March '06 Newsletter

As we write this, there is a weatherman's promise of rain this week but unfortunately the first system seems to have passed extending the drought for a few more days. We have gone over 140 days now with no measurable participation, dire news for the state's looming wildfire season. There is still plenty of brush left from last year to fuel this year's fires. We may have to do a bit more clearing in May to protect our house.

January brought us a new adventure in a form we never expected. Some friends who have a one year old and another baby on the way, decided to make their yard more child-friendly by ridding it of most of their cacti. They offered them to us and a couple of other locals and an unexpected project began. With a minimum of cursing, frequent blood letting, and lots of sweat, we are now the proud owners of 6 beautiful huge agaves plus many more small ones, another ocotillo, several small saguaro, a couple of large barrels, and several different varieties of night blooming cirrus. Moving the large agaves was the biggest challenge. After we transferred the first one, DP took pity on us and came over with a small backhoe to dig holes for the rest. Moving 300-400 pound agaves with two people and a trailer was no mean feat. We were close to our physical limits several times.

Our new grand dog, black lab Hudson, is growing like a weed. He joined the family as an 8-week-old pup and gets bigger with every photo. Scott and Tennille have been busy training him and moving into their new home in Albuquerque. They have spring break next week and will be visiting us at that time.

Late in the month Susan left for MN to visit her family and friends. Bob had sworn he would NOT go up in the winter to freeze his behind but as her departure time neared, he softened this stance and committed to a shorter visit. Susan spent three extra days around the Twin Cities visiting two of her sisters, their families, and her niece Gina. Once Bob arrived, we picked up a rental car and headed north to the Iron Range for a week. Susan's only brother, Kevin, timed a visit at the same time, driving over from Nevada for a couple of weeks. Fortunately we had gorgeous winter weather. It only dropped below zero by a couple of degrees and that was during the dead of night. Susan thought it was balmy while Bob thought he had arrived in a frozen hell. He tried not to whine but quickly took to wearing long johns under his jeans at all times - normal attire for northern MN. The locals joke that you take your long handlers off on the 3rd of July and put them back on the 5th. Not far from the truth some years.

Returning home, we finished up the cacti relocation project just in time to start buying food and packing for a Diamond Down river trip. Our boat patching session proved to be less successful than we had hoped and we expect to be revisiting that joy in May. We celebrated Marsha Middleton's 65th birthday by christening her newly designed and landscaped back yard with 50 or so of her friends and relatives. We also attended the wedding of some local friends who were fortunate to fall in love with each other in their second half centuries. Susan served at their reception just hours before we left for the river.

Back from that trip, we are frantically writing a newsletter, making summer river plans, and preparing to leave for Turkey in less than two weeks. Never a dull moment!

2006 Trip Reports:

Laskiainen Trip Report 2/4/06-2/5/06:
Palo-Markham, Minnesota, home of the 69th annual Laskiainen sliding festival, is a rural farming community adjoining the area where Susan grew up. Sometimes referred to as the Mardi Gras of the northland, Laskiainen is a Finnish time of merriment leading up to Lent. It is famous for its steaming cauldrons of mojakka (beef stew), kropsua oven pancake, cardamom bread and that goddammit pea soup that is more like a hearty yellow pea stew.

Laskiainen means "sliding downhill" and the festival dates back to pre-Christian times in Finland where it began as a flax festival. The purpose of sliding on Shrove Tuesday was to help the crops and to celebrate the arrival of the longer days of spring. In modern times, it is an opportunity for area families to socialize with friends and neighbors, sled or toboggan, watch or participate in log sawing events and basketball games, observe traditional artisan demonstrations, take sleigh rides, and eat ethnic Finnish foods.

