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.

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 suppose this is the advice to those who may do this rafting trip one day. If I were to do this again, I would do things differently. This list is not in order of importance. I would:

(1) Bring a good camera, not just the little camera that is built into a cell phone. Buy a water-tight case that is just big enough to hold the camera. I could keep this with me in the day-bags we had on the raft.

(2) Bring Coca-Cola or some carbonated drinks. Tour West encourages this. Water and lemonade are great and good for you. Something a little extra would be nice. And since they can keep the soft drinks cold, a case of Snickers bars wouldn’t hurt.

(3) Bring small binoculars. My eyes don’t work as well as they used to. There is lots to see in the canyon and I am afraid I missed some of it.

(4) Bring a thermos. We had coffee at breakfast. I would have really like a little coffee around 10 AM. I could have filled the thermos and had some nice hot coffee later in the day.

(5) Bring a Rite in the Rain notepad from REI. REI also sells special pens for these even though a simple Bic pen would work. I would have loved to make notes all day on the raft and on hikes. If you can’t tell by now, I love to write.

(6) Bring a couple of extra days. I mean I would travel slower. We went from the East Coast to Marble Canyon, Arizona in one day. The next morning we were on the Colorado River. That is too fast, too much jet lag. I would spend one night in Las Vegas on the way to the river. After leaving the river, I would spend a night in Las Vegas before flying home.

(7) The big one – bring better footwear. My old water sandals were good for the water, but not for the hikes. I don’t know what type of hiking footwear to bring. It has to be able to be wet – I mean drenched as on some parts of some hikes we walked through four-foot deep water. Bring something that can drain after being drenched but still provide firm footing on the rock scrambles. Desert combat boots would probably work well.

That is enough of a list. Maybe I would bring my wife. I would like to have her along, but I am not sure if she would enjoy it.

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.

The dominant topic of conversation in the Grand Canyon is water. There is either a lot of water or no water.

The canyon was created by water. Millions or years, billions of years, I don’t know how long, but over a long period water washed away the dirt and left the canyon.

Every day, we would look 40 or 50 feet up the canyon wall to see a log or a bunch of sticks perched on a ledge. That wood was placed on its perch by a flood of the river a hundred or so years ago. It was sitting there before people used telephones or flew in airplanes.

The wood doesn’t rot. Rot needs moisture. Sure it rains in the canyon, now and then, a little bit. There isn’t, however, enough rain to do anything to a log perched safely above the river. Instead, the sun bakes the wood. I don’t know what you call that process or what really happens to wood when it bakes, but that is what happens in the Grand Canyon.

Then in another hundred years, after the man-made dams deteriorate and disappear, there will be a rainstorm, a flood, and some other logs will be placed way up there on the canyon wall to bake for a few centuries. The water will reshape everything.

There is the mud. Well, there are the rocks that look like mud. We would walk along and see a large boulder with one side caked with dirt. That dirt covered the rock when a rainstorm washed a few tons of mud down the wall some centuries ago. That was centuries ago, but there hasn’t been much rain since then. Instead, the sun baked the mud and turned it into rock. It looked like dried mud to me; it looked like I could scratch off some mud, but I couldn’t. I was rock hard.

This is hard for me to understand, i.e., the stretch of time between when something is wet. A rainstorm washes mud down the wall a bit. Another rainstorm happens a thousand years later. There are no rainstorms between, no other rainstorms in the intervening thousand years. Water formed the boulder and the absence of water made the form permanent.

This is truly hard for me to understand, but that is part of the wonder of the canyon.

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.

One thing often leads to another. Such was the case of chasing the poem with the line “three cheers for the bureau boys.” Instead of writing the name of the book that contained that poem, I figured that I would just find it quickly on the Internet. I didn’t find it quickly. I had to search several times before I found it.

While searching, I stumbled across Edward Abbey.

Wikipedia has a good article on the deceased Abbey. He wrote books and essays about the area around the Grand Canyon. He worked part-time for many years for the National Park Service. Those years and experiences influenced his writing.

Famous works by Abbey:

• The Brave Cowboy – fiction – Published in 1956, this became a movie titled Lonely are the Brave that starred Kirk Douglas. I’ve seen that movie on TV several times. I always thought it to be the best film ever made about a cowboy in the 20th century.
• Desert Solitaire – non-fiction – a collection of writing by Abbey on the southwest.
• The Monkey Wrench Gang – fiction (at least so far it is fiction as no one is yet to do these things, I repeat yet) – a gang of misfits blows up man-made things out in nature. I’ve read that in 2010 or 2011 someone will make this into a movie. I hope so.

I am reading “The Monkey Wrench Gang” chapter by chapter when I find myself in the library with a few spare moments. I love it.

