Colorado River as seen from South Rim

Sun, 6/28/09

Mather NF Campground, Grand Canyon, South Rim: This morning after taking our showers we filled the fresh water tank. While we were home this spring, Mike bought a small transfer pump that we use to pump water from our six gallon containers into the tank. It works really well and eliminates the need to lift this very heavy container. I don’t know what six gallons of water weighs, but it’s a lot. We drove out of the park back to Tusayan and had lunch at the café there. Then we went over to see the National Geographic IMAX movie on the Grand Canyon. It was really great. They had a replica of the wooden boats that the Powell crew used when they ran the river in 1869. The one-armed Powel was a Civil War veteran who had his arm amputated during the war. I think they did it in 79 days. Back then though the water was warm in the summer. Now, since the building of the Glen Canyon dam, the water in the river is around 45. Very cold! After the movie we drove back to our camp site and sat around relaxing and reading. Saw a moose. In the evening we turned on NPR and listened to “Prairie Home Companion”, broadcasting from Tanglewood in Massachusetts. Very entertaining two-hour show. Mike built a fire later and we sat around enjoying that. A beautiful, sunny day again today. It hit 88 today.