Paddling the Grand Canyon Self-Support

When I was 5 years old, my summer vacation was a trip to see one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, The Grand Canyon. I remember peering over the edge looking nearly a mile down at the Colorado River and at the mule bridge that crosses the river at Phantom Ranch. The wheels inside my little mind were turning about getting the chance to see the bridge and the river up close. However, the trip to the bridge would include a 7 mile hike with an altitude change of over 5,000ft. This seemed like an impossible feat at the time.

A few months ago, I received a call from Adam Goshorn, who lives near Fort Payne, Alabama informing me he had won a permit to paddle the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. The permit was won through a National Park Service lottery that occurs year round to regulate the number of individuals who paddle through the Grand Canyon. Only one permit is issued per day. He invited me and three other kayaking friends on an adventure of a life time.

Most river trips through the Grand Canyon occur by raft and usually involve 18 to 30 days on the water due to the heaviness and slow speed of the rafts. This trip would be different though. Adam explained to me that the trip could be done in a much shorter time period if we only paddled kayaks since they are much faster. He explained to me that we could paddle all 226 miles of the Colorado River through The Grand Canyon in only 7 days. My initial reaction was that this is crazy to attempt without raft support and that I would freeze to death since its January. My mind further wondered about where I would find a large enough kayak to carry both me and my survival gear. After a few days, I agreed to be a part of the team. There would be 5 of us including Leigh Knudsen and Ben Karp from Washington D.C. and Mike Tavares from Chattanooga.

Over the next few months, I began to gather my gear. I purchased a Liquidlogic XP10. At 105 gallons, this boat is over 10ft long and has a dry cargo compartment in the rear. It's skegg on the back would further aid in steering the boat across flat-water. I would purchase a Kokatat GMER dry-suit to stay dry and an Immersion Research Union Suit to stay warm. Camping gear would include a light weight 2 person tent, a zero degree sleeping bag, a small camp stove, a Thermarest sleeping pad, and a water-proof closed cell sleeping pad. Food would include 10 Snickers Candy Bars, 16 Nature Valley Bars, a jar of peanut butter, pre-cooked bacon and 28 freeze-dried Mountain House back-packer meals. Drinking water would be pumped from the river through a water filter and Kool-Aid was added. A satellite phone would be our emergency line out if we needed help or just wanted to check-in with family. The last piece of gear that I must mention was a piece of 6 inch PVC water pipe that was 18 inches long with caps on both ends. What would I need this for? National Park Service regulations require that you leave no trace in The Grand Canyon and that you pack everything out that you take into the park….they mean everything…including human waste…

On the morning of January 2, 2011, Adam and I departed Northern Alabama to Chattanooga in my 4dr Nissan Titan to pick up Mike. Together, the three of us would drive 26 hours through the night to Flagstaff, Arizona with all 5 boats and gear. Leigh and Ben would fly from Washington DC to Flagstaff on the night of January 3rd. After a night of rest at one of the many Flagstaff Motel 6's, we drove to Lee's Ferry near Page, Arizona to camp for the night before our launch. This would also let us do some final boat packing. Packing my boat was where the LL XP10 really excelled. The XP10 has foot pegs...so loading the front was a breeze. I had two Watershed Futa bags of clothes up front in front of the foot pegs. I cut a chunk out of the front center pillar to install the massive poop tube. Strapped to the side of the poop tube was one shaft of a break-down paddle and four 3"X18" pieces of aluminum that was part of our fire pan. I had my water bottle and camera bag in my lap. Behind the seat was three dry bags of Mountain House meals, my bacon, and my candy bars. In the dry cargo compartment, I had more food, stove along with gas, tent, sleeping bag, Thermarest, a paddle blade to our break-down paddle, my down jacket, and all sorts of other stuff. I even had a tube of contact cement, 3ft of vinyl mastic, needle and fishing line, and straps.

