Grand Canyon Adventure
Hi All,
I can't believe it has been over two months since I have posted anything. I hope everyone is doing well.
Janice and I just finished an amazing adventure into the Grand Canyon. Janice has wanted to do this trip for nine years and finally saw the trip come together 2 weeks ago.
The first day started out with us driving to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon after a day of work. Once there we met up with a young man named David who then rode with us for three hours to Jacob Lake, AZ. This is about 42 miles from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. David dropped us off at the Jacob Lake Lodge and drove our car back to the South Rim, where it would be waiting for us at the end of our trip. Janice and I stayed the night at the Lodge and got up before dawn to head out.
Here I am applying some glide wax to our skis at the lodge.
Shortly after this picture we headed out. Here is our before picture.
We had to walk about a quarter mile to the end of the road and then we strapped on the skies.
As you can see there was plenty of snow. We had around four to five feet the whole ski.
We were very excited about this sign.
The weather started out great. A crisp, clear morning. But only after a couple of hours the weather started to change, as it likes to do in the mountains. The wind picked up and it started to snow. Here is are first lunch spot. If you look around Janice there was a fire a few years back and a lot of dead trees. Neither of us were going to chance going into the forest to get out of the wind. Of course dead trees would provide little protection from wind anyways.
This sign was at mile 19 of our ski. We were so happy to see it because we wanted to get 20 miles the first day and with the bad weather we were not sure we would. There were a few times this day when we had blizzard like conditions. All we could do is put our heads down and go; looking up occasionally to get a bearing. I was thinking to myself how "fun" it would be to set up camp in a blizzard and what would happen if it continued to snow at that rate.
But a about a mile later we set up our first camp and things had started to calm down.
For the first two days we had to melt snow for our drinking and cooking water. Here is Janice getting it done in her wind proof kitchen.
The next morning was just beautiful. We had about three inches of fresh powder, with blue skies and sun.
This mile marker really does say Mile 602.
One of the draw backs of starting the trip in Jacob Lake is it is almost all uphill to the North Rim. Here is one of the many hills we had to go up.
A lot of the second day we were breaking our own trail, which we loved. Here is some wonderful, fresh snow. Most of the trip we had to follow snowmobile tracks. You would think it would make the ski easier but it did not. Another small drawback of this new powder was after a few hours of baking in the sun the snow sticks to the bottom of your skis, even with glide wax on.
Here are some great coyote tracks.
This sign is just before the park entrance. We took a picture of it because you will no longer see this sign at our National Parks. A law passed and now you can carry a loaded firearm in the parks with you. At the South Rim all the restaurants now have to have signs saying no guns allowed if they don't want loaded firearms in their establishment.
This picture gives you a very good idea of how much snow there was. This is the entrance station to the North Rim. On our ski we reached the elevation of just under 9000 feet. For those who don't know the North Rim is about 1000 feet higher than the South Rim. That is why the North Rim is closed for the winter, it gets a lot more snow and weather.
Here are some of the safety warning posted on the station.
Teasing the rangers.
Me being a little bit of a dork.
Janice and I both forgot to take a picture of our second snow camping spot. It was a beautiful spot about 50 yards off the road and 8 miles from the park entrance.
Here we are almost at the end of our ski. Only about one more mile to go.
There is s small skeleton crew who stay at the North Rim to try and keep the buildings from falling apart with the many feet of snow they get. The only way in and out of the park is helicopter or snowmobile. Other than that there are no snowmobiles allowed in the park. So, we were disappointed when we saw snowmobile tracks in some of the meadows inside the park.
Here we are at the North Kiabab trail head just before taking off the skis for the trip.
We then started down the North Kiabab Trail.
For the first two miles it was post-hole hiking. For those of you who don't know what that is, if you have ever walked in deep snow and you keep pushing through the snow to knee or thigh deep, that is post-holing.
Here is Janice in one of the worst ones. Her right foot in not even touching the ground.
After about two miles we went through the Supai Tunnel and most of the snow was gone.
The trail was mostly just mud with a little snow after the tunnel.
And you can see some very steep drops.
Since someone temporarily lost our sun screen (that person shall remain nameless) we had to come up with some creative ways to stop the sun from baking us. I really think this look will catch on. What do you all think?
There were a number of waterfalls on the trail that only run during snow melt. This is me trying to get through one.
This house is near the bottom of the canyon. Rangers get to stay here part of the spring, summer, and part of the fall. How do I get this job?
This is me trying to figure out why after we turned the water on it started to leak all over the place.
This is Cottonwood Campground, our first camping spot in the canyon. We had a beautiful sunny evening and got to dry out some of our stuff. It then started to rain that night. And rain and rain and rain.
It stopped just before we got out of our tent. So again everything was wet. But at least we got to pack up without it raining all over us. On the way to our next site we took a short side trip to Ribbon Falls. The sun came out for our visit here. A special treat for us because it was the only time it was out all day. :) :)
Shortly after leaving the falls the weather started to change. And this is what happened for the rest of the day and into the evening.
