Sometimes the stars align and you get to experience Perfection

Like 16 days of  total bliss in the bottom of the Grand Canyon...and making it through Hance...thanx MP 

Any meal at Grandma Nancy's house and especially Thanksgiving Dinner...yummm
The rare occasion of hearing my Dad or Ben sing and sometimes hearing them sing together
Catching the fall colors at their peak and having a nice weekend escape.
Waking up to mornings like this...and even more perfect mornings like this when I get to ski with Greg...hooray for snow!! 

a weekend in God's country

Amazing fall colors out on the middle ridge
chilly nights a nice treat 
remember this spot... didn't find any mountain dews here

from canyon walls to cement halls

                                 

      

                                                        

Grand Canyon 2008 was a fantastic season we were sad to see it end. It really is a treat living there during the summer. It is truly amazing how connected you feel with the earth when you get the opportunity to live in it for weeks at a time. You notice changes in the flora and fauna, side streams change from flooding, and even the night sky changes and you get to witness it. It makes you feel small and insignificant, it keeps you humble...

...and then there is school. Where you sit under florescent lights and in rooms without windows all day; wondering if that degree is really worth it.  Fortunately or should I say unbelievably, we are both almost finished just a little more suffering.                                                                          Oh and that rumor about us...yep its true, neat huh.                               

Rapunzel's Revenge

My brother Nate, spacestationnathan.com, author/ illustrator extraordinaire has a new book out! He recently teamed up with author Shannon Hale, shannonhale.com, (no relation) and produced the illustrated novel Rapunzel's Revenge.  It was the book of the month on the Today Show and has received outstanding reviews. It is totally worth checking out; you can get a copy at Borders, Amazon, and Barnes & Nobles. Way to go Nate on another awesome book!   

Big Water and Flash Floods

This is a 37 foot J-Rig coming through Wave five in Hermit rapid.  I think Hermit has the biggest river waves in North America right now.  The Dam is pumping out 18,000 cfs and the Little Colorado is putting in 1500-2000 cfs,  this makes Hermit and Crystal both monsters.

This is a picture of our camp the night after a flash flood came through it.  The night before it rained about 2 inches in three hours.  A massive flash flood came down the side canyon we where camped at.  The flood flowed over the creek bed and into camp.

Champion Rock Skippers

We just got home from our 6th trip of the season.

It is still so hot I don't want to talk about it.

After the trip we went up Grandma Nancy's and Paka Ricks for some 

fun in the water with the boys.

Noah and I tried to find some rocks for skipping.

Leigh has a new buddy that won't leave her side. 

This picture is of the two of them trying to sneak up and scare me.

3 more trips and we will be back home to hang out with everyone.

Max the Moose not having any fun at all.

What a goof ball.

Champion rock skippers!!

                                                                    Leigh and Max.

One of the many ravens in the canyon looking for trouble...

...a true conspiracy of ravens.

Home away from home.

Big Runs in Crystal and Slithering Company

This trip was a hot, hot trip. I think it got up to 115 this week. The trip started out normal.  We did some fun hikes and were off to a pretty good start.  On Day three we dropped into the upper granite gorge.  There wasn't anything abnormally big.  Hermit had fun 15 foot waves.  Then we got to Crystal.  We Dropped right into the left side of the rapid (the big side).  I had one of the smoothest runs I have ever had.  I made it down past the rock bar and pulled into an eddy to watch my second boatman (Andy Dicus) come through.  I saw him have a big hit in the center hole and then disappear behind the big cliff on the left.  He had slammed the boat into the cliffs.  It corked the frame and pushed the corner of the frame through a tube of the boat.  It ripped a 12-15 inch hole in the boat.  We made it down to the Ross Wheeler beach to camp for the night.  It took until 11pm to get the boat patched.  On top of all that, it was 100 degrees in the shade (at 9:00 pm).

Right when we thought we were in the clear, a passenger fell the next morning and split his finger wide open.  We almost needed to fly him out of the canyon.  

This is a Grand Canyon Pink Rattlesnake.  It slithered into one of our camps this week. Some of our passengers came down and told us that there was a rattlesnake next to their camp.  Another guide and I went and caught it with some tongs. The snake was deep in some brush and hard to catch. I kept it in a bucket all night and Leigh took this picture when I let it go the following morning.

Good looking snake!!