Grand Canyon Preparation

I'm hiking down the Grand Canyon (GC) with a group of friends this fall.  I've done it multiple times before, but my friends are all rookies when it comes to the GC.  I was doing a little GC research on the web when I came across a nice little article on preparing for a GC rafting trip.  Many of the ideas are great and are applicable to hiking as well.  I've deleted some that were obviously rafting only and added a few of my own GC preparation tips.

• One week before the trip, have a yard of sand delivered to your home.
• Sprinkle liberally in your bed, dresser drawers, and on kitchen and bathroom counters. 
• Fill your saltshaker, sugar bowl and cereal boxes with sand and use them as usual.
• Place garbage can lids of sand in front of your fans and run them continuously at maximum speed.
• After renting a projection TV, illuminate the walls and ceiling of your bedroom with old horror movies, especially the snake, spider, lizard, mice and bat infested scenes. 
• Line your sandals with sandpaper and spend two hours per day on a Stairmaster.
• Drape the allotted contents of your brown grocery bag on the bushes and rocks in your back yard.
• Twice a day, practice changing while your neighbors watch.
• Practice relieving your self on a bush next to a jogging or biking trail.  Say hi to anyone who passes by.  (Necessary on the corridor trails)

Other helpful hints:

• Practice cooking and eating meals with one utensil and no dish or plate. 
• Always answer, "no?' to the question 'Does anyone want to go on a evening hike.

For summer season hikes do the following:

• For 2 hours each day, place your head in front of (or over) the fan on the condenser unit of your home air conditioner.

And for those dry summers on back country trails when water may be in short supply

• Pee in a baggy, pump it through your filter, then drink while warm.

2012 Columbus Day Holiday Adventure

My permit! It arrived in the mail just a few days ago!   I didn't get my first choice of routes, but heck, any Grand Canyon trip is better than sitting in the office.

This will be a repeat of the trip done in 2008.  We'll start at Lipan Point and end hiking out from Horseshoe Mesa.  I have a few twists for this trip.  I'm planning on going around the northside of Horseshoe Mesa instead of climbing up the East face.  Also, during my research, I found out that there is a cave on the Mesa.  It is now a part of my plans.

Kris also got permits for August at Zion.  We'll be doing the Virgin River Narrows.  I did it last year and it was a blast.

It's Done - but am I finished?

On 28 Feb, 2011, my son-in-law Jake and I started hiking the Grand Canyon with the purpose of finishing two 5 mile segments of the Tonto trail that are separated by 12 miles. It was a last minute trip. His wife, (my fantastic daughter Jenn) and my beautiful wife Susie were headed off to see another of my daughters in Arkansas. A perfect opportunity to head South.

The details of this hike will be posted on my Grand Canyon blog, but we made it. The trip was a success. Jake is still alive and kicking - though moving a little slower than usual. (Sorry about the knee Jake). I think that Jenn was a bit worried that I didn't like her hubby and that there might be an accident along the way. (I've read the book "Death in the Canyon." There are many ways and opportunities for accidents to happen. However, I had an enjoyable time with Jake. Hopefully he enjoyed the hiking, camping and driving as much as I did.

On March 1st Jake and I hiked the Tonto from Hermits Creek to Boucher Creek which finished off that 5 mile segment. Then on March 3rd I did a solo hike on the Tonto from Indian Gardens to the tipoff on the Kaibab trail which finished off the last 5 mile segment. I then completed the route with a descent from the tipoff to the Bright Angel Campground and then back up the Bright Angel Trail to Indian Gardens.

Third Annual - You Guessed it - Columbus Day Grand Canyon Hike

It's here!

My permit showed up today.  We're scheduled for another 5 day, 4 night GC adventure.  This trip will start at the Bass trail head where we'll drop into the canyon.  Two miles down, we'll head West towards the Royal Arch area, then we'll drop down to the river and visit Elves Chasm.  Finally we'll head East, pickup the Tonto trail and spend our last night at the Bass/Tonto junction area.  Our last day will be a climb back out of the canyon to the vehicles at the trail head.

I've established a new countdown timer.  Am I excited or what?  But I fly a desk all day long and these type of activities make the job bearable.

BTW, I'll in the process of revamping my blog.  Stay tuned for some changes.

Dale

Tonto is in the bag

Last month we had plans to hike another segment of the Tonto Trail.  It's now in the bag.  See my trip report at the Grand Canyon Adventurers link.  It's now time to start planning for our next hike, hopefully the Western most segment on the Tonto and a visit to Elves Chasm and Royal Arch.  More to come as our plans are developed.

My hiking buddy, Mr. J, recently announced that he is moving to the Boston, MA area.  Ouch, this hurts.  Mr. J and I have been to Grand Canyon four times, Dollar Lake and the Kings Peak area in Utah three times, a trip on the Teton Crest trail in Wyoming and a trip to Boston where we hiked along the freedom trail.  We've also done a few Triathlons together and I'm going to miss his friendship and willingness to be out and about.

Tonto Rides Again

Another Grand Canyon hike in the making!

As noted in earlier posts, I have a goal to hike the Tonto.  I've hiked from the eastern beginnings of the Tonto to the tipoff at the Kiabab.  In Oct 2009 I hiked from the Bass to the Boucher.  Can we get another permit allowing us to hike from the tipoff to the Boucher?

