some of these 601 00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:22,040 Speaker 3: parks experience and the interest in them, there are more 602 00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:27,560 Speaker 3: and more constraints on outdoor recreation just general exploration. 603 00:42:28,719 --> 00:42:29,399 Speaker 2: Yeah, there are. 604 00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:33,120 Speaker 1: I mean, there's no question about it. That's a consequence 605 00:42:33,160 --> 00:42:39,240 Speaker 1: of a burgeoning population and excitement about all the things 606 00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:43,880 Speaker 1: one can do in the West. You know, what I 607 00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:49,680 Speaker 1: will say about Western experiences is that if you use 608 00:42:49,719 --> 00:42:55,680 Speaker 1: some imagination, you can always figure out a way to 609 00:42:55,920 --> 00:42:59,680 Speaker 1: experience something a little more and a little more solitary 610 00:42:59,719 --> 00:43:04,279 Speaker 1: fact than than if you don't use your imagination and 611 00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:06,720 Speaker 1: you just kind of waltz up and stand in line 612 00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:12,279 Speaker 1: and end up immersed in crowds. So you have to 613 00:43:12,360 --> 00:43:15,000 Speaker 1: kind of do that today, you know, and you know 614 00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:17,960 Speaker 1: this is a part of modern life in the West 615 00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:20,080 Speaker 1: or in any part of the world. I think that's 616 00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:25,440 Speaker 1: in demand right and where people are excited to be there. 617 00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:29,360 Speaker 1: This particular trip down the Colorado River, I mean, we 618 00:43:29,400 --> 00:43:34,439 Speaker 1: did this trip in October, which is a little bit 619 00:43:34,600 --> 00:43:38,040 Speaker 1: off the prime time for doing a trip like this. 620 00:43:38,600 --> 00:43:42,880 Speaker 1: I mean, my friends who have done this trip at 621 00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:45,240 Speaker 1: other times of the year like to go in April, 622 00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:49,080 Speaker 1: same reason, because it's not quite the prime time. So 623 00:43:49,160 --> 00:43:52,799 Speaker 1: it wasn't it wasn't a it didn't feel like you 624 00:43:52,840 --> 00:43:56,960 Speaker 1: were competing for camping spots. The one time, which I 625 00:43:57,040 --> 00:44:01,440 Speaker 1: did mention in the script that it seemed like there 626 00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:04,080 Speaker 1: were too many people as we stopped at a particular 627 00:44:04,120 --> 00:44:07,960 Speaker 1: spot where you climb up to these beautiful pools and 628 00:44:08,040 --> 00:44:12,960 Speaker 1: waterfalls and cottonwood trees, and when we came down, I mean, 629 00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:15,080 Speaker 1: there weren't that many boats there when we went up, 630 00:44:15,080 --> 00:44:16,960 Speaker 1: but when we came down from that, there were like 631 00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:22,239 Speaker 1: fourteen rafts parked at the spot where you ascended to 632 00:44:22,280 --> 00:44:27,920 Speaker 1: go up to this really delightful kind of alcove. Otherwise, 633 00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:32,959 Speaker 1: we actually didn't really have that much company on the river. 