Sextonde och Sjuttonde vykortet från Grand Canyon

Strax efter att jag fått vykortet från The Eye of Sauron-utmaningen, kom det även två vykort från Grand Canyon-utmaningen.

Sextonde vykortet

Sjuttonde vykortet

Här under kan ni läsa om de olika korten.

Sextonde vykortet

Around mile 216 (346km), I entered the Lower Granite Gorge where the canyon closed in, narrowing the width of the Colorado. The rapids were easy and uncomplicated, passing the occasional small rock piles in the middle of the river and a handful of islands.

The canyon seemed to have softened with more vegetation present and less imposing layers of rock, except for the pointy Diamond Peak that I could see for miles before I reached it. Adjacent to the peak was Diamond Creek Beach. A wide sandy beach, it had several permanent concrete tables with benches and each with a metal cover above it to shield them from the sun. From here I had a perfect view of the craggy peak.

As the first place accessible to vehicles since Lees Ferry (mile 0), Diamond Creek is a popular spot for day trippers and also for river runners to end their trip or start the shorter route downstream.

Diamond Creek Canyon is prone to flash flooding during monsoon season and it often washes parts of the road away. In the summer of 1984, a couple of river outfitters were heading up the canyon in their trucks. When one of the vehicles got stuck in loose gravel everyone hopped out to help free it. Then, the rumbling came. At first thinking it might be a plane or thunder, imagine their surprise when 100 yards (90m) away a 10ft (3m) wall of water filling the canyon raced towards them. With only seconds to spare, everyone raced up the cliffs, just barely managing to escape. Fortunately, no one was hurt but a couple of guides spent several hours stuck on a narrow ledge waiting for the water to recede and be rescued.

The water was so forceful that the trucks were pushed into one another, rolled into the river and submerged whilst the gear floated away. A lot of the equipment was recovered a few days later 20mi (32km) downstream in Lake Mead. One of the rafts was found 29 years later in the lake. When the water is low, one of the trucks becomes visible in the river not far from Diamond Creek.

Sjuttonde vykortet

I always like an interesting story so here’s another one: part true, part theory. At mile 232 (371km) also referred to as Honeymoon Rapid is the location where Glen and Bessie Hyde likely disappeared in the early winter of 1928. Newly married, the couple set out on their honeymoon adventure trip departing from Green River, Utah. When they reached the Grand Canyon, they hiked out for supplies and stopped at Emery Kolb’s studio to have a photo taken. Emery offered them life vests but they declined.

When they didn’t arrive at their destination on their scheduled date, Glen’s father organised a search party. The Kolb brothers who assisted in the search found the Hydes boat with all the gear intact but without the couple. Amongst the gear was Bessie’s journal with an entry indicating that they cleared the rapid before Honeymoon Rapid and then no further entry. So, what happened to them?

Their disappearance was never solved but some theories took hold. The first one was by Georgie Clark, a well-known river runner, declaring some 40 years after the event, to fellow rafters that she was the real Bessie Hyde and that she stabbed her husband after a disagreement. She later recanted her story and upon her death her home was inspected. Several dubious items were found but once investigated it was decided that the evidence was inconclusive.

Another theory that floated around was that after Emery Kolb died, a skull with a bullet hole in it was found amongst Emery’s belongings. It was theorised that it might have belonged to Glen Hyde. Thanks to advanced forensic science it was concluded that the skull belonged to an unidentified suicide victim who died in 1933.

The final theory and one that seems most plausible was that the Hydes hit submerged rocks and had fallen out of the boat into the freezing cold water (it was winter). Having declined the life vests Emery offered earlier, they were possibly swept downriver and drowned.

Their bodies were never found and the case remains a mystery