Most commercial river trips through Grand Canyon start at Lee’s Ferry at the foot of Glen Canyon and end at Diamond Creek Beach where Peach Springs Canyon meets the Colorado River on the Hualapai Indian Reservation.
Those 217 miles still leave one about 50 miles short of Pearce Ferry beach at the upstream end of Lake Mead. Pearce Ferry is the first landing west of the Grand Wash Cliffs, the end of Grand Canyon and the physical terminus of the Colorado Plateau.
In this reach of the river are travertine grottos, great rapids, and the ever present high walls that make it such an incredible place. History has left its mark here as it was downstream about 10 miles where Major Powell’s first river journey suffered the loss of three men who decided that they had had enough and walked away – Separation Canyon.
Glen and Bessie Hyde disappeared on the river, their boat found below Honeymoon Rapid at river Mile 232 – their searchers put on the river at Diamond Creek Beach. The oldest rocks in the Canyon are found in this, the lower granite gorge (2 Ga). And always there is more.
T-Shirt Description
Front: Beginning of Diamond Creek river trip indicating the rapids and destinations. Map continues over right shoulder.
Back: Map shows the remainder of the trip to Pierce Ferry and Lake Mead.
