© Beth Vershure

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DAY 6: Sunrise Magic

Broke camp at 4:15 am for a 5:30 am departure. The sun rose as we cruised and it was something! I must say that as difficult as it is for me to rise before dawn, when you keep photographer's time, you are not only awake for that magical moment of dawn, but you are intensely focused on it. It added a very special dimension to this trip. Similarly, you are focused on sunset in a way you usually wouldn't be. Even the river guides remarked on the very different, but wonderful, rhythm this trip has taken on because of the desire to be in spectacular places to capture that magic light.

We arrived at Matkatamiba Canyon mid-morning. I hopped out with our little video camera to shoot the photogs' arrival. Unfortunately, one of the photogs, weighted down with 30 pounds of camera equipment and a tripod, was frozen at the foot of a steep and rocky trail. I swapped my little backpack for his, took his tripod, and talked him up the rock face and guided him across a high trail. So much for the best laid production plans ...

We shot a lot of footage of the photogs. They were in heaven. Again. Every turn in the winding canyon brought new shooting opportunities and gasps. Another 4x5 photog insight is that their preferred view in these canyons is very small scale — little streams, for instance, seem very big.

Camped early at National Canyon and spent the afternoon riverside and up the canyon. Jack and four of the photogs were shooting a very green tree against the sandstone walls so Lew and I eavesdropped with our cameras on this intense shoot. This was steak night and after dinner Lew regaled the group with tall tales of the river late into the night.

DAY 7: Flirting with Disaster

Today was the dread Lava Falls Day. We pulled in just ahead of the Falls to scout and tied up along two oar boat trips. Of course, Lew knew their river guides (he seemed to know everyone we bumped into) and they all scouted the river. We set up to shoot the Mother Ship but before they went through, three of the oar boats flipped in the rapids in a most spectacular manner. Although everyone came out the other end OK, I was glad we were in bigger boats for this did not seem like an experience I would feel bad about missing. The Mother Ship got through with much splashing and screaming making it look like a piece of cake.

It was really windy that afternoon. We pulled into a little camp above mile 204. The wind stayed up all night and we crawled into sandy beds with sand still in our teeth from dinner.

DAY 8: Journey's End

It was cold and windy our final morning on the river. We of course got lots of Mother Ship shots and put out at Diamond Creek on the Hualapai Reservation. After unloading the boats, taking lots of candid shots, and posing for group photos, we drove out of the Canyon over an incredibly bumpy road and arrived — very tired — in Flagstaff some hours (and a long nap) later. Everyone dashed for their rooms, hot showers, clean clothes and appeared a short time later for dinner looking fresh, clean and completely relaxed.

As soon as we get all of the sand out of our hair and grit off our teeth, we'll start building the TV show and web site. I'm optimistic we'll do this fantastic trip justice on TV and on the web.

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