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 Day
2
 Got
up surprisingly early in the morning - well - some of us did, and got
the houseboat moving. DJ and Gautam went ahead on the motorboat to scout
for a new landing spot, and about 1 hour later one was had, this one better
than the first with incredible views of the canyons surrounding. After
parking the houseboat and having some breakfast they headed out for a
full day adventure on the motorboat through the canyons.
 The
canyons were more impressive now, and closer by, and the boat traffic
was less. The waters were choppy, and Steve was giving everyone a hell
of a ride, especially up front. The first stop after filling up for gas
was Secret Canyon, a very narrow channel of water where the boat barely
fit through. There were times where there was no more than 6 inches of
clearance on either side of the boat, but with Steve's expert steering
and help from the rest of the group's feet, they were able to navigate
a long way through without too many bumps to the boat. Would have been
great to have seen an aerial view of the boat in the narrow channels.
The reflections of the canyon walls were great because the water was so
still - its hard to tell which way is up
   After
exiting Secret Canyon, we headed back to see the Rainbow Arch, the largest
natural rock archway in the world. This also went through a nice narrow
channel before ending up at a landing dock which was clearly a tourist
destination. There were a lot of people - all fat - there. It was about
a 1 1/4 mile hike in before we arrived at the Arch, which was indeed impressive.
It is not allowed to walk under or to the other side of the Arch to protect
Native American customs.
   After
winding their way to a cool lunch spot, they headed back. Before getting
there, they headed into a cave of sorts, in which the entire boat could
fit and it had a pretty cool ceiling. At the houseboat, some slept, some
went tubing, and others battled with the notorious impenetrible grass,
a scrubb grass that was everywhere and had thorns which caused great pain.
After the short rest it was off again, this time into West Canyon, which
took a while to find although it was right next to our campsite. Another
windy canyon, we were in search of a mythical hike - Rich navigated most
of the    way
there until the boat based up against the canyon wall one too many times,
 and
it was time to bring in Steve for the save. Just a little bit further
and they found a place to leave the boat and hike into the unknown.
After the first hump, it was clear that there were many ways one could
go, none of them paths. Just get a grip on the stone and go up or down,
and make sure not to fall into any cracks or crevasses. The scene was
gorgeous in all directions and there were lots of interesting formations
and such to attempt. The sun was at the perfect height to create cool
shadows and keep it cool. Everyone went wandering around for about 2 hours
in all directions, and they only lost Warren once.
   R eturned
in the evening for another night of liar's poker, bbq, and sitting around
the fire. The view was perfect, and as the sun finally went away, the
great sky of stars was out in full. Evil Rich did not make an appearance,
but sort of evil DJ and Chris did in an argument about Hillary Clinton
and Donald Rumsfeld. Late in the evening, after poker was finished, Chris
took a late night dive off the houseboat slide, and Rich battled the impenatrable
grass to climb a small hill, from where he was able to pretend he was
a lighthouse by turning in circles with a flashlight. After numerous attempts
to get him to come down, all went to sleep and hoped for the best. Luckily
he was on the boat the following morning.
On to Day 3 ->
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