“This region is, of course, altogether valueless. It can be approached only from the south, and after entering it there is nothing to do but leave. Ours has been the first, and will doubtless be the last, party of whites to visit this profitless locality. It seems intended by nature that the Colorado River along the greater portion of its lonely and majestic way shall be forever unvisited and undisturbed.”
– Joseph C. Ives, U.S. Army explorer, 1858
Diamond Creek, Ariz. – If a mutiny were to occur, this was where it was going to happen.
We were making our way to Separation Canyon, mile 239 of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, the very site where three members of Major John Wesley Powell’s original 1869 expedition through the colossal gorge had decided they had had enough. Their provisions had dwindled to flour, coffee and dried apples, and their boats were badly damaged. They had seen enough whitewater, enough portaging, enough starving, enough exploring. They wanted out.
Upon reaching what seemed to be the worst rapid yet – later named Separation – Oramel Howland, his brother Seneca and William Dunn decided to abandon the expedition then and there, opting instead to take their chances on foot through a side canyon to the North Rim. After a long night of difficult deliberation, Powell and the remaining five members of the party decided to see the expedition through. The flour was cooked into biscuits, divided among the men along with ammunition, and the two factions split.
According to his journal, Powell and his crew ultimately ran the rapids without incident. A day later, they emerged from the Grand Canyon near Grand Wash and made their way to a Mormon settlement at the mouth of the Virgin River. Dunn and the brothers Howland never were seen again.
Although vastly better equipped, ours was an adventure of a similarly minimalist sort – a three-man self-support kayak trip with small plastic boats bogged down under the weight of three days’ worth of coffee, dried food and camping gear. The undertaking had begun in the way of many such missions, at a place called The Saloon, with sketchy details emerging from an ethereal tangle of rumor, speculation and conjecture over a pitcher of now-coveted liquid refreshment and a cocktail napkin.
“Tricky,” an exploratory soul bearing ever-so-slight resemblance to his presidential nick-namesake, was intrigued, understanding full well that Phil Porter was a man of action. If the rumor was indeed a reality, Tricky wanted in. Phil already was. Contrary to the mutinous members of the Powell party, neither had had enough. Together they decided to seize the heretofore unknown opportunity to complete the Grand Canyon river trip both had begun in the fall of 2000.
“Next week? How do you put on in the Grand Canyon in a week?” asked Tricky, a.k.a. Richard Teviotdale of Avon. “Don’t you have to wait something like 12 years for a river permit?”
Trip permits available
The answer is no. While the vast majority of Colorado River trips through the Grand Canyon wrap up at mile 225’s Diamond Creek access point on the million-acre Hualapai Indian Reservation in northwest Arizona, the little-known truth is that some 60 miles of the canyon remain downstream from the take-out. And with a couple of phone calls to the Hualapai Tribe and the National Park Service, two separate parties of up to 16 people can purchase first-come, first-served permits to launch and float the “Diamond Down” stretch daily. Permits for the Grand Canyon National Park are good for only 18 days. Below Diamond Creek, there is no time limit.
The canyon below Diamond Creek can be divided into three sections – although at least four days are advised. All of the whitewater comes in the first 14 miles, about a half-dozen named rapids of the high-volume class III-IV variety. Several other named rapids – some considered among the most ferocious within the 280-mile canyon – have disappeared because of the creation of Lake Mead and sediment gathered at the river mouth. But now that a full four years of Western drought have lowered water levels in Lake Mead, the river continues its meandering journey nearly the entire distance.
It had been a few years since Tricky had pursued his passion for paddling, shoving it to the back burner while earning a computer science degree in Wisconsin before returning recently to the mountains. But as a former raft guide from New Zealand, his eagerness was stoked by the lure of the Grand. Like most, his first trip through the canyon had ended where this one began.
“As long as you guys are willing to pick up all the flotsam and jetsam in the effluent, I’m in,” he joked before the afternoon launch. “Carpe flotsam.”
Ultimately his kayaking skills proved up to the modest challenge, and the threat of revolt was postponed for at least another day. Any misgivings were put to rest five miles into the trip, where we were rewarded with a short hike into the grotto of Travertine Falls – a warm, spring-fed creek cascading over a limestone playground.
“This is definitely one of the best hikes in the Grand Canyon,” Porter said after climbing the walls and plunging into the pools. “I thought the little waterfall at the bottom was cool. Then I saw the rest.”
Back on the river, the whitewater intensifies below Travertine Falls, then settles down at Separation, nine miles downstream. The (unofficial) second section begins here, where a mild current carries boaters past unparalleled scenery similar to that found in the upriver portions of the canyon, which people have been known to wait more than a decade and pay thousands of dollars to view. In years past, the river stalled out completely at Separation Canyon. Now it flows at a comfortable pace that allowed us to notch a full 32 miles after a noon launch.
Receding Lake Mead a plus
Campsites high on the river banks became less frequent or altogether unattainable as we approached the end of the canyon at mile 280 (the third section), although we still managed to find ample room to rest weary shoulders on soft, sandy beaches not marked on the river map. Indeed, much of the standard river guide (“The Colorado River in the Grand Canyon: A Guide,” by Larry Stevens, Red Lake Books) is rendered inaccurate because of the receding lake. The former take-out at Pierce Ferry, for instance, is high and dry, forcing boaters to continue downstream to Iceberg Canyon, where Lake Mead now begins, and about five miles farther to the boat ramp at South Cove.
For that reason, the trip is better suited to raft support and an outboard motor for the final slog through the Lake Mead National Recreation Area beginning below the Hualapai Indian Reservation at mile 276. Outboard motors are allowed below Separation Canyon. The convenience of a motor allows boaters to savor the full 71 miles with far more than a ration of dried fruit and coffee, and without time constraint.
Smart packing enables even less-experienced kayak paddlers to put together a self-support trip in this all-but-forgotten portion of the Grand Canyon. Just keep in mind that although the permit regulations of the Diamond Down section are less stringent than upstream (no satellite phone requirement, for example), a strict “leave no trace” ethic remains, demanding some clever “pack it out” boat packing.
For those not interested in a do-it-yourself river trip, the Hualapai Tribe River Runners also offer one- and two-day motorized cruises from Diamond Creek, capped off with a helicopter ride back to the reservation.
Traveling Diamond Down
Permits for two launches per day (up to 16 people each) from Diamond Creek are available through Hualapai River Runners in Peach Springs, Ariz. Although the “Diamond Down” section is subject to a separate permit process from trips launching upstream in the Grand Canyon, permit applicants also are required to coordinate with the National Park Service to ensure availability. Contact information and fees are as follows:
National Park Service: 800-959-9164
Hualapai River Runners: 928-769-2219
Commercial trips available for $289 per person, including return trip via helicopter
Fees
* Put-in/Take-out: $45 per person
* Vehicle: $45
* Driver: $45 (permit holders must pay a fee for shuttle drivers)
* National Park Service permit fee: free
Private shuttle service: provided by Ralph Goldenstein, 928-769-2610; fee varies, but expect to pay at least $125 for the two-hour shuttle to South Cove.
Lodging: Hualapai Lodge, Peach Springs, Ariz., 888-255-9550 www.grandcanyonresort.com
Staff writer Scott Willoughbycan be reached at 303-820-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com.
