In This Issue USMC Wounded Warrior “A TALE of TWO BOATS”
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Number Sixteen preserving public access to the Colorado River Winter, 2013 A Tale of Two Boats By Gaylord Staveley Based on excerpts from a forthcoming book on the human history of the Colorado River system and the Grand Canyon. Fifteen years after Major John Wesley Powell’s voyage of discovery down the mainstem Green and Colorado rivers and through Grand Canyon, a thirty year old trapper named Nathaniel Galloway began boating the smaller rivers that ran tributary to the Green in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. In 1891 he tackled the rapids-filled gorges of Red Canyon, the Canyon of Lodore, a one hundred twenty-five mile section of the Green that end-runs the Uintas and comes back into the Uinta Basin near Vernal, Utah. After running those challenging waters a couple of times, he began looking for a new river. In 1895 he and a companion, probably one of his sons, ran the Green down to the head of Cataract Canyon and then rowed and dragged back upstream to Moab, Utah. In 1896, on a repeat run of the upper gorges, he encountered two prospectors who had gotten boat-wrecked in a formidable rapid called Ashley falls (now buried about two miles up-reservoir from Flaming Gorge Dam). Galloway and one of the men, William Richmond, decided to throw in together and run all the way down the rivers, as Powell had done. Trapping and prospecting as they went, it took them almost five months to go from Jensen, Utah to Needles, California, much of it in the dead of winter. That’s another story, but it led to Galloway staking a placer claim as they passed through Glen Canyon, “HAVASU CREEK” @ MARI CARLOS going back afterwards to work the claim, and being there when Robert Brewster Stanton (CONT. PG. 12) In this Issue USMC Wounded Warrior “A TALE OF TWO BOATS” .................................................. 1 Regiment River Trip “USMC WOUNDED WARRIOR REGIMENT TRIP” ................ 1 GCRRA has recently confirmed plans to sponsor a Grand Canyon PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE ................................................... 3 boating trip for members of the United States Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Regiment. This trip is NOT associated with the “CALIFORNIA CONDOR UPDATE” ...................................... 5 National Wounded Warrior Project, but is a unique offering by GCRRA. With a target trip date of August 2015, fundraising has “PRICKLY PEAR CACTUS” ................................................. 6 already begun. GRAND CANYON READING LIST, PART 2 ........................... 9 On this trip Wounded Warriors will experience - just as you have POETRY ........................................................................ 14 - moments of pure thrill, times of absolute serenity, and a deep connection with nature - all of which combine to create a truly life-changing experience. WILDLIFE CENSUS UPDATE ............................................ 15 They’ll learn about the history and geology of the mighty Colorado River. They’ll GCRRA DIRECTORS ........................................................ 16 strengthen friendships, form bonds that will last a lifetime, and do it all under the (CONT. PG. 2) JOIN GCRRA .................................................................. 16 - 1 - supervision of professional river guides and trained military medical If your organization would like to assist with our fundraising efforts, PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE personnel. you can sponsor a veteran for $3500. Please direct inquiries to: We are thrilled to be able to offer this special opportunity to a most deserving group of veterans who have sacrificed so much in their Hank Detering service to our country. It will be the experience of a lifetime for people [email protected] who never dreamed they would have the opportunity. Big Things Afoot 610-869-3631 Our Wounded Warriors Trip, which includes pre-trip and post-trip meals, lodging and transportation, will be a 10-day river adventure - The idea for this trip was first put forth by board member Hank When Grand Canyon River Runners annual trip for people with disabilities. by a wheelchair did not alter how the two motor rigs, a paddle raft, and the specialized equipment required Detering, Colonel, USMC (retired), and presented to the Board of Association incorporated in 2004 we The guests had special needs, yet with Canyon touched and embraced them. to support passengers with disabilities. Directors at our annual meeting in October, 2013. As is to be expected did all those things that incorporating the help of their family and support They learned what I learned – what we of an ex-Marine, Hank had already ironed out many of the details. compels you to do. We formulated staff on the boat with them, all were all learn -- when the Canyon teaches us. The outfitter for this trip, an authorized concessioner of the National Board approval of the plan was enthusiastic and unanimous. bylaws and defined