Announcements/Business
- We are helping the planet by avoiding disposable cups, bringing our own Coffee mugs for Rotary breakfasts. Lesley will wash them and have them ready for the next meeting.
- The Triceratops Trail Hike last weekend was a great success, nobody got lost, fun was had by all.
- Evergreen Rotary is having their Recycle Day on September 21st at Evergreen Country Day School.
- Next year’s summer Musicfest Foundation Fundraiser planning committee meets after our meeting today.
- Peaches deliveries went smoothly last Friday, 550 boxes.
- We received a check from this year’s Home and Garden Show for $9300
- Yvonne announced that our next social will be September 14th
- We need volunteers to sign up to make breakfasts on the off weeks
- Wes announced that life for him is very busy now that school is back in session. He invited us all to homecoming on October 18th
- Wes also announced that on December 13 the Conifer High School Interact Club will show a Warren Miller film to fundraise for their Nepal trip next summer. Wes and Diana expect to take 12 Interactors on that trip.
- Conifer High School Interact Club had their first meeting of the school year on Monday and there were over 30 students participating.
Program: Rafting the Grand Canyon
Barry Schwartz
Our own Barry Schwartz entertained us with his talk about his summer trip down the Colorado River. For thirteen days, he and two friends enjoyed the hospitality of a professional outfitter as 20+ adventurers floated the entire 277 mile length of the Grand Canyon. He emphasized that this is a very doable trip for 20 somethings through 80 somethings, that the guides were very professional. Safety was never compromised.
They traveled in a group of six rafts and one motorized dory for supplies. Four riders plus a guide in each raft, plus the option to ride in the dory. Along the length of the canyon, there are limited places to camp and the guides knew the best spots. Water temperature is 46, air temperature is up to 100, which made for a nice temperature shock for those who ventured into the water.
Barry was very impressed with the quality of the food, the cooking and even the meal presentation was First Class experience. Although the full trip takes 13 days, about half of the travelers exercised the Phantom Ranch option. That is, they left the group at Phantom Ranch and hiked up to the rim and were replaced by adventurers who hiked down the Bright Angel Trail to Phantom Ranch to take the second half of the trip.
The group usually finished each day’s travel by 3:00 PM, plenty of time to hike some of the slot canyons along the sides of the canyon. Barry found those side trips to be as interesting as the rapids. There were 80 rapids up to Class 9 on the trip. Some of them are world famous, names like Crystal, Granite, and Lava. With 16,000 cubic feet of water per second traveling down the river, the rapids were very exciting. For the more dangerous rapids, the guides would beach the rafts and hike ahead to scout the safest route through them. In some cases, a mere foot off the proper line could mean big trouble. Except for the rapids, most of the trip was floating along at a leisurely 4 mph.
Some interesting facts about the canyon:
- 18 miles wide
- 1 mile deep
- Up to 3 billion years old at bottom
- Side canyons were formed as the result of weathering and erosion
- The layers of the rock in the canyon are formed from limestone, sandstone and then shale as you go up from the bottom
- Human history in the canyon dates back to 1200BC
- Documented history shows the canyon was discovered in 1540 by Spanish explorer Cardenas, part of the Coronado expedition