Here she is in the upper Narrows, touching both walls with her trecking poles.
We spotted some poison ivy high above us on a small cliff.
Sasha sitting in front of Big Springs--her favorite place to relax in the Narrows.
Another part of Big Spring.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Zion Narrows with Sasha (July 09)
After last summer's dayhike of the Narrows with Sasha, she wanted to go back again this year, but this time we wanted to see the entire length of the 16 miles of Narrows from the top to the bottom, with one night sleeping in the middle! So we packed up our overnight gear (Sasha carried 11 pounds and I carried 22 lbs), and took a shuttle to the top. Both days were long days of hiking about 6 hours each day, with dozens of river crossings. But we took our time and enjoyed the coolness and the beauty. Sasha is a fast hiker, even with a pack.
Here she is in the upper Narrows, touching both walls with her trecking poles.
We spotted some poison ivy high above us on a small cliff.
Sasha sitting in front of Big Springs--her favorite place to relax in the Narrows.
Another part of Big Spring.
Here she is in the upper Narrows, touching both walls with her trecking poles.
We spotted some poison ivy high above us on a small cliff.
Sasha sitting in front of Big Springs--her favorite place to relax in the Narrows.
Another part of Big Spring.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Swamp Point to Dutton Point (July 09)
We've had a relatively mild summer so far, but this week the temps finally got up to 105, which is the point for me when I finally say that it's hot! One of the best places to escape is only a 3 hour drive, half of it on a fairly decent dirt road out to a place in the Grand Canyon's remote north rim, name "Swamp Point" of all things. I'm not sure about the name, because there is definitely not a swamp nor any kind of water out on this skinny peninsula of forested rim at 7500' elevation, with high temps in the 70s and plenty of big ponderosa pines providing shade. This one-night backpack trip was Mike's idea--we actually came out here 9 years ago--but this time we wanted to get all the way to Dutton Point to set up camp.
After descending 1000' to Muav Saddle, you climb back up to Powell Plateau and follow the rim for 7 miles. This is the kind of sneak peak of the canyon that you get along the way through the trees.
Finally, after bushwhacking for several hours through big thorny bushes, you get to Dutton Point, with this great view of the river and virga raining down in the canyon.
It sprinkled on us for a couple of hours around sunset, but the skies cleared, the moon came out, and the next morning we were treated with this incredible sunrise.
After descending 1000' to Muav Saddle, you climb back up to Powell Plateau and follow the rim for 7 miles. This is the kind of sneak peak of the canyon that you get along the way through the trees.
Finally, after bushwhacking for several hours through big thorny bushes, you get to Dutton Point, with this great view of the river and virga raining down in the canyon.
It sprinkled on us for a couple of hours around sunset, but the skies cleared, the moon came out, and the next morning we were treated with this incredible sunrise.
Thursday, June 04, 2009
London, Stonehenge, Bath, Stratford-Avon, & Oxford (May/Jun 09)
To celebrate Stephanie's graduation, we took a family trip to her number one dream place to visit--England. We spent four days in London, and thoroughly enjoyed using the Underground Tube and double-decker buses in order to get around, visiting museums, parks, palaces, and cathedrals. We also enjoyed a variety of foods and seeing a multitude of people. We were lucky to have only one day of light rain, and we used it to go see Wicked, which was a hit with everyone. The rest of the week was sunny. We also spent four days using a rental car and driving west to see Stonehenge, staying in Bath and Stratford upon Avon, seeing where Shakespeare was born, and visiting Oxford. There are a lot of photos here, which only show a portion of everything.
London's Museum of Natural History.
Big Ben of course.
The changing of the guard at the Buckingham Palace.
Skeletal mummy remains in the British Museum.
The Tower of London.
Windsor Castle.
A royal guard at Windsor Castle.
Windsor Castle.
Stonehenge.
Stratford upon Avon.
Stained Glass motif.
Hallway in Gloucester Cathedral, used in filming Harry Potter.
Dining Hall in Oxford, also used in Harry Potter films.
Interesting stained glass story.
One of many interesting buildings at Oxford.
Music playing in St Paul's Cathedral.
Better than a Disneyland ride--taking a ride in the top front of a London double-decker bus!
London's Museum of Natural History.
Big Ben of course.
The changing of the guard at the Buckingham Palace.
Skeletal mummy remains in the British Museum.
The Tower of London.
Windsor Castle.
A royal guard at Windsor Castle.
Windsor Castle.
Stonehenge.
Stratford upon Avon.
Stained Glass motif.
Hallway in Gloucester Cathedral, used in filming Harry Potter.
Dining Hall in Oxford, also used in Harry Potter films.
Interesting stained glass story.
One of many interesting buildings at Oxford.
