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.

We exited the Grand Canyon on Saturday morning. Up with the sun at 5 AM, shave, write in my journal, eat breakfast, pickup the camp site. A 15-minute ride on the rafts took us to the take-out place. Our cast and those of several other rafting trips were taken away by helicopter while other groups were brought in by helicopter. The other groups were to do a two- or three-day trip from this point to Lake Mead – the end of this section of the Colorado River.

The helicopter ride was great fun. This was my first helicopter ride, and if you are to ride in a helicopter once in your life, this is the place to do it – rising out of the Grand Canyon. I loved it.

The helicopter took us to the Bar 10 Ranch. This ranch is some sort of motel on the edge of the Grand Canyon. I don’t know much about it. I do know that it had showers and indoor plumbing. Those were nice after a week of dunking in the cold river and porta-pottys.

I showered, dressed, bought a Coca-Cola in the little store, and sat on a bench on the front porch. It was hot, but there was a little breeze and the front porch provided shade. I sat on the bench with some guy I had never seen before. We talked about nothing and stared into the distance. There is lots of distance here, out west, for the express purpose of staring.

Sitting on this bench was like sitting on the bench in front of the Marble Canyon Lodge some five mornings earlier. I loved it. Just sitting on a bench, sipping a drink, chatting with a stranger, staring into the distance – just relaxing out west.

Sitting on this bench and on that other bench five days before – those two hours were the most enjoyable part of the week for me. I guess that describes who I am. I like to relax on a front porch in the morning. I like to be out west. I like isolated places. I have loved experiences like this my entire life.

These front-porch benches provided expectation and reflection. Five days earlier on that first front-porch bench I was expecting the river trip. Here on this front-porch bench I was reflecting on the river trip.

I loved it – part of the wonder of the Grand Canyon.