634 00:44:33,040 --> 00:44:35,920 Speaker 1: I mean, when you're a phantom ranch, obviously there are 635 00:44:35,960 --> 00:44:39,040 Speaker 1: some other people coming through, and you see groups of 636 00:44:39,040 --> 00:44:41,239 Speaker 1: people who are doing the rim to rim hike, or 637 00:44:42,520 --> 00:44:44,360 Speaker 1: if you're there for a couple of hours, there'll be 638 00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:47,959 Speaker 1: another trip maybe that comes in behind you to eat 639 00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:51,520 Speaker 1: breakfast or something. But we didn't really have much of 640 00:44:51,560 --> 00:44:54,319 Speaker 1: an experience of feeling crowded, I would say on this 641 00:44:54,320 --> 00:44:57,520 Speaker 1: particular trip, and I think it was because we waited 642 00:44:57,640 --> 00:45:03,080 Speaker 1: until October to do it, which is a fantastic time 643 00:45:03,120 --> 00:45:04,160 Speaker 1: to be in the Grand Canyon. 644 00:45:04,160 --> 00:45:05,919 Speaker 2: I gotta say, yeah, the. 645 00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:15,520 Speaker 3: Throughout this chapter you reference various proposals to dam the 646 00:45:15,600 --> 00:45:22,759 Speaker 3: Grand Canyon, and I think it's in some respects it 647 00:45:22,840 --> 00:45:27,600 Speaker 3: might be overlooked by the general public just how crazy 648 00:45:27,640 --> 00:45:30,280 Speaker 3: we were for dams at one point in our history. 649 00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:35,160 Speaker 3: I don't know that the average person recognizes the name 650 00:45:35,280 --> 00:45:38,840 Speaker 3: Floyd Dominie, but when you think of hetch Hetchy and 651 00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:42,920 Speaker 3: Echo Park, you know, dams have really been sort of 652 00:45:43,400 --> 00:45:49,120 Speaker 3: pivotal moments in appreciation for public lands and these types 653 00:45:49,120 --> 00:45:50,480 Speaker 3: of things. So I wonder if you can sort of 654 00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:55,560 Speaker 3: contextualize dams within the broader story of American environmental history. 655 00:45:56,719 --> 00:46:00,840 Speaker 1: Well, one of the ways to settle and in habit 656 00:46:00,960 --> 00:46:03,400 Speaker 1: and live in the West has been to manipulate the 657 00:46:03,440 --> 00:46:08,279 Speaker 1: waters of the West. And I mean those manipulations go 658 00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:11,320 Speaker 1: a long way back. You know, John Wesley Powell and 659 00:46:11,360 --> 00:46:14,000 Speaker 1: the United States Geological Survey. I mean, one of the 660 00:46:14,680 --> 00:46:18,840 Speaker 1: big projects they undertook in the eighteen eighties was to 661 00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:22,960 Speaker 1: canvass the West for potential dam sites. So I mean, 662 00:46:23,040 --> 00:46:26,799 Speaker 1: we've been confronting the whole idea of damming up the 663 00:46:26,800 --> 00:46:30,520 Speaker 1: West to the point where, you know, as we all know, 664 00:46:31,920 --> 00:46:36,880 Speaker 1: virtually every river in the United States is damned. In 665 00:46:36,920 --> 00:46:42,440 Speaker 1: the West, most rivers end up with multiple dams on them. 666 00:46:42,600 --> 00:46:45,040 Speaker 1: You know, We've got a piece of the Yellowstone that 667 00:46:45,080 --> 00:46:49,160 Speaker 1: we're all proud of that is an undamned river, and 668 00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:53,960 Speaker 1: everybody remains excited about that. But the Missouri in Montana, 669 00:46:54,040 --> 00:46:58,400 Speaker 1: for example, is damned in multiple places, including within the state. 