Arrival in Flagstaff

Lee's Ferry Put-In at Marble Canyon

At 9am on January 5, 2011, Adam, Leigh, Ben, Mike, and I checked-in at the Lee’s Ferry ranger station for orientation. Our gear was inspected, our ID’s were verified, and we were cleared to launch at 10:30am to paddle the Colorado River 226 miles through The Grand Canyon. The first two days were the hardest. We were all learning to paddle our loaded boats through the massive whitewater. In addition to my LL XP10, Adam paddled a Pyranha Fusion, Mike and Ben both had Green Boats, and Leigh had borrowed a LL Stinger. By the end of the first day, Leigh flipped in a rapid and couldn't roll. Her boat was just too heavy and we had packed her tightly in her boat. Ben got to her and pulled her back up. I couldn't believe how long she kept trying to roll. She was a fighter. That's when we decided to call it a day and setup camp. We had paddled 25 miles.

The Cave by Mike Tavares

The next morning, we got up between 6:30am and 7am. It took us 2 hours each day to cook breakfast, take down camp, and pack our boats. After launching right into a big rapid, we began a new day to cover lots of miles while still trying to learn how to drive our boats. The 6ft to 8ft waves were knocking our bows and sterns all over the place. The Colorado River also has something I've never seen before. Once you make it through the rapids you think everything is great...until the massive whirl-pools come after you. After a few rapids, I saw Adam get swallowed whole by a whirl-pool. After resurfacing upside down, he failed to make several attempted rolls. He swam to shore with his boat only to realize he had just lost our map. So...we were at mile 27 with no map and 200 miles to go. This was also when mentally, we all were questioning ourselves..."is it possible to roll a boat this heavy?" For the remainder of the trip, we asked every group we passed what mile we were at. This left us to boat scout all the rapids since we didn't have a guide to tell us the lines. I must admit, this made the trip more fun because we never knew exactly what we were in for. We did scout, Hance, Crystal, and Lava though. I also checked in with my wife Hayley via satellite phone on a few nights to get mileage of certain landmarks and rapids. This would be valuable to us by giving us something to go by in determining our progress.

Brandon paddling flatwater and cussing the whole way.

Photo by Mike Tavares

Camp Ground on Night 2

Scouting Hance. Photo by Mike Tavares

The big day would come for me on day 3 at river mile 89. At around 12 Noon, after running some of the most challenging rapids, we paddled around the bend to find the mule bridge across the river at Phantom Ranch. This was the bridge that I had looked at from high upon the rim when I was 5 years old. This was the bridge, I though was impossible to reach some 27 years earlier. But now, my dream had become a reality. I got to see the mule bridge in the bottom of The Grand Canyon at Phantom Ranch. While visiting Phantom Ranch, I ate the best bagel in the world and mailed some postcards. Phantom Ranch is a nice place to visit.
The next few days would prove to be challenging as we paddled through the massive whitewater rapids. Some days we paddled over 40 miles. I am convinced that one rapid had 10ft waves that I somehow made it through and over the top. Each day, we started paddling at 9am and didn't stop till around 12noon for lunch. We'd setup camp between 4pm and 5pm. Advil was my friend with 2 in the morning, 1 at lunch, and 2 at bed.

Brandon posing at the Mule Bridge at Phantom Ranch

The Restaurant and Camp Store at Phantom Ranch

Adam admiring the view.

Havasu Creek. Checkout my boat back rest!

Photo by Mike Tavares.

Adam, Leigh, and Brandon trying to pack the boats.

Photo by Mike Tavares.

Brandon enjoying the flatwater.

Photo by Mike Tavares.

Brandon, Leigh, Ben, and Adam Scounting Lava Falls.

Photo by Mike Tavares.

