I've always moved about on land and occasionally by aircraft. My time on the water is limited and most of that has been on sail boats for part of a sunny afternoon. Trips to the backcountry that require sleep have always been either car camping or backpacking trips. In the car camp trips we have a base camp that stays the same as we wander about during the day and return to the comfort of the base for drinks, food, entertainment and sleep. Backpacking is so dependent on the limited weight I can carry that the minimal comfort and luxury quotient has to be balanced by the beauty and isolation factor. It's really simple math once you get used to it, a kind of camping calculus where even the constants are variable, but fortunately they are within acceptable and predictable ranges. On rare occasions something goes out of whack and you are left nursing blisters, sore muscles, confused egos and empty water bottles. But those times are well outnumbered by the unexpected and soul-soothing beauty of a wild sunset, a meadow of wildflowers or a rock wall so full of color that they would challenge the ability of an Elliott Porter or Paul Gauguin to capture or John McPhee to describe or explain. And I challenge the stars of the Food Network to prepare meals that would better fit the occasion or satisfy hungry rafters.River trips invite comfort, luxury and even extravagance at times while fostering the same leave no trace philosophy and isolation that backpacking does. This type of travel leaves plenty
of time for social interaction, a significant difference from backpacking where we are strung out in a single line of hikers, each dealing with the trip in their own way. We gather in clumps at breakfast, breaks and dinner for quality social time but much of the travel time is solo. On a raft we are sitting next to our fellow travelers and able to observe, point and discuss without fear of falling over or losing the trail. There is a continual opportunity for socialization and shared experience as the raft moves through rapids or past a particularly interesting site. The massive amount of material that is carried requires teamwork to set up the shared part of camp, the kitchen in particular. That team effort makes it happen quickly and if there are no other demands, the social environment is reestablished in short order. If there are other demands for the members of the trip, and there were on this trip, they can begin shortly after the rafts have been beached for the evening. Work is shared, so a majority of the folks are able to carry about with their business while a small group is engaged in setting up the kitchen, the bathroom and preparing dinner.Wait for another paragraph to roll by before I get to the comfort and luxury stuff, because this was a work trip. The rationale for being there in the first place was work. Well, maybe the beauty and fascination offered in that canyon inspired the quest for work there, regardless of the chicken and egg argument, it was a work trip none the less. Read the details elsewhere by those who know and understand better what we saw and recorded. This was archeology. The trip was sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management in their effort to identify and document the cultural resources on lands they administer. The particular resources we were charged with finding were those of the Fremont era people who lived in this set of canyons 800 or more years ago. Rock art, structures and tools are all preserved in the area and they are one of the things that draw people to the river and the canyons. However, over the years many of those resources have been damaged or 
removed, leaving the record of the Fremont people cloudy and obscured by more than time and the lack of formal records. Every site identified and documented by professional archeologists adds something into that modern record that may eventually allow for an understanding of what life in these canyons was like. Once we know that past, it may shed light on how we need to deal with the canyons now and in the future. It's one more place that may be “loved to death” if we don't understand what we are dealing with, so extraordinary efforts like this are critical in providing managers the information they need.
removed, leaving the record of the Fremont people cloudy and obscured by more than time and the lack of formal records. Every site identified and documented by professional archeologists adds something into that modern record that may eventually allow for an understanding of what life in these canyons was like. Once we know that past, it may shed light on how we need to deal with the canyons now and in the future. It's one more place that may be “loved to death” if we don't understand what we are dealing with, so extraordinary efforts like this are critical in providing managers the information they need.Each raft has a very large cooler that is packed full of ice and perishables at the beginning of the trip. There are also large metal dry boxes filled with food and anything else you might need to cook with or otherwise used to enhance a long summer evening in camp. There were a great variety of both food and drink to savor and share. We carried tables, chairs, a fine kitchen, awnings, and the raw materials to create a very comfortable setting each evening in a great camp site on the river and under the amazing rock walls of the canyon. The kitchen was the first thing to be set up followed by the conversation circle of chairs that would be the focal point of the camp for the remainder of the evening. We laughed, we listened, some played music and some of us tried to sing along, it was all good. 
