Many, many thanks to all of you for all of the cards, flowers, visits, thoughts and prayers extended to me during recovery. Although I still have a long road of therapy and torture ahead of me, each day I take another baby step towards complete wellness. A special thanks to my dearest friends and crew who’re always there for me. Last and most, a special thanks to Billy; you’ll always be my knight in shining armor.

Patty Ellwanger

How about doing some North Rim boaters for future profiles? The lack of North Rim boaters in the bqr profiles is glaring (albeit, perhaps only to North Rim Boaters!) After all, the original boaters were primarily from North Rim. Not trying to create a chasm (heh, heh) between North and South Rims, just would appreciate equal representation.

Unsigned

Huh. We reviewed the fifteen interviews we’ve run and over ten of the folks came from the north side. Even though four of them later moved to the south side, that still leaves it pretty close to fifty-fifty. But who’s counting?

Can you include more women on your pages? How about an interview with a woman who rows? There are plenty of good ones to pick. In fact, that’s why I didn’t renew—GCRG looked too much like an all boys club. I kept turning the page asking, where are the women?

Jody Elsley

Ouch. You’ve got us there. Sorry. It’s certainly not intentional—and we do have some excellent femininity in the works for interviews. And a cool new President as well.

[Regarding a postcard GCRG sent out, soliciting
applications for a position with Grand Canyon Outfitters Association]…what I don't condone is financial support for profit-making concessionaires from non-profit guiding organizations. I hope that the financial aspects of this mailing and any future monetary support for the outfitting industry is subject to intense scrutiny by the Directors, and probably the membership. Please be especially cautious in this regard.

Richard Quartaroli

Here’s what happened: We agreed to post GCOA’s solicitation in our public service announcements in the last issue of the BQR. We felt it would benefit us all if the position were filled by a boatman. But somewhere in the editing their announcement vanished into cyberspace and its absence wasn’t noticed until after we went to press. At that point, since we did feel it important to get the word out, we agreed to send out the card, but only at GCOA’s expense. So it cost GCRG nothing, nor did we break our commitment not to release our mailing list.

The recent discussion of noise disturbance by air traffic over the Grand Canyon causes me to raise a question about appropriate noise levels and activities in camps and along the river.
Our private party was annoyed twice last summer by loud rock music being played by commercial trips. A boom box was playing at one camp while we floated by, and we were glad we had other options for camping. The second time, the music came from a different commercial trip which chose to pull in and camp just downstream from us below Havasu. The music was loud enough that it was inescapable... able to be heard over the sound of the rapids and over normal conversation levels. This indicates that there was a major amplification system in place. There was also what appeared to be a light show of sorts played out over the canyon walls long after dark, complete with bunny ears and hand bats.
In previous trips, we have been appalled at commercial trips staging the appearance of the Jolly Green Giant at Elves Chasm and volleyball games in Redwall Cavern. In both of these cases, our private trip was quietly enjoying very special places when the commercial trip “invaded.”
I recognize that there are many different styles of enjoying open space, and many ways that people express their joy. In an effort to find solutions as well as simply complain, I suggest that:
1) Areas restricted from camping also be recognized as having special values for peace and solitude, and that those values be respected. This means that trips, whether commercial or private, refrain from skits, organized games, amplified music, and other intrusive activities at these sites because other parties are likely to stop there as well.
2) Noise in camps be kept at a level such that it can't be heard from a distance farther than the location of its loo. Each party can decide for itself whether to restrict electronic music to headphones or “local” broadcast.
3) Camp lighting should be designed to be concentrated in the areas where it is needed and directed away from other camps.
I think these suggestions would limit aggravation between trips and add to the enjoyment of the canyon that you are trying to preserve by limiting aircraft overflights. Other people may have other observations and ideas. I hope this opens the discussion.

Meg Hayes

A joke heard from Bob Melville at Stone Creek last week:
“How do you tell if a 25-year river veteran has suffered brain damage in a car wreck?”
“You can’t.”