There are seven members of the list as of today, but everybody seems
mighty quiet. I was hoping to get a little feedback about the
introductory message that comes with the subscription -- in case you
have forgetten it looks like this:
The GCBoaters list is for individuals interested in participating in
private river trips through the Grand Canyon who wish to find a
compatible group.
The National Park Service issues permits for private trips. The
current waiting list is 8 to 10 years long. Contact the River
Permits Office to get on the waiting list, and to find out the
regulations concerning such trips:
River Permits Office
Grand Canyon National Park
PO Box 129
Grand Canyon, AZ 86023-0129
It is possible, however, to get a place on another individual's
trip, or to catch a cancellation, providing you adhere to Park
Service Regulations.
The most important of these regulations is: Private trip
reservations are *not* to be sold, nor are slots on a private trip.
If you wish to pay for a river trip there are many excellent
commercial outfitters. (See http://.... for a list). The National
Park Service reads this list.
I'm certainly not as up on the nuances of doing a private, since I
have never been on one, much less organized one. And I know that you
gentlemen (all gentlemen so far -- no gentlewomen) know much more about the
politics of the situation, as well. So pleeaase let me know how I
should amend this information to make it more accurate. Especially
helpful, I would think, would be references to information sources...
Another thought -- some lists I am on request that you introduce
yourself when you join. That seems to me like a polite thing to do
-- we could leave a space on the web page for an introduction, or
just have people mail one to the list -- but what do you think?
Actually, I get the impression that you all pretty much know
everybody else, except me, so perhaps I should say a few words:
My name is Kent, but you can call me zero. My first trip to the GC
was, gosh, let's see, around 1974 I think, on a geology field trip.
We hiked down to Phantom, spent the night at Bright Angel Campground,
and came out the next day. We had dinner at Phantom Ranch that night
-- a steak dinner. As luck had it, I sat next to a vegetarian, and
traded my peas for his steak. It was a good steak. He said the peas
were delicious, too.
Starting back up the Bright Angel trail we saw some rafters -- I
remember thinking what wimps they were :-) (or maybe that was another
trip -- it all runs together after a while). I was much younger
then, and I was hiking briskly. At Indian Gardens I was a little
tired, and when I got to the rim, oddly enough, I could only make six
inch steps. "Canyon knee", I was told...
Despite my flimsy knees I was hooked, and over the years did many
backpacking trips in the Canyon, sometimes going long slow painful
distances with six inch steps.
Unfortunately, increasing responsibility and committments made it more
and more difficult for me to organize backpacking trips. At the same
time, my income level was raising. I really wanted to get back to the
Canyon...
I saw an article in a travel section of a newspaper about rafting, and
a light clicked on. I got a group of people interested, and we called
around and booked a trip with Canyon Explorations.
After about the first day on the water I realized that my earlier
assesment had been a big mistake, and that the wimps on the rafts
weren't wimps, and furthermore, they were really on to something.
Some people are just slow, you know.
Anyway, since then I have been become as involved in the river scene
as I can from a distance, and I try to work whatever angles I can to
get back in the Canyon.
-- Kent Crispin "No reason to get excited", kent@songbird.com the thief he kindly spoke... PGP fingerprint: B1 8B 72 ED 55 21 5E 44 61 F4 58 0F 72 10 65 55 http://songbird.com/kent/pgp_key.html "Call me zero" ==================================================================== To subscribe, send email to majordomo@songbird.com, with "subscribe gcboaters" as the only line in the message body. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe gcboaters". For further information send "info gcboaters", or see http://www.songbird.com/gcboaters ====================================================================