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little colorado
Day Four: Shinumo & Magic Hour
"When Hugh’s boat piled on the rock and started
to take on water, my heart sank lower than my shoes. Under the
forward hatch was all my exposed and unexposed film. I envisioned
many feet of ruined film, and great was my elation when, upon
opening the hatch, we found the interior bone dry even though
the hatch had been submerged in a raging current for over an hour…
To compensate us for the dreadful night and unlucky day, we
found the most delightful campsite we have had at the end of a
day’s run — Shinumo Canyon and creek…
The origin of the name Shinumo is cloudy. There are no tribes
by that name to be found in any source book and authorities seem
to avoid the subject. Dellenbaugh claims it was a Paiute word
meaning house building people. Powell had used this word one night
in a campfire discussion in referring to a group which formerly
lived in these regions. If there were such people, they might
have been of Hopi origin for there is a similar Hopi word meaning
peace. Whoever named the spot and for what reason is of slight
importance. What does matter is that it is an exceedingly lovely
stream running through an equally lovely little canyon."
It is just as Goldwater described. I like to think the Shinumo
name relates to peace. It is one of the most peaceful spots we’ve
seen.
"All of us enjoyed swimming under the falls in the icy
waters of that deep, hidden pool."
After swimming, we build towering sandwiches of cold cuts, cheese
and fresh vegetables. Roger, the preacher, fishes. Of course the
fishing is a little different than in Goldwater's day ...
"Large salmon and catfish abound in Shimuno Creek. Imagine
this scene at the end of a day of near disaster: we tried to catch
fish by chasing them into shallows, then clubbing them, but the
fish were faster than we were. Finally I got my mosquito net and
we managed to catch two salmon and a catfish in this makeshift
seine."
day four: continued >>
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