I just finished my painting, waterhole. This artwork was inspired by a trip through Lower Waterholes Canyon near Page, Arizona. It was mid-March of this year that we went there, only a few weeks before my wedding. I went with my husband and two friends, Luke and Paul. It was a beautiful canyon, but one that could easily turn treacherous.
waterhole
The skies here reflect that ominous feeling. I’m happy to report that the gods were smiling on us that day, and we emerged unscathed. It could have ended very poorly for us.
Waterholes Canyon empties into the Colorado River. There is no where to go from that sandy bank unless you want to try to swim the river, which is highly unrecommended. We had arranged for a boat to pick us up there around 4pm. When 4pm came and went we were able to contact our service briefly, from the top of this cliff. There was no guarantee that they would be able to wait long for us. Bad weather was moving in and it becomes dangerous to navigate the boat along the river safely at night. This could have meant an unexpected overnight stay on that very sandy shore. In Glen Canyon, the winds would have been rather biting, and the following day it actually snowed. So we could have been hypothermic in a matter of hours. We arrived at the river about three hours late. I remain eternally grateful to a river guide named Brad for keeping our fun adventure from becoming a disastrous epic.
This is me rappelling through the chimney.
My painting is from the reference point of the bottom of a 450 (+/-) foot drop-off. This involved two rappels, one of which we acheived with a 400 foot rope dropping us 357 feet. As I looked up to where I had come from, my knees still shaking from the long descent, I felt like a tiny fish in a sandstone fishbowl. Cathedral-like walls surrounded me in an amphitheater configuration as I studied a gaping slot dead-ahead of me. Only a few moments ago I had slid my entire body through a chimney to this sheer wall. Now that chimney appeared more like a hairline crack in a giant teacup. Feeling small and insignificant, I now realized I was standing in the mother of all waterholes, and to my benefit, it was dry as a bone. The skies above were turning stormy. My imagination began to go wild and I imagined that in the near distance it was raining, and that a flash flood was imminent. The sand under my feet was soft and fine, having been pummeled relentlessly from floods of the past. What a sight that would be to see this waterhole filling itself!
The camera could not capture the vastness of this place. It was an amazing canyon. Earlier there had been places so tight you felt you might get stuck there. Then there were parts where it just opened up and and was enormous!
Looking down from the 357 foot rappel.
Once you lower past the chimney it opens up and is a sheer wall below you. This is a view of the sandy bottom as the cameraman is rappelling down. I did not take this photo. It’s just hard to describe the scale of this place. Pretty awesome!
The next photo shows Ron rappelling. You can see how sheer the wall is. The black stains reveal that water will flow down this way at times. I would love to see what this looks like. I wonder if it becomes a gushing waterfall. When a canyon flashes there is often a lot of debris that gets carried with the water. The portion of the canyon above this point was pretty clear of logs and sticks. I was taking note of this fact when we were considering spending the night there. It’s always good to take inventory of your resources for staying warm.
My husband, Ron.
We were also very fortunate that we had remained dry. It was getting pretty cold. In fact, it had been cold all day. The canyon was unusually dry. When we approached the only pothole where we knew we would get wet, a group of young guys showed up and built a zip line. We all sailed across without getting a single toe wet. Except for the one sacrificial lamb who had to set the zip line up on the other side. Burrrrrr! Just seeing how miserable he was made me realize how close to an emergency situation we were.
The last photo shows the guys trying to pull the rope. They devised a pulley system to try to get that rope to break loose, but it just wouldn’t budge. Luckily Paul had freed another abandoned rope along the way that we ended up using for the remaining rappels. Another fortunate circumstance.
As we arrived to the river, we were greeted by our patient boat captain, Brad. He had been waiting for three hours. He was strumming his guitar and to me looked like a guardian angel perched up on the bow of the boat! By that time we were all just giddy. If you want to see more photos of this adventure they are posted on Luke’s website. He has a much more professional account of the whole thing.
Trying to retreive the rope.
The place looks cool. I’ve never done anything like that. I’ve only once been indoor climbing with some friends. I enjoyed it. I hope you enjoyed your climbs as well.
By the way, the painting’s good.
GREAT STUFF!
Thanks again for posting my page on the Guild site. I clicked on the link to your site. I LOVE what you have created! Your site is so great. All the hyperlinks that lead to so many amazing places (including HERE!). It’s perfection!
Thank you,
–annie
where did you find your boat guide to get you down the river?
Colorado River Discovery. They don’t provide that service anymore, but they will drop off kayaks for you on the exit beach. They are in Page, AZ. My friend Luke has lots of beta on his site… http://www.bluugnome.com/canyoneer_tripreport_lower-water-holes_03-15-08.aspx