We went out by this canyon on January the 5th, and returned Sunday, January the 8th, bringing enough provisions to last us to the end of the big canyon.  We imagined we would have no trouble getting what we needed in the open country below that.  We sent some telegrams and received encouraging answers to them before returning.  With us were two brothers, John and Will Nelson, cattle men who had given us a cattle man’s welcome when we arrived at Peach Springs.  There was no store at Peach Springs, and they supplied us with the provisions that we brought back.  They drove a wagon for about half the distance, then the roads became impassable, so they unhitched and packed their bedding and our provisions in to the river.  The Nelsons were anxious to see us run a rapid or two.

We found the nights to be just as cold on top as they ever get in this section—­a little below zero—­although the midday sun was warm enough to melt the snow and make it slushy.  I arrived at the river with my feet so swollen that I had difficulty in walking, a condition brought on by a previous freezing they had received, being wet continually by the icy water in my boat—­which was leaking badly since we left Bright Angel—­and the walk out through the slush.  I was glad there was little walking to do when once at the river, and changed my shoes for arctics, which were more roomy and less painful.

On the upper part of our trip there were occasional days when Emery was not feeling his best, while I had been most fortunate and had little complaint to make; now things seemed to be reversed.  Emery, and Bert too, were having the time of their lives, while I was “getting mine” in no small doses.[6]

We had always imagined that the Grand Canyon lost its depth and impressiveness below Diamond Creek.  We were to learn our mistake.  The colour was missing, that was true, for the marble and sandstone walls were brown, dirty, or colourless, with few of the pleasing tones of the canyon found in the upper end.  But it was still the Grand Canyon.  We were in the granite again—­granite just as deep as any we had seen above, it may have been a little deeper, and in most cases it was very sheer.  There was very little plateau, the limestone and sandstone rose above that, just as they had above Kanab Canyon.  The light-coloured walls could not be seen.

Many of the rapids of this lower section were just as bad as any we had gone over; one or two have been considered worse by different parties.  Two hours after leaving the Nelsons we were halted by a rapid that made us catch our breath.  It was in two sections—­the lower one so full of jagged rocks that it meant a wrecked boat.  The upper part fell about twenty feet we should judge and was bad enough.  It was a question if we could run this and keep from going over the lower part!  If we made a portage, our boats would have to be taken three or four hundred feet up the side of the cliff.  The rapid was too