I said we had a blizzard but it was more like blizzard-like conditions for a few hours on and off. :) :)
We then made it to our last camp at Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon. You can get to Phantom Ranch by walking, raft, or mule. When you get there you will find a little compound of cabins or communal cabins you can rent if you plan ahead and make reservations. They also have a dinner where if you make reservations before you go down you can get crappy steaks for $42 each or cheap wine that is very expensive. We got our cheap beer for $4.50 per can.
Shortly after these pictures we went on a two-mile walk along the Colorado River in the pouring rain. It was hard to be too disappointed because we were in the Grand Canyon.
This was our last camp at Bright Angel campground next to Phantom Ranch. As we sat at our site we could hear the mules "talking". One mule's voice would start off with a donkey sound and end with a horse's whinny. Janice and I got great amusement from that all evening.
By the time we had our own dinner it had stopped raining and did not rain on us for the rest of the trip. It was a beautiful hike out.
Janice crossing the suspension bridge across the Colorado River.
After some serious up hill hiking here are some mules taking supplies to Phantom Ranch. This is the same bridge Janice and I walked across a little earlier.
If you look close you can see the South Kiabab trail we walked up.
This is looking across the canyon at the North Rim. You might be able to tell it is snowing over there.
The South Kiabab trail is one of the two most used trails in the park. The park has people working on it continuously. Mostly college kids from all over the world do the job of maintaining the trails. It is hard, backbreaking work done for little pay. But there are some perks. They get to live in the canyon for days and weeks. Here is a little tent city for some of the workers.
Here are some of the workers.
The rest of the hiking was a little slow going because we were both a little beat up.
As we approached the top it started to get icy.
And crowded. I think we had our picture taken about 30 times on the way through. And asked lots of questions. It was fun getting so much attention but after stopping every five minutes to answer the same questions it was hard. Plus we were trying to get so many miles each day. The best question had to be, "did you guys ski on the river?" As in water skiing.
Our after picture taken at the top on the South Rim.
We both had a wonderful time and agreed that someone would really have to work hard to talk us into doing it again. If we did, I think we would do it the opposite way.
I hope you all enjoy this very long post.
Peace and Love,
Geoff
I can't believe it has been over two months since I have posted anything. I hope everyone is doing well.
Janice and I just finished an amazing adventure into the Grand Canyon. Janice has wanted to do this trip for nine years and finally saw the trip come together 2 weeks ago.
The first day started out with us driving to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon after a day of work. Once there we met up with a young man named David who then rode with us for three hours to Jacob Lake, AZ. This is about 42 miles from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. David dropped us off at the Jacob Lake Lodge and drove our car back to the South Rim, where it would be waiting for us at the end of our trip. Janice and I stayed the night at the Lodge and got up before dawn to head out.
Here I am applying some glide wax to our skis at the lodge.
Shortly after this picture we headed out. Here is our before picture.
We had to walk about a quarter mile to the end of the road and then we strapped on the skies.
As you can see there was plenty of snow. We had around four to five feet the whole ski.
We were very excited about this sign.
The weather started out great. A crisp, clear morning. But only after a couple of hours the weather started to change, as it likes to do in the mountains. The wind picked up and it started to snow. Here is are first lunch spot. If you look around Janice there was a fire a few years back and a lot of dead trees. Neither of us were going to chance going into the forest to get out of the wind. Of course dead trees would provide little protection from wind anyways.
This sign was at mile 19 of our ski. We were so happy to see it because we wanted to get 20 miles the first day and with the bad weather we were not sure we would. There were a few times this day when we had blizzard like conditions. All we could do is put our heads down and go; looking up occasionally to get a bearing. I was thinking to myself how "fun" it would be to set up camp in a blizzard and what would happen if it continued to snow at that rate.
But a about a mile later we set up our first camp and things had started to calm down.
For the first two days we had to melt snow for our drinking and cooking water. Here is Janice getting it done in her wind proof kitchen.
The next morning was just beautiful. We had about three inches of fresh powder, with blue skies and sun.
This mile marker really does say Mile 602.
One of the draw backs of starting the trip in Jacob Lake is it is almost all uphill to the North Rim. Here is one of the many hills we had to go up.
A lot of the second day we were breaking our own trail, which we loved. Here is some wonderful, fresh snow. Most of the trip we had to follow snowmobile tracks. You would think it would make the ski easier but it did not. Another small drawback of this new powder was after a few hours of baking in the sun the snow sticks to the bottom of your skis, even with glide wax on.
Here are some great coyote tracks.
This sign is just before the park entrance. We took a picture of it because you will no longer see this sign at our National Parks. A law passed and now you can carry a loaded firearm in the parks with you. At the South Rim all the restaurants now have to have signs saying no guns allowed if they don't want loaded firearms in their establishment.
