Archive for the ‘Rivers’ Category

Canyoneers River Rafting Boat, Grand Canyon

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

River Rafting boat on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

A Canyoneers river rafting company inflated boat rides down the Colorado River deep within Grand Canyon National Park. Canyoneers is the oldest of the Grand Canyon river outfitters, based in Flagstaff, Arizona.

This boat is one of their “C-Craft” 37-foot inflated pontoon boats, designed to be the safest and most comfortable boats rafting Grand Canyon. Passengers can sit wherever they like, which makes for more fun. For instance, if you’re feeling hot, you can sit at the front of the boat where you’ll get soaked going through the bigger rapids. Instant cool-down. If you don’t want to get wet, or want to watch the crew drive the boat, you can sit near the back. And in the many smooth water sections between rapids, the Pilot of the boat will tell you when it’s safe to go out onto the outside pontoons, to sit back against the boat and sunbathe, or just watch the grand scenery go slowly by.

It’s no wonder that doing a whitewater river rafting trip down Grand Canyon is universally held to be a world class experience.

See more of my photography at www.NaturalMoment.com.

Canyoneers’ website is at www.Canyoneers.com.

Posted in Arizona, Canyons, Grand Canyon, National Parks, Nature, Nature Photography, River Rafting, Rivers, Western Scenery | No Comments »

Nevills Cataract Boat the Sandra at Lees Ferry, Colorado River

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

Nevills Cataract Boat the Sandra at Lees Ferry

The Sandra is a fully restored, authentic wooden Cataract river running boat. It was the last boat that the legendary Norman Nevills built, in 1947. It was named after his then-little daughter Sandy, who christened the boat at Lees Ferry.

Norm Nevills and his wife Doris died in 1949 while he was flying his plane, but until that tragedy he had become renowned as the very first commercial river runner in Grand Canyon (1938), and was regarded as the number one whitewater boatman in the world.

The Nevills legacy was to live on, though. The Nevills river running business, renamed Mexican Hat Expeditions (out of Mexican Hat, Utah), was passed on to Norm’s other daughter, Joan Neville, and her husband Gaylord Staveley. The Staveleys renamed the company Canyoneers, Inc., after a term used by John Wesley Powell in his first exploration of Grand Canyon.

The Sandra was part of Gaylord Staveley’s flotilla of Cataract boats that re-created Powell’s run down the Green and Colorado Rivers in Utah and Arizona in 1969, the 100 year anniversary of Powell’s famous 1869 expedition. The Sandra had a bad wreck on that trip and was almost lost. Fortunately she survived, as chronicled in Staveley’s book Broken Waters Sing: Rediscovering Two Great Rivers of the West (Little, Brown and Co., 1971).

Today the Sandra is owned by Sandy Nevills’ son Greg Reiff, who saved the abandoned boat from the terminal stages of decay in a barn near Flagstaff, Arizona. Employing the boatbuilding expertise of Andy Hutchinson, the fully restored Sandra is now the only working Nevills Cataract boat in Grand Canyon. The Sandra makes three 14-day river trips in the Grand Canyon each summer, traveling along with 18-foot inflated boats from Canyoneers.

Thus Norm Nevills’ grandson saved and restored the Sandra, which was named for his mom, and he gets to run it down Grand Canyon again with Canyoneers, which is owned by his uncle Gaylord.

Photo location: Lees Ferry, Glen Canyon/Marble Canyon, Colorado River, Arizona.

See more of my photography at www.NaturalMoment.com.

Posted in Arizona, Black and White, Canyons, Deserts, Grand Canyon, National Parks, Nature, River Rafting, Rivers, Western Scenery | No Comments »

Canyoneers Grand Canyon Pontoon Boat, Lees Ferry, Arizona

Monday, April 26th, 2010
Canyoneers Grand Canyon pontoon boat at Lees Ferry, Arizona - Colorado River

Canyoneers Grand Canyon pontoon boat at Lees Ferry, Arizona - Colorado River

Lees Ferry, Arizona: I got to hang out with the Canyoneers river crew as they prepared for the first Grand Canyon river rafting trip of the season. The boat, a 37 foot inflated pontoon boat with a Honda 30 four stroke outboard engine, had been brought from Flagstaff the previous day by truck and trailer. Two of the three crew members had camped out overnight with the boat. Meanwhile, back in Flagstaff, the 20 passengers had attended an orientation meeting.

