• Happy International Mermaid Day! 🧜🏼‍♀️

Brief Overview of Canoes in Grand Canyon

Joined
Jan 17, 2016
Messages
193
Reaction score
22
There was some question a few months ago about the history of canoes in Grand Canyon. Well, for those curious, Tom Martin, the unofficial (and oft times official) historian of GC, has done a little digging for the record. Here is what he has found:

1900 - Ten foot long stick/ canvas canoe used in the Nankoweap area. Not sure who, not sure where, but the various traders and trappers and fortune seekers of Grand Canyon left very little record of their movements.

1953 - Leslie Jones put a spray cover on a canoe, outfitted some oars on outriggers, and took a solo trip from Lee's Ferry to Phantom Ranch. He hiked out at Phantom, returning in 1954 to oar from Phantom to Temple Bar. He portaged a number of rapids.

1956 - Grand Canyon banned canoes of any type unless accompanied by a commercial trip. (Not sure whether this is still in effect, but if it is, Rangers are ignoring it.)

1970 - Roger Parsons and Al Chase paddled C-1s with a group of kayakers from Lee's Ferry to Diamond Creek. Al swam Hance Rapid, but hiked his boat back up to the top and ran it again, this time successfully.

1979 - Jim Shelander paddled the first OC-1 thru Grand Canyon on a commercial trip from Lee's Ferry to Diamond Creek.

1980 - Nancy McCleskey becomes the first female to paddle an OC-1 from Lee's Ferry to Diamond, also on a commercial trip.

2012 - Douglas Green takes a Bell Nexus solo from Lee's Ferry to Pearce Ferry, portaging a few rapids, including Hance.

2017 - Uncle Skwid takes a Vertige X on a solo trip from Lee's Ferry to Pearce, running everything, swimming Hance.

XXXX - Paddler X will take an open canoe on a solo trip from Lee's to Pearce, run everything on a "Golden Run," swimming nothing.

Thanks to Tom Martin for his decades of tireless work documenting the history of GC.
 
You appear to have joined a small and exclusive list of "effing idiots". With no portages and no support you seem to be the leader. Congratulations.

;)

Alan
 
Ha. Indeed. I hope I'm not wasting my allotted fifteen minutes of fame in the Dunce Cap. But I probably am.
 
Did those other folks write books or trip reports because I'm still waiting on that Skwid guy to finish his. Just giving you some crap.
 
Ha ha. Touche. The gift that keeps on giving. I wouldn't want to bore ya! Busy month but it's coming along.....
 
I found a record indicating that Nolan Whitesell ran every rapid in an OC-1 in 1984. I believe he is still the only open boater to run the Niagara Gorge.
 
Ha. Of course.

Leave ole Nolan out of this! He's got a notebook full of firsts and needs to leave some stuff to others. :rolleyes: I guess the questions are did Jim or Nancy run everything? I assumed that being on a commercial trip they had run it all. Why not? And then: was Nolan self-support, solo? If not then not. If so then his run effectively eliminated the last three "firsts" of Tom's list. Figures that ole geezer's legacy would be reared.

(He is one of my legendary favorites, though.)
 
Back
Top