A Song in the Grand Canyon

There are trips that show you the world and there are trips that show you your heart. Sometimes you are just lucky enough to find a trip that journeys you to the best of both.

When I first heard about a white water rafting trip down the Grand Canyon with a kirtan (devotional chanting) musician, I was not grabbed. I love adventures, but kirtan is not really my thing. But it came up again in my Facebook feed a few months later and suddenly I had to go.

The adventure of rafting in the Grand Canyon called and I was excited to be sharing such an incredible adventure with a group of hopefully like minded people. Rather than days of complaining about the heat and nights of beer parties, I was looking forward to seeing this magical landscape with others who would sit in awe with me.

The trip turned out to be everything I hoped, everything I dreaded and so much more in between. 22 participants, 8 guides, 7 paddle boats, a few instruments, varying personalities and expectations all melded into 16 days of joy, challenge and growth.

The canyon is like nothing I have ever seen. The raw rock soars overhead once you get in the canyon proper and the sun bakes down in the relentless desert. Blue sky, red rock, scatterings of green plants- this landscape might seem barren at first glance, but the plants and wildlife are adept at creating their own havens in this harshness. Small lizards scamper everywhere, bags mysteriously develop mouse sized holes overnight, great blue herons, ravens, horned sheep and even a few deer supervise the river at various times.

The music is a surprise to me. Unlike everyone else, I was not a follower of either of the musicians- Kevin Carroll, kirtan master or Peia, singer extraordinaire. The simple chants and songs were a pleasure to join in, the more complex tunes divine to just immerse myself in listening to. The music added so much magic to the landscape, the haunting echoes of the history of the land, as well as a stunning joy in being alive. This was spiritual music in the Grand Canyon.

 With guitars, a harmonium, a violin and the voice of an angel, we spend 2 weeks floating, drifting, sometimes rushing though the vast raw gash of the majestic rocks. The music tied us, lifted us, dreamed us and connected us to the elements that dominated our days and nights. The August sun was beyond intense and the stinging sandy wind sometimes unbearable, but every moment was worth the overall experience.

I journeyed with an extraordinary group of people, but it was not always easy- I was up when others were down; I needed quiet just as mass frivolity broke loose. But we danced and laughed with ourselves and each other, with the river, with life. We shared our fears, we held hands, we encouraged each other through our fears and tough days. A group turned into a family.

Just when I think I knew what the canyon is, she became something new. Over and over. New layers of rock, new colors, new geology emerged at regular intervals. And this went for many of us on this journey also- a discovery of a voice, a newfound joy in the rapids, climbing out of fear, letting go of inhibitions. The river danced us, the wind sang us and the canyon held us.

Then the biggest magic of the desert happened- it rained. Only a bit on the river, but apparently a lot more on the rims far above us. We saw small trickles on the riverside rocks, then thin waterfalls on the cliffs. Suddenly, a huge waterfall burst over the horizon high above us. And another. And another. We were in exactly the right place at the right time to witness a rare and spectacular sight- the birth of huge waterfalls on the canyon cliffs. Some pounded down in a massive column of water, others feathering their way down in different directions to form a misty curtain across the cliffs.

The side canyons offered up their own magic. Small creeks and magic waterfalls providing extra adventures along the way. Some of the climbs were tough but so worth it. These hidden gems all along the way just added to each day. We stopped and played music in the side canyons, letting the acoustics amplify the stunning sound of Kevin and Peia’s gifts.

This adventure is at the mercy of the elements. We were lucky to have entirely clear days, except for the one day the canyon gifted us not only with rain, but with the phenomenal magic of watching  the waterfalls being created. They were mostly gone as fast as they came- by the next morning, only a few trickles remained, but the memories of that particular day will never leave me.

Do not expect to be fully comfortable for the trip. Burning sun, freezing water, small cots, scary rapids- these are just some of the challenges the Canyon throws up. But it is worth every ant bite, every sandy sandwich and every wet shoe. The Grand Canyon is indeed grand and experiencing it in this way, with divine music and lovely people, just adds to the magic.

There is the more popular option of going down the river on large motor boats, but I think the quiet of row boats, plus lazy days in the side canyons, using the soaring walls and trickling creeks to avoid the hot days, was a gift in itself. This is the slow canyon, the slow life, rolling with the rhythm of the sun and river. We reset ourselves back to the natural world, the real world.

This is a journey to the heart of the world and a journey to the world of the heart.

(Contact Kevin Carroll or visit his website for details of future trips!)