Rich Rudow and Todd Martin have been spending a bit of time in the mighty canyon of the Colorado River, as it crosses from Lee's Ferry to Lake Mead. Exploring every little nook and cranny? Well, that's the game. Once in a while they invite along lesser beings (ie, non-Grand-Canyon-Hikers) such as Ram and I to share in the "fun" - if you call carrying a heavy pack up and down monstrous slopes, in and out of pools, across terrible blackbrush wastelands "fun", which, uh, I guess I do... Out this month for a little fun (exact location held in confidence... if you can figure it out from the clues, you are indeed a canyon afficianado...), Ram and I pay a visit to the big ditch, along with Rich and Todd, Sonny Lawrence and Dean Kurtz. And we suffer... Ramoo negotiating a boulder in a jungle, on the way to our basecamp.

Sonny and Rich lowering packs at one of the fifth-class steps on the approach.

Home Sweet Home - our basecamp alcove for the week.

Sonny being the meat backup for the a chockstone anchor, for our first rap into the canyon du jour.

Rich Rudow - the man, the myth.

Ram rapping one of dem raps in the Canyon du Jour.

A lot of the canyon is like this.