GTS River Trip

The 2001 gts trip launched with a wonderful bang. We started out at the Hatch warehouse with an hour-long food pack, which went well thanks to the efforts of Sarah Hatch, Laura Kish, and quite a few eager participants. We were mostly rigged by lunchtime, which gave us the opportunity to pick up thirty bags of trash on our two-mile stretch of adopted highway that afternoon.
We had a wide variety of boats; Kate Thompson's dory, Noel's cataraft, Dave Whittlesey's 14-foot Achilles, a Can-Ex paddle boat, boats from AzRA, Western, and the park, and my Hatch rig with the invaluable crew of Mark Franke and Erik Dietermier.
On Tuesday morning we launched with a full group of 31 people after a short walk up to Lee's lookout. We had a short run down to Soap Creek battling stiff headwinds. We also got our first and only flip out of the way at Badger Creek.
The next morning Kate Thompson, Linda Jalbert, and Helen Fairley started with a great series of talks on site preservation, and the Adopt-a-Beach program. Talks throughout the trip were very informative and entertaining. Mike Anderson presented a detailed history of the early settlers and prospectors in the park and in conjunction with Linda gave a great overview of the Park Service and its administrative history. Jeff Sorensen told us about relatively giant eye-eating parasites on the Kanab Amber Snails. Helen Fairley and Neil Weintraub brought everyone up to date on archaeology. Ron Brown did an amazing and entertaining rendition of John Hance. Randy Rasmussen from the National Parks Conservation Association courageously presented issues from implementing the crmp, and also wilderness designation, which resulted in interesting heated discussions. Peter Huntoon hiked in at Tapeats Creek and brought with him a plethora of geologic knowledge. On the upper half Noel Eberz not only gifted us with geology, he also shared with us some wonderful fantastic poetry, (particularly “Ahh Wilderness”). He also spearheaded the construction of a sweat lodge at Kwagunt, graced everyone with his jovial boisterous demeanor, and came up with the idea of having each participant give a short talk on any subject. Topics ranged from traveling in China to Z-drags. Unfortunately Noel had a battle with an acacia tree at Cardenas Creek and lost, resulting in a helicopter ride out. This proved to be a mixed blessing, giving Matt Vandzura and Jennifer Flyn a practical setting to talk about river safety and emergency protocol. Noel however, was sorely missed. Matt and Jennifer were replaced on the lower half by Mike McGinnis, the new and very capable head of the wilderness subdistrict, Bil Vandergraf who rowed like a champ and educated us on helicopter short haul, and Diane Pennington who coached us well in public speaking and interpretation.

Cooking and the porto setup were distributed, amongst the whole group. The meals were simple and filling and clam chowder warmed our insides at upper Bass, after towing all boats upstream because the lower camp was taken. Darla Ekbaum became the desert queen, making cakes and other delicious treats every night. In the mornings on the upper half, Carrie Field would help our sore backs and muscles by leading impromptu yoga classes. There was always a great crew in the paddleboat, even with some wind and low water, and it was well captained by Amy Jo Reeves, Cameron Alexander, and Matt Winfrey.
Although the water was low and it was occasionally windy we had time to do a few good hikes. We had a perfect day for the Carbon-Lava loop, although the blooming redbuds, sego lilies, red beaver tails, white popcorn flowers, brittlebush, and quite a few other spring flowers, distracted us from Noel's geology discussion. Hikes on the lower half included Garnet Canyon, 209-Mile, Parashant, and Bedrock while we were waiting for the water to come up.
The take-out at Diamond Creek went smoothly after sorting through the gear and finding vehicles to get everybody where they wanted to go. I continued on down to Pierce Ferry to take out my boat with a few more people on their way to Vegas.
In addition to all the participants I would like to thank Hatch and all the outfitters who provided gear, time, and also the authorized training personnel for the trip. I would also like to thank Noel for all his hard work on the preliminary planning, all the speakers who did an outstanding job and the nps interpreters and river staff who made the trip safe, enjoyable, and educational.
JP Running