Grand Canyon rafting trip

I just finished putting up a new blog entry on my Odds site about my recent rafting trip in the Grand Canyon. Before I announce in my "what's new" list I welcome all comments, corrections, and questions here.

This took quite a bit of time to put together so I hope you won't find it too boring.

Ever see Ken Burns documentary on national parks and
what they tried to do to the Grand Canyon before it
was protected? Thank god for people like John Muir
and Teddy Roosevelt.

Quote: EvenBob

Ever see Ken Burns documentary on national parks and
what they tried to do to the Grand Canyon before it
was protected? Thank god for people like John Muir
and Teddy Roosevelt.

I didn't see that, but know there have been plans to try to dam the Grand Canyon all the way to the 1980's. This is the first time, as far as I know, that I've agreed with one of your political opinions.

Mike, that looks like a very cool trip you took with your son.

I was too busy reading to really look for any errors. The only thing I noticed is you may have two of the three captions for the pictures at the bottom of Day 2 reversed. One says Sleeping Area or something like that and the other says Campsite. I think they should be reversed, but I could be wrong.

Tipping 5-10% on a $5000 tab seems like a lot, but what do I know. On Cruises that I have been on where you tip cabin stewards, waiters, etc, it probably averages $20-$25 per day for a couple or $160 per week for a trip that sets you back $3,000, so I guess that is 5+%. I just would find it hard to tip $500 to the guides for a 6 day trip, but that is on the high side of the range that was suggested.

Quote: Wizard

I didn't see that, but know there have been plans to try to dam the Grand Canyon all the way to the 1980's. This is the first time, as far as I know, that I've agreed with one of your political opinions.

It wouldn't do any good. There's not enough water to keep lake Powell filled.

Quote: s2dbaker

It wouldn't do any good. There's not enough water to keep lake Powell filled.

Be patient.

did someone say "not enough water?"

I didn't find it boring. Quite entertaining infact. The only error I seen was in the paragraph talking about the minimum age being 12. You have ULR where you should have an actual link.
I canoed Ross Lake when I was a Boyscout. Was a fun trip and managed to break a paddle. No rapids on the lake however.

Quote: Paradigm

Tipping 5-10% on a $5000 tab seems like a lot, but what do I know.

I figure if you can afford the $5,000 you can afford another $250 to $500. The three non-guides on the trip didn't get paid at all, so their cut of the tip pool would be all they got. One might say that isn't the guests fault, but the whole staff did a great job and I was happy to pay a gratuity.

Quote: s2dbaker

It wouldn't do any good. There's not enough water to keep lake Powell filled.

The advantage to damming the Grand Canyon instead is there would be much less water lost to evaporation, since the canyon is deeper than Lake Powell.

cool story Wiz, thanks for writing it. 2500 is pretty steep but it sounds like it would be worth it. Hell, I'd pay 10 grand to do a trip like this with the wizard. we could take turns dealing single deck blackjack and limit the other person to a 1-3 spread in our spare time!

Quote: Wizard Blog

When we arrived [in our cars] [the guide] said, "Congratulations, you just survived the most dangerous portion of the trip!"... Although I didn't have statistics to disprove that claim off the top of my head, it didn't pass my smell test... Now that I've lost my audience with that tirade ...

Lost us on that? Not at all! Thanks for bringing that up, I think it is over-used as well. The undeniable threat that cars pose to us because we are constantly using them.

And btw it irritates the hell out of me that you never see how the statistics are generated for the claim that air travel "is the safest of all"; are they going by the time in the air, or by the miles traveled, or manipulating something else? We are just expected to blindly accept such statements. [my reputation is "smart-ass" rather than "know-it-all" though][g]