670 00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:03,120 Speaker 1: And this is true pretty much everywhere. And we had 671 00:47:03,520 --> 00:47:06,080 Speaker 1: a government bureau, the Bureau of Reclamation, that started in 672 00:47:06,120 --> 00:47:11,320 Speaker 1: the early twentieth century that really endeavored to put Powell's 673 00:47:11,400 --> 00:47:16,320 Speaker 1: plans into action, and so we kind of designed dams 674 00:47:16,400 --> 00:47:21,120 Speaker 1: on every running piece of water to the point where 675 00:47:21,160 --> 00:47:26,279 Speaker 1: in the nineteen sixties, under the direction of Floyd Dominie, 676 00:47:26,840 --> 00:47:30,520 Speaker 1: this fellow I referred to as an uber engineer, a 677 00:47:30,560 --> 00:47:33,520 Speaker 1: guy who couldn't see a river without planning some way 678 00:47:33,520 --> 00:47:36,239 Speaker 1: to dam it up, had the idea that we were 679 00:47:36,239 --> 00:47:39,560 Speaker 1: also going to damn the Grand Canyon. I mean, so 680 00:47:39,600 --> 00:47:42,920 Speaker 1: we had, of course sacrificed a piece of a national park. 681 00:47:43,280 --> 00:47:46,520 Speaker 1: Earlier in American history, when the city of San Francisco, 682 00:47:46,640 --> 00:47:50,239 Speaker 1: following the earthquake and the Great Fire of nineteen o six, 683 00:47:50,320 --> 00:47:54,320 Speaker 1: decided that it needed the waters of Yosemite National Park, 684 00:47:54,840 --> 00:47:58,600 Speaker 1: and hetch Hetchy Canyon in Yosemite ended up being damned. 685 00:47:59,040 --> 00:48:02,480 Speaker 1: John Muir fought it to the end. He was not 686 00:48:02,600 --> 00:48:06,120 Speaker 1: able to stop that dam, and the O'Shaughnessy Dam is 687 00:48:06,160 --> 00:48:10,560 Speaker 1: still there, still blocking up the waters of the Tuolomie 688 00:48:10,680 --> 00:48:15,000 Speaker 1: River and Hetgeedgy Canyon. So we had that precedent where 689 00:48:15,800 --> 00:48:21,520 Speaker 1: a National park, we assumed was for perpetuity, except if 690 00:48:21,560 --> 00:48:26,360 Speaker 1: things you reach a really bad turn, we may just 691 00:48:26,480 --> 00:48:32,360 Speaker 1: sacrifice a particular canyon in a national park. So Floyd Dominie, 692 00:48:32,760 --> 00:48:37,279 Speaker 1: with that kind of precedent in his mind, decided that 693 00:48:37,840 --> 00:48:40,160 Speaker 1: we were going to have to dam up the Grand Canyon, 694 00:48:40,600 --> 00:48:42,520 Speaker 1: I mean, and this was a suite of a series 695 00:48:42,560 --> 00:48:47,520 Speaker 1: of dams that included Lake Powell and Echo Park Dam 696 00:48:47,600 --> 00:48:50,960 Speaker 1: that we were going to construct on the Colorado River. 697 00:48:51,360 --> 00:48:55,960 Speaker 1: And fortunately, at the time when Dominie was doing this, 698 00:48:55,960 --> 00:49:00,279 Speaker 1: this is another Stuart Udahl victory. As the Secretary of 699 00:49:00,280 --> 00:49:04,280 Speaker 1: the Interior under Kennedy and Johnson Stewart, you'd all stepped 700 00:49:04,360 --> 00:49:07,040 Speaker 1: up and said, no, we're not going to damn the 701 00:49:07,120 --> 00:49:11,640 Speaker 1: Grand Canyon National Park. But floating through it today, if 702 00:49:11,719 --> 00:49:15,160 Speaker 1: you pay attention when you're in Marble Canyon, which is 703 00:49:15,200 --> 00:49:18,120 Speaker 1: one of the first big canyons you come into after 704 00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:21,920 Speaker 1: you depart from Lee's Ferry, you can see the boreholes 705 00:49:22,360 --> 00:49:26,000 Speaker 1: where they were already where the engineers were already planning 706 00:49:26,280 --> 00:49:30,360 Speaker 1: on putting their pylons in in order to start this project. 