10/24 Day 10

Right now I think I'd be perfectly happy if I never saw sand again.  I'm camped at Upper Spanish Bottom with a group of 13 people from WA, all the employers, employees, family members, etc. of a kayak outfitters/guide company.  They've all been very friendly and helpful.  This morning I got out of camp an hour earlier than usual but spent probably two hours with T&J looking for the ruins in Jasper Canyon.  The ruins themselves weren't really worth looking for, but way in the back of the canyon, dripping water from above had created some strange and amazing erosion patterns in the rock below.

We had a really hard time finding this ruin but Jim was the one who eventually spotted the trail that led to it and the ruin itself.

Self-portrait

Several miles downriver I stopped at the mouth of Water and Shot Canyons to eat lunch and debated whether to hike in.  I'm so glad I did, because it was absolutely gorgeous.  A spring created several clear pools and made for a more green landscape than in some of the other side canyons.  Shot Canyon leads into the Maze, which is an incredible place to see and hike, but it's very difficult to get into.  Some day I'd like to do this trip again and spend a whole day hiking into the Maze from Shot and maybe spend a night there too.  Or I could rent a Jeep and get in by land.  The Chevy hatchback I've got now just won't cut it.  On this hike, I saw a collared lizard who seemed happy to pose while I took his picture.  He even waited until I said, "thank you, beautiful," and turned the camera off before taking off running.  I also ran into Asher, a New Zealander who is part of this group of 13.

The canyon splits into two; Water on the left, Shot on the right.

As I was leaving Shot, I noticed that the wind had picked up quite a bit but I was determined to get to Spanish Bottom before sundown.  I still had about six miles to go, and they were pretty brutal.  I expected the wind to be less intense below the confluence but I think it turned out to be a little worse.  I was pretty exhausted, a little dehydrated, and very hungry by the time I arrived because stopping for even a moment meant my boat turning sideways in the river and allowing fatigue to set in.

Windblown, exhausted, and famished but still good-lookin' and happy.  I'm still lusting after that Mistral kevlar canoe next to mine.

The paddlers from WA welcomed me to share the site and seemed pretty impressed at my taking on both the solo paddle and the larger month-long trip.  After some frustration at having sand blown into my tent in spite of having the fly staked out with some MSR blizzard stakes lent by one of the families, I moved to a slightly sloped area that was out of the wind and settled in for the night.