Proctor's Mountain Classroom group wrapped up their winter term in the Southwest with a four-day canoe trip on the Colorado River, paddling between Willow Beach and the Arizona hot springs below Hoover Dam. Emily '27 captures this outing in her final blog of the term — the canyon walls casting shadows on the water, yellow wildflowers ringing camp, guitar music under the stars, and the particular gratitude that sets in at the end of an Off-Campus Program experience. Read her account below!
February 20th
Welcome to my blog! It starts off with an early 7:00 am breakfast on the 20th, and then we departed for Ted’s least favorite grocery store, Albertsons. He won’t tell us why it’s his least favorite, but you can see the terror in his eyes when he talks about it. We grocery shopped for our canoe trip and headed to our new campground, which was beautiful, covered with palm trees, and had a view of Lake Mead. We presented on our Science book, Crossings, a book about road ecology. It was really interesting, especially since we drive so much on Mountain - we’ve driven over 7,000 miles just in big term alone. We packed for our river trip and discussed what fun we’d have as we made our trip plan. A few others, cowboy, and I camped, as we’d have an early wake-up tomorrow.
February 21st
A 3:00 am wake-up for an 11:00 am departure-what a day! We got up and drove over to Willow Beach, our put-in point for the canoes. We quickly organized our gear, eager to take off. A slight miscommunication meant that we stayed at Willow Beach for 5 hours, but we took advantage of the opportunity to pull out our sleeping pads for naps. Once rejuvenated, we packed our dry bags and paddled away. Two miles later, we stopped for a classic PB&J lunch and talked in British accents. We saw an old pulley station along the river, made by the “Gawker”, a man who lived on the Colorado River for 7 years and tracked the water flow. After four total miles of paddling, we arrived at Crane’s Nest, our campsite for the 1st night. We set up camp and watched Emi and Ted lurk behind us as they set up camp across the river. We relaxed for a bit, tanning and swimming, and then sat in our Crazy Creek circle, exchanging our funniest Mountain stories and reminiscing about times gone by. After our dinner of rice and beans, we held evening meeting and began to settle down for the night. We decided to cowboy camp, and as we drifted off looking at the night sky, Lilah and Evan serenaded us by singing and playing the guitar to Chris Stapleton songs.
February 22nd
“Tell me why? Ain’t nothing but a mistake. Tell me why? Ain’t nothin’ but a heartache…” is what Emi and Ted likely woke up to this morning while we sang and packed up our bags after a hearty oatmeal breakfast. We hit the river and began paddling at 10:00 am, stopped for a quick snack break a mile in (the British accents continued), and then set out again, cruising for another 3 miles before reaching the Arizona hot spring! We stopped at a nearby beach for some fancy arugula, mozzarella, and salami sandwiches. Yum! As we arrived at the campsite, we set up our sleep and bathroom sites, the two things undoubtedly most important in any camping trip. Some of us ventured to the hot spring, and some of us worked on our final projects. We had a delicious bratwurst dinner, and a group of people headed off to the spring again. The water was quite beautiful. It was clear, and there were hot spring waterfalls everywhere you looked.
February 23rd
We woke up at 7:30 am to a breathtaking view across the water and admired the rocky canyon walls while still talking in British accents. We were all a little sunburnt (sorry, Mom and Dad!), so we put on sunscreen and ate our yogurt bowls. We decided to have a lazy morning to finish up our work or just relax. We paddled two miles, stopped for sandwiches, and paddled two more miles downstream to our original campsite, Crane’s Nest. We unfortunately saw no cranes but saw a blue heron and a ton of ducks. Once again, we relaxed. A few of us took our canoes on the water and went for a swim, and the others rinsed off in the water or worked on our final projects.
"Our campsite is truly stunning. I’m writing this while taking in the view of the canyon walls that surround us. They cast shadows on the water, and our campsite is surrounded by yellow wildflowers. I’m so grateful to be able to experience this. We ate dinner and held evening meeting while showing off our watch tans. Evan serenaded us once more by playing his guitar as we gazed at the stars."
~ Emily '27
February 24th
We departed camp at 10:00 am and paddled for a bit before exploring the emerald cave and holding a funeral for our British accents. Sedona and I went “beast mode” to our take-out point for the canoes. We all unpacked our dry bags and had a fun take on our classic PB&J sandwiches - PB+J wraps! We then proceeded to hop on Bennie for a calm little grocery shop, and we showered at the YMCA. Feeling refreshed, we hit the In-N-Out. We all wore our In-N-Out hats and even saw people getting married at In-N-Out! What a world we live in. Then we drove to our campsite from the 20th, Red Rocks campground, and vibed to Lana Del Rey. Once we arrived, we set up, decided to cowboy camp again, and dreamt of the mouth-watering breakfast that Emi and Ted would be making for us tomorrow morning.
February 25th
Oui oui! Bonjour! Emi and Ted cuisiner les crêpes. We munched on the crepes and then Evan and Cian taught us how to clean our backcountry stoves - just in time for our bus and trailer blowout!! Sedona and I cleaned every dish ever while others swept out the bus, took care of zippers on tents and sleeping bags, and organized the trailer. Afterwards, we locked in and completed any leftover work. We presented our final project presentations, and then took off to Froyo on our student-led outing!!! We did a piggyback squat challenge, Sedona and Cian tying with a score of 21 squats. It just may have been my favorite part of Mountain (just kidding). We returned to Red Rocks while singing our lungs out to our sing along playlist (“I Wanna Dance With Somebody” by Whitney Houston, “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey, “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen, etc.). Once arrived, we finished packing our stuff. It’s sad to think that we leave tomorrow! I’ll miss all the fun memories that I’ve made here, the unforgettable experiences, and everything I’ve learned from Ted and Emi. I’m so, so grateful for this experience and for everyone in the group for making it the most memorable and fun experience I’ve ever had.
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