707 00:49:30,719 --> 00:49:33,400 Speaker 1: And that sort of gives you a cold sweat to 708 00:49:33,440 --> 00:49:35,120 Speaker 1: see that. I mean, it got that close. 709 00:49:35,360 --> 00:49:40,200 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's amazing. I one of the things that you 710 00:49:40,280 --> 00:49:44,360 Speaker 3: talk about in this episode is just the sheer scale 711 00:49:45,120 --> 00:49:49,239 Speaker 3: of the canyon and your inability to sort of comprehend 712 00:49:49,320 --> 00:49:54,399 Speaker 3: how big this place is. One of the other things 713 00:49:54,440 --> 00:49:56,320 Speaker 3: that came to mind for me is the scale of 714 00:49:56,360 --> 00:50:00,239 Speaker 3: the Colorado River, because it's someone who grew up in 715 00:50:00,280 --> 00:50:04,440 Speaker 3: the Midwest, you know, and we learned all about the Mississippi, 716 00:50:05,280 --> 00:50:08,880 Speaker 3: but I don't think I fully appreciated the Green and 717 00:50:08,920 --> 00:50:11,839 Speaker 3: Colorado River system until I moved out west and just 718 00:50:11,880 --> 00:50:13,799 Speaker 3: sort of got a sense of where it comes from, 719 00:50:13,960 --> 00:50:17,040 Speaker 3: where it goes and along the Grand Camp or along 720 00:50:17,040 --> 00:50:19,360 Speaker 3: the Colorado not only have the Grand Canyon, but you 721 00:50:19,440 --> 00:50:23,760 Speaker 3: mentioned in the in the episode Canyon Lands, Echo Park, 722 00:50:24,440 --> 00:50:25,560 Speaker 3: Desolation Canyon. 723 00:50:25,719 --> 00:50:27,640 Speaker 2: I mean it's cataract. Yeah. 724 00:50:27,760 --> 00:50:31,439 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's sort of an unbelievable chain of these landscapes 725 00:50:32,600 --> 00:50:35,040 Speaker 3: along a single river system. It is. 726 00:50:35,239 --> 00:50:38,080 Speaker 1: And you know, I mean the waters. You can argue 727 00:50:38,080 --> 00:50:41,040 Speaker 1: that the waters of the Colorado River. I mean, there 728 00:50:41,040 --> 00:50:45,440 Speaker 1: are several sources high in the Colorado Rockies is one 729 00:50:45,480 --> 00:50:49,960 Speaker 1: of them. But to me, the real start of the 730 00:50:49,960 --> 00:50:52,719 Speaker 1: Colorado River is in the wind River Range on the 731 00:50:52,760 --> 00:50:58,600 Speaker 1: west side of the Winds and Wyoming and so and 732 00:50:58,640 --> 00:51:03,279 Speaker 1: down then through Flame Gorge another obviously reservoir now, but 733 00:51:03,760 --> 00:51:08,080 Speaker 1: Flaming Gorge Canyon, and then into Echo Park and then 734 00:51:08,360 --> 00:51:10,880 Speaker 1: as you mentioned all these and I was because I 735 00:51:10,920 --> 00:51:14,160 Speaker 1: was reading John Wesley Powell's account at the time we 736 00:51:14,160 --> 00:51:16,520 Speaker 1: were doing this float, you know, I was sort of 737 00:51:16,560 --> 00:51:20,040 Speaker 1: imagining in my mind all of his descents through all 738 00:51:20,080 --> 00:51:24,280 Speaker 1: these places. And I mean it is a marvelous system 739 00:51:24,920 --> 00:51:29,719 Speaker 1: of canyon country and deep gorges and rushing waters that 740 00:51:29,880 --> 00:51:32,400 Speaker 1: starts all the way up in Wyoming and of course 741 00:51:32,680 --> 00:51:37,520 Speaker 1: ends up in the Gulf of California, Baja California. The Colorado. 