Diamond Creek Take-Out

Mike, Ben, Leigh, Mike, and Brandon

At 12:30pm on January 11, 2011, we arrived at the Diamond Creek take-out where we loaded our boats onto my truck and began our 26 hour drive back to Tennessee. This was when we learned of the worldly events and happenings while we were somewhat cut off from society. The massive shooting had occurred in Tucson, Arizona and the Southeast had been blanketed with a heavy snow storm. We all laughed about the weather. We had 7 days of sunny skies with daytime temperatures in the 50’s…all while the Southeast was freezing to death. Kayaking the Colorado River 226 miles through the Grand Canyon was a trip that I will never forget. It was a trip of a lifetime that I’m sure I’ll share with friends and family for the rest of my life.

As for the Liquidlogic XP10, it's probably the best expedition boat on the market. At 105 gallons, it has plenty of cargo space and plenty of volume to carry everything. The Liquidlogic website states the weight limit to be 300lbs. However, I know I had nearly 350lbs in mine on this trip. It's stability is awesome in big whitewater and the skegg was a lifesaver on the flats. With the addition of knee blocks, it was a comfortable boat to sit in for nearly 7 hours a day.

BTW, I was asked by someone a few days ago about which rapids I ran and which rapids I walked. My boat was so heavy that portaging was not possible. It took two people to pull my boat out of the water and to launch it. I was committed to running everything. However, a kayak is much more maneuverable than a raft. Therefore, I had many more options of picking easier lines.

Till Next Time, Pray For Rain!

Grand Canyon Training on Big South Fork of the Cumberland?

About a month ago, I got a call from Adam Goshorn informing me that he had won a permit to paddle the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Since that time, I've been buying gear to keep me warm and gear that I needed to camp. I even had to buy a new boat to fit the task at hand of paddling 226 miles through the Grand Canyon with all my survival gear onboard, since we won't be taking rafts with us. We will accomplish this feat in 7 days at 33 miles per day.

I would need a boat capable of running the big rapids found on the Colorado River while still being able to handle the multitude of flat stretches. Additionally, the craft would need plenty of cargo space including a dry cargo hold. I looked at boats from Jackson Kayak, Pyranha, Liquidlogic, and others. I studied the options carefully and ended up purchasing a Liquidlogic Remix XP10.

At 10ft 3" long and having a volume of 105 gallons, the Liquidlogic Remix XP10 would meet my needs of paddling the Grand Canyon. It has a dry cargo hold in the back, foot pegs in front so storing gear in the bow is easy, and a moveable skeg on the back to help with straight paddling across pools of water.

To stay warm on the water, I chose IR's Union Suit. It's a full body fleece suit that is very warm.
I would also need something to keep me dry. I chose the best...the Kokatat GMER Drysuit. I have never owned a drysuit before. Now owning one, I don't know how I survived the last 9 winters since I've been paddling.

Now for the test. For several years, I've been looking at a section of Big South Fork of the Cumberland that doesn't get paddled for it's whitewater. It's the Station Camp to Blue Heron Section that consists of mostly flat water with the exception of class 2 shoals and the class IV Devil's Jump. It's long been known as an overnight run with it's 19 miles of paddling through a wilderness gorge. Up until now, I had always dreaded 19 miles of flatwater. But now, I got a long boat that is fast and can carry a lot of gear. Furthermore, I would need to paddle in cold temperatures to make sure I could stay warm enough with my new warm/dry gear. This would also be a test of how comfortable the outfitting would be in my new boat.

Last Sunday, December 12, 2010, Todd Scott and I would put our boats and gear to the test. We would set shuttle the night before at Blue Heron, then camp near the put-in at Station Camp. The next morning, we would begin our 19 mile adventure on the Big South Fork in the middle of a snow storm. Weather forecasts were calling for 5 inches of snow and we did have second thoughts. But I kept telling myself, if a snow storm happens while I'm in the bottom of the Grand Canyon, I'll just have to deal with it. That is exactly what I did this past Sunday.

After cooking a hot breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon, I was slowly motivating myself to paddle on this cold morning.

The Chimney Rocks at the put-in at Station Camp.

We launched at 10:30am across pools of water with class 2 shoals along the way. It had rained all night and the river level rose to around 3,000cfs. This surprisingly kept the pools moving.

