I have never been to the Grand Canyon during the hot summer months but after 2 winter trips I can only say that winter is a fantastic time to do this trip. The temperatures may be colder and the daylight hours less but on the plus side there are no issues with food and coolers, less water has to be drunk, the sun still shines and has some warmth, and even better you can go days without seeing another group and there are no issues with camping spots. as opposed to the the busy hectic summer months when commercial trips predominate and can turn the Colorado River into a version of rush hour!

Here is a slideshow of some of the many photographs that were taken by the group; this selection is just of photographs taken by myself and Fran. Enjoy them and I hope they convey how special and awe inspiring this place is to be in for a few weeks; as they say a picture paints a thousand words!

We are trying to reduce costs as much as possible with the Outfitter and won’t get a final cost until I speak to him over in Flagstaff and we decide on a few final options-we can discuss this in Flagstaff when we are all together on December 30th. However at the moment it looks like the cost per person is more like €725 and not €650 so please prepare for this and have access to the extra iin US$….SORRY!!

On a more positive note we have the shuttle from Phoenix Airport to Flagstaff arranged for around 11pm local time on December 29th so the later arrivals can also get up to Flagstaff that night and not have to pay for a hotel for the night in Phoenix, as we did last year; so at least that cost is negated. Also the shuttle cost (from Brady) is a little less than what we had to pay as an extra last year!!

For latest news check here and here…amongst other places…

a few other considerations..

Personal Paddling Gear

• Drysuit or equivalent
• Thermals (possibly 2 sets)
• Warm socks / neoprene socks
• Footwear
• USCG approved B. Aid, preferably with a harness and cow’s tail…towing a boat if needed will probably be the quickest way to get a boat to shore after a rapid; it will be hard to bulldoze a boat in whilst in a rapid…the nature is pool / drop…
• Sling and Krabs (optional I would say as the chances of getting a kayak pinned are remote and the raft will be equipped with safety lines / flip lines etc)
• Spraydeck
• Paddle
• Helmet
• Throwrope….although how much use they will be is debateable
• Pogies or decent neoprene gloves maybe a good call as headwinds for 4-5 hours / day can be tough on the hands

Personal Off River Gear

• Headtorch
• Camera + batteries (hopefully most people will have small enough cameras to fit into B. Aids)
• Hat, Gloves
• Spare warm socks
• Warm trousers, tops
• Warm jacket, preferably down jacket as they pack up smaller and weigh less
• Rain jacket and pants
• Shoes, preferably ones you can hike in, unless you want to use river shoes to hike
• Sleeping bag plus compression sac
• Thermarest
• Passport (needs to be brought on the river in case requested by Rangers and needs to be shown to Ranger at Lees Ferry)
• Watch / clock / phone (there is no coverage in the Canyon) with alarm so you can get up in morning
• Small dry bags
• Sunglasses
• Possibly chill out footwear, such as crocs, flipflops for some camps, shorts?

(remember to pack as light as possible; less is more! Or we tend to overpack!)

Camping Gear

• Tents, preferably shared between 2 people

Other Gear

• Soap / shampoo
• Camp towel

Other info:

• You may have noticed that there is no First Aid Kit in personal paddling gear. We will have a major and a minor first aid kit from the Outfitter and Stu is supposed to be looking after another minor F.A.K., which will be sufficient. If you want to bring a thing personal first aid bits and pieces, such as compeed, lipsalve, suncream, pills then that would be a good idea
• I will be bringing a spare paddle and a good set of splits, which is sufficient for our needs (we need to spares)
• We need to spare USCG B. Aids…I have a spare and when we see what B. Aids we have between us if we are short we can slways hire an extra off Brady
• I am also going to bring a good spare drycag and drypants in case of a seal etc breaking on anyone.It maybe an idea for someone to get hold of a spare seal kit
• I will be bringing my GPS which already has all coordinates for camps and rapids for the Grand Canyon, along with our river map / guide books which have notes / info from insider knowledge from last year. I will also be bringing a Grand Canyon Hiking Book
• If anyone has a solar charger with fittings for phones, cameras etc then please bring along
• Any spare clothes etc that may be worn in and around Flagstaff can be left with the Outfitter in Flagstaff etc
• Brady will supply Bill’s Bags for personal gear for the trip. This also makes it easier to pack the raft with all bags being the same
• If we take two rafts then space isn’t an issue; however if we take 1 raft as a cost issue then space is an issue: we will have to travel a little lighter, cut down on luxuries, reduce / get rid of altogether any alcohol if this is on people’s radars, get more people sharing a tent and share the Bill’s Bags (ie 1 bag for 2 people)…
• Any questions please get in touch etc
• I know it’s short notice, but if possible would people be interested in meeting up beforehand?If so let me know

Finally….

