summer 03 / 16:2 - Grand Canyon River Guides

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yourself-help mechanism for heading off calamitousconsequences such as those ending Massey’s andWhale’s lives. If you need help, call the Whale Foundation.They can help. If you don’t need help, call theWhale Foundation with a contribution. They need it.Finally, Rob Elliott proudly announced a significantstep in the maturation of the Grand Canyon Youthprogram, introducing its excited and enthusiastic firstdirector Emma Wharton. Grand Canyon Youth needsboatmen and can put them to good use.After lunch Tom Ryan from the Bureau of Reclamationgave us the grim news on the 2003 season’sflows: What water? Nat White offered a guide to thenight skies, one remarkably well tailored to his audience.Nat advised how to prepare for the heavens’offerings before launch and commended Burnham’sCelestial Handbook for your river library, a cheap andthorough “observer’s guide.” Helen Yard’s talk on theriparian and low-slope bird habitat concluded the birdsare busy in the early morning and hang out where theyfind food—in the post-dam thickets along the shoreand in the rich plant community in the “Old HighWater Zone.” Her insights into the changes brought bythe post 1963 flow regime and the tenacity of the oldercommunities were particularly graceful. Lori Makarick,Rachel Stanton, and Kate Watters took up the topic ofthe plant kingdom in the park and their unlikelycombination of projects of “ethnic cleansing” operationsto extirpate noxious aliens and the “Below theRim” plant guide project they have been working onfor a couple of years. The prototype guide they showedaround is filled with outstanding photographs andprecise line drawings. Get one when it sees print.Archaeologist Lisa Leap summarized the park’sactivities protecting, monitoring, and restoring the oldstuff from all eras throughout the park. I took particularnote of the boat restoration and protection projectat the South Rim and the explanation of the restorationof the Beamer Cabin a short way up the LittleColorado. Bill Vernieu’s explanation of the flow andtemperature dynamics in the reservoir and how thosevariables affect the temperature of water discharged bythe dam made a complex set of processes clear. Hecoherently related variables as diverse as reservoirlevel, climate, weather, seasons, and the rational andirrational release protocols. His presentation set mymind to whirring. I’d say the dam needs an adjustableintake so release water can be skimmed off the fluctuatingsurface of the pool to warm up the stream toencourage the few humpback chub we have left. Itmight make swimming a bit less bracing, too.Al Holland gave a talk on the invention of riverrunning as a recreational activity, both private andcommercial, that nearly cost Michael Ghiglieri hiswatch as the president resolutely tapped it to tell thestubborn Holland he talked too long. Fred Phillips andAnn Hadley then reported on their riparian habitatrestoration project at Lees Ferry. The photographs theyshowed of their “young plants loving life” remindedthis aging parent of young parents showing offphotographs of their kids. Under Phillips and Hadley’scare those youngsters are flourishing. With their talkthe day’s formal presentations wound down and theinformal activities commenced.One of the Hatch guides wheeled in a barrow full offirewood, started the big stove, and everyone warmedup to the party. Martha served the biggest supper of theweekend to warm the inner souls of a multitude ofboatmen and boatmen’s friends. After supper DonBriggs showed two sets of slides, the first a set of stunningimages of evocative clarity and emotional effectand the second a set of salacious images of provocativehilarity. To calm the crowd Ghiglieri held the drawingfor one of Dave Haskell’s fine paintings and severalother fine prizes. Once Ghiglieri had restored orderPhil Smith introduced his showing of his fresh fromWild Irishman Creek in the Mackenzie Basin of NewZealand copy of the film made on the 1960 run downand back up the Grand Canyon. After a few hilariousmedia snafus Matt Kaplinski and Brad Dimock cobbledtogether a way to synchronize sound and light to showbig water, big boats, some big egos, and Kiwi masterboatman Jon Hamilton slithering his way up throughLava Falls. The music started after that show-stealingwarm-up act. The Stone River Band boogied, rocked,and stomped indoors and a pickup acoustic string trioand quartet of Bill Vernieu on guitar and mandolin,Zeke Lauck on guitar, Justin Howe on cowboy guitar,and Joanna Joseph on string bass picked, grinned, andsang out by the blazing juniper fire. The musicians andbeer held out longer than most of the revelers.Following more of Helen’s coffee and Martha’sappetizing Sunday breakfast Chuck Higgins started thesecond day’s morning round of park service talks deliveringa good-humored and rigorous presentation on theleast appetizing topics, the Norovirus that wreakedsuch havoc on some trips last season and recommendedsanitation procedures to help preventoutbreaks. Chuck’s lessons—scrupulously wash handswith clean water, filter (max 0.2 micron) and disinfect(two drops of bleach per gallon of clear water for thirtyminutes) all water for drinking, and stay out of thekitchen for three days after recovery. Mike McGinnisfollowed, taking the heat for “the rules,” with anequally important and similarly unattractive topicdiscussing the changes in the Commercial OperatingRequirements for this season and a report comparinglast season’s “incidents” with past seasons. Ken Phillipsfrom the park’s Search and Rescue explained thatservice’s operations and stridently urged promptpage 14grand canyon river guides