There were cliffs along the way. It is a really pretty gorge that so many people never get to see.

Paddling through the snow.

Brandon is in the lead with Todd following in his Pyranha Speeder.

It was a cold day with temperatures never getting above freezing. Ice began to form in my beard along with a 1/4" of ice on my PFD.

Our first stop was at Bear Creek where Todd built a fire and I cooked hamburgers and hotdogs.

After scouting Devil's Jump, we decided to portage due to so much flow going into some badly undercut rocks. We both agreed that we could probably make it, but if something went wrong neither of us would be in a good position. After a full day of having a great day, we didn't want to push it. There was an easy portage on river left on a horse trail.

Looking upstream at the cliffs above Devil's Jump rapid.



Looking downstream from Devil's Jump rapid. Todd and I almost didn't get our spray skirts back on our boats after our portage due to so much ice on our skirts.

We made it to the takeout at Blue Heron at 4:15pm. Todd always has to have his coffee. At the takeout at Blue Heron, he got his stove out so he could cook a cup of precious.

Two park rangers met us at the takeout also to inform us that they had closed the road but that we could still get out by driving around the signs. By this point the snow was really coming down. We came back to civilization to a world of slick roads and scared drivers with several inches of snow and ice on area roads.

In conclusion, we paddled 19 miles in 5hrs & 45min including stopping to build a fire to cook lunch and a long scout and portage at Devil's Jump. The Liquidlogic Remix XP10 did an excellent job on both the flat sections and the class 2 shoals and wave trains. The XP10's seat and outfitting were very comfortable. The IR Union Suit kept me warm and toasty while the Kokatat GMER Drysuit kept me dry. I know that the Grand Canyon will dish out much larger water and much larger rapids, but I am now confident that paddling 33 miles a day in a loaded kayak is very doable. I look forward to the upcoming adventure.

Till Next Time, Pray for Rain!

All photos taken by Todd Scott.

All gear photos were stolen from Internet sources without permission but for promotional purposes.

Foamie Creek Construction

I have wanted a foamie creek for a long time but never had the space nor the gradient to build one. After deciding to get rid of the tree that ate my house, I suddenly had space. My plan was to pull the tree out, stump and all. Then, I would use the hole left by the stump as the lower pond. However, after breaking a tow strap trying to pull the tree out, I ended up just cutting the tree down and leaving the stump.

The Tree That Ate My House!

The tree is gone and construction has started.

I got a garden pond quicker than I wanted one. I found the waterline by chopping clean through it. Water began to fill the hole, I quickly turn the water off. I then relocated and repaired the line around the lower pond.


Installing the lower 90 gallon pond.

Positioning the upper 30 gallon pond.

My wife Hayley looking out the window trying to figure out what in the world I was thinking when I decided to start this project.

I had to build a rock wall to raise the upper pond to get more gradient.

The rock wall is complete.

I had to haul in a lot of dirt to fill around the upper 30 gallon pond and inside the newly constructed rock wall. You can see the creek pools have been dug along with a rough ditch where the creek will flow.

The ponds are in place, the rock wall has been constructed and the creek has been roughly dug. It's time for the liners to begin the creek construction.

Look at all that gradient....

Here's the lower half with multiple drops, pools, and undercuts!

The creek is in place and the rocks have been positioned.

I installed a grist mill next to one of the drops.

The mulch has been added along with garden lighting.

Looking upstream at the foamie creek from the bottom after the mulch has been added.

After construction was completed, I determined that I have 19 feet of creek that drops 3 1/2 feet. That would make this creek 973 feet per mile. I used a 2800 gallon per hour garden pond pump. That is equivalent to 47 gallons per minute or almost 1 gallon per second. Now I gotta find some Foamies to see how it drops. More later once I get the foamies.

Till next time, pray for rain!