Susan's buddy Yolande Hakala, who married a 100% Finn, has been in charge of making the pea soup for years. They used to sell 1500 bowls but have downsized the recipe in recent years as pea soup aficionados have passed away. This year Yolande passed the canoe paddle used to stir the cauldrons of pea soup to her son Gus and his cousin Laura who will be in charge of the enterprise in future years. Since Yolande celebrates her birthday on February 4th, Susan decided to visit the kitchen of the Loon Lake Community Center and help out a bit with the pea soup prep work while slipping in a birthday greeting. Arriving shortly after noon on Saturday, Susan found Yolande's team hard at the task of peeling carrots and potatoes, chopping ham, and trying to stay out of the way of the mojakka servers. Susan was fortunate to be introduced to the main mojakka maker, Bob, who explained the process to her. He had been up the entire night and was taking it easy in the kitchen while others scooped out the fruits of his labor. When the cauldrons of mojakka are done cooking, a team of people takes them out to the snow bank where they stir them diligently with canoe paddles. This important step is paramount as the pots are so large, the stew can spoil if it isn't stirred while cooling. Yolande's peas soak overnight but the soup is made early on Sunday morning so this is not an issue.

We missed the Sunday morning 4:30 AM pea soup kitchen crew meeting time, making it there closer to noon. Susan's parents, sister Joy and husband Kim rose early enough to attend the ecumenical church service, which included a polka service. It was hard for us to imagine Amazing Grace to polka music so next time around we are going to have to wrench ourselves out of bed and attend. Susan's younger sister Laurie had driven up from the Cities for the weekend and she rode out to Palo with us. As we pulled into the parking lot, brother Kevin, his significant other Anita, and her five-year-old Sam also arrived.

Sam was itching to get sledding and Susan is never tough to convince, so away they went with Kim and Joy's large plastic sled. The two sledding chutes are prepared/iced in advance. Enthusiasts climb a short hill, line up to await their turn, mount their sled with a helper holding the front and are turned loose to whiz down the icy track and out onto frozen Loon Lake. Susan was driving the first run and she and Sam rolled the sled almost immediately after hitting the flat snow of the Lake. The next run - a much more successful one, Sam made by himself. Pretty brave for a little guy! Then Kevin, Sam, and Susan made a few three person runs. Sam was later overheard telling Anita that Susan was a poor driver and he was nervous about riding with her in front. He and his mom also rolled on their single run together. Sam, desperate to go again, gave Susan another chance and they slid far out onto the Lake without rolling. Joy and Kim showed up outside after finishing their pea soup and took Sam down a couple of times with them. Unfortunately, it seems that their sled was not rated for the kind of bulk we were packing on it, as it cracked on their second run. Bob elected to remain the family photographer of this silliness. Everyone had a good time, although Susan is still teasing him about his timidity.

Participants:

Susan Groth, Bob Marley, other Groth family and extended family members, thousands of other crazy Finlanders, actual and honorary!

Diamond Down Raft (2/27/06-3/5/06):
Most of the group met at our house around 5:30 PM to load up our gear and the food and supplies that Susan had purchased and packed for the eight of us. Early the next morning we left Black Canyon City for Prescott to pick up Paul Lupo and his raft. His gear was quickly loaded and we were off to Peach Springs, Arizona to meet our two shuttle drivers. After picking them up we jounced down the infamous road to the put-in, wicked gravel washboard slowing our speed considerably. When we reached Diamond Creek there was more running water than we have seen in quite some time and the vehicles were in creek bed for much of the way to the Colorado River. This was quite unexpected, as we've had so little rain this year.

Everyone was familiar with their rafts and the amount of food and supplies needed for an eight-person, seven-day trip were limited compared to some of the longer trips we participate in. This insured everyone's load was light and easy to find room for on their raft. No-seeums at the put-in resulted in most of us having cauliflower ears and itchy bumps for several days afterward. Paul Lupo seemed to have the worst time as his eyes were nearly swollen shut by the second morning.

The initial goal was to reach a good campsite at Bridge Canyon and do a hiking layover day there. With an earlier than expected afternoon start, we decided there was time to stop for photos at both Travertine Canyon and Travertine Falls. While returning from climbing up into Travertine Canyon, Bob Kerry lost his grip on the rope and rolled down a 10'-15' polished watercourse, giving us all a scare. Tough guy that he is, Bob came up smiling and continued on back to the rafts.

