Grand Canyon Mojo
No river trip is the same, and you’re never the same after any river trip. Getting on a Grand Canyon River Trip is always something special. Grand trips are so many things. There’s the big water challenge, but each rapid has a moderate and easy line and can be portaged easily in a kayak. There are amazing hikes, climbs, and hidden treasures to be discovered and epic views of rock, sun, water, stars and moon. The delight is the wilderness setting amongst the camaraderie of friends and the love of your Grand Canyon Family. Take the Grand trip as far as you can, you’re alive and living. You are out there….in the backcountry and it is serious. It’s the chance for total escape of the world…..Check out time!
15 of us just paddled the Grand Canyon, 226 miles from Lee’s Ferry to Diamond Creek in about 12 days…all by kayak. We came to love our XP’s…. our homes for 12 short January days.
12 days is a short trip by most standards…long enough to see the sights, surf the waves, and hike up the side canyons, but without the extra work and cost of raft support. Most of us just wanted to see if it could be done. Just get there with your boat and a trip to the grocery store, Liquid Logic has got the rest covered. Just hop a jet if you have to and get to Flagstaff…. meet up with Ted….were waiting on ya…
The Park Service has regulations for solid waste disposal…aka GROOVER. Woody designed a killer Groover for the Remix XP. He built them ahead of the trip for each of us, and they are perfect fit for this down river mission in the G.C. national Park. . Your own private Grand Groover consists of some Glued up 8 inch PVC Pipe, sealed on one end and threaded screw cap (water tight) on the other. Disassemble your bow pillar and cut out a template. Two cam straps hold everything in place and this design doesn’t take a lot space out of your boat. And its cheap, $35 materials and can be built in less than hour.
Preparing for a 12 day kayak trip without a mother ship raft to support us was a lot easier than I thought. Just be able to pack extra warm winter gear like down jackets, down booties, tents, tarps, or bivy’s and a winter sleeping bag. Then there is food. Just think light and make it lighter. Or pack the essential gear, and stock up on your favorite good eats that will fit in the kayak after everything else in packed!
