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+--- Thread: Shon_T's Grand Canyon River Tour Series (/showthread.php?tid=368)
Shon_T's Grand Canyon River Tour Series - Shon_T - 07-04-2020
UPDATED: 7/11/2020 (Full Series now available)
I noticed that Google has a "Street View" of the Colorado River, going straight through the Grand Canyon Some 275 miles or so...
I decided to turn my bike into a "water bike" and take a tour of the Grand Canyon via the Colorado River. Where is the Lotus Pond Skin when you need it?
Grand Canyon River Series:
Shon_T's Grand Canyon River Tour Begins (Part 1)- 32 Miles
Shon_T's Unknown Ride 13 (Part 2)- 12 Miles
Shon_T's Unknown Ride 15 (Part 3)- 10 Miles
Shon_T's Grand Canyon River Tour (Part 4)- 30 Miles
Shon_T's Grand Canyon River Tour II (Part 5)- 191 Miles
The scenery is absolutely stunning! Parts 1,2, and 3 are generally during sunny weather and offer dramatic landscape. Part 4 starts out foggy, and quickly turns to rain for the first half of the ride. The second half of the ride sees several nice rapids as the route winds through the narrow canyon ending Near Phantom Ranch, which is where you would camp if you hiked from the top of the canyon at the South rim down to the bottom. Part 5 has some of the most varied scenery of them all.
The route is flat and both comfort mode and country mode work great! Auto steer works fine as well for the most part, but there are several places where it can be buggy, and cause you to get into a "loop" where the same scenery keeps repeating. If you find yourself "spinning" or getting caught in a loop, turn off auto steer and turn on "tilt to steer". This will allow you to navigate straight and get out of the loop. I found that this problem usually happens near transitions where the street view "jumps" due to lack of data.
I would recommend that you keep the dots for path finding "on" and do not hide them, as the route does not flow straight down the river. It follows the current like a raft, and will zigzag. Keeping the dots on will help you avoid motion sickness and will also help you know where to steer if needed.
I prefer the comfort mode setting because the water movement looks more natural believe it or not. It is almost as if...you are floating down a river.
While some might be annoyed by the bike riding avatar, it doesn't annoy me. I've gotten so used to not looking at my avatar...I just imagined that I was in a pedal canoe (looking at you Lotus Pond!)...peddling my way down the Colorado. for this ride, I was mostly looking up at the Canyon towering over me, and the interesting rock formations. Occasionally you will see other passengers on the raft, folks cleaning the camera when it gets wet, etc. It breaks the immersion a bit... but the spectacular scenery makes up for it. The last 50 miles or so of Part 5...Two rafts are in full-view for the entire last part of the tour. Again.. it didn't bother me, I felt like another passenger on the journey, but to each their own.
I love this ride!
RE: Shon_T's Grand Canyon River Tour - Shon_T - 07-04-2020
Updated 7/4/20 to reflect new information.
RE: Shon_T's Grand Canyon River Tour - Shon_T - 07-10-2020
Update 7/9/20 to add new information regarding the ride conditions and add another section of the ride to the content.
RE: Shon_T's Grand Canyon River Tour - Hanne - 07-10-2020
I am doing Part 3 currently, and it is awesome! Thanks!
RE: Shon_T's Grand Canyon River Tour Series - Shon_T - 07-11-2020
Update 7/11/20 Entire route now available.