At most water levels the only rapid of consequence, nicknamed Killer Fang Falls by some, is at mile 232. If you ride down the wave train and make no effort to reach the left side, your raft heads directly to a partially submerged rock on river right. Everyone knew this from past trips so we drove the rafts over the wave train and to the left. We were aided in pulling this off by fairly high water that opened up the left side much more than the last time Susan and I were there (that time the narrower, low-water river channel led us directly to the rock and we came close to flipping). Unfortunately, Paul re-injured his slow healing rotator cuff that has been bothering him for several years. Mike took over at the oars for the rest of the trip.

The camp at Bridge Canyon was enormous and the available hiking made it a great layover camp. A few rain sprinkles fell on us during the second day but the weather was still warm. The hike up Bridge Canyon initially led us to the bridge in a side canyon, where several of the group climbed on top. We climbed up under it and took some pictures before proceeding on to a lovely waterfall. After climbing around it we encountered man-eating brush. Most gave up after flailing in that for a while but Susan and I continued up canyon for a half-mile or so until we reached the source of the clear water flowing down the creek. The streambed was devoid of vegetation above the spring and walking would have been much easier had we continued. Instead we climbed out of the streambed up under the cliffs for vertical views back down on the bridge and an opportunity to look for Tapeats breaks.

That evening we were all startled when Mike Coltrin flipped over backwards and slid on his back down the steep beach where our kitchen was located. We weren't really sure what was going on. All we heard was "Ah Shit" as he disappeared into the darkness. I thought he had been bit by a rattlesnake or something and jumped out of his chair. Our group will fondly remember the Bridge Canyon campsite as Ah Shit Beach.

The next day we headed downstream to a planned camp at Spencer Canyon. Neither of us had ever stopped at Bridge City to see the cables, platforms, foundations, and trail construction left behind by the 1950's era feasibility testing for a high dam of the Colorado. On the way down we paused for photos of the boarded up cave where the construction crews cached their dynamite. The three dam sites along the full length of a Colorado River float trip makes one pause to think how close lengthy reaches of the Colorado in Grand Canyon came to being under water. A long trail exists down upper Bridge Canyon and along the Tonto Platform to Separation Canyon. A rough trail with some seriously eroded sections leads one up from Bridge City to this trail on the Tonto. From there we hiked out to a point for photos of the Lower Granite Gorge.

The camp at Spencer Canyon was an incredible flat, sandy beach with lots of room - a great place to layover and go hiking. Harvey Butchart and I came up-river in his powerboat in January of 1978 and the two of us hiked extensively in the upper reaches of Spencer (locating two new Redwall ascents for Harvey). A few years back I told some boating friends what a wonderful hike it was. They came back disgruntled about brush thrashing in a swamp and were totally convinced I wouldn't recognize a good hike if it bit my behind. These side canyons of the Colorado change from year to year. In the past few years, this one has seen a significant flash flood that cleared out any vestiges of swamp, leaving once again a beautiful canyon filled with fresh leaved cottonwood trees and a sparkling brook. Hiking up it drew one to want to see what was around the next bend and the next and the next. Some of the group made it all the way to Meriwhitica Springs where Harvey and I had set up our basecamp for two nights many years ago.

Lynn decided that the cook team would hold dress up night: Lynn's blonde munchkin wig, fluorescent lime shirt, and yellow bangle earrings, Suz's eye straining tie dye shirt and tall navy boots, Paul's red ensemble with orange gloves and bandana. After another great meal, the long hikers all congratulated themselves on how well they are aging. Darla recently celebrated her 50th birthday and declared that 50 is the new 30. I then chimed in with 60 must be the new 40. My knees had been bothering me at night so the next morning I suggested that 65 feels like the new 85. Darla is known for the prodigious amounts of personal stuff that she brings on river trips and one of the folks around the campfire in a can suggested she might even have an entire dry bag of eyeliner.