Abbey writes like Mark Twain. I guess most people call it irreverent. He makes fun of things that you are not supposed to make fun of. He is a bit crude, but I find him funny. Sort of like me. For example, I went to the Grand Canyon on a glorious trip, but I took photos of the porta-potty that we used. Oh well.

Read Abbey. You may enjoy him.

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.

While preparing for the trip, I looked at cases that would keep things dry and protect them from being crushed. I didn’t need such a case, but I looked. The obvious answer for me was the Pelican Case. In my job, associated with the U.S. Department of Defense and the Intel community, we use lots of Pelican cases. They are light, almost indestructible, and most models are water tight. What better container would one use on the rapids of the Colorado River?

Wrong.

None of the river guides used Pelican Cases. They all used old ammo cans. Here is one source for buying ammo cans. Ammo cans are metals cases that were made for carrying ammunition or “ammo.” To me, they aren’t cans, they are rectangular boxes, but I guess the name “can” comes from the metal that comprises their shell.

Everywhere I looked was an ammo can. Most of them had been painted white. I did see one that was still OD green and was stamped for 40mm shells (40mm shells are often used in aircraft cannons – they can cut a brick building in half).

Why ammo cans? Well, why not. They have a rubber seal in the lid, so they probably do a good job of keeping out water. They are not lightweight so hauling them about must be a pain. The big reason why the river guides use them is the price. Ammo cans sell for under $20 each. Pelican cases, well they cost at least twice as much. I guess the also don’t have the rugged Americana feel that the ammo cans have. There is something very Americana about working as a river guide, so I guess the ammo can fits the persona better. Still, this was a surprise.

By the way, the L.A. lawyer who carried a great Canon camera kept it packed in a small Pelican Case.

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.

Yes, I made a phone call from the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

No, you are not supposed to talk on the phone while on a rafting trip through the Grand Canyon. You are supposed to get away from it all.

We pulled up onto a beach near several other rafts. There were people milling about. Too many people. This was odd. The river guides told us we could get off the raft for a while, walk around, and even fill our water bottles from a faucet. I was confused.

I learned that we were next to (let me get all the names wrong) the Phantom Ranch, at the end of the Bright Angel Trail,  next to the Bright Angel Campground. The one thing I am sure about is that this spot is where lots of people stop when they hike down from either rim of the canyon to the bottom. There are several foot bridges that allow you to cross the Colorado River.

My spirits lifted as I walked about. Maybe I should be ashamed at that. You take a rafting trip to get away from people and things and buildings, but I was happiest around these people and things and buildings. I wanted to see how they built buildings down here, how they built bridges, how they piped drinking water, how they made signs, how they made all sort of things that they made.

Then I saw what looked like a pay telephone. I grew up without cell phones; I have used pay phones many times in my life. Something pulled me to the phone and I lifted the receiver. A dial tone! I quickly figured that this phone was for collect calls only. I also know what a collect call is. I called my wife and talked with her. I had a pretty good excuse. When we left Reston, Virginia for Las Vegas she didn’t know if she was to stay in Reston or visit the female relatives in Louisiana. She stayed in Reston; I enjoyed the chat. I haven’t received the bill yet to see how much this collect call cost me. Perhaps I won’t be so happy then.

The experience taught me something about myself. I enjoyed looking at the small buildings in the base of the canyon than I did looking at the canyon itself. I am an engineer, a builder and problem solver. I enjoy learning from how others engineer, build, and solve. That is me.

Learning about myself is one of the reasons I go to places like the Grand Canyon. The canyon taught me much of myself, and for that I am grateful.

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 saw a lot of wildlife from the raft. I think that our guide Andy was surprised at how much wildlife we saw. We saw maybe a dozen mountain goats or rams or I’m not sure what they are called, but we saw them. I have the impression that on most river trips Andy spots the wildlife and not the people in the raft. There were two exceptions on this trip.

(1) My nephew-in-law was on the raft. He grew up hunting deer in Mississippi and has a keen eye for wildlife.

(2) I was on the raft. I didn’t grow up hunting deer, but used some basic logic about where wildlife would be standing.

It really is pretty simple. We were on a river, there is water in the river, and the animals have to drink water every day.

• There was no use looking on the shore where a sheer rock plunged into the water as the animals couldn’t walk down the side of sheer rock.
• There was no use looking on the sunny side of the river. Animals go to the water in the shade. They are smart enough to avoid the hot sun. Only mad dogs and Englishmen and people on a raft in the Colorado River go out in the hot sun.
• Hence, I concentrated on the shady side of the river, the beaches, and the shade. The wildlife was there most of the time. The rest of the time the wildlife was approaching the beaches on the shady side of the river.

I was surprised at how much wildlife there was in the canyon. It is a desert with sparse greenery for food. Still, there is a large river running through the middle of the canyon, and wildlife gathers about water.

