Humans in the Canyon

The story of people in the Grand Canyon reaches back to prehistory.  On our trip through the canyon, we would interrupt our leisurely drifting from time to time to visit sites used by early Native Americans,  or more properly, ancient Puebloans, who established seasonal encampments on the eroded slopes of the canyon walls.  These included the foundations of small buildings, petroglyphs, and pottery sherds in one area, caves that were known to have been occupied at times in the past, as well as trails that led to walled-in caches for protecting food stores from animals and other humans.

The story of people in the Grand Canyon reaches back to prehistory.  On our trip through the canyon, we would interrupt our leisurely drifting from time to time to visit sites used by early Native Americans,  or more properly, ancient Puebloans, who established seasonal encampments on the eroded slopes of the canyon walls.  These included the foundations of small buildings, petroglyphs, and pottery sherds in one area, caves that were known to have been occupied at times in the past, as well as trails that led to walled-in caches for protecting food stores from animals and other humans.

The access to the canyon was a harrowing feat as they relied on trails, if they can be called that, that descended the steep walls of the canyon and used rickety bridges to cross areas otherwise impassable.  Our guides told us that another guide friend had used one of these trails once, and it was the most terrifying hike of his life.  Those ancient peoples must have been quite adept climbers!

The Colorado River was quite different prior to the 1963 completion of the Glen Canyon Dam, which significantly changed the flow of water.  Back then, the level of the river fluctuated wildly based on the seasonal weather patterns, sometimes flowing at levels well above today’s flow rate of 8000-25000 cubic ft per second. Prior to the dam, the flow rate would range from a few thousand up to 100,000 cubic ft per second, and evidence pointed out by our guides suggests one flood of three times that amount!  It was hard to imagine these water levels that would have been so high over our heads.

These changing water flows made early explorations by western peoples an exciting business.  These journeys began in the second half of the 19th Century and often used a type of wooden row boat, which I found astounding given the precariousness of such a vessel in rapids that could fluctuate with the weather.  Even our inflatable rafts felt meager at times as we were bucked and heaved around by white water.

There were plans to dam other sections of the Colorado River within the Grand Canyon that began in the 1950s, and there is still evidence of the exploratory digging and blasting at one particularly steep-walled section of the Canyon.  Fortunately, these efforts were stopped by the Sierra Club in one of its first significant political actions, and the Grand Canyon is what it is today.  Of course, this got me to wondering what kind of a landscape might be contained in Glen Canyon, which now lays hidden under Lake Powell and whose dam regulates the water flow through the Grand Canyon.

Nowadays, there are regular trips through the Canyon like the one we were on, as well as a number of off-season scientific expeditions.  Ours was a stupendous backcountry camping trip guided by Arizona Raft Adventures (AzRA).  The sites we occupied were typically where a tributary had deposited a large sandbar on the side of the canyon.  These were some of the only places the Colorado River was not hemmed in by steep walls.  Unlike a backpacking trip, boats carried our gear so we could take along a variety of additional equipment and food stuffs that lent the trip a comfortable edge and allowed us to eat very well, such as a BBQ grill for steaks one night, a variety of canned beverages, and Dutch ovens for baking (we had a lasagna and cake on the trip!).

However, more stringent than backpacking, we had to bring everything out, including our human solid waste.  This was handled in a quite civilized way through the use of a “groover,” which is metal box contraption outfitted with a toilet seat; essentially, a portable outhouse.  The nice part was that it was often stationed at scenic site so one could contemplate the wonders of nature while answering the call of nature.  The downside was that there was only one for the 24 people on our trip, so there could be a line after morning coffee.

All other waste, food, containers and other trash had to be collected and packed out, but the outfitters have numerous systems in place to make all of this seamless and simple, allowing us to enjoy our journey.  The beauty of this is that the Canyon remains in a pristine state and you feel as if you are some of the only people to have been there.

Another great aspect about traveling the Canyon is the lack of biting insects.  Having camped outdoors all my life from Alaska to Florida, I was used to battling flying, biting insects.  Amazingly, they are not present in the Canyon, so there is no need for repellent, mosquito nets, or in good weather, even tents!  This was one of the most glorious aspects of the trip as it meant that we could sleep out every night under the stars.  We were treated to star-filled skies every night of our trip, and being a person who often wakes in the middle of the night, I could drift back to sleep while watching the constellations rotate through their nightly perambulations.

I, for one, am thankful for the Sierra Clubs efforts in the 1960s to protect the Canyon, as our raft trip was one of the highlights of my life.

-by Aaron, photos by Tammy, Susan, and Sarah