MF Day 5, 6/14/2007: Impassable Canyon.

Mile 75.7 (Fly Camp) to mile 87.9 (Parrott Cabin Camp)

Morning at Fly camp. Note the nice sandy beach, the big eddy with lots of room to park the boats. A very nice campsite, but not a lot of tent sites.

Yes, that is a buttload of bacon. Two pounds to be exact. For 4 people (I don't eat bacon). And it was all eaten. No BLTs for lunch.
Other than the bacon, we had my special "French toast bake" for breakfast, but I forgot to pack cinnamon, so it was less well received than it should have been (apparently I should have substituted bacon).

Back on the river, we floated on down to the aptly named "Waterfall Creek:"
Just past Waterfall Creek, was Big Creek and the official beginning of "Impassable Canyon." Though it sounds imposing, and there were a lot of big rapids there, the "impassable" had more to do with the canyon walls. Up to then, there were trails that followed the river, sometimes on both sides. At Impassable canyon, the trail makers gave up and the trails left the river.

This is an important place for another reason too: once a boater enters Impassable Canyon, the Forest Service allows you to only camp one night, and then you must leave the MF behind.

From there we floated down to "Veil Falls." Though this was a pretty steep climb, it was well worth the effort.

The "cave" behind Veil Falls, pictures really don't do it justice: it was huge.


Some pictographs up there behind Veil Falls:


Sparky getting a shower in the Falls (she was due).


Sparky and Backstroke at the base of Veil Falls: so tall I can't get the whole thing in the frame.
We run a couple of the bigger rapids on the river this day, Redside and Weber. Neither were exciting enough at this flow for me to remember, though they are famous for a high water fatality back in the seventies on a trip in which Tom Brokaw was a member.

Our last camp at Parrott Cabin: Once again, given a choice, I wouldn't camp there again.
This was a little waterfall up a slot canyon very reminiscent of the Grand Canyon. Just a short hike up from Parrott Cabin. Well worth the walk.

An aerial view of Parrott Cabin Camp. Note the rocky landing area. One more strike against it as a campsite.
The "cabin" at Parrott Cabin was about 6' by 8'. No roof anymore, it is really hard to imagine a guy spending his whole winter in there.

CB and Bama preparing themselves for a night of much beer (and so a night of much peeing).


Backstroke trying to get CB off the ice-chest so he can get started on beerfest.


This was vegetarian Sloppy Joes night. All was eaten, clean up was minimal, it was all good. The greater part of the German Chocolate cake for dessert disappeared too.