Day 4 dawned without rain, huzzah! Karma 4 and I discovered that whoever sleeps on the side of the tent away from the door will invariably have to pee in the middle of the night and climb over the other person. I purposefully chose the spot near the door, having had to pee the second night and climb over Karma, and then I had literally a liter of water before going to bed the third night so I knew that nature would call. But that night she had to climb over me, so we decided the far side of the tent made you have to pee. It wound up being our last night using the tent anyway, so it was a mute point after that.
We launched day 4 zipped into raingear and immediately ran hance rapid, the first of the really big ones of the day, and the trip. In the morning we stopped to hike clear creek, with a mid river transfer of passengers right before we stopped.
This is Parke tying up the boat- it was kind of ridiculous. This is the hike that you literally have to climb out of the boat unless you park at the mouth, and there is only room for one raft at the mouth, so those that didn’t want to climb moved onto Scott’s boat and the rest stayed/moved onto Mark’s boat. Clear creek has 2 waterfalls, one of which is sideways, and it’s a great place to take pictures. All of our group made the hike, which wasn’t steep, but it was through a stream the entire way, which made it slippery. I think Karma 3 fell and skinned her elbow pretty good on the way out. I held mom’s hand a lot, more for moral support than actual hiking support. The water was once again colder than I remembered- apparently everything was colder than I remembered except for the Colorado itself. I got some good pictures of other groups of people on our trip too.
We made it back to the boat and rafted on. 
At some point before lunch we passed Phantom Ranch and it's bridge.
We came to Horn creek, another large rapid, and Mark said that we could ride the sidetubes but we really had to hold on. We hit a HUGE wave, but somehow I managed to stay on the tube. On the other raft, we found out later at lunch, the wave knocked Elizabeth off the sidetube into the boat where Jeffery grabbed her. This left mom with no one in front of her on the sideboard and she got another (or maybe the same?) huge wave which really shocked her. When we breaked for lunch above Granite falls (another place we have eaten before), she was still a bit in shock and wearing Scott’s huge raincoat. We got some pictures of Granite falls while the batmen set up lunch (and also some pictures of lizards mating), ate, and ran more rapids.
I didn’t ride the sidetube on Granite because I thought it was too big, but I think I could have. Then I rode the side tube on the very next rapid, Hermit, which is probably the best ride in the entire canyon, at least on the part that we raft, and I got washed off the sidetube into the boat 3 times before giving up and staying on the sideboard for the rest of the rapid. I think next time I’ll start on the sideboard for that and enjoy the ride more instead of just trying not to die/stay in the boat. Earlier in the morning we also ran Grapevine rapid, which is another good one, and as I am climbing onto the sidetube on the left side next to Art, he says, Oh I remember this rapid, this is the one that Brenda (Randy’s sister) fell off the side tube and was dragged under the boat twice. I was like, don’t tell me that!! After we made it through someone overheard Mark saying to someone in the tea room, Did you see how many rocks I had to avoid in that thing?!
The rest of the day was filled with really big rapids, some of which were bigger than I remember.
I didn’t remember the gems being so fun, and there were just more rapids in general than I remember. We ran crystal with no problems, although it was butts to the boards. As a sidenote, I think more people have died at Crystal rapid then any other rapid in the canyon. Crystal has never looked scary to me as a passenger- this is probably because I have never actually scouted it, had to run it, or seen it at high water. I was on Scott’s boat for the afternoon.
I didn’t remember the gems being so fun, and there were just more rapids in general than I remember. We ran crystal with no problems, although it was butts to the boards. As a sidenote, I think more people have died at Crystal rapid then any other rapid in the canyon. Crystal has never looked scary to me as a passenger- this is probably because I have never actually scouted it, had to run it, or seen it at high water. I was on Scott’s boat for the afternoon.
We hiked at Shimumo creek maybe around 2. I totally didn’t remember the hike, although I think we did it in 2004. Once again it wasn’t long or specifically steep, but it was through a stream, deeper this time, with fast moving water. As we were getting our gear together Scott said, make sure your camera is in a water-proof case, people tend to tip over in Shinumo. He wasn’t kidding. I fell at least 3 times, once of which gave me a good bruise and scrape on my left shin. The waterfall at the end was cool;
I managed to walk/swim around behind it following Beth Purdy, and she slid out underneath it into the pool of water. So I went out the way I came, handed my fanny pack to unsuspecting Ross, and did the same thing. It was very cool. :) This is Matthew behind the waterfall.
I managed to walk/swim around behind it following Beth Purdy, and she slid out underneath it into the pool of water. So I went out the way I came, handed my fanny pack to unsuspecting Ross, and did the same thing. It was very cool. :) This is Matthew behind the waterfall. 
So the food for the trip remains relatively the same from trip to trip; certain menus move to different nights of the trip. I think for a while Hatch provided margaritas with Mexican night, but then stopped a few trips ago. I’m sure it’s because of some random company policy about not providing alcohol, although individuals (and boatmen) can certainly bring as much as the rafts can carry. This trip we not only had the various and numerous sixpacks of beer and bags of wine, but also hard liquor in waterbottles and drink mixes and stuff. Anyway, the Beans brought enough margarita for the whole group and brought it out on night 4 with Mexican night. They had bought the margarita at costco where you can buy them premade in bulk, with even the tequila mixed in already. This was put in one of the drink coolers and labeled DANGER. Now, soon after although I’m not exactly sure when, Scott tasted it and said, those are weak! And added more tequila. Now, I’m also not sure how MUCH tequila he added, but lets just say at least one decent sized bottle. All of the sudden the entire group was at least tipsy and some very trashed. We were sort of split up by raft at this campsite because it was so rocky and hilly, there wasn’t a lot of room for a large circle, and people had been breaking off into smaller groups for dinners anyway.
Karma 4 fell out of her chair before she even had any margarita because it was so steep in the loose sand. I later fell out of my chair because I reached down to pick up my camera. What happens in the canyon stays in the canyon, but it was pretty freakin hilarious to see some people a little toasted. 
Mark caught a spiny lizard in our circle. I think Scott actually had to piggyback several people to their sleeping bags because they couldn't make it there due to the heavy loose sand, steep rocks, and margaritas. Someone the next day said they forgot to eat dinner and couldn't even tell you what we had. Good times were had by all :o)
Karma 4 fell out of her chair before she even had any margarita because it was so steep in the loose sand. I later fell out of my chair because I reached down to pick up my camera. What happens in the canyon stays in the canyon, but it was pretty freakin hilarious to see some people a little toasted. 
Mark caught a spiny lizard in our circle. I think Scott actually had to piggyback several people to their sleeping bags because they couldn't make it there due to the heavy loose sand, steep rocks, and margaritas. Someone the next day said they forgot to eat dinner and couldn't even tell you what we had. Good times were had by all :o)
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