Grand Canyon by Raft Trip Report
On May 13th we completed our ten-day, 226-mile raft trip down the Grand Canyon, that I led with Visionary Wild instructor Jack Dykinga. An amazing group of ten clients plus our superb AZRA boat crew, Randy Tucker and Katie Proctor, made the trip one of the best we’ve ever done. Drawing on insights gained on earlier trips down the Colorado River, we were able to pull off a phenomenal itinerary, including some well-known Grand Canyon highlights and some little-known spots that are nevertheless a photographer’s dream come true. All of the images in the following gallery were on this trip. Participant Chuck Turner has written a series of excellent blog posts on the trip, which you can read by CLICKING HERE.
On our last day on the river, our intrepid raft guide Katie Proctor kindly shared with us her original poem about the lingering impact of a Grand Canyon raft trip. She left most of us crying tears of joy. Katie has kindly permitted us to reproduce it here, and it appears below the image gallery.
We are planning another Grand Canyon raft trip for the second half of September 2013, and we invite interested parties to contact us at info@visionarywild.com to be added to the waiting list. We hope you’ll join us! –Justin Black
Raven Awaits You
by Katie Proctor
You were there
You newly fashioned Cowboys and Cowgirls
Where Water blasted over Rock,
careened through narrow canyons
and seeped quietly down salmon colored stone.
You were there
Mouth agape in a kind of “Rock shock,”
looking at ancient wise Rock.
You got the suspicion that all the commitments and deadlines you thought so
mightily important
were embarrassingly trivial.
At least for now.
And now is all there is.
You were there
when you realized this place was not magic.
Its real!
Its affects, real!
Reality doesn’t hold a candle to the realness of this place.
You were there
in this place where clean becomes relative
dryer sheets ineffective
and the scent of your own self
familiar.
You were there
when the boat soared up
and crashed back down
water blasting
in your face
in your ears
up your nose
in the crevasses between your neck and jacket
down your pants
up your legs
down your throat
tousled your hair
wiped you clean
took your inhibitions with its cascade
released you of your droning thoughts,
the web of anxiety cramping your heart,
your steadfast visions and plans for the future.
Washed clean your idea of “The Way Things Ought to Be” and left you
There.
Here.
Alive and smiling.
You were there
when subtly, slowly
Rock revealed to you that something so solid and still
can move you.
Be moved.
You can move mountains.
You were there
in Rock’s presence when your power scattered and just before you uttered the word
to your friend that these walls make you feel “small”, “insignificant”
you remembered your place.
you may have previously thought that your average size footprint didn’t matter
much at all in this Grand Scheme.
But now,
Clarity.
These same Rocks will be a witness to your impact for a millennia
after the short decades you were here.
You were there
when the question was posed to you
from the silently serious Rattlesnake
from the peering and ponderous Big Horn
What will you do with your great power friends?
What did you leave?
How did you love?
What did you learn when the stars poured down through that sliver above and
invited you
beckoned you
To open your eyes and your soul?
When you think you are insignificant remember the stars are bearing witness to
your one miraculous life
Rattlesnake is watching.
Coyote waits to see.
You were there
When you realized that this was more than a check marked off your “bucket list.”
Eventually that crumpled article torn from that Magazine’s “Top 10 Things to Do
in North America”
will be
thrown away.
The Transformation has occurred.
And you will feel
even from far away
in an office building in a distant metropolis
under florescent lights at the supermarket
or in that space between breaths when you crave Earthy connection.
You will know.
Raven awaits.
Perched among soaring walls and quiet pools.
Near pink sand beaches and quavering Evening Primrose.
Hermit rolls.
Lava thunders.
Blacktail waits in stillness.
You were there
You are here
Be moved.
Move gently.
© 2012 Katie Proctor. All Rights Reserved by the author. Reproduced here with permission.
