Sunblood Mountain . I was the last of our party to cross the tumultuous creek near our camp on the way back .
We paddled through the towering Gate of the Nahanni and , after a beautiful morning between the soaring walls of Third Canyon , stopped at The Library for lunch . Stacks of short horizontal rock strata reminded R . M . Patterson , who came this way in the 1920s , of books in a library , and the name stuck .
In Painted Rocks Canyon , we hiked to a fossil-laden cliff . My wife Ruth was not wearing waterproof footwear and my large grandson piggybacked her through the creeks . On the way back , I carried her over the last creek . She is quite petite , but as I hoisted us up the steep bank , I felt a sudden pain in my calf . I had not been kind to my calf sprain .
Pulpit Rock was far below during the climb to the cliff tops beside The Gate
Ruth and Werner with grandchildren Max and Amyah , on summit of Sunblood Mountain
Good weather continued as we rafted through Second Canyon and Deadmen Valley , where the beheaded bodies of the McLeod brothers were found in 1908 . Then we stopped at a campsite so beautiful the guides had named it “ Five-Star .” If we approached the beaver pond behind camp , there would be a resounding tail slap as the beavers dived for cover .
The next day the incredible walls of First Canyon dwarfed our rafts . At Whitespray Springs , water so pure the guides did not treat it gushed into the river with tremendous force .
We hiked up Lafferty Canyon as far as possible , donned bathing suits , and swam through several pristine pools . They seemed much colder than nine years before , and I began to shiver violently . Fortunately , warm clothes soon restored my elderly body . The next morning , we braved Lafferty ’ s Riffle
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