Run, River, Run

Exuberant spring at the confluence or the Little Colorado River

Well friends, I’m finally clean and rested.  The laundry is done and the camera gear is clean so I’ve had some time to reflect on my eighth river trip in the Grand Canyon. 

I’m older and slower, and I must admit a bit creakier.  This, and the honor of a birthday in the Canyon (sorry about the picture – I was looking pretty rough by day 10!) made me feel a bit philosophical.  As a rule I am proud of my independence.  Perhaps too proud.  When I was 20 (when I took my first raft trip, give or take) I could handle pretty much all of the physical stuff.  This round I had a flare-up of back pain.  As often happens, life teaches us those lessons the hard way.  I needed help and had to get comfortable with accepting it quickly.  My sister calls this “gracious receptivity,” which might be expressed more bluntly as, “stop fighting the situation and accept what’s being offered.”  I’m grateful for the lifting help, the drugs (!) and the kind words from my fellow travelers, most of whom I’d only just met that week.

I keep saying that each trip is my last, but have learned enough to not say that again.  I’m connected to this place and wouldn’t be surprised if I found myself ensconced in its splendid energy again.

In order to share a bit of the trip with you I’m going to pair some quotes and song lyrics that popped into my head or jumped out of things I’ve been reading with a few images.  As always, there are more on the website, this time in the Spring 2019 Gallery.

Tammie and the river

“Art doesn’t happen unless you can rest enough to take the time.”  ~Christa Sadler

On the very first day of the trip I had the luxury of time to reflect before whipping out the camera.  I was thinking about the profusion of flowers this year and about how easy it would be to run around doing simple portraits of flowers.  Instead, I decided to undertake a somewhat more ambitious (and, I hope, interesting) project.  I call it “flowers in context,” giving some sense of place to the images.  This is the first of those. The tamarisk is a rather aggressive invasive plant in the Grand Canyon. It doesn't get much love.  Its grace against a background of the moving river caught my imagination, though.

Small pour-overs and reflections, RM 215

 “Seek not to change the world but choose to change your mind about the world.”

~A Course in Miracles

At our ninth and last camp, I had some time alone with the reflections and rapids at river mile 215. Long shutter speeds can transform a chaotic scene to something else entirely.  With the blessing of reflected light from canyon walls across the river, this scene blew my mind.

Matkatamiba from the upper patio.

“And it goes on and on, watching the river run

Further and further from things that we've done

Leaving them one by one

And we have just begun, watching the river run

Listening and learning and yearning to run, river, run” ~Loggins and Messina

This one popped in and out of my head for several days but was especially persistent during the glorious hours we spent in Matkatamiba Canyon. I love this place and am in good company; it surfaces on the favorites list for many.

Light raking over brittlebush near Unkar Delta

Fear tells you to fulfill the expected.  Love says, "May I have this dance?" ~ Emmanuel via Pat Rodegast

 

Downriver view from the Nankoweap Trail

“Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies." ~Erich Fromm

Yeah.  Suffering.  This is where my back started acting up.  

 

Cloud-refracted moonlight

Dancin' in the moonlight
Everybody's feelin' warm and bright
It's such a fine and natural sight
Everybody's dancin' in the moonlight

~Sherman Kelly (King Harvest)

I woke up with a full bladder at around 4:00 AM at Ross Wheeler Camp and saw this.  By the time I’d taken care of the first issue, the moon had shifted enough that I needed to move my tripod near the head of a sleeping comrade.  Fortunately, he’s a heavy sleeper.  Like many night images, the camera reveals much more than the human eye, so the colors in the clouds exceeded my expectations.

 

Last gasp, Fern Glen Camp

And, perhaps a bit trite, from Rainbow Connection,

“Why are there so many
Songs about rainbows
And what's on the other side...
Someday we'll find it
The Rainbow Connection
The lovers, the dreamers and me”

We thought the show was over when this sent several of us running to retrieve our gear again.  Rainy weather cam be a blessing indeed.

 

Sculpted Schist, river mile 114

And finally, a portion of a  poem written by Grand Canyon River Guide Katie Proctor during my 2009 trip.  I’ve quoted her words before, from Raven Awaits,

"You were there...where Water blasted over Rock, careened through narrow canyons and seeped quietly down salmon colored stone…You were there when you realized this place was not magic. Its real! Its affects, real! Reality doesn’t hold a candle to the realness of this place…You were there when subtly, slowly Rock revealed to you that something so solid and still can move you. Be moved. You can move mountains. You were there in Rock’s presence when your power scattered and just before you uttered the word to your friend that these walls make you feel “small”, “insignificant” you remembered your place. you may have previously thought that your average size footprint didn’t matter much at all in this Grand Scheme. But now, Clarity."

Thanks for riding along with this middle-aged woman and the songs and poems in her head.

 Posts on previous GC Raft Trips:

2012 Trip

2014 Trip

2015 Trip