Finally...Slickrock Creek

Slickrock Creek is located in the Joyce Kilmer Wilderness Area near Robbinsville, North Carolina. The put-in is at the end of National Forest Trail #41 which is 1.5 miles over the mountain from Big Fat Gap. The takeout is at the boat ramp on Calderwood Lake which is also the Cheoah River takeout.

I've been wanting to get on this run for several years but never could get the proper rain amounts or I had to work or couldn't get a crew together or something. On November 11, 2009, everything came together. The area received nearly 2 inches of rain the day before and through the night. Tellico rose till it peaked at 7.8ft at 6:00am. All the tributaries in the area had lots of water including Bear Creek which dumps into the Cheoah River with a waterfall. The tough thing about running Slickrock is that there are no gauges on this river and it's tough to get a visual. The only way is to paddle down Calderwood Lake over a mile to the mouth of the creek to take a look which we didn't do. Based on all the water in the tributaries and ditches and with Tellico high, we decided to gamble that there would be enough but not too much water in Slickrock.




Steve Krajewski and I started hiking at Big Fat Gap at 12:00 noon. We knew this was a little late but we were armed with a headlamp and we knew there was a well maintained trail along the river too. We decided if we ran out of daylight, we'd hike out to the lake and paddle to the car with my headlamp. After hiking 1.5 miles down the side of the mountain on FS Trail #41, we arrived at the put-in at 1:00pm.

The level looked OK at the put-in. Just remember, a lot of tributaries add to the creeks volume just downstream.

We paddled down some class 2+ and class 3 till we came to the big attraction...Wildcat Falls. This is the first drop which was very runnable.

This is the second drop which had a bad boil approximately 10-15ft out from the base but was feeding everything back into the falls.

This is the 3rd and 4th drop. The 4th drop was the largest and was basically a horseshoe shaped falls. I've been told those that run this plug the hole and go deep and pop up downstream. I just wasn't up for that today and we decided to portage.

We encountered several logs but only had to portage 3 or so times. This one was a no go.

Here, I am entering one of the easier class 3 rapids. It's an S-turn around a rock.

As you can see in this picture, there was a log in this drop just under the surface. We both tapped it. This rapid would be unrunnable at lower levels.


There were several areas along the run where the gorge would narrow down and the blind drops just kept coming. We boat scouted most everything. I think we got out to look only a few times. There were logs hidden in some rapids but all went well.

About a mile above Calderwood Lake, there is another river wide 15ft waterfall. The left side looked the best. The right side had a horseshoe pocket. We ran it on the left side.

After reaching the lake at 5:30pm (official sunset), we discovered a problem. There had been so much rain in the area, that all the dams in the area were dumping 3 full gates of water. Calderwood Lake is a very narrow lake. Slickrock Creek dumps into Calderwood Lake about 2 miles below Cheoah Dam. The downstream current on the lake was unbelievable. We had to paddle up the lake 10ft off the bank to get to our car at the boat ramp also known as the Cheoah take-out. At 5:55pm, we arrived at the car as it was getting dark.

Slickrock Creek is a wilderness whitewater run that has been seen by only a few kayakers. Reports talk about an extensive hike. However, I'm not in the best of shape physically and didn't have any trouble hiking my boat down a well maintained trail off the side of a mountain for 1.5 miles. You must be prepared to boat scout rapids and make quick decisions on the fly. If you attempt to scout every rapid, you'll never make it out. It's really non-stop whitewater. You will need good water levels or you'll encouter more obstacles and mandatory portages. There were several rapids where we paddled over underwater logs that were good to go but, at lower water you'd never get across them. Have plenty of time to enjoy this run. We made it car to car in 6 hours. However, if we'd ran Wildcat Falls, we would have needed more time to setup safety and to scout. We kept moving to make sure we got out before dark. And finally, be sure to take a headlamp. There is a well maintained trail along Slickrock Creek. If you get caught in there by darkness, just hike out to the lake. Then, paddle to the boat ramp.

Slickrock Creek is one of the finest wilderness runs I've ever paddled. I can't wait to go back next time.

Till next time, keep praying for rain because it's working!