Sept 2012 North Rim Grand Canyon: 8pm on the terrace enjoying the evening light over the Grand Canyon and chatting with the young lady sitting next to me with her feet elevated on the massive stone railing. Turns out she and ten of her best buddies had just completed a rim to rim hike and were waiting for celebratory dinner reservations. Looking at her best buddies (all age ranges and body types) I asked how difficult it was, how much training they did, what they ate, gaining more details by the minute and letting the little germ of an idea grow. "Dennis, what do you think about hiking rim to rim? I think we could do it?" And the man who is 69 going on 70 said "okay". The adventure begins...
Being strictly limited as to the number of people staying overnight "below the rim" (official lingo for those who do more than a day hike), planning for this little adventure was mandatory. Dec. 31, 2012 at midnight I am faxing my permit request from a friend's house to get in for May 2013 and it worked. We had been granted overnight stays for May 31, June 1 and 2, 2013 which means four days and three nights for traversing the canyon. The permit requires a signature of the designated Trip Leader and that was me. At last - power in print. I was excited. And quickly started making Trip Leader decisions like how many nights in Grand Canyon lodges we needed before and after and ordering meals for our night at Phantom Ranch and the day after. It lightens the load. Yes, there is a lodge at the bottom of the Grand Canyon in addition to the campsite with a waiting list of 13 months to get a room so we still needed to take the tent and plan on camping. The lodge has an air-conditioned canteen that serves beer and that's all you need to know.
Dennis had been riding 60 - 80 miles several times a week getting ready for the Seattle to Portland ride in July and I had been working and holding down the couch daily by reading and eating and fretting about the failure to exercise until the job ended and so did my excuse list. Since 70 is the new 69, Dennis was forging ahead getting into seriously improved shape while I needed help putting the backpack on. We did it - loaded them up with filled water bottles and started walking in Forest Park - longest hike 8 miles with a three day recovery time for me. Not bad as our longest hike would be 7-8 miles in the canyon. Unfortunately Forest Park lacks the elevation gains and losses and is at an altitude of 200 feet not 7500. It was a start and we continued by going to Capitol Reef and Bryce National Parks for day hikes and acclimatization ten days before the hike. It all worked.
As for the rim to rim hike - easy peasy. If you go slow enough you can do anything and as Trip Leader I made sure we went slow enough. Several times I nearly died from heat exhaustion and was saved by Dennis pouring water over me. Thank you Dennis.
The man who is turning 70 had no problems. None. Seriously. He didn't even freak over that damn snake and the picture of the snake still creeps me out.
Glitch - oh yeah, the water pipe broke that provides water to the north rim campsites and Phantom Ranch. This is a Very Big Deal even though it happens frequently. The experienced rangers blithely tell you to filter the water you take from the creek not mentioning that the creek ends halfway up the trail so you will have to carry a lot of filtered water to survive. Fortunately the pipe was fixed while we were at Phantom Ranch and you could hear the cheers in the campground and canteen as news of the repair spread. I only had to fill a bucket once to flush a toilet. The laminated instruction sheet on how to flush with a bucket was a clue to the frequency of a broken pipe. It's a different world down there. Plenty of river water but nothing potable unless treated.
Part 2 B coming up later and I will let Dennis insert photos. Submitted by Trip Leader Dianne Wessel 6/22/2013
Being strictly limited as to the number of people staying overnight "below the rim" (official lingo for those who do more than a day hike), planning for this little adventure was mandatory. Dec. 31, 2012 at midnight I am faxing my permit request from a friend's house to get in for May 2013 and it worked. We had been granted overnight stays for May 31, June 1 and 2, 2013 which means four days and three nights for traversing the canyon. The permit requires a signature of the designated Trip Leader and that was me. At last - power in print. I was excited. And quickly started making Trip Leader decisions like how many nights in Grand Canyon lodges we needed before and after and ordering meals for our night at Phantom Ranch and the day after. It lightens the load. Yes, there is a lodge at the bottom of the Grand Canyon in addition to the campsite with a waiting list of 13 months to get a room so we still needed to take the tent and plan on camping. The lodge has an air-conditioned canteen that serves beer and that's all you need to know.
Dennis had been riding 60 - 80 miles several times a week getting ready for the Seattle to Portland ride in July and I had been working and holding down the couch daily by reading and eating and fretting about the failure to exercise until the job ended and so did my excuse list. Since 70 is the new 69, Dennis was forging ahead getting into seriously improved shape while I needed help putting the backpack on. We did it - loaded them up with filled water bottles and started walking in Forest Park - longest hike 8 miles with a three day recovery time for me. Not bad as our longest hike would be 7-8 miles in the canyon. Unfortunately Forest Park lacks the elevation gains and losses and is at an altitude of 200 feet not 7500. It was a start and we continued by going to Capitol Reef and Bryce National Parks for day hikes and acclimatization ten days before the hike. It all worked.
As for the rim to rim hike - easy peasy. If you go slow enough you can do anything and as Trip Leader I made sure we went slow enough. Several times I nearly died from heat exhaustion and was saved by Dennis pouring water over me. Thank you Dennis.
The man who is turning 70 had no problems. None. Seriously. He didn't even freak over that damn snake and the picture of the snake still creeps me out.
Glitch - oh yeah, the water pipe broke that provides water to the north rim campsites and Phantom Ranch. This is a Very Big Deal even though it happens frequently. The experienced rangers blithely tell you to filter the water you take from the creek not mentioning that the creek ends halfway up the trail so you will have to carry a lot of filtered water to survive. Fortunately the pipe was fixed while we were at Phantom Ranch and you could hear the cheers in the campground and canteen as news of the repair spread. I only had to fill a bucket once to flush a toilet. The laminated instruction sheet on how to flush with a bucket was a clue to the frequency of a broken pipe. It's a different world down there. Plenty of river water but nothing potable unless treated.
Part 2 B coming up later and I will let Dennis insert photos. Submitted by Trip Leader Dianne Wessel 6/22/2013
Hi Trip Leader! Thanks for sharing your expedition notes. I had been hoping you would post about your trip, so keep it coming!
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Laurie
Dianne thanks you. Dennis
ReplyDelete