At sunrise the air was almost perfectly calm, making for great reflections on the surface of the Colorado River. Carolyn and Drew had driven to a restaurant for breakfast. I stayed behind because of the morning “golden hour” light, to photograph in such excellent conditions. When they returned, they made their final preparations before the passengers arrived from Flagstaff, accompanied by the third river guide, Rachel.

Finally, the mini bus with Rachel and the passengers arrived. They were fitted with life jackets, had their gear stowed on the boat by the river guides, and soon were off on a 7 day river rafting adventure down the entire length of the Grand Canyon.

For more information on Grand Canyon river rafting trips, go to www.Canyoneers.com.

Posted in Arizona, Canyons, Deserts, Grand Canyon, National Parks, Nature, Nature Photography, River Rafting, Rivers, Sunrises and Sunsets, Western Scenery | 2 Comments »

April Morning, Lees Ferry, Colorado River

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

Sunrise on the Colorado River at Lees Ferry, Arizona

Sunrise on a desert river: The Colorado River at historic Lees Ferry, Arizona, dawned warm and calm on April 18. Lees Ferry is the put-in point (river talk meaning where the trip begins) for all Grand Canyon whitewater river rafting trips. It’s also a spectacular locale, with the Vermilion Cliffs on one side, the Echo Cliffs on the other, and Marble Canyon of the Colorado River in between.

On this morning, the calm air made a mirror of the river’s surface, reflecting the cliffs and sky. I was there to photograph and film the beginning of the first river trip of the season by Canyoneers, a long time Flagstaff, Arizona river running outfitter. You can find out more about them at www.Canyoneers.com.

Photo location: Lees Ferry, Colorado River, near Marble Canyon, Arizona

Posted in Arizona, Canyons, Deserts, Grand Canyon, Nature, Nature Photography, Rivers, Sunrises and Sunsets, Western Scenery | No Comments »

Grand Canyon North Rim: View from Point Imperial

Thursday, October 1st, 2009
Grand Canyon view from North Rim at Point Imperial

Grand Canyon view from North Rim at Point Imperial

Point Imperial on Grand Canyon’s North Rim puts you at 8.800 feet in elevation, and with a rather scary view. The much more highly visited South Rim has nothing like this.

In this photo we see…a sea of cliffs. Canyon carving to the extreme. As the Earth uplifted here long ago, the rivers and side streams had no choice but to keep up by carving their way downward. And they’re not done yet.

Posted in Arizona, Grand Canyon, National Parks, Nature, Rivers, Western Scenery | No Comments »

Colorado River from Navajo Bridge, Arizona

Monday, September 28th, 2009
Colorado River, from Navajo Bridge, US 89A, Arizona

Colorado River, from Navajo Bridge, US 89A, Arizona

One of my favorite drives in northern Arizona crosses the line on the map between the Navajo Nation and the upper reaches of Grand Canyon National Park.

Navajo Bridge is a long steel span on US 89A that crosses the Marble Canyon portion of the Colorado River gorge. Actually there are two bridges: the new one and the old one. The old one serves as a tourist attraction, and a spectacular one at that. On the west end of the bridge is the National Park Service Visitor Center, with bookstore and restrooms. On the east end is the Navajo Nation, with numerous Indian artists selling their authentic jewelry.

Walking out onto the old bridge affords excellent views of the Colorado River beneath. In this photo we can notice some things. The calm flow of the river, the reflection of the Arizona blue sky above. The red rock canyon walls. The bright green strips of vegetation hugging the river’s edge, beyond which it’s immediately desert again.

Upriver from here is Lee’s Ferry, the famous put-in spot for all those river rafting expeditions into Grand Canyon. They will float languidly into this view before eventually entering the deeper portions of the canyon, with their whitewater rapids hazards and thrills.

See more of my photography at: www.NaturalMoment.com

Posted in Arizona, Grand Canyon, National Parks, Nature, Nature Photography, Rivers | No Comments »