Mr. J and I originally kicked around the idea of another President's day weekend hike.  However, for various reasons, it was not to be.  However, on President's day I sent a request for permits for the week of 8 March.  After 9 days, I still didn't have a response, so after trying to get through on the phones to see if I could find out our status, I sent an email.  Later that afternoon, I made one more phone call and this time I got through.  The ranger told me that my permit was denied because the campsites were all occupied.  I then asked if there were other possibilities that allowed us to do that segment of the trail.  He said they had two open nights at Monument Creek.  I signed up for those two nights and he put my name back on the list for consideration.

Saturday, Feb 27 I received an email stating that the two nights at Monument Creek were approved for March 11 & 12.  Now we need to plan a trip around those two nights.  My initial thoughts were to go down the Hermits, day hike to Boucher and back, and then hike out.  If energy and time was ok, instead of hiking out the Hermits trail, we would make a long day and hike out of the Bright Angel.  Justin suggested hiking down the BA to Indian Gardens and then over to Monument.  It makes for a long day, but it is probably doable.  Need to check out the mileages.

My victims for the hike are Mr. J and my son Justin.  This will be Justin's first hike into the Grand Canyon since we did the Christmas holiday rim-rim-rim hike back in December 1991.  He was 12 years old at the time and was quite the hiker/backpacker back then.  He'll probably smoke the old guy again.  The details for this hike can be seen at the Grand Canyon Adventures link.

I've done the Bright Angel trail from the trailhead to Indian Gardens multiple times as part of other hikes.  These other hikes include the Rim-Rim hike in 1982 and a Rim-Rim-Rim hike with my sons in December of 1991.  The last time I hiked this trail was in March 1992 and on the return trip up the BA, we were temporarily stopped when 4 mules were spooked and fell/slide/tumbled over 600 feet vertical and landed on the trail between my daughter and I and my sons.  The boys were about 3 minutes ahead of us and didn't see or hear the mules.  My daughter and I had to wait on the trail until Park Service personnel came down.  Three of the mules were so severely injured that they had to be put down before we continue on our hike out.

2nd Annual Grand Canyon Hike - Mission Accomplished

There wasn't anyone else at the Bass trailhead, so we took our group photos in two shots.  From Left to right it is my friend, co-worker and hiking buddy, Mr. J, myself, my racquetball buddy and neighbor Lynn, his son Jacob, and Lynn's brother-in-law Marc.

The details of this fantastic hike are posted at the Grand Canyon Adventurers link.  There were five of us on this trip, and I'm hoping that everyone had at least as good of a time as I did.  Hopefully they had a much better time than I did because for me, it was one of the toughest, most grueling things I have ever done in my life.  I pride myself in being in fairly good shape for an old man, but this hike kicked the crap out of me.   I've never been so happy to see a warning sign as I was to see this sign at Hermits Rest.

It has now been almost a month since we started down the trail, and I'm all ready contemplating my next trip to the GC.  I'm working on the Tonto Trail.  A trail that runs from East to West below the rim and above the river.  I hiked my first Tonto segment back in 1998 and didn't get back to it until Oct 2008.

My Grand Canyon Summary
Mr. J and I have now hiked from the Eastern start of the Tonto to its intersection with the South Kaibab trail (~31 miles) and from the intersection of the Bass and Tonto to its intersection with the Boucher trail (~29 miles).  I'll be back again to hike from Boucher to Kaibab and from Bass to the Western terminus of the Tonto.   To get to the Tonto, I've hiked down the Tanner, New Hance, Grandview and Bass trails and to get back to the rim I've hiked up the Grandview, South Kaibab, and Boucher trails which has added an additional 51 miles.

I've also hiked from down and up the Kaibab in Dec 1980, down the Kaibab and up the Bright Angel, Jan 1982, North Rim to the South Rim in late September 1983, and a hike with my wife to Havasupai in June of 1981 (I think it was 1981, I'll have to find an old journal to verify).  In August, 1989 I took my twin sons down to Havasupai and in December 1991 I took the boys on a 3 day, 2 night rim-to-rim-to-rim hike between Christmas and New Years.

For me, the Grand Canyon is one of the most enjoyable hiking places in the West.  However, I must admit that hiking in the fall, winter and spring is much more preferable than the summer hikes.

Please see my posts under the Grand Canyon Adventures blog to see my report of this hike.

2nd Annual Columbus Day Grand Canyon Hike

It's getting close!

Last year I led a small group of friends on a hike into the Grand Canyon.  We started at Lipan Point and hiked down the Tanner trail to the Colorado River.  We spent the next few days hiking downstream along the Escalante Trail to Hance Rapids.  At Hance Rapids we picked up the Tonto trail and after climbing up to Horseshoe Mesa, we exited the Canyon at Grandview Point.  An excellent trip.

I'm the old dude on the left in the photo.  Also in the picture are the three Js.  Jeremy, Jason J (Maj J), and Jason H (Mr. J).

Now I'm doing it again.  I got a permit for six to hike west of Grand Canyon Village.  We'll start by going down the South Bass trail to the river.  We'll then pick up the Tonto trail and head East and exit several days later by climbing out on the Hermit trail.  The cast of characters for this trip has changed.  Mr. J will be making the trip along with 3 new victims.  The victims from last years trip would like to go, but one has moved to Ohio (are there any hills in Ohio?) and the other drew for an Elk hunt in Montana.