Day 49 – 5/1/16
12.8 map / (forgot) GPS miles
721.5/ 778.4 miles total

No time to write, need to sew my split pants (yes, this really happened again). Also add both of my trekking pole tips to the list of broken gear on this trip. 

We woke up to find it wasn’t raining and walked 100yds downstream go out hitching beach. Now to wait. We last saw boats around 9am yesterday morning. We practiced our hitching poses and tried to not eat all our food while waiting. I also filtered delicious Colorado River water, chock full of rafter pee, for drinking the rest of the day. 

Then of course it did start to rain again and we took cover under some ledges that our maps note as “shady”, you know, since it’s the Grand Canyon and supposed to be sunny and 100 degrees. 

Finally around 11:30 boats appeared. We ran out from our ledges, flailing our arms. Our desperation was apparent: the rafters thought we were in terrible trouble. They were relieved all we were looking for was a ride across the river, and happily gave us just that (plus 3 cans of Tecate!). In conversation as they pulled away, we found out they were stopping at the Little Colorado River, just 0.8 miles downstream, where we were also headed via boulder hopping bushwhack. They pulled the boat back in and let us ride along with them!!

Over at the Little Colorado, a striking blue colored tributary to the Colorado, we oohed and ahhed along with the rafters and tried to willed them to leave. We needed to ford the river but didn’t want an audience. We walked upstream a good half mile trying to find a shallower place to cross, but had no such luck. When we returned close to the confluence the rafters were gone and we gave the crossing a try. Hip deep but not too fast, we all crossed without incident. 

On the other side of the river we picked up real trail and tried to make up for the lost morning. The real trail was nice, but also tiring, with lots of rocky footing, and a surprising amount of up and down as it wove in and out, following every little nook and cranny of the gullies along the cliffs. 

The rain cleared out and it even got sunny in the afternoon. At the end of the day we dropped down to the beach and stayed lower all the way to where we camped. The clouds seem to be on their way out, though it is intensely humid. Hopefully the improved weather doesn’t bring too much heat!