Day
7 at Phantom Ranch
We say goodbye to
Ben and Nell early.
After a leisurely
breakfast, we make the short float to the Phantom Ranch boat ramp. We have a 260+ liter water capacity to fill
so I help bring a couple water cans to the pump –- but I don’t linger while the
water runs. I make a beeline up the
trail – shampoo, stamps and phone cards in hand.
Miraculously, the
phone is free. This is my one chance
out of 18 days to say hi to family.
Everyone is doing fine and it’s so nice to hear their voices and
continued support for my adventure. I
keep the calls short because now others are waiting to talk with loved
ones. There’s also a line for the
ladies room so I head for the postcard department.
Neat picture
postcards, which get carried out on mule.
Everything, it seems, comes in and out by mule, bringing my bill for
cards, film and sunscreen over $50. I
couldn’t resist one of those waterproof cameras that will be fun in the raft
though.
Cards written, I
return for my chance at the sink. What
luxury to hold my head under clean running water! A shampoo has never felt so good. Someone knocks on the door, and after they
keep at it repeatedly (I can’t have been in here 10 minutes total) I open up to
find 4-5 outraged ladies with pleats ironed into their camp shorts. Harumph!
Their expression of indignity at my shower leaves me indignant.
Wait, I don’t see
any of my people outside! A moment of
panic that I might get left behind.
Wouldn’t that be ironic.
I hurry down the
trail and catch up with Mona and Ardis moseying back to the boats. I join them for a pleasant conversation,
feeling good to be back with my tribe.
We meet Bill and
Liz at the boat ramp. They’ve hiked in
to replace Ben and Nell and will be with us for the rest of the journey. The plan was for a tag-team handoff of car
keys on the trail. Now we get the
report: Bill and Liz didn’t see Ben and
Nell, despite staying on the trail every instant. We conclude that the outgoing hikers took
the wrong trail up. Ugh. Hope they will be okay. Both sets of parents express confidence that
their adult relatives formerly known as children can get themselves home
safely.
I suppose I could
have walked out from Phantom with Ben and Nell.
Or gotten a lift by helicopter or even mule.
But, our
expedition really has been going well.
This group gets along amazingly well.
The weather has been decent.
Plenty, and I mean plenty, of good food, fresh air, and sunshine. Most importantly, no one has been injured –
knock wood! Nothing more than moleskin and Band-Aids
have come out of the first aid kits, and Sandy, our “ship doctor” has not been
called upon at all in that capacity.
A week may be more
than enough time for a city slicker like me to live outdoors, but when the
boats push off for the second week on the river I’m on board. There’s 130 miles of wilderness travel ahead
including the most violent rapids of the trip.
Whoa-kay, here we go!
Press
onwards from Phantom Ranch