Parashant Wash

MILE 199

We covered 20 miles after Lava Falls, pulling in to camp at Parashant Wash.

The evening round of Bocce was a grand success. Lots of teams, playing with both sets of balls. Colby and I managed to squeeze out the win - a combination of his accuracy and my incredibly lucky roll on the last shot.

Below Lava

MILE 185

Lava flows dominate the sides of the river below Lava Falls, some cascading down from the cliffs on river right (looking much like black alpine glaciers), others are the eroded remnants of the flows that headed down river towards what is now Lake Mead. Columnar jointing is everywhere, the orientation and thickness of the columns recording the direction of the flows and the rate at which they cooled.

We had lunch somewhere on river left - maybe Mile 183 or 185? The temperatures have been rising as we reach the western end of the canyon - which makes me appreciate the milder conditions earlier.

Lava Falls

MILE 179.7

Greg got an early start with Rob and Ben. It's 12 miles down to Lava and I think Greg just wanted some quiet time on the river. Devon and I were riding with Wes. It was a very pleasant early morning float, probably due to the lack of big water and the anticipation of what was to come. Lava Falls gets plenty of hype - I'm sure it helps strengthen the plot of the river trips to have a big rapid late in the journey - but its reputation is well-deserved.

We could see the Toroweap overlook high on the cliffs on the right before we rounded the last corner at the Anvil, a volcanic plug in the river a mile and a half above Lava. The landscape changes here and volcanic rocks will dominate for the next several miles. Basalt poured down the north walls of the canyon in the not too distant past (geologically), periodically damming the river and draping the familiar horizontal sedimentary strata.

Lava Falls itself is just another rapid formed by a big debris flow, this one from Prospect Canyon on river left, but this one has pushed the river against lots of big basalt boulders and outcrops on the right. The Ledge Hole on top is big and some of the lower waves are enormous. We scouted on river left and I found myself a bit awed by the power of the moving water.

The ride itself was great - Wes did a great job driving - and it was all over very quickly. Hopefully, Don got some good pictures of the boats going through.

National Canyon

MILE 166

We set up camp at the mouth of National Canyon (river left) by mid-afternoon and several of us hiked up the creek as far as we could without resorting to serious climbing.

There was a little tension in the air that evening, with Lava Falls on tap the next morning. Greg ran a lottery to decide who would ride Sandra - Rob will fish-eye, with Ben in back. Many toe nails were painted - some sort of pre-Lava sacrament.