Day 3, this is getting to be REALLY fun

Every morning we woke up we pinched ourselves to see if it was real.  We were really in the Grand Canyon, and we would be here many more days.  The scenery was spectacular.  It was hot, and the paddling was demanding, but it was so worth it.  This day would be one of many spectacular days to come.

Redwall Cavern is the "small" hole in the center of the picture above.  The mouth is about 300' across, and it goes back about 500' from the water to where the ceiling meets the sand.  Mike Jahn, myself, and an assortment of others rotating in played catch in here for the whole time we were stopped.  I suppose we should have really examined the fossils, admired the walls and ceiling, and been more respectful of this place.  But it sure was fun to throw the disc 40 - 50 yards and not have anything in the way.  We wouldn't come across such a wide open space like this the rest of the trip.  While the picture doesn't do Redwall justice, here's one from our trip of Pepper getting ready to throw the disc to me.

After our stop at Redwall Cavern, we would continue on to our lunch spot. But before lunch, we had a hike on our agenda.  To the top of Martha's Crack.  A quick search reveals nothing about this spot.  All I know is it is across the river from the Bridge of Sighs at mile 36.  We hiked up maybe 500 feet or so above the river for a fantastic overlook of the river and canyon.  

After the hike down we were offered the opportunity to jump off a rock into the river.  I was first down the trail, and enjoyed getting cooled off in the river from a ~20' jump.  Life jackets required.   Except for Pepper, as he decided to just jump.   Oh, the trials of a trip leader trying to run a safe trip.  No other incidents that day, unless you can find one in the photo below of our lunch crew that day:

After a delicious lunch, we went 3 miles down the river to our next stop, Redbud Canyon.  Warm sun, full bellies, a strenuous morning hike, I think more than a few of us were likley ready for a nap.  This walk was very short, but stunning.  I was near the middle of the pack as I walked into this canyon.  What I noticed as we approached a large cavern was it seemed like a cathedral.  No pep talk was given before this walk, but none was required.  When i entered the relatively flat floor of the cathedral, no one was making a sound.  You could just sense the special nature of this place.  You'll have to check it out for yourself to see how your group reacts. 

the silence of Redbud Canyon was finally broken by the guides starting, then everyone joining in and singing, Happy Birthday to Mark.  July 14, 2020, was his 65th birthday.

We finally pried ourselves away from the canyon.

A few more miles down the river we stopped again to look at Bert Loper's boat. The link really doesn't do justice to Bert's story, there are many books about him you can find.  

We were winding down the last stretch of rowing for the day, and as I had been for the first 3 days I was in Tommy's boat.  He is a great story teller. At this time he began to tell us the story of Bill Beer and his friend John Daggett who swam the Grand Canyon in 1955.  And lived to tell about it.  This was pre Glen Canyon dam, and they started on Easter day (April 10).  I want to get the book to read it in depth.  (Edit - I got the book for my birthday, its a lot of fun to read!) During the story, Tommy looked up at the canyon walls and muttered something to himself.  When he had finished, he told us to imagine a boat oar.  Pretty easy to do when you have been holding one alot for the past 3 days.  He then told us to look about 150' up the canyon walls, and find a spot with a crack in it.  Not hard to do in the Grand Canyon.  We all had our spot, and he made sure that we really could see that oar up in the crack, spanning the gap of the crack.  He then told us that he had failed to point out an old Anasazi bridge up on the wall that we passed while he was telling the story.  He assured us that in our imagination we had basically seen what we would have seen from the boat, and went on to tell us more about the bridge we had "seen".  

That night we camped at the end of Point Hansbrough, mile 44.  The trip was 14 days long, we had 224 miles, so we should be going 16 miles (or more) a day.  Seemed like we were a bit short, but I figured trust the river guide with 30 years of experience.  I'm glad I did, as he had it all figured out. 

I think that night was our first time of guitar playing and singing.  It was a popular activity after that night.  We also celebrated Mark's birthday with some yummy cake and of course singing Happy Birthday to him.  

Link to Day 4