August 27-Nankoweap

Jay read this section, as we knew we would hike Nankoweap today:  

 “Our way is through a gorge, grand beyond description,” he wrote, with nearly vertical walls rising some sixteen hundred feet above the river.  In a section where the river ran swiftly but relatively peaceably, “we seem to be in the depths of the earth, and yet can look down into waters that reflect a bottomless abyss.”  “We have as yet found no place in the Colorado where we could not land on either side of the river,” he wrote, “for though the walls come quite close to the water yet there has always been a strip of fallen rocks or a sandbank.”  If there was no shore to pull to, there would be no choice but to run the rapid, no matter how dangerous.

Neither Powell nor the men believed that a place was once discovered when the first white men arrived.  But even if they HAD felt inclined to belittle the Indians who had once lived here, the signs all around them of what had been routine, ongoing life would have raised troubling questions.  To men who were only a few bags of moldy flour away from starvation, the Indians seemed like figures to puzzle over and admire, not to deride.  “How they contrived to live is a mystery to me,” Sumner marveled, for the country was “as destitute of vegetation….as the paper I write on.”

Returning to the river and heading downstream again, the men soon found another group of ruins.  They made camp, and, as usual, Powell set out to climb to the cliffs so he could scan the countryside.  Quite near the top, he found himself stymied, unable to climb higher.  Looking around, he eventually discovered steps into the rock, and, nearby, an ancient rickety ladder.  For Powell, a man fully as romantic as any poet contemplating mortality in a country churchyard, this was a powerfully poignant moment.  He climbed to the cliff top in the steps of his anonymous predecessors.  “Here I stand,” he wrote, “where these now lost people stood centuries ago, and look over this strange country.

Spectacular views and vibes of the ancients at Nankoweep

Rain can't dampen our Mardi Gras: Beads, Jamablaya and PAINT!

(Off into the sunshine….and our first day with clouds.  The views are amazing.  The ant problem was resolved with putting a bowl down into the sand so the lip is covered.  The ants seemed to come running from everywhere – quite amazing, indeed.  Our new learning for today.   Then, Mick and Saint guarded the red wine while everyone else hiked Nankoweap….spits of rain, rolling clouds and foggy river bottoms.  Earlier today we thought we heard jets, and, lo and behold, it was thunder and lightning.  The walls were rumbling as we returned from the granary hike.  Happy Hour on the boats began under the Bimini tops as we engaged in Mardi Gras Night!  Dave thought his party was ruined….we all showed him it wasn’t as we pulled out colored hair spray, blue “Billy Ray Cyrus” tights (Kenny), masks, and the hurricanes and beads were everywhere, thanks to Dave!  Great music night, K & K & Jen!)