Music playing in St Paul's Cathedral.
Better than a Disneyland ride--taking a ride in the top front of a London double-decker bus!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Cinco de Mayo, Cabo Wabo, & 20 Years (May 09)
Lobby view from Pueblo Bonito Pacifica
Kim and I were married on Cinco de Mayo 20 years ago way back in '89, but we had never been to Mexico for any of our anniversaries. So we knew it was finally time to do it! I researched some of the resorts down there, and found a really nice adult-only, holistic resort spa that was located on a 3 mile stretch of uninhabited beach. Despite recent news of the swine flu, we decided to go for it anyway, and we flew from St George through LAX and on to Los Cabos by early afternoon. The taxi ride to our hotel was nearly an hour, but it was scenic and well worth it once we arrived at the Pueblo Bonito Pacifica. Due to the swine flu scare, our plane and hotel was probably not even 1/4 full, so we felt like we were the only ones there at the pools, restaurants, and beach. Kim and I had an incredible time together. Kim did yoga on the beach, we swam, walked on the beach, and took a day trip into town, where we rented sea kayaks and paddled out to the arch which is at the very tip where the Pacific Ocean crosses over to the Sea of Cortez.
Here is the view from our room balcony. We kept the sliding door open all night and listened to the waves from the Pacific Ocean crashing on the beach. Notice the beds on the beach. Nobody used them, although we were tempted to!
Another view from our room--what beauty! Oh and I guess the desert landscaping is beautiful too.
Tempting to go in, but unfortunately, these constant monster waves and the rip tide made it impossible to go in the ocean here by the resort.
So instead we walked for miles up and down the uninhabited beach, and Kim did yoga every day. Lands End can be seen off in the distance--right side.
Notice the interesting rock formations at Lands End. Sea of Cortez on the left and the Pacific on the right. We had a lot of fun kayaking. We would definitely return.
Kim and I were married on Cinco de Mayo 20 years ago way back in '89, but we had never been to Mexico for any of our anniversaries. So we knew it was finally time to do it! I researched some of the resorts down there, and found a really nice adult-only, holistic resort spa that was located on a 3 mile stretch of uninhabited beach. Despite recent news of the swine flu, we decided to go for it anyway, and we flew from St George through LAX and on to Los Cabos by early afternoon. The taxi ride to our hotel was nearly an hour, but it was scenic and well worth it once we arrived at the Pueblo Bonito Pacifica. Due to the swine flu scare, our plane and hotel was probably not even 1/4 full, so we felt like we were the only ones there at the pools, restaurants, and beach. Kim and I had an incredible time together. Kim did yoga on the beach, we swam, walked on the beach, and took a day trip into town, where we rented sea kayaks and paddled out to the arch which is at the very tip where the Pacific Ocean crosses over to the Sea of Cortez.
Here is the view from our room balcony. We kept the sliding door open all night and listened to the waves from the Pacific Ocean crashing on the beach. Notice the beds on the beach. Nobody used them, although we were tempted to!
Another view from our room--what beauty! Oh and I guess the desert landscaping is beautiful too.
Tempting to go in, but unfortunately, these constant monster waves and the rip tide made it impossible to go in the ocean here by the resort.
So instead we walked for miles up and down the uninhabited beach, and Kim did yoga every day. Lands End can be seen off in the distance--right side.
Notice the interesting rock formations at Lands End. Sea of Cortez on the left and the Pacific on the right. We had a lot of fun kayaking. We would definitely return.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Packraft adventure from Kanab Creek to Lava Falls (Apr 09)
Upset Rapids
Most of the month of April has brought unusual cold showers to the Southwest, but I had hopes that it would warm up for my next adventure with Mike down in the depths of the Grand Canyon to combine backpacking, exploring, and rafting in our Alpacka packrafts. We had to delay leaving a day later due to strong rains and winds, so we had a lot of miles to make up in 6 days. We each drove out to the top of the Lava Falls trail near Toroweap, left one vehicle there, and then drove back up to Hack Canyon. The road down Hack is usually rough, but the BLM must have done recent work to make it passable for most vehicles. We easily cruised with packs down Hack to Kanab Creek, then continued down Kanab to the confluence of Jumpup Canyon. This part of the canyon was very pleasant, beautiful, and easy for hiking, although I developed a nasty blister on my pinky toe that slowed me down the rest of the week. We continued a couple of miles farther to a nice quiet camp site for a total of 16 miles the first day. The next day we hiked for more than 12 miles of slow boulder hopping down beautiful lower Kanab Creek, past Showerbath Spring, Scotty's Hollow, and Whispering Falls, all the way to the confluence with the Colorado River, where we spent our second night.