This picture gives you a very good idea of how much snow there was. This is the entrance station to the North Rim. On our ski we reached the elevation of just under 9000 feet. For those who don't know the North Rim is about 1000 feet higher than the South Rim. That is why the North Rim is closed for the winter, it gets a lot more snow and weather.
Here are some of the safety warning posted on the station.
Teasing the rangers.
Me being a little bit of a dork.
Janice and I both forgot to take a picture of our second snow camping spot. It was a beautiful spot about 50 yards off the road and 8 miles from the park entrance.
Here we are almost at the end of our ski. Only about one more mile to go.
There is s small skeleton crew who stay at the North Rim to try and keep the buildings from falling apart with the many feet of snow they get. The only way in and out of the park is helicopter or snowmobile. Other than that there are no snowmobiles allowed in the park. So, we were disappointed when we saw snowmobile tracks in some of the meadows inside the park.
Here we are at the North Kiabab trail head just before taking off the skis for the trip.
We then started down the North Kiabab Trail.
For the first two miles it was post-hole hiking. For those of you who don't know what that is, if you have ever walked in deep snow and you keep pushing through the snow to knee or thigh deep, that is post-holing.
Here is Janice in one of the worst ones. Her right foot in not even touching the ground.
After about two miles we went through the Supai Tunnel and most of the snow was gone.
The trail was mostly just mud with a little snow after the tunnel.
And you can see some very steep drops.
Since someone temporarily lost our sun screen (that person shall remain nameless) we had to come up with some creative ways to stop the sun from baking us. I really think this look will catch on. What do you all think?
There were a number of waterfalls on the trail that only run during snow melt. This is me trying to get through one.
This house is near the bottom of the canyon. Rangers get to stay here part of the spring, summer, and part of the fall. How do I get this job?
This is me trying to figure out why after we turned the water on it started to leak all over the place.
This is Cottonwood Campground, our first camping spot in the canyon. We had a beautiful sunny evening and got to dry out some of our stuff. It then started to rain that night. And rain and rain and rain.
It stopped just before we got out of our tent. So again everything was wet. But at least we got to pack up without it raining all over us. On the way to our next site we took a short side trip to Ribbon Falls. The sun came out for our visit here. A special treat for us because it was the only time it was out all day. :) :)
Shortly after leaving the falls the weather started to change. And this is what happened for the rest of the day and into the evening.
I said we had a blizzard but it was more like blizzard-like conditions for a few hours on and off. :) :)
We then made it to our last camp at Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon. You can get to Phantom Ranch by walking, raft, or mule. When you get there you will find a little compound of cabins or communal cabins you can rent if you plan ahead and make reservations. They also have a dinner where if you make reservations before you go down you can get crappy steaks for $42 each or cheap wine that is very expensive. We got our cheap beer for $4.50 per can.
Shortly after these pictures we went on a two-mile walk along the Colorado River in the pouring rain. It was hard to be too disappointed because we were in the Grand Canyon.
This was our last camp at Bright Angel campground next to Phantom Ranch. As we sat at our site we could hear the mules "talking". One mule's voice would start off with a donkey sound and end with a horse's whinny. Janice and I got great amusement from that all evening.
By the time we had our own dinner it had stopped raining and did not rain on us for the rest of the trip. It was a beautiful hike out.
Janice crossing the suspension bridge across the Colorado River.
After some serious up hill hiking here are some mules taking supplies to Phantom Ranch. This is the same bridge Janice and I walked across a little earlier.
If you look close you can see the South Kiabab trail we walked up.
This is looking across the canyon at the North Rim. You might be able to tell it is snowing over there.
The South Kiabab trail is one of the two most used trails in the park. The park has people working on it continuously. Mostly college kids from all over the world do the job of maintaining the trails. It is hard, backbreaking work done for little pay. But there are some perks. They get to live in the canyon for days and weeks. Here is a little tent city for some of the workers.
Here are some of the workers.
The rest of the hiking was a little slow going because we were both a little beat up.
As we approached the top it started to get icy.
And crowded. I think we had our picture taken about 30 times on the way through. And asked lots of questions. It was fun getting so much attention but after stopping every five minutes to answer the same questions it was hard. Plus we were trying to get so many miles each day. The best question had to be, "did you guys ski on the river?" As in water skiing.
Our after picture taken at the top on the South Rim.
We both had a wonderful time and agreed that someone would really have to work hard to talk us into doing it again. If we did, I think we would do it the opposite way.
I hope you all enjoy this very long post.
Peace and Love,
Geoff
posted by Geoff at 7:10 PM
5 Comments:
Wow, great post.
Wow is right.
this trip looks amazing and the two of you are amazing! How did you manage to find each other in this huge world? That waterfall on the mossy rock is gorgeous. I have thought about that phantom ranch hike... sounds like you recommend the camping above the lodge....
What an adventure! I miss you two.
Badass, y'all!! Someday, I will get to Havasu Falls. Someday, dammit.
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