Always Above Lava
3 Generations on the Salmon
3 Generations on the Salmon
Lava is the stuff of legend. For a while you can put Lava out of your mind, studiously ignoring its ominous rumbling miles downstream. But once you launch, it's impossible to deny its menacing siren song. You know that the very current that is carrying you deep into the heart of the Grand Canyon's wonders is transporting you straight into the maw of Lava Falls.
3 Generations on the Salmon
3 Generations on the Salmon
3 Generations on the Salmon
Fourteen hours after our arrival at the put-in, we are afloat: four rafts, two SUPs, 10 adults ranging in age from 42 to 72, and seven kids ages 4 through 11. Just Grandma and Grandpa, their offspring, the spouses, the grandkids and eight cases of Sierra Nevada River Ryed IPA. Bright skies, warm water and 73 miles of Class II-III whitewater lie ahead. Bliss.
Not a Total Drag
3 Generations on the Salmon
The moment we launch, our concerns about water level seem inconsequential. Canyon walls lacquered with desert varnish tower over us at our first lunch site. Somehow it is this, these rough canyon walls spackled with black crust, that allow us to surrender to river time. We gather around the table, the first of many feasts spread out before us, and take our first full breaths as a group.
Where the Rubber Meets the Rock
Easy River Trip Meals for Slackers Like Me
This is not us, we thought to ourselves, perched on this postage stamp of sand with a popped raft and no place to set up camp. This is not us, with nearly 50 miles of river between us and the take-out. This is not us, with a rented raft with a hole you could put a body through, and no idea of how comprehensive the repair kit is. We'd never opened the repair kit for a rented raft before; now the contents of such a kit would determine the future of our trip.
Easy River Trip Meals for Slackers Like Me
Easy River Trip Meals for Slackers Like Me
Easy River Trip Meals for Slackers Like Me
There are those who relish the meal planning and execution involved in raft trips. I am not one of those people. I’m a capable cook. Everything I make is satisfactory; occasionally certain meals are great. But when I’m on a river trip, I have little interest in spending time in camp dishing up gourmet cuisine when I could be reading riverside, running in the cool of the morning, or burying my niece in sand.
Old Friends, New Rivers
Easy River Trip Meals for Slackers Like Me
Easy River Trip Meals for Slackers Like Me
When we last vacationed together, 14 years ago, none of us had kids. We had flexible work schedules, no mortgages, and ample discretionary time. Fourteen years later, we are all yoked with the stresses and responsibilities of adulthood: jobs, house payments, and, most notably, kids. The fact that we are all now parents represents the single biggest difference between our Grand Canyon selves and our impending Lower Salmon selves. We can only hope that we’ve all made the transition to kid-pace at the same rate.