The Flu vs: The Wilderness

A Spring Break Tale from Lake Powell

By Shireen Cave

Jeff Holmes and Shireen Cave of CanoeSport Outfitters, once again had the pleasure of taking 12 University of Iowa students on a weeklong paddling trip to Lake Powell, Utah. The majority of students had not been kayaking before or gone camping for an extended time. Jeff and Shireen eagerly looked forward to showing the students the joy of paddling and camping under the stars.

Loaded in 2 suburbans the trip left Iowa City at 5am on Saturday. We drove through the day, crossing flat Nebraska and made it to the mountains of Colorado just before sunset. As we reached the highest elevations we encountered some knuckle whitening snow and rain. Safely in warmer Utah and nearing our intended campsite in Moab we took a brief detour onto a single-track dirt road. Convinced we were leading them to the Cornucopia from ‘The Hunger Games’ students started to second-guess their guides leadership and ability to navigate! A few wrong turns and we wound up at our campsite near Moab Saturday night.

Sunday morning we all awoke to the drastic landscape change of southern Utah. Most students having not been further west than Omaha were enamored with the red towering sandstone cliffs of the southwest. After we loaded everyone back into the vehicles we continued for three more hours south and in along the back roads of Glenn Canyon to Halls Crossing at Lake Powell. We spent the night organizing gear, learning how to cook without a microwave, and gearing up for our journey out in the morning.

Monday we awoke to wall-to-wall sunshine and a strong wind. Water temps were in the mid-50s and students were introduced to strokes and rescues along the shore. Taking a head-to-toe dunking in the mid forty degree water made several gasp for air and question their reasons for wanting to go on the trip! After drying off and loading up kayaks we make the trek from Halls Crossing across the lake to Halls Canyon. We found our campsite tucked along high cliff walls. The rest of the day was spent trying to hide behind rocks and tents to get out of natures sandblasting. Near nighttime the wind died down but the sounds of the human gut soon emerged.

* NOTE: Lake Powell has a strict leave-no-trace policy. Since the lake drastically changes levels everyone must carry out all waste including the kind you would normally leave in the toilet. There are silver bags with a little ‘cat litter’ in the bottom which have to be positioned under you as you do your duty. Now imagine using this with a 20mph wind or during the time when your gut strongly protests anything in it.  Then think about taking this silver bag and putting it into your kayak to carry out. Depending on the amount of protest your gut has there were a few people who compiled 7-10 of these silver bags in just a few days!

Tuesday we awoke to a sick camper. Our first thoughts were of food poisoning and since students share cook stoves it was feared several more would soon be running for the rocks. However, we were able to get everyone on the water and spent a few hours going over strokes. Toward the afternoon everyone was feeling well and a few of us went exploring farther up the canyon. Nearing nightfall Jeff and Shireen wiped their brows feeling good that no one else had gotten ill.

The plan on Wednesday was to paddle back to the boat ramp to re-supply and enjoy modern facilities. While at the boat ramp 3 students expressed feeling uneasy and not well. After some discussion it was decided to split the group. Jeff would stay at Hall’s Crossing with 4 students to be near toilets and Shireen would take the other 8 students back out and continue on schedule. Although splitting the group was not ideal we also felt that a quarantine of sorts would allow all the sick to be sick and those who felt well to continue feeling well. Turns out that was not the case. The larger group continued to paddle north up to Moki Canyon.  Moki is a gorgeous narrow canyon with high imposing cliffs on both sides that twist and turn until the end where there is a great sand spit for camping. Having little to no vegetation, sounds echo endlessly at times.  Which is fun when you’re yelling out “Hello!” but not so much when you gut decides to object.

Thursday Shireen and the entire group woke up feeling well and ready for a hike up Moki. Jeff and his group on the other hand woke up to sounds of feet running toward the toilets. Enough said there. Shireen and her group hiked up Moki exploring and enjoying the warm sun and temperatures. Near nighttime the sounds of the human gut emerged in Moki and one more paddler fell ill. Hoping a good nights sleep would do everyone well we hit the sleeping bags early. The plan was to leave Moki around 7am Friday to allow enough time to make it off the water and back to Moab by noon.

On Friday morning 6am passed – no one stirred. By 6:30am Shireen had ate breakfast and was wondering where everyone was at. By 7am Shireen (who is a bit miffed at getting up so early to pack) goes to wake everyone.  There are 3 people sick, with 1 having to borrow extra silver bags from friends.  Fearing that we might not get out of Moki until Saturday we slowly started to get ready. Trying to encourage sick people to eat is like trying to keep an ant away from a cookie. Knowing that we had at least 3-4 hours on the water getting some fuel into the system was important. The group made it on the water and we made contingencies for several bathroom breaks along the way. Slowly we make it out of Moki and back up to the boat ramp. We had no on-water emergencies just a pace that was slower than molasses. But in the end we made it out and everyone survived.

Thankfully this epidemic of flu was a short-lived bug. People emptied out their systems for about 3-4 hours and then were feeling much better within about 10-12 hours. Jeff and Shireen are both extremely thankful for extra silver bags and extra wipes. We do believe that there were a few times the leave-no-trace policy was abandoned but when mother nature speaks you listen to her and not policies.  To the students that did get sick we salute you! Getting the flu at home is hard enough. Getting the flu without a toilet or shower is even harder! Getting the flu without a toilet or shower AND the first time you went camping should earn you a medal of honor!  We hope that your experience doesn’t deter you from camping again. We look forward to going back to Lake Powell next year but we really hope to leave the flu behind!