Leaving Spencer Canyon the next morning, we intended to make a lot of miles, so we started early. Aided by heavy downstream winds, we made 27 river miles this day. Around Reference Point the river became wide and slow and we hung up on a sandbar. There was continuous helicopter traffic at Quartermaster Canyon. The Hualapai tribe helicopters folks down from the rim they call the West Grand Canyon, puts them on a boat for a short run up and down river, probably feeds them lunch, and then helicopters them back out. The associated racket goes on most of the day, even during what one might consider the off-season. As we made our way down river, we observed the Towers on both rims associated with the 1950's bat guano mining operation in the lower Grand Canyon.

The next to last day we had many more miles to make. We had hoped to stop at Columbine Falls but it was too brushy and banks were too broken up to make the half-mile hike to the falls appealing. Extensive beaver cutting was first noticed along the river below Columbine Falls. With constant rowing, we managed to reach 292 mile and the end of any current. We had mild upstream winds much of the day. Bob Kerry eventually broke out the ten horsepower motor and we powered the last three miles to a beautiful camp at Sandy Beach, a couple of miles from the takeout. Lake traffic consisted of a few fishing boats. In the morning, we found coyote tracks around boats and in the kitchen although none of us heard them that night. We did hear fish jumping all night and suspected they were teasing Bob Kerry, our intrepid fisherman.

On Sunday, we waited for the sun to hit the beach before arising, ate a great egg and corn tortilla breakfast, then motored the last couple of miles to the takeout. After a quick lunch at the Meadview Café, we began the long drive home, dropping Paul's gear in Prescott around 4:00 PM, and arriving in Black Canyon City around 6:00 PM. Susan fueled the drivers up with coffee and they continued south for Mesa and Tucson.

Participants:

Mike Coltrin, Darla Ekbom, Susan Groth, Bob Kerry, Lynn Kerry, Paul Lupo, Neal Manning, and Bob Marley.

2006 Whitewater Rafting Trips:

We were shutout everywhere on our permit applications. Fortunately a friend of ours drew permits on both the Yampa and San Juan. The current snowfall seems to indicate the Yampa will have great water and the San Juan may be marginal. We've talked to 20-30 people who applied for a Middle Fork launch date and none seem to have been successful. We were invited to join a Middle Fork trip but are committed to doing the Yampa or San Juan trip at the same time, so we had to decline. We are looking at a second week of June Yampa trip, followed by an out of season trip on the Main Salmon as the only river trips we will be organizing this year. Both are great one week trips. We will be sending out e-vites soon. If for any reason we miss you contact us for additional information.

We always encourage friends who enjoy rafting to join us in applying to the western river lotteries in December and January. When we join a trip organized by someone else, naturally they want to bring their friends along. By the time they round up the necessary boatmen with gear and include their non-boating friends there is little space left for our group of friends. Unfortunately the river lotteries seem to get harder and harder to win each year. Making it worse, fewer and fewer people we know appear to be aiding in the annual permit efforts. After last year's disasterous permit application season we feel exceptionally fortunate to have any permits this year.

2006 Travel Plans:

Our April Turkey tour and August Boundary Waters Canoe trips filled almost instantly upon announcement. There are currently two people on the waiting list for the canoe trip. The Canadian Rockies trip in July has limited space available (9 of the 12 spots are filled). A trip description is available for anyone who is interested in joining us for the latter.

General Trip Information:

We continue to send information to our travel friends using email. If you want to be the first to know what's happening, send us your email address if you think we don't have it and be sure to keep it current when you change it. We'll also continue to communicate unique travel opportunities by ‘special mailings’ to those who travel with us frequently and who have a mailing application on file.

Best of luck in your adventures, whatever they are, and wherever they may be.

Susan & Bob

Updated on Thursday, December 8, 2006 @ 4:30 MST © 1995-2006 by Robert R. Marley