We depart the Little Colorado in mid-afternoon of an early May day, continuing on Day Four of our excellent Colorado River rafting adventure. The sky that earlier teased us with a warm patchy blue has turned again to cold gray. The sun is a vague, hazy blob behind the thickening clouds. We huddle beneath blue tarps in a futile attempt to stay warm and dry. The Tapeats Sandstone is about to disappear up, up, and away from the water’s edge.
The flattened, fractured layers of this formation are too captivating to let go so soon, though. With that in mind, here are a few still images and videos to consider for now, until the Tapeats reappears further downstream in a few days. Enjoy!
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| Motoring through the Tapeats (click on any pic to enlargenate |
Gray clouds linger in the sky like battered marshmallows as we motor our way through river mile 60 on the Colorado River. My feet are soggy raisins inside my wet neoprene booties and rubber river shoes. My nose drips like a sunburnt popsicle in July. It has been raining intermittently sideways for the past ten river miles and my waterproof gear seems to have sprung a few leaks. My core is a shuddering block of slush. As instructed by our flip-flop-wearing guides, I am wearing my bathing suit under multiple layers of thermal wear. Now they tell us it is time to go swimming. Really? The last thing I want to do is plunge my hypothermia-verging self into that frigid river. Deep inside my cold-addled brain I imagine a toasty sauna or (ooohh!) hot spring materializing somewhere nearby.
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| The Tapeats Sandstone at river level (click on any pic to enlargenate |
