Self Support Grand Canyon

Next week I will be paddling for 13 days on the Grand Canyon with a fun group of paddlers from Colorado, New Mexico, and Oregon. 10 guys, and 6 badass women! The women are Lana Young-Hood River, Tammy Ritchey-Colorado Springs, Susan Hollingsworth-Portland, Jenn Peterson-Portland, Tina Swan-Denver, and Lisa Marie-Salida.
The last few months I have been pondering on what I should bring and how I should pack. 2 years ago I went with the liquidologic self support crew on the Grand. It was a trip of a lifetime and that is why I'm coming back to the deep ditch for more fun!

As a virgin kayak self support I learned from Boyce, Woody, Ted, Kelly, Will, and Klause the best way to pack the XP, to be comfortable, and enjoy the canyon at its best in Jan. of 2010. Thank you guys!

Self support is the way to go down the Grand (self support basically meaning, you carry all your food, home, clothes etc...) No rafts helping! Having everything in your own boat is awesome. If you want to eat, you eat. If you want to poo, you poo. If you want to go on a side hike, you hike.

There is a magical feeling when you paddle through fun class 4 with over 80 pounds of food, your house for the night, clothes, and of course drinks. Its an amazing experience and I'm excited to see and feel the mighty Grand again.
The big question that keeps coming up.. how do you fit everything in the Remix XP 9? So I thought I would write a quick Grand canyon prep blog and then come back to tell you how the trip went. We launch Nov. 20th, we will be back into reality on Dec. 3rd.

Here you go! Also check out this awesome website for more information...
http://kayakcamping.amongstit.com/

Below is a photo of the kitchen: Food, bowls, fork, spoon, 5 gas ,Pocker Rocket MSR stove. The red NRS dry bags has snacks and lunch (did not want to unpack). Soap, sponge for cleaning. Small pan for pancake making. Water purifier and waterbottle, coffee cup, and canned chicken for dinners. The only thing that is missing is a small pot. Gotta get one of these before I go.

Here are the items packed in 2 drybags for kitchen and food.Everything else can fit in the nooks of the Remix XP. (will show you photos of how to pack your boat on my next post)

Here is the house: sleeping bag, sleeping pad, tent, and of course a foam pillow. Pillow can be used as back support when paddling if in a drybag. Pretty sweet! I make this a priority due to having a bad neck. Remember the word...comfortable, that's how I roll! Lol

Sleeping bag, pillow, pad and tent fit in 3 drybags.


Clothes for the 13 days (warm layers, hiking clothes, shoes, hat, gloves etc...) Kokatat drysuit. Other paddling gear not shown. Fits in one dry bag. Photo that is not shown (first aid kit, flashlight and poop pvc pipe)
In my next post I will show you how to pack the Remix XP 9 and give you more details on the Grand Canyon 2011 trip.
Oregon and Colorado kayakers paddle together on a magical ride! Yippie

Be back soon!
Lisa Marie

Westwater in November

The Remix XP9 arrived at my house two weeks ago. I had never paddled the boat, but knew I needed to have a whitewater kayak that has plenty of space for my tent, sleeping bag, food, beer, water, down coat, firepan, and a poo system. I filled the kayak with 2 drybags, warm clothes, first aid kit, one breakdownpaddle, two waterbottles and about 5 beers.

Dave and I decided that we need to run Westwater Canyon as a kayak self support trip to get ready for the grand canyon in January. Little did we know that a major snow/rain strom was coming our way. Luckily I packed my down coat and 3 pairs of wool socks.

We arrived at the put in, dropped our boats and gear off; the ranger made sure we had a fire pan, poo system, and 1st aid kit. He looked at us like we were crazy.
(dave got to put the fire pan on the floor of the kayak which fit perfect in his XP10)

We dropped the car off at the take out and biked 14 miles of the kokopelli trail back to the put in. During the ride we saw a few antelope running off in the distance. We arrived to the put in and started paddling down stream. I was nervous at first because I think I had at least 50 pounds in my boat; but the remix was fast and very responsive. The first 5 miles of flat water went by fast. The gorge was beautiful and surreal, I felt like I was flying over the waves. I think I got about 4 feet of air off one wave.

We arrived at our campsite and started making dinner. It's so nice to have everything you need in your own kayak! It's nice not to have to rely on a raft, and it made me realize that you don't need much to enjoy and survive the outdoors. Sometimes I think we get caught up on material things and think we need paco pads, kitchen table, camp chair, etc... for a river trip. When it comes down to it, aren't we trying to get away from normal life? Back to simplicity?

It did rain/snow for about 4 hours that nite, and the tent collasped from the weight of the wet snow mixed with the intermitant rain. I thought a bear was crashing our tent at first! After Dave moved the snow off the tent, we were able to fall back asleep, thankful to have a warm dry shelter.

I can't wait to take the Remix XP9 down more rivers....The Salmon, Selway, Illinois, Virgin, Escalante, and Catacrat canyon are some of the rivers on our list...Starting with the Grand Canyon in January with the Liquidlogic Crew!

Simplicity...is what I'm learning with age

Cheers, Lisa Marie