• All being well with BA most of us leave Dublin at 6.40 (apart form Aisling who leaves a little later that morning) so we need to collate paddles and pack them into 2 bags. We will be using Fran’s which can take about 6 or so plus a little padding and apparently Aisling has a bag to take about 5. These two bags will suffice for all paddles, but mean that whoever checks in the paddle bags in lieu of a ski bag can then only check in one other bag so we will need to share a bit of space. Myself and Fran will get by on 3 bags between the two of us plus the paddle bag easily enough but Aisling may have to put some stuff into some other bags etc; in any case we do need the paddles, ideally before hitting the airport…

Only 2 weeks until we fly out to Phoenix and onto Flagstaff… time  seems to be ticking along at an ever increasing pace….

…some important stuff to do:

• check this post and follow up on anything appopriate
• go to manage your booking on BA and input advance passenger information and if relevant follow the link for ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorisation); anyone hoping to enter the US needs to apply here…

For Your Information…Grand Canyon Weather Patterns for January….including average temperatures, precipitation and daylight hours…

In plain English: Sunrise: Jan 3rd-Jan 10th approx 7.40 am, Jan 17th 7.38 am; Sunset: Jan 3rd 5.27pm, Jan 10th 5.33 pm, Jan 17th 5.40 pm!

Also if you get a chance check the Grand Canyon sub pages for the non commercial trip regulations and please read them…a lot of stuff there we have to cover…some useful info for first times on stuff like washing up, toilet systems etc etc! Everyone is also expected to watch the NPS trip regulation DVD which basically goes through these regulations. Those of us who are returning have seen this, for those who haven’t please try to check it out so we can, in all honesty, say we have all seen it when the Park Ranger asks us the question!

Remember this is a large volume river and because there are two major dams, one upstream on the Grand Canyon at Lake Powell and one downstream of the Grand Canyon at Lake Mead water levels fluctuate throughout the day, with peak flows scheduled for daytime release; obvioulsy due to the length of the Canyon once we are downstream of Lake Powell there is a considerable time lag between flow releases and experienced flows.

The latest info from the Bureau of Reclamation with regards to projected flows in Janaury is: Currently, it is projected that the release volume for January will be scheduled to be 955,000 acre-feet. At this volume, it is estimated that the hourly release rates during January would peak during daylight hours to approximately 19,000 cfs and decrease during early morning hours to approximately 11,000 cfs.

To work out peak flows where we are, which will impact where we tether rafts and how far we need to drag kayaks away from the river at the end of each day, we need to divide the river mile by 5 and add to the Lees Ferry peak time. Lsst year peak flow was at 9pm at Lees Ferry during the week and 6pm over the weekend; the Park Ranger will confirm this with us in our pre-launch orientation. For example, using last years figures if we camp at RM 88 to find out when peak flow is we divide 88 by 5 to get 17.6 hours and add this to the Lees Ferry peak time of 9pm during the week, giving us a peak flow time (forecast to be 19000 cfs) of 9pm + 17.6 hours = approx 2.40pm at that spot, meaning flow is dropping after 2.40 pm but will start rising again around 2.40am to peak at 240pm again. This means if we pulled into camp around this time, flows would be at their highest, so we would need to tie off the rafts with enough slack in the ropes so when the water dropped the rafts would not be left high and dry…this is a complete pain in the proverbial!! Whereas if we camped at RM 120 then 120/5 = 24 which means peak flow is going to be at 9pm that night then it is going to drop over night until around 9am when it will be at it’s lowest, which will roughly be when we are looking to launch.