Discussions ranged widely and were always entertaining. Each member of the trip has a couple of river bags that are coated with waterproofing and contain their tent, pads, sleeping bags, clothes, books, cameras, guitars and anything else they believe might be needed. Of course all of this is subject to the most basic travel fallacy, that we can plan for everything. There was one small issue. While we were prepared for mosquitoes no one knew we would be facing an epic gnat infestation on the river. Some of the crew were very attractive to these little guys and they feasted extensively on those poor folks. I was fortunate in being pretty to look at, but unappetizing and suffered only a few bites.
Discussions ranged widely and were always entertaining. Each member of the trip has a couple of river bags that are coated with waterproofing and contain their tent, pads, sleeping bags, clothes, books, cameras, guitars and anything else they believe might be needed. Of course all of this is subject to the most basic travel fallacy, that we can plan for everything. There was one small issue. While we were prepared for mosquitoes no one knew we would be facing an epic gnat infestation on the river. Some of the crew were very attractive to these little guys and they feasted extensively on those poor folks. I was fortunate in being pretty to look at, but unappetizing and suffered only a few bites.On the raft we felt the gentle rolling of the river and even in most rapids there was little sense of forward momentum and more the movement of the river under our craft. The first day was motoring as we lashed the rafts together in groups of three and ran a small outboard motor to speed us downriver. After that it was the river and human power through oars that directed our party where we needed to go. 
The river is powerful and is not into negotiation, so the pilot needs to find the best line to avoid hazards or eddies that curl backwards, trapping the unwitting in quiet pools as the rest of the party moves along. Rapids hide rocks and provide places to trap or even flip boats that are not properly directed. We were splashed, bounced and on the new, and becoming infamous, Cow Swim Rapid, we pioneered a route that required skill, strength, communication, faith and a little bit of luck to keep us upright. It was interesting that after the run Andy decided to tell us that it was the first Class 5 rapid he had done in a large craft. He didn't want us to be worried in advance. I guess he didn't notice how white my knuckles were as I grasped the rope and crouched in the bow of the raft as we approached the foaming, spitting, growling rapid.
The river is powerful and is not into negotiation, so the pilot needs to find the best line to avoid hazards or eddies that curl backwards, trapping the unwitting in quiet pools as the rest of the party moves along. Rapids hide rocks and provide places to trap or even flip boats that are not properly directed. We were splashed, bounced and on the new, and becoming infamous, Cow Swim Rapid, we pioneered a route that required skill, strength, communication, faith and a little bit of luck to keep us upright. It was interesting that after the run Andy decided to tell us that it was the first Class 5 rapid he had done in a large craft. He didn't want us to be worried in advance. I guess he didn't notice how white my knuckles were as I grasped the rope and crouched in the bow of the raft as we approached the foaming, spitting, growling rapid. Although Andy did most of the rowing, both John and I got a chance to manage the boat on both smooth and splashy water. John did better than I in the rapids, and both of us felt better and more confident after the trip than we did going in. It was another learning experience and the kind I like, those without disasters that drive home the point that had been missed. The crew was steeped in education and it would have been impossible to not learn about rafting, archeology, the Fremont, the history of the canyon, music, politics, other rivers, politics, policies and river management among so many other topics. We shared the beauty of the canyon as it rained diamonds or saw it lighted through a honey or a whiskey filter.
Those rafts were time machines that took us to places where portals opened and we could at least look at the evidence of a hard life and share a vision of life 800 years ago. The companionship was excellent and the company of those from the past and those who shared the boats during that week will be well and long remembered. I left the river with an eye open for a used raft, knowing that it probably won't happen. But that's how a good trip should work, like a performer who ends the show leaving the audience wanting more, the river needs another and another visit before I'm satisfied.More photos can be found at: http://picasaweb.google.com/neville.orange/DesolationCanyon2010#
