River Reflections

On the 23rd October 2011 Nicola and I put on the Colorado River at Lee's Ferry for a 21 day rafting trip through the Grand Canyon.  A trip that I especially had wanted to do for years.

Since returning from the USA, I have also spent 3 days rafting in the Headwaters of the Rangitikei River in New Zealand, and several days on the Ngaruroro River in Hawkes Bay.

It is only now that I am slowoly getting some impressions in order.  Here they are:

The Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is, well, GRAND!

Everything is big.  The waves in the rapids are big, the cliffs and scenery are big.  You can almost feel the sheer age of the rock.

The hikes up the Side Canyons were a bonus I did not anticipate.  Some of these hikes were like entering another world, a world of greenery and life.  I say life, as even though there is so much water, the canyon is a desert, with plant life - other than cactus and other desert plants - hugging the river bank.

While the Canyon is certainly well loved and cared for, you cannot help but feel the hand of man, especially in the lower reaches were such has been the draw down of water for the desert cities, such as las Vegas, that the level of Lake Mead has to be down at least 15 metres, with little or no chance of ever recovering.

The Ngaruroro River from Kuripapango

What a contrast to the mighty Colorado.

The Ngaruroro is tight, small and steep.  The scenery is close and rugged on the first day, changing to wide braided spaces in the second.  The first day especially does not feel as if the hand of man is upon it at all.

What a busy little river, with one rapid quickly following another, tumbling over themselves in their rush to the plains and finally the sea.

I always feel lucky to be there when I am on this, what is often called the forgotten river.

The Headwaters of the Rangitikei

The Colorado was grand, the Ngaruroro felt as if it was a forgotten river, but ohhh, the Headwaters of the Rangitikei.

Pristine, beautiful, dreamlike

I am not sure how else to describe it.

Water clearer than Gin.  Unmodified Beech forest down to the river's edge, changing to the stark beauty of the Burn, then back to Beech forest, with farmland only in the last couple of hours.

Every pool loaded with fish, big fish, smart fish.

Each pool followed by a rapid, some small, some not so small.

Scatter my ashes in the Headwaters of the Rangitikei please.

Posted by Brian Megaw on 5th December, 2011 | Comments | Trackbacks
Tags: overnight rafting trips, New Zealand, White water rafting, rafting, adventure holidays

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