Day 2 - Monday, September 27 - Granite Rapid Camp - 7:41pm

I had a fabulous night last night and actually got to get some Milky Way shots. I had been watching the comings and goings of the clouds and looking at the stars in between when at one point I noticed all the clouds were gone and I was actually looking at the Milky Way. So I got up and managed to get several shots before the real clouds came back again. I felt good that I actually had the tripod and the wide-angle lens with me.

I discovered that my sleeping pad had somehow developed a leak. I don't think we cleared the ground underneath the tent well enough and something sharp must have come through. Now if I am awake for more than an hour I have to add air to it or it starts to get uncomfortable. If I am asleep it doesn't seem to bother me and I stay asleep.

We had a very nice day today. We were up early and out of camp by around 630. We made a couple of short rest stops and one long one when we finally got to Monument Creek, in some nice shade next to a cliff. We got to Granite Rapid a little after 1100 and had the place to ourselves. We had lunch on the beach and watched the river roll on by. Another couple showed up around noon and took a site a little upriver from us. We have a beautiful site. We all took a swim in the river to clean up and cool off after we finished lunch.

We watched one river party come past and run the rapid and then another party showed up around 3pm and they were spending the night. I think they were a little annoyed at first to be sharing the beach with backpackers but it all worked out. They fed us dinner which was very nice as none of us had really been looking forward to the freeze-dried meals we had packed. Their dinner was prime rib which I did not eat because I don't eat meat but there was also salad, mashed potato and dinner rolls. I had a very healthy portion of both salad and mashed potato and a dinner roll and enjoyed it thoroughly.

We had some showers on and off during the day but there was a major cloudburst with torrential rain and very gusty winds while we were eating our dinner. Luckily the river party had some large beach umbrellas setup so we could stay dry... well, mostly dry. It stopped for a while after dinner but now it seems to be starting up again. I am so glad that I decided to bring the tent along for this trip.