Oh, and then there was the deer that we could have patted on the head. We were at the part of the canyon where hikers come down from one rim, walk across a foot bridge, and head up to the other rim (after a night of camping). A deer was sitting in the shade under a tree. We stood on the walkway three feet away. There was something interesting but not satisfying about that. It was as if we were supposed to be feeding this deer or something.

Photos? No, I didn’t take any photos of the wildlife. I didn’t have a suitable camera. Search the net for “grand canyon wildlife.” There are plenty of photos of what we saw.

by Dwayne Phillips

There are many processes available to solving problems and and working situations. Despite all our advances in methods and processes, still the best method in many cases is to focus on the problem, commit resources, and solve it.

Here’s the secret step to solving any problem:

Solve it

I was reminded of this insight today as I learned that the Commodore Amiga computer is 25 years old this week. The Amiga had great graphics performance – unmatched in its age, unmatched for years. How did they provide great graphics? The put a second processor in the box devoted to graphics.

They solved the problem by solving it

They put resources to the problem. They put a processor in the box for graphics, put engineers on the task to make it work, and they made it work. They recognized the problem, paid it the attention it deserved, and solved it.

About six months ago at work we were trying to learn how to respond to a request from a customer. We had received a request, sent a response, and received the equivalent of a “yuck” response from the customer. My boss asked my to look at what happened and try again. What we did wrong was simple. A couple of young engineers had taken 20 minutes out of their busy days to conjure a response to the customer. My boss took 20 minutes out of his busy day to review their work and pass it on to the customer. I revised the answer via two hours of concentrated work. The revised answer was much better. Why? Because I was so much smarter? No. It was simple,

I answered the customer’s question

I was allowed to work on the problem. I was given sufficient, uninterrupted time.

I solved the problem by solving it

One more illustration. Years ago in a seminar on team working, we had an exercise. There were four of us on a team, one piece of paper, two pencils. Each team member had to write their name in the four corners of the paper. We passed the pencils, turned the paper this way and that, and eventually wrote each of our names in the four corners.

Unknown to us, the seminar facilitator had timed us. Now he asked us to do that same faster. We talked a while about what process we would use to go faster. I suggested we merely repeat the exercise but just go faster. We tried that method; it worked. We focused on a problem: write faster. We wrote faster, i.e., we solved the problem by solving it. Focus, apply resources, do it.

We solved the problem by solving it

Yes, there are methods and processes that work better than others. There are situations when it is good to analyze the problem, analyze the method used, analyze alternatives, and select another process.

There are many other situations when “all we have to do” is focus on the problem, commit resources, and solve it.

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 own a pretty good digital camera. Actually, it is a really good, small digital camera (this model by Panasonic). Before the trip, my father-in-law asked me if I was going to bring that camera and be sort of be the “official photographer” of the trip. I declined. I had given it much thought before he asked. I was afraid to bring my camera – afraid of what the elements might do to it. Mistake on my part.

Instead of a good camera, I brought my iPhone 3G. It has a camera built into it, but only a so so camera. The photos I have put on these posts are from that iPhone camera.

Given it has a small lens and a small sensor, I didn’t attempt the grand Grand Canyon vista photos. Two reasons: (1) there are many great photos of the Grand Canyon online already. Go to bing.com/images (for one) and search for Grand Canyon and Grand Canyon Rafting and Little Colorado River and Redwall Cavern and so on. Also go to flickr.com and search there as well. (2) L.A. lawyer #2 brought a great Canon camera with him. He promised to post them somewhere on the web. Jake took everyone’s email and will one day (real soon new I hope) send them to us so I can find the photos.

Instead of the grand vistas, I took photos of the camp, the hand-washing station, the crew cooking dinner, the raft, people sitting in chairs in the evening, and such. These are the little things that happen on a rafting trip; the little things that aren’t in everyone’s grand photos of the Grand Canyon. Those are the things that catch my eye and cause me to write several dozen blog posts about five days and five nights on the Colorado River with 30 people.

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 slept on cots in the open air – “under the stars” as they kept telling us. I was tired, and I didn’t sleep well most of the week. It was just too plain hot to sleep for the first half of the night.

We were camping in a canyon – an obvious statement. This meant that on both sides of us were steep canyon walls. One thing the canyon walls did at night was block the sight of the moon. The moon was only visible about half the night. That was a surprising blessing.

Each night, except the night of rain, the moon would appear about midnight and stay in view for several hours. I knew this because the moon woke me. The moon was as large and bright as a street light. I couldn’t sleep on my back facing up. I had to roll onto my side and turn away from the moon. If I didn’t, the moon light would keep me awake.

I am not sure why the moon appeared so bright in the night sky of the canyon. Maybe my eyes were too tired after a day in the sun. Maybe there is little if any dust in the night air of the canyon. Maybe I was just so tired that anything and everything disturbed my sleep.

Regardless of the cause of its brightness, my first reaction to the moon appearing in the middle of the night was to ask someone to turn off their flashlight.