our purpose about to experience the very same trip Parks Service in Grand Canyon National Park and a member of the and our mission as a non-profit that had changed my own life just a In 2005 a brother/sister act, John and Grand Canyon River Outfitters Association, has extensive experience This trip will serve as the model as Detering writes the manual for corporation representing the interests few years before. I was intrigued by Kathleen Jo Ryan, organized and aiding persons with disabilities in rafting the Colorado River. Because of commercially outfitted river filmed an inspirational 15-day river river trips have to be planned well in advance, we have booked a future GCRRA sponsored Wounded Warrior trips. Once this trip’s this brave group of Canyon explorers, runners in the Grand Canyon. To a journey that became the documentary, charter for the summer of 2015. But initial deposits are due soon, so projected funding of $85,000 is realized, he hopes to offer the trip and stereotypes began to crumble to we are seeking donations now! to each branch of the military as well as rotating the trip among person, the original board of directors dust as we followed them downriver. “Right To Risk”. Kathleen Jo wrote of interested rafting companies on a yearly basis. expressed a commitment to keeping the origins and realization of that trip Our Passengers: the river accessible to all. And by “all”, As we progressed downstream we in her article that appeared in issue The United States Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Regiment provides GCRRA members can help by spreading the word about this worthy we meant ALL, as in Everyone. would occasionally occupy a camp Number Five of The River Runner. The and enables assistance to wounded, ill and injured Marines, sailors venture. Individual donations are welcome, as are full sponsorships that the Hatch trip had enjoyed a few trip brought together eight remarkable attached to or in support of Marine units, and their family members of $3500. Corporate donations will also be solicited, which provides Accessibility is not always easy to days ahead of us. There were ramp people with a range of disabilities, in order to assist them as they return to duty or transition to civilian achieve. Consider routine impediments each demonstrating a strength of spirit life. another opportunity for our members to assist in the fundraising by marks where the boat had parked, to taking a Grand Canyon river trip. that was completely disproportionate talking about the trip with their employers. GCRRA has introduced with wheelchair tracks on the beach The logistics alone make it a challenge. to their physical abilities. A follow-up If you would like to support this trip, and these most deserving a link to the Wounded Warrior trip on its website which contains a that opened my eyes and my mind. I The Grand Canyon isn’t exactly article by one of the participants, veterans, tax-deductible contributions can be made on-line: PayPal link for easy donating. found a pair of grooved impressions centrally located – to anywhere. Then Susan Yim, a quadriplegic stroke www.gcriverrunners.org - Click on the Wounded Warriors Trip button. in the sand and sat down where factor in that you can only put in at survivor, appears in issue Number Six. A downloadable PDF file on our website can be printed and shared someone in a wheelchair had settled Or mail a check to: Lees Ferry, and your first opportunity In it Susan talks about why the right to with friends. to see the very same breathtaking view GCRRA Wounded Warriors Trip to take a boat off the river does not risk, or self-determination, is so vitally at sundown, and I heard the same P.O. Box 20013 come until you have traversed 225 important to those with disabilities. Thank you for your help! ringtails chattering in the rocks as Sedona, AZ 86341-20013 miles of whitewater and wilderness. She called it the right to participate my eyes closed for the night. Several That translates to a lengthy span of fully in life. times I awoke and stared at the sky, days, which, after adding travel time instantly mesmerized by the dazzling to and from the start and finish points, expanse of the Milky Way stretching will have made the trip inaccessible for Hank Detering came to the GCRRA many. away to forever and beyond. I knew board of directors round-aboutly. that someone else had rested here a You have seen his name in The River Then there is physical accessibility. few nights before and that they, too, Runner before as a photo contributor After my first trip I nurtured a belief had felt the immense imprint of this in issue Number Eight, then as an that this river running business was place. That their locomotion was aided author in Number Eleven. After a brief only for the strong of mind and body, email correspondence I suggested that delighted that I qualified. I was he might like to be on our advisory unable to shake off this fallacy until I committee, a non-voting position participated in an autumn trip a year that sometimes leads to an invitation before the birth of GCRRA.