Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

From June 28th through July 3rd, I had the privilege of being on a raft on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. This was part of a family trip “for the guys.” On a trip put together by my father-in-law Allan, his two sons, me (a son in law), my three sons, two other grandsons, one grandson-in-law, and one great grandson spent five days and five nights on the Colorado River. These blog posts are part of the story.

I was all wrong on clothes for the rafting trip. I was fortunate to have the basic items that would work. I had the impression of camping at the end of the day, bathing in the river, changing into a new set of clothes of the evening, and changing again in the morning into river clothing.

None of that worked.

The biggest killer of my plan was the cold water. I did not take a bath in the river in the evening; the water was too cold. Still, I had to deal with the hot sun in the long day.

Plan B: The water was cold and the sun would burn you. So on day 1 I wore sandals, swim trunks, a hat, a tee shirt, and a windbreaker jacket. This gave me pretty good cover from the sun and enough ventilation in the hot afternoon. The windbreaker, however, was a bit warm.

So on day 2 I switched from a windbreaker jacket to a lightweight long-sleeve shirt over the tee shirt. This was the uniform for the rest of the week: sandals, swim trunks, a hat, tee shirt, and a long-sleeve shirt. Liberal, twice-daily doses of sun block kept the bare parts of my legs, feet, and head from burning. Other members of the raft wore different combinations of the same basic outfit.

After doing this trip once, I have a recommendation. I will live dangerously and extend this recommendation to both males and females.

• swimsuit, quick dry (under everything)
• quick-dry long pants
• quick-dry long-sleeve shirt
• tee-shirt, quick dry
• hat, quick dry
• sun glasses
• sun block on all skin that is not covered

When you come to a nice warm stream, you can remove the outer garments and swim.

Please note, this was the last week of June and first week of July. I understand that some people raft the Grand Canyon in the spring and fall. In those cooler seasons, I would replace the outer shirt and pants with a rain suit for more protection from the cold water.