Bar 10, dry bags and ammo cans at River Mile 188
Navajo Times | Krista Allen
A Papillon Bell 206L-1 helicopter transports river guests between the Whitmore Helipad and the Arizona Strip’s Bar 10 Ranch.
WHITMORE CANYON, Ariz. – He likes flying over the ranch early to wake those still asleep.
Flying over Bar 10 Ranch a few times at sunrise is Papillon Pilot Kalon Langston’s signature and the alarm clock for those getting on a raft between river miles 187 and 188, about seven river miles from Lava Falls, one of two largest rapids on the Colorado River – Tooh/Bits’íís Ninéézi.
Navajo Times | Krista Allen
Tooh flows between Whitmore Rapid and Lava Falls as the sun’s rays meet the walls of the Grand Canyon. This is the view from the Papillon Bell 206L-1 helicopter.
Depending on Glen Canyon Dam-controlled water levels, Lava Falls sometimes falls under the IX-X classification river scale.
Langston has been a Papillon pilot for nearly 10 years and takes boat passengers/river runners to load and launch downriver and transports those ending their river trip to Bar 10 before they fly out to their respective destinations.
After a hearty breakfast – pancakes, potatoes, bacon, sausage, eggs, among other food – passengers make their way to the helipad, where they are weighed with all their carry-on before getting on Papillon’s Bell 206L-1 helicopter. Waterproof dry bags are also weighed. And seating depends on weight distribution.
The helicopter ride from Bar 10 to the Whitmore Helipad in the Grand Canyon – Bidáá Ha’azt’i – is six minutes. Cowboy Preston Wilstead, one of Bar 10’s ranch guides, said if one gets separated from a companion because of the weight distribution, it would be only a six-minute split.
Read the full story and other Wilderness River Adventures whitewater pieces in the Sept. 28 edition of the Navajo Times.
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow