One of the biggest geologic interests in my life has always been the Colorado Plateau. When studying the geologic time scale in my Paleontology class in college, I came across the Colorado Plateau and all its fossil records embedded in the colorful layers of sandstone and shales. I was immediately in love. Having been to the Grand Canyon at least three times before, finding out in that class that the Grand Canyon is not only a big part of the Colorado Plateau but that the oldest basement rocks on earth are located at the very bottom of the Canyon had me on a mission to explore the these features on a more intimate level. Over the next several years, I made a list of adventures I wanted to experience at these national parks that were part of the plateau as a way to experience the geology up close. I read a lot of geology books on the stratigraphy of the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon; I read about the extinction events of the organisms imprinted in the rocks of these parks; I went on road trips, hiked the canyons, touched the rock formations, almost finished the Narrows, and took my dad up a 7 mile round trip hike through the wilderness in Sedona all in the pursuit of geologic wonder.
The Colorado River and its tributaries go through the plateau. The sediment that erodes from these canyons flow through the river which powers the southwest and grows all the produce we consume on the daily. To know that we are fed and hydropowered by the water ways that these canyons of the plateau feeds is just mind blowing. Last time I was at the Grand Canyon, I could see the sliver of a green line at the bottom and all I could do was imagine what that river saw being that close to the edge of these rocks. The river cut through each layer of the grand canyon starting from miles away from the national park. It then reaches the park right where the basement rock appears which happens to be one of the oldest rocks found on Earth. So, in December of 2020, out of a complete whim, I googled Colorado River Rafting and booked a trip for September 2021 to spend a week on the river up close and personal to the Grand Canyon.
Due to my second kidney transplant in April of 2021, this trip was postponed to September of 2022, but this gave me more time to plan a bigger trip. I added a second week to this rafting trip where I would explore northern Arizona. An added bonus to this trip is that this would be the first trip I’d take alone. I would drive up to Arizona alone, join a rafting group of 20+ people alone, and spend a week at an Airbnb in Page alone (with a good friend joining me towards the end there) before I drove back to California alone. I might have been very scared yet excited before this trip but sitting here typing away and reliving this trip for you, I can honestly say this had to be one of the best and most eye opening trips I have ever been on. I am very excited to share this trip with you all and I hope you enjoy the ride!