742 00:51:37,960 --> 00:51:41,600 Speaker 1: What's left of it flows into Mexico. So it's a 743 00:51:41,719 --> 00:51:46,240 Speaker 1: gigantic river system. It's the river of the West, really, 744 00:51:46,320 --> 00:51:50,080 Speaker 1: I mean, so is the Missouri, and so is the Columbia. 745 00:51:51,320 --> 00:51:55,800 Speaker 1: But the Colorado tracks through more of the today's existing 746 00:51:55,880 --> 00:51:59,600 Speaker 1: West than any of the others. And it's also the 747 00:51:59,680 --> 00:52:03,920 Speaker 1: river that's of course the most threatened in terms of 748 00:52:04,160 --> 00:52:08,480 Speaker 1: continuing to provide water for a perpetuation of the West. 749 00:52:09,040 --> 00:52:12,480 Speaker 1: I mean, the Colorado River Compact of nineteen twenty two 750 00:52:13,360 --> 00:52:16,400 Speaker 1: that divided the waters of the Colorado up between the 751 00:52:16,440 --> 00:52:19,080 Speaker 1: so called Upper Basin States and the Lower Basin States, 752 00:52:19,880 --> 00:52:25,480 Speaker 1: had far too optimistic an assessment of what the actual 753 00:52:25,640 --> 00:52:29,719 Speaker 1: flow of the river was, and it turns out dividing 754 00:52:29,760 --> 00:52:34,160 Speaker 1: it up was like giving everybody a third again, too 755 00:52:34,239 --> 00:52:37,960 Speaker 1: much water then was actually going to be in the Colorado. 756 00:52:38,000 --> 00:52:41,080 Speaker 1: And so we're confronting a situation now, of course, where 757 00:52:41,680 --> 00:52:46,600 Speaker 1: I mean deadpool lurks for places like Lake Powell. 758 00:52:47,400 --> 00:52:52,480 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's one of one of the most endangered, consistently 759 00:52:52,560 --> 00:52:54,040 Speaker 3: endangered rivers in the country. 760 00:52:54,120 --> 00:52:58,400 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I think. 761 00:53:00,040 --> 00:53:04,919 Speaker 3: Talk about Powell in this episode quite a bit because 762 00:53:04,920 --> 00:53:10,920 Speaker 3: you're obviously reading him, and I think one of the 763 00:53:10,960 --> 00:53:13,840 Speaker 3: things that always fascinates me about the Grand Canyon and 764 00:53:13,880 --> 00:53:17,520 Speaker 3: the Powell story is sort of what an eye opening 765 00:53:17,600 --> 00:53:23,080 Speaker 3: moment it is for science in terms of geologic time 766 00:53:23,200 --> 00:53:26,279 Speaker 3: and some of Powell's observations. So I wonder if you 767 00:53:26,320 --> 00:53:29,920 Speaker 3: can talk about that and just what it was that 768 00:53:29,960 --> 00:53:32,480 Speaker 3: Powell experienced and what he brought back to the world, 769 00:53:33,200 --> 00:53:38,319 Speaker 3: because his journey is one that really changed a lot 770 00:53:38,360 --> 00:53:43,000 Speaker 3: of minds about what we think of the Western landscape. 771 00:53:43,080 --> 00:53:47,319 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's one of the great epic journeys and the 772 00:53:47,400 --> 00:53:51,480 Speaker 1: whole Western story, I mean, and he did it twice, 773 00:53:51,680 --> 00:53:55,040 Speaker 1: but that first trip, in particular in the early eighteen 774 00:53:55,160 --> 00:53:59,759 Speaker 1: seventies is I mean, it's kind of chilling in a 775 00:53:59,760 --> 00:54:03,520 Speaker 1: way to read it, particularly when you're going through the 776 00:54:03,560 --> 00:54:08,480 Speaker 1: Grand Canyon today and confronting some of these giant rapids, 777 00:54:08,960 --> 00:54:13,200 Speaker 1: because you know, for one thing, they had no sense. 