The Ditch (Grand Canyon Rafting Trip) Part 4

 3/30 21.7 Mile Camp to Upper Saddle (47.5)

I tend to write these posts late at night from my bed. I mention this because I have to consult my river map book pretty frequently to jog my memory as to what stretch of river/features happened on which day, and my map book is still full of sand. So now my bed is full of sand. I feel like a...tortured poet.

Today was a big day on the river. At this point, we were pretty far behind our planned itinerary (about 10 miles off), so we committed to getting on the water early (9:50--a record for our team!) and cranking out a ton of miles to try and get back on track. So we did.

This stretch of river didn't have too many significant features. Georgie Rapid was a 6 that I think we scouted and there were a few 5s. We stopped for lunch at was one of the highlights of the trip: Redwall Cavern (mile 33.3). 

The Party Barge is approaching Redwall Cavern

Photo credit: Avery Higgins-Lopez

Getting closer

Photo credit: Chris Inman

  View from inside the cavern
Photo credit: Chris Imman

The crew enjoying lunch outside of the cavern

Photo credit: Chris Inman

One of my absolute favorite photos from the entire trip.

Photo credit: Chris Inman

After lunch, we needed to continue to crank miles. I think this might have been a day where I migrated from Party Barge (Brad and Ada, with occasional appearances by Avery) to the ATL Barge. I loved getting to know and spend time with EVERYONE on this trip, but I gotta do a special spotlight of the ATLiens because this day of river cruising was so, so good for my ATL soul! Only regret was that Brad couldn't actually be in the boat because he was rowing another one! Also, this post is about to go way, WAY off the rails.

To recap who is an ATL Homie on the trip: Andy, Chris, Cory, Brad, Kellie.

At this juncture, all of us (minus Brad) were riding on the same raft, and as it was still pretty early in the trip, we were asking a lot of "get to know you" / "what's your backstory" questions. These references will be lost on 98% of the folks that read this blog if you're not from the Southeast, but for those of you who ARE from the Atlanta area, I hope these references make you smile as much as they made me smile.

• Weekends spent at Six Flags Over Georgia
• Debate on the best rollercoaster
• Popular opinion: Mindbender (what eventually was renamed the Riddler)
• Georgia Cyclone: keeping chiropractors in business since March 3rd, 1990
• The Monster Mansion Ride - y'all, I have been waiting to discuss this ride with other humans for 7 YEARS (since moving to Utah). It's --without question-- the best ride at 6 Flags Over Georgia and its theme song is a total banger. I remember getting into a multi-month and heated argument with one of my longest and closest friends, Cathi, about the lyrics to this song. There was much debate over whether it was "and humans are allowed" or "but humans are allowed." I'm fairly certain Cathi defended "but," so, Cathi, here is my apology (you were right) about 15 years too late.
• If you're curious, here's the video ride through. It's like if "It's a Small World met Splash Mountain but with monsters and jazz music. 
• We yelled "STAY OUT OF THE MARSH" *a lot* for the remainder of the trip.

Screen shots from Monster Mansion (source: YouTube)

• When not at 6 Flags...
• Whitewater
• Getting sick sick air when riding the Dragon's Tail
• American Adventures - I just learned that it closed in 2010. Absolutely devastated
• Sparkles Skating Rink (discussed in the first blog post)
• Mountasia Fun Center
• ATL restaurant highlights
• The Varsity
• Standard order "What'll ya have?"
• Chili cheese dog, fries, frosted orange
• Waffle House (WaHo)
• every HS student's late night hangout
• If I could add one restaurant to Utah, it would be a Waffle House
• Correct hashbrown order: scattered, covered, chunked. I recognize this is a controversial statement.

I'm sure we discussed other ATL-specific memories and experiences (definitely concerts), but I'll end the reveries here so that I don't lose what few readers I have. Suffice it to say, being around other Atlantans for an extended period of time is not something I get to do much in Utah, and it brought me so much joy. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Utah and my Utah community, but sometimes, you gotta be true to your roots.

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I don't remember too many significant rapids in the second half of the afternoon, but I *do* remember starting to approach campsites near sundown, and they were all occupied, so we lit our rafts up with whatever lighting devices we had on board (headlamps, Mickey Mouse wands, etc.) and kept rowing until we got to Upper Saddle camp. Dinner: (Grill)--BBQ Chicken with Pre-Made Potato Salad.

Let the night rowing commence!
Photo credit: Andy James

We only had a super late camp arrival once in 16 days <breathes sigh of relief>
Photo credit: Andy James

Sun goes down. Party goes up.

Photo credit: Andy James

I remember very little about Upper Saddle camp. It was dark when we arrived, so we didn't exactly get a great lay of the land. I received confirmation that this was also the Darude Sandstorm evening, which meant that high winds + a beachy camp made for a heinous cooking/cleaning/tent set-up experience because everything was perpetually covered in a layer of sand.

Shot of the kitchen on Darude Sandstorm night
Photo credit: Avery Higgins-Lopez

Fact Checking.

 If anyone has good notes or photos from Upper Saddle or Palisades Creek, holler at your girl!

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Crew spotlight: Chef Ada AKA Rainbow Brite

I hope Ada doesn't mind if I highlight her, but holy moly does this bad boss deserve recognition. Ada is a little younger than the average age of our crew, but what she lacks in years of life, she makes up for in incredible talent (art, equipment repair, biking, climbing, skiing, and of course, COOKING!), kindness, and energy. One the first day of the trip, Ada whipped out her collection of glitter and asked if anyone needed to be glittered before starting our journey (only correct response to this question is "yes").

Cory immediately suggested Rainbow Brite as her River Name, but Ada is too young to know who Rainbow Brite is. Ada, if you read this, you can learn about Rainbow Brite from Aunt Wikipedia and you should probably watch the Rainbow Brite movie. 

Rainbow Brite (80's cartoons were the best!)
Source: GoodEndFriendsWiki

Anyway, the point of this post is to THANK Ada for her tremendous leadership and talent when it comes to a very polarizing camp chore: cooking. On Day 1 of the trip, Ada expressed an interest and desire to be all-time camp chef. For those of y'all who have done multiday outdoor trips of any sort, you know that cooking is no easy feat. Especially on days where the team rolls into camp late, folks are tired and cold, and all people want to do is get their tents set up and relax. Not only did Ada cook every single dinner on this trip, she never once complained about the responsibility, and her meals were damn good.

I also want to acknowledge that Avery very much stepped up and was Sous Chef, but he's gonna get his own highlight when we get to Crystal Rapid. And other folks chipped in for various cooking duties as well, but Ada was definitely GOAT chef. Thanks, Ada! You're still my patronus.