From there we started the second phase of our adventure--exploring the Grand Canyon via our packrafts, which allowed us to move down river, stop, visit and/or explore up a number of side canyons, including Olo, Matkat, Canyon of a Thousand Names (where we spent our third night under ledges out of the wind), Havasu, Tuckup, National, Fern Glen, Mohawk, Stairway and Cove canyons. Some of the most scenic hiking was up to the Muav ledges, patios, and pools, that usually have water flowing down through these side canyons. One of the biggest highlights was going up Havasu (aka "Have-A-Zoo" due to the swarms of people)--it was so unusual, because there was absolutely nobody there at all, and also because the water was running so high and so incredibly cloudy/milky blue, instead of the normal turquoise blue. The fourth night was spent at Tuckup, which we explored; and our last night at Cove Canyon, where we could see Toroweap Point downstream--the point where we climb out of the canyon. The last morning we made our way down to the base of the Lava Falls Trail, where we packed everything up, and climbed practically straight up 3,000' in 3 hours, and back to our vehicle for the ride home.
Our total mileage was 30 miles of hiking, and another 35 miles along the river, not including untold miles around the side canyons and camps. I flipped my packraft twice within the first hour of being on the river, in a couple of different medium sized riffles. I then noticed my backpack was loaded off-center, and this was causing me to list to the port side. After fixing the balance, I never flipped again. Mike only flipped on the last day at the next-to-the-last riffle, because his pack was not tied down tight (I forgot to check the knots before launching), and his backpack shifted weight mid-stream, causing him to be off-balance too. These little rafts are pretty incredible in how they handle in big waves. We wore wetsuits on the river, so the cold water was not a factor during out swims or paddling. We also portaged around any nasty looking rapids and riffles whenever possible, like Upset Rapids, which would have swallowed our little rafts in its numerous holes, and maybe never spit them back out. Some rapids like Matkat were un-portageable, so we had to run them anyway, but did fine. The camp sites and weather was mostly beautiful, clear, cool, with only a little bit of clouds and light rain spatterings. All in all, it was a very tough, challenging, and highly rewarding trip that will go down in the memory banks!
A view up Hack Canyon.
Showerbath Springs
A pool near Whispering Falls
Havasu Canyon pools and cascades.
Me next to Havasu.
A photo near the mouth of Havasu. Notice the water color!
Mike and our packrafts next to the mouth of Havasu.
Tuckup Canyon
Sunset light hitting cliffs during our last night at Cove Canyon.
Getting ready to push off from Cove Canyon on our last morning. We climbed out just past Toroweap Overlook, which can be seen in the upper left background with the sunlight hitting the top there.
Most of the month of April has brought unusual cold showers to the Southwest, but I had hopes that it would warm up for my next adventure with Mike down in the depths of the Grand Canyon to combine backpacking, exploring, and rafting in our Alpacka packrafts. We had to delay leaving a day later due to strong rains and winds, so we had a lot of miles to make up in 6 days. We each drove out to the top of the Lava Falls trail near Toroweap, left one vehicle there, and then drove back up to Hack Canyon. The road down Hack is usually rough, but the BLM must have done recent work to make it passable for most vehicles. We easily cruised with packs down Hack to Kanab Creek, then continued down Kanab to the confluence of Jumpup Canyon. This part of the canyon was very pleasant, beautiful, and easy for hiking, although I developed a nasty blister on my pinky toe that slowed me down the rest of the week. We continued a couple of miles farther to a nice quiet camp site for a total of 16 miles the first day. The next day we hiked for more than 12 miles of slow boulder hopping down beautiful lower Kanab Creek, past Showerbath Spring, Scotty's Hollow, and Whispering Falls, all the way to the confluence with the Colorado River, where we spent our second night.
From there we started the second phase of our adventure--exploring the Grand Canyon via our packrafts, which allowed us to move down river, stop, visit and/or explore up a number of side canyons, including Olo, Matkat, Canyon of a Thousand Names (where we spent our third night under ledges out of the wind), Havasu, Tuckup, National, Fern Glen, Mohawk, Stairway and Cove canyons. Some of the most scenic hiking was up to the Muav ledges, patios, and pools, that usually have water flowing down through these side canyons. One of the biggest highlights was going up Havasu (aka "Have-A-Zoo" due to the swarms of people)--it was so unusual, because there was absolutely nobody there at all, and also because the water was running so high and so incredibly cloudy/milky blue, instead of the normal turquoise blue. The fourth night was spent at Tuckup, which we explored; and our last night at Cove Canyon, where we could see Toroweap Point downstream--the point where we climb out of the canyon. The last morning we made our way down to the base of the Lava Falls Trail, where we packed everything up, and climbed practically straight up 3,000' in 3 hours, and back to our vehicle for the ride home.