778 00:54:13,320 --> 00:54:16,560 Speaker 1: Powell and his men had no sense about what was ahead. 779 00:54:17,080 --> 00:54:21,720 Speaker 1: I mean, they just didn't. They're going down this stupendous 780 00:54:21,840 --> 00:54:26,280 Speaker 1: river through this landscape. As I described in the script 781 00:54:26,320 --> 00:54:29,520 Speaker 1: that in my experience of it, I mean I couldn't 782 00:54:29,520 --> 00:54:32,839 Speaker 1: comprehend the size of this. We were going day after 783 00:54:32,920 --> 00:54:38,200 Speaker 1: day after day through this immense, gigantic canyon, and it 784 00:54:38,400 --> 00:54:42,880 Speaker 1: just seemed to go on forever. And the whole chilling 785 00:54:42,960 --> 00:54:47,680 Speaker 1: aspect of Powell confronting getting up every morning and having 786 00:54:47,760 --> 00:54:50,239 Speaker 1: no idea really, and of course some of his men 787 00:54:50,320 --> 00:54:53,160 Speaker 1: on that first trip bailed from the expedition they were 788 00:54:53,160 --> 00:54:54,040 Speaker 1: so freaked. 789 00:54:53,760 --> 00:54:54,319 Speaker 2: Out by it. 790 00:54:54,880 --> 00:54:57,840 Speaker 1: But what he did do to speak to the question 791 00:54:58,000 --> 00:55:01,200 Speaker 1: that you ask, is he gave a us a sense. 792 00:55:01,280 --> 00:55:06,080 Speaker 1: I mean, geology obviously is still a science that's discovering 793 00:55:06,120 --> 00:55:09,720 Speaker 1: itself and discovering the world in the late nineteenth century, 794 00:55:09,800 --> 00:55:15,400 Speaker 1: but he gave us a sense of unfathomable time. He 795 00:55:15,600 --> 00:55:18,359 Speaker 1: began to realize that, particularly as you get to the 796 00:55:18,400 --> 00:55:22,200 Speaker 1: bottom of the inner gorge of the Grand Canyon, in 797 00:55:22,200 --> 00:55:27,880 Speaker 1: this black shist, this granite that you're looking at, rock 798 00:55:28,080 --> 00:55:32,719 Speaker 1: that is older than most of the rock that's observable 799 00:55:32,760 --> 00:55:36,240 Speaker 1: anywhere on the planet. And Powell was able to although 800 00:55:36,280 --> 00:55:40,120 Speaker 1: he wasn't able to come up with a precise dating 801 00:55:40,280 --> 00:55:45,239 Speaker 1: of all these specific levels that he was seeing, he 802 00:55:45,719 --> 00:55:49,120 Speaker 1: was able to make it known to the scientific community 803 00:55:49,160 --> 00:55:52,319 Speaker 1: that this was a canyon that cut into really the 804 00:55:52,480 --> 00:55:55,799 Speaker 1: enters of the Earth and was exposing a kind of 805 00:55:55,840 --> 00:56:00,520 Speaker 1: a core geology and a core rock on ancient rock 806 00:56:00,640 --> 00:56:05,680 Speaker 1: that conveyed I mean this is a century. Remember when 807 00:56:06,200 --> 00:56:10,680 Speaker 1: only fifty years before people were saying, well, the Earth's 808 00:56:10,800 --> 00:56:14,279 Speaker 1: like six thousand years old. I mean the Bible says 809 00:56:14,280 --> 00:56:17,040 Speaker 1: it's six thousand years old, so it's no older than that, 810 00:56:17,480 --> 00:56:21,080 Speaker 1: probably and possibly even younger. What Powell, of course, is 811 00:56:21,120 --> 00:56:24,439 Speaker 1: demonstrating with this voyage is that you don't get rock 812 00:56:24,680 --> 00:56:27,759 Speaker 1: like this and these kind of levels in a six 813 00:56:27,840 --> 00:56:29,960 Speaker 1: thousand year old planet. 814 00:56:30,280 --> 00:56:33,279 Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, Dan, it's always good to talk to you. 815 00:56:33,560 --> 00:56:35,160 Speaker 2: Oh, enjoyed it, Appreciate it.