Lee's Ferry, Arizona

March 2014, Wood Boat Trip

Part 1 - Lee's Ferry

Back story: In 2009, Dad met Tom Martin, long-time river runner, hiker, boat builder, and author. This meeting led to Dad running shuttle for Martin's February 2011 Grand Canyon river trip, which led to Dad joining the trip at Diamond Creek. During this short river run, Dad rowed wood boats on the Colorado for the first time in his 20+ year river running history. Impressed with his skills, trip participant Dave Mortenson invited Dad to be a boatman on his upcoming Spring 2012 Grand Canyon river trip. This 2012 adventure would be a celebratory 50th anniversary of the historic 1962 Colorado River run, on which Dave and his father were members of (as were Martin Litton and P.T. Reilly). There would be five replica wood boats: Three dories (GEM, Susie Too, and Portola), and two cataract-style (Flavell and Susie R). Sadly, missing from this trip was a replica of Dave Mortenson's father's cataract boat, Flavell II. Dad had such a wonderful time, when he expressed interest in building a wood boat himself, Dave mentioned that the only boat not replicated from the era was his father's. Up for a challenge, and long story short, Dad built a replica of V.R. Mortenson's Flavell II, completed just in time to launch at Lee's Ferry the first week of March, 2014.

I wanted to be at the launch, so I packed the van up and headed north, spending the night at Lee's Ferry in the premier camp spot, overlooking the Paria riffle. The next morning, after breakfast, I hiked down to the river, enjoying nature for a bit, then walked down the River Drive to the Paria River bridge, encountering a little waterfall along the way.

A few hours passed and Mom finally called to say that were at Marble Canyon. I captured Flavell II's arrival on camera, then drove down to the launch ramp to see the beauty in person, where Mom finished up the last component, the tonneau cover.

After a group dinner at Marble Canyon Lodge, I went back to the campground. After checking on the boats, Mom and Dad came back to camp out with me. The next morning, after a hearty cereal breakfast, it was off to the launch area for the put-in talk, ranger talk, last-minute packing, and pulling straws to see who rides where. Waved "goodbye" and said "sayonara" to everyone, then headed down to the bridge for photo ops and final farewells.

I regaled Mom, and long-time friend of Dad who had come from California, with my plan to go to the South Rim for the night. Not having plans themselves, they opted to follow along. Arriving at dusk, we easily found a sizeable camp spot (campground was nearly empty) for all three vehicles. After enjoying a campfire for a bit, we had dinner and hit the hay. The next morning I awoke to the Dometic reading 31°F inside! Before heading home, we took the shuttle bus out to Hermit's Rest. It was a great time to see this portion of the South Rim since the tourist population at this time of year was much lower than in the summer months. After taking in the grand views, we parted ways, each heading back to our respective homes… for a short while.

Part 2 - Whitmore Layover

About two weeks later, the river trip had a 2-day layover at Whitmore Wash. Since it was accessible by 4WD, and a good friend of Dave's was doing a passenger (and ice cream) shuttle, Mom and I tagged along. Sadly, because of the drive, it had to be done in the parents' Jeep Wrangler instead of Old Blue, which meant <gasp> sleeping on the ground.

We started in Meadview, AZ, drove through Las Vegas (bleh), up through the Virgin River Gorge, stopped for fuel and snacks in St. George, then began the long, long trek down the Mt. Trumbull dirt road. Beautiful country back there! The road is a nicely maintained one, but the last 10 miles or so, which requires crossing private property, takes you over lava beds. Make sure you have beefy tires!

We had a delicious dinner and warm fire thanks to Arnie Richards. The next morning it was time to get some exercise! We all hiked down the well-established trail (Arnie carrying ice cream), meeting a few river rats near the bottom, including Dad, who was surprised to see me! We spent the afternoon hearing river stories and went to bed somewhat early (long day, and even longer day lay ahead). I initially hopped on a raft to set up my bed, but after staring at stars for two hours, hearing metal frames creaking, and the river current slamming rafts into each other (so much for being rocked to sleep!), I said, "To hell with it," jumped ship and slept on the sand under the group's shade canopy.

After a somewhat sleepless night, it was up early to eat an awful package of freeze-dried eggs, say "Adios" to Dad and the gang, and hit the trail. Since Mom and I weren't in the best of shape, we figured it would take us quite awhile to reach the Jeep. However, much to our equal amazement, taking frequent stops to rest, eat a small snack, and drink water/Gatorade, we actually made back to the top of the rim in good time. And we weren't nearly as wiped out as we thought we'd be, so we decided to start the long drive back after leaving a note for Arnie, informing him of our plans. After traversing the lava beds, but before reaching the air strip, an elderly gentleman going the opposite direction stopped us to chat. Turned out, he was one of the original Bundy homesteaders of the area (while related, I'm sure, he's not the one who did battle with the Feds). As a child, he helped build the very road we were traveling on! He was happy to give us a history lesson of the region, which was neat. Once in St. George, we ate lunch and had the poor filthy Jeep cleaned. We then drove onward to Henderson for a stopover at Grandma's where we unloaded and continued cleaning… the interior was just as dirt-filled as the exterior had been!

En route back to Meadview, we indulged at Rosie's restaurant.

