Grand Canyon Trip January 2010…(here’s hoping)

Well being optimistic about things I am going toput up a list of things that I think people need to bring etc, along with

a few other considerations..

Personal Paddling Gear

• Drysuit or equivalent
• Thermals (possibly 2 sets)
• Warm socks / neoprene socks
• Footwear
• USCG approved B. Aid, preferably with a harness and cow’s tail…towing a boat if needed will probably be the quickest way to get a boat to shore after a rapid; it will be hard to bulldoze a boat in whilst in a rapid…the nature is pool / drop…
• Sling and Krabs (optional I would say as the chances of getting a kayak pinned are remote and the raft will be equipped with safety lines / flip lines etc)
• Spraydeck
• Paddle
• Helmet
• Throwrope….although how much use they will be is debateable
• Pogies or decent neoprene gloves maybe a good call as headwinds for 4-5 hours / day can be tough on the hands

Personal Off River Gear

• Headtorch
• Camera + batteries (hopefully most people will have small enough cameras to fit into B. Aids)
• Hat, Gloves
• Spare warm socks
• Warm trousers, tops
• Warm jacket, preferably down jacket as they pack up smaller and weigh less
• Rain jacket and pants
• Shoes, preferably ones you can hike in, unless you want to use river shoes to hike
• Sleeping bag plus compression sac
• Thermarest
• Passport (needs to be brought on the river in case requested by Rangers and needs to be shown to Ranger at Lees Ferry)
• Watch / clock / phone (there is no coverage in the Canyon) with alarm so you can get up in morning
• Small dry bags
• Sunglasses
• Possibly chill out footwear, such as crocs, flipflops for some camps, shorts?

(remember to pack as light as possible; less is more! Or we tend to overpack!)

Camping Gear

• Tents, preferably shared between 2 people

Other Gear

• Soap / shampoo
• Camp towel

Other info:

• You may have noticed that there is no First Aid Kit in personal paddling gear. We will have a major and a minor first aid kit from the Outfitter and Stu is supposed to be looking after another minor F.A.K., which will be sufficient. If you want to bring a thing personal first aid bits and pieces, such as compeed, lipsalve, suncream, pills then that would be a good idea
• I will be bringing a spare paddle and a good set of splits, which is sufficient for our needs (we need to spares)
• We need to spare USCG B. Aids…I have a spare and when we see what B. Aids we have between us if we are short we can slways hire an extra off Brady
• I am also going to bring a good spare drycag and drypants in case of a seal etc breaking on anyone.It maybe an idea for someone to get hold of a spare seal kit
• I will be bringing my GPS which already has all coordinates for camps and rapids for the Grand Canyon, along with our river map / guide books which have notes / info from insider knowledge from last year. I will also be bringing a Grand Canyon Hiking Book
• If anyone has a solar charger with fittings for phones, cameras etc then please bring along
• Any spare clothes etc that may be worn in and around Flagstaff can be left with the Outfitter in Flagstaff etc
• Brady will supply Bill’s Bags for personal gear for the trip. This also makes it easier to pack the raft with all bags being the same
• If we take two rafts then space isn’t an issue; however if we take 1 raft as a cost issue then space is an issue: we will have to travel a little lighter, cut down on luxuries, reduce / get rid of altogether any alcohol if this is on people’s radars, get more people sharing a tent and share the Bill’s Bags (ie 1 bag for 2 people)…
• Any questions please get in touch etc
• I know it’s short notice, but if possible would people be interested in meeting up beforehand?If so let me know

Finally….

• All being well with BA most of us leave Dublin at 6.40 (apart form Aisling who leaves a little later that morning) so we need to collate paddles and pack them into 2 bags. We will be using Fran’s which can take about 6 or so plus a little padding and apparently Aisling has a bag to take about 5. These two bags will suffice for all paddles, but mean that whoever checks in the paddle bags in lieu of a ski bag can then only check in one other bag so we will need to share a bit of space. Myself and Fran will get by on 3 bags between the two of us plus the paddle bag easily enough but Aisling may have to put some stuff into some other bags etc; in any case we do need the paddles, ideally before hitting the airport…