Our total mileage was 30 miles of hiking, and another 35 miles along the river, not including untold miles around the side canyons and camps. I flipped my packraft twice within the first hour of being on the river, in a couple of different medium sized riffles. I then noticed my backpack was loaded off-center, and this was causing me to list to the port side. After fixing the balance, I never flipped again. Mike only flipped on the last day at the next-to-the-last riffle, because his pack was not tied down tight (I forgot to check the knots before launching), and his backpack shifted weight mid-stream, causing him to be off-balance too. These little rafts are pretty incredible in how they handle in big waves. We wore wetsuits on the river, so the cold water was not a factor during out swims or paddling. We also portaged around any nasty looking rapids and riffles whenever possible, like Upset Rapids, which would have swallowed our little rafts in its numerous holes, and maybe never spit them back out. Some rapids like Matkat were un-portageable, so we had to run them anyway, but did fine. The camp sites and weather was mostly beautiful, clear, cool, with only a little bit of clouds and light rain spatterings. All in all, it was a very tough, challenging, and highly rewarding trip that will go down in the memory banks!
A view up Hack Canyon.
Showerbath Springs
A pool near Whispering Falls
Havasu Canyon pools and cascades.
Me next to Havasu.
A photo near the mouth of Havasu. Notice the water color!
Mike and our packrafts next to the mouth of Havasu.
Tuckup Canyon
Sunset light hitting cliffs during our last night at Cove Canyon.
Getting ready to push off from Cove Canyon on our last morning. We climbed out just past Toroweap Overlook, which can be seen in the upper left background with the sunlight hitting the top there.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Mr Boucher the Hermit (Mar 09)
A few days after getting home from Hawaii, I had a trip scheduled for months to go down solo to the bottom of the Grand Canyon where the famous hermit Louis Boucher lived over 100 years ago. This is a rugged, difficult trail off the south rim for 11 miles to Boucher rapids, then 7 miles over to Hermit Camp, then 7 miles to Salt Camp, and then 12 miles along the Tonto Trail to Indian Gardens and up the Bright Angel for nearly 40 miles total in 4 days. The weather was mostly beautiful--only a few hours of light rain and wind on the second day. I often wonder what I'm doing out there all alone, but after a few days I really enjoy bonding with nature. I didn't see any people for the first day and half the second day, and then again no people for pretty much most of the third day and half the last day. Yuma Point is the red area left of center in the sun...
A view from the rim toward Boucher Rapids (slightly up and left of center). I had to get down there the first day! The Boucher trail is the most difficult of south rim trails.
Me resting at Yuma Point. See the river under my left cheek. Someday I will stop here and spend the night.
My first night's camp spot in the sand next to Boucher Rapids.
The neat thing about Boucher Rapids is that you can see my two all-time favorite rim viewpoints--here is Pima Point at sunset on the south rim...
...and here is Sublime Point on the north rim with the sun hitting it at sunrise.
Redbuds were in bloom in all the side canyons.
Second day along the Tonto heading to Hermit Camp--the trail swings out above the river here.
A series of waterfalls above Hermit Camp.
The third day I hiked past Monument Creek, and took a break here in the Vishnu narrows before heading over to my final camp spot at Salt Creek.
The "Fiery Furnace" in Salt Creek.
Can you see the bighorn standing on the rock? They blend into the canyon well.
My last night's camp along the Tonto...
...had a sunset view of a long stretch of river, where you can see Granite and Hermit Rapids.
My last morning hike--looking up at the south rim's Powell and Hopi Points.
A view from the rim toward Boucher Rapids (slightly up and left of center). I had to get down there the first day! The Boucher trail is the most difficult of south rim trails.
Me resting at Yuma Point. See the river under my left cheek. Someday I will stop here and spend the night.
My first night's camp spot in the sand next to Boucher Rapids.
The neat thing about Boucher Rapids is that you can see my two all-time favorite rim viewpoints--here is Pima Point at sunset on the south rim...
...and here is Sublime Point on the north rim with the sun hitting it at sunrise.
Redbuds were in bloom in all the side canyons.
Second day along the Tonto heading to Hermit Camp--the trail swings out above the river here.
A series of waterfalls above Hermit Camp.
The third day I hiked past Monument Creek, and took a break here in the Vishnu narrows before heading over to my final camp spot at Salt Creek.
The "Fiery Furnace" in Salt Creek.
Can you see the bighorn standing on the rock? They blend into the canyon well.
My last night's camp along the Tonto...
...had a sunset view of a long stretch of river, where you can see Granite and Hermit Rapids.
My last morning hike--looking up at the south rim's Powell and Hopi Points.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