Part 3 - Diamond Creek & Take-out

A few days later, the crew landed at Diamond Creek. Mom and I took the Jeep down, delivering Dad his river staple of M&M's and chocolate chip cookies (good thing we did because he was down to the last bits).

Several days after the Diamond visit, the trip had come to an end at Pearce Ferry. See you in 2016 for an even more epic Flavell II trip!

Total miles: 1,187

March 2016, Wood Boat Trip

Part 1 - The Launch

Arrived at Lee's Ferry at dusk following an uneventful drive from Phoenix to find the campground rather busy! I wasn't able to camp out in my favorite spot, but found a good one nonetheless. Had a campfire for a little while, but it was windy and chilly, so I turned in early.

The next day, I drove down to the river to play in the water for a bit. When I arrived back at the van, there was a Subaru-converted Bay Window parked next to it! I drove down to the launch ramp to get a parking spot while the getting was good, and noticed a group already there loading their rafts. While waiting for the crew to arrive, I set up the solar panel and began cleaning bugs off of Old Blue's nose. A BMW driver walked by asking the unoriginal question, "When you're done, can you do mine?" (Seriously, people, this line isn't even remotely amusing any more.) I made a typical-of-me sarcastic reply, guy snickered, and we both moved on with our days. Turned out, this BMW guy was a member of that other river trip.

Anyway, the wood boat participants reached the ramp, launched their boats, and began the arduous task of cramming a bunch of stuff into little space. Amazingly, all but few snack items fit!

At dusk, the boats were all moved down to what's called Boat Beach, a camp area specifically for river trips to overnight at before officially setting off down into Grand Canyon. After double-checking boat lines, we all drove up to Marble Canyon Lodge's rebuilt restaurant for dinner and a brief film presentation. As we were ordering and eating, the other trip's 6 (IIRC) participants entered two at a time, about 10 minutes apart. The BMW guy kept eyeing me… kind of weird, but just shrugged it off. In the middle of the film presentation, someone wandered in from the store and spoke to Dave, a trip leader. Dave announced, "I need all of the boatmen pronto… one of our boats got loose". All of the boat owners and rowers immediately fled to the river. We then got word… it was Dad's boat. Mom and I drove down to the river to help if we could.

The boat sat on a rock bar between Boat Beach and the Paria Riffle while two of the crew, Tony and CeCe, went into the water in an effort to reach it. When they were within just a couple of feet, the boat broke loose. Everyone tried in vain to find the Flavell II in the dark waters, but it was nowhere to be found. Long story short, while standing on Navajo Bridge, I thought I saw a white speck floating towards us. I whipped out my "Atomic Beam"-like flashlight that Dad gave to me, shined it down to the water, and there it was. Once it reached the bridge, the boat got stuck in an eddy current, aided by strong upriver wind. We watched the boat for about 45 minutes, trying to come up with a rescue plan. Then, once again, she broke loose and drifted into the dark abyss and out of sight.

Left: Where boat was spotted; Right: Where boat hung out for 45 minutes.

Between the howling wind and the boat situation, it was a rather sleepless night. Arnie, Dave's good friend, was camped out above Badger Rapid, the first major rapid on a Grand Canyon river trip. At dawn, he checked the river… no boat. Awhile later he checked again… there it was, Flavell II creeping around the bend. This was good news; we knew where the boat was. It was also bad news; if the boat goes through Badger Rapid, there was a possibility of never seeing it again… along with all of the gear inside. While trying to come up with Plan B, Arnie reported that the boat stuck itself on a boulder just above the rapid. Praying that it stayed, the ranger allowed Dad and Dave to jump in another boat for a rescue attempt. After quick goodbyes, they were off, Dad rowing like he'd never rowed before. In the meantime, Mom and I were implementing Plan B, which was driving to Page for provisions.

About half way there, plan aborted: Boat retrieved! (Dad made it to Badger in record time.) After a huge collective sigh of relief, we hung a U and headed back to the beach to see everyone else off, watching as they went through the Paria Riffle and passing under the bridge. Mom and I followed Arnie (and Dave's wife, Pam) out to his viewing spot above Badger Rapid so that we could see, first hand, Dad reunited with his boat. What a glorious sight! The group ran Badger Rapid without issue, pulled off to the beach to camp for the night, we waved adios, and headed back to Lee's Ferry for a hearty taco dinner courtesy of Old Blue. Because Mom and I were drained, I suggested staying another day, as opposed to immediately driving home, to recharge our human batteries. She thought that was a grand idea, so we spent much of what turned out to be a beautiful Spring day relaxing at the river, heading home the following day.

So, what happened to the boat? Good question. I hate to think sinister thoughts about other river runners, but a) these are modern, narcissistic times were living in, b) this group was rather unfriendly and remained at Boat Beach for a time after we had left (there were about 8 of them and only 6 went into the restaurant); thus, they top my personal short list of theories. The boat was cinched tight and double-knotted; in 20+ years of river running, this has never happened to Dad before. Another detail: The rope had been untied from the stern and was dangling in the water… not cut, not untied from the mooring tree. The only other possibility is Mother Nature working her magic tricks. We'll never know what actually took place that night.

Total miles: 553

Average MPG: 17.45

Updated: 1-Jan-2024