eporting of any incidents that might require rescue orevacuation to minimize risks to all parties involved.The ranger from Lake Mead reported on the problemsarising as the stream cuts into the deltaic fans at theend of the river and at the ramps left high and dry bythe dropping reservoir levels.The morning’s “critter talks” began with HeidiKloeppel’s crisply presented talk on the latest invaderto the Colorado Drainage, the New Zealand MudSnail, a trophic dead end that devours the algae thatused to feed scuds and midges, themselves the suppersof a host of larger appetites such as fish, lizards, batsand swallows. Nikolle Brown, everyone’s favorite snakelady, showed photographs of the several snakes sheknows so much about and reiterated her request forphotographs, time, and location information of anysnakes you see. Chad Olson’s rich talk on the Californiacondors in the park and beyond explained muchof their behavior, chronicled the successes and frustrationsof the reintroduction program, and offered asimple rule for managing human-condor contacts: ifcurious condors come to visit your camp, immediatelychase them off; keep your distance from and minimizecontact with all other condors you meet.By then it was lunchtime but we were so far behindschedule no one would stop and volunteers begandiscreetly circulating through the audience distributingsandwiches. Rick Erenwein, recently hired at the parkas a planner for the Colorado River ManagementPlan’s revision, explained how the process worked.When he opened the floor to questions he was inundatedby a flood of additional comments, even thoughthe public comment period has ended. He held up wellunder the assault, explaining he assembled the dataand others made the decisions.Dave Haskell’s talk on the life expectancy of thereservoir behind the Glen Canyon Dam and the consequencesof its filling by sediment broached the troublingquestion of what to do with all that sediment andwhen to do it. He cogently argued tending to thatmountain of mud now will cost less than tending to itlater but acknowledged no political will to face thedaunting task yet exists. As Dave spoke, Brad Dimockand I hastily calculated removing the sediment alreadyaccumulated would require a ten-yard dump truck loadevery few seconds for several decades. On that brightnote Brad, noting he’d do every thing possible to finishin the negative one hour and twenty-two minutes hehad left, introduced and read brief excerpts from thetwo new Colorado River Chronicles series publications,Bill Suran’s transcription of the river journalsfrom Emery and Ellsworth Kolb and Bert Lauzon fromtheir 1911–12 expedition and his compilation of thejournals from Buzz Holmstrom’s 1936–38 adventures.Once again a generous group of special people havehelped put on a successful Guides Training Seminar.The hospitality of Ted, Pat, Steve, Sara, and Eva ofHatch River Expeditions provided the warehouse wemade into a convention center for the weekend. Thecommercial outfitters who operate in the GrandCanyon, the Grand Canyon Conservation Fund, andMark Thatcher made generous financial contributions.The National Park Service also contributed, bothfinancially and with loaned equipment and professionalpersonnel. Northern Arizona University loaned themajor part of the audio-visual equipment used tomount the seminar. All the speakers donated theirtime, travel, and expertise. Dave Haskell donated hisgreat painting, raising more than $500 for future seminars.Those who contributed to the creature comfortsdeserve special mention: Martha Clark and extendedfamily for the fine food, Helen Yard for the fine coffee,Matt Kaplinski for selecting such a grand array ofbeverages, the Stone River Band and the pickup circleof players and singers for a rocking Saturday night’smusic, and who ever controlled the weather for makingit warmer every day.Special kudos go to the members of the GuidesTraining Seminar committee who organized the entireaffair and to the Grand Canyon River Guides board ofdirectors from which it was mostly drafted. The highestpraises are due the many anonymous volunteers, thosewho picked up every loose end throughout theweekend, doing their part to make the whole enterprisesuch a success, and to the mass of canyon loverswho attentively attended.Al Hollandboatman’s quarterly review page 15
Page 3 and 4: David LavenderWestern historian Dav
Page 5 and 6: soul and your heart rather than you
Page 7 and 8: The WEN, 1938Cam Staveley overlooks
Page 9 and 10: Four months after graduation the ne
Page 11 and 12: Instinct alone can be credited with
Page 13: GTS 2003!This spring’s gts was a
Page 17: we are, or by recognizing the inter
Page 21 and 22: 96.1L Schist Camp Dave Stratton96.7
Page 23 and 24: present daily maximums of 13,000 cf
Page 25 and 26: dad to go run the Yampa River. Well
Page 27 and 28: Left to Right: Wes Eddington, Sally
Page 29 and 30: that as best we could, with the Sie
Page 31 and 32: discouraged now, because of regulat
Page 33 and 34: fun. They’d put me to bed, and I
Page 35 and 36: down to Bedrock, which is the wrong
Page 37 and 38: we’re all out or safe, so that th
Page 39 and 40: about all of ’em. We got tremendo
Page 41 and 42: “Lucy Runs the Rapids” #188When
Page 43 and 44: Sumner must have carried this frust
Page 45 and 46: Back in PrintAnnouncementsLook what
Page 47 and 48: Where Are the Amphibians?The USGS S

summer 03 / 16:2 - Grand Canyon River Guides

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