Advice…do what we did (mostly), but learn from our mistakes

Lesson 1: IT’S STILL COLD OUT WEST IN JULY

Even though our trip took place in July, normally a very hot time in the Midwest, it was still very cool out West, mostly this was due to us being at a much higher elevation for most of the trip. So if you are headed to the Tetons, Yellowstone, Crater Lake, Yosemite, or even the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, be prepared for it to be from the 30s to the 40s most nights. Consider bringing more than one hoodie or bringing a stocking cap to keep your head extra warm while you are sleeping (neither of which I did). My mummy sleeping bag was only guaranteed to keep me warm down to 45 degrees, so if you can afford to buy a better bag for the backcountry, I would recommend it. Also, if you have  a sleeping pad in the backcountry to put under your sleeping bag, that will give you a little more space from the ground and keep you warmer as well. If not then pack some warmer clothes, at least so you aren’t waking up freezing in the middle of the night. If you’re in the front country well then be smart and bring extra blankets, heck blow up that air mattress, we definitely did, and man did it feel good to sleep on an air mattress after sleeping on the ground. Extra comfort in the front country = more rested, less sore, and generally happier camping in the morning and when you hit the trails. Extra comfort in the back country = expensive or more weight that you have to carry on your back/pain.

Lesson 2: MERINO WOOL SOCKS or MERINO WOOL ANYTHING FOR THAT MATTER

I basically wore merino wool socks every day of our trip, and even for everyday wear they are still my favorite. Here’s why: They will keep your feet very warm while being breathable and keeping your feet cool while its hot out, think insulated mug. Merino wool is also water resistant so that will help in preventing you from getting lots of major blisters. It’s also extremely odor resistant, I tested this out myself through the following method. Day time: wear one pair of socks that I hike in all day, Night time: take off aforementioned socks and lay them out, put on clean pair of wool socks to wear to bed, Day time: take of bedtime wool socks and put on yesterdays socks, repeat. These benefits also apply to any other piece of clothing you have like the wool base layer I wore to bed almost every night of the trip. Furthermore, it’s sustainable as it comes from merino sheep and will decompose after its usefulness is exhausted. Down side is that the merino wool tends to be a little pricey. I’d recommend one of two routes for purchasing merino wool 1)Sierra Trading Post, search their online store, they have deeply discounted outdoor clothing/shoes/socks here, it’s where we bought almost any of the clothes for the trip. You can search for Smartwool, Patagonia, or Bridgedale wool socks to name a few 2)REI (an outdoor store) has an online outlet rei.com/outlet. They don’t have quite the clothes selection as sierra trading post, but you might be able to find a backpack or sleeping bag from 08 or 09 here that they are selling out of.

Lesson 3: KNOW HOW FAR THE TRAIL IS AND CHECK THE WEATHER BEFORE YOU SET OUT

For those of you who followed our posts pretty regularly, you’ll remember that we misinterpreted our book and thought that our hike was 11 miles round trip, not 11 miles one way. Some people can do 11 miles one way without much of a problem, but considering that was our first time carrying all of our gear out, maybe not a good idea to start with 11 miles back to pack. Basically, by the time we got back to our car from hiking 22 miles in 24 hours, we were toasted. We were supposed to do another hike that day, a very strenuous hike up to Observation Peak in Yellowstone, but neither of us really thought we could handle another 6 miles and the elevation gain. So unfortunately, we had to abandon that hike and we were too tired to really hike around the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone either which is supposed to be really beautiful. Just make sure when you are planning to hike, even if you won’t be camping on the trail, know how long the hike is and if there is anything else you should know about. For example in the Grand Canyon it’s 14 miles to the bottom from the North Rim and 7 miles to the bottom if you are hiking the South Rim, you’re not supposed to hike between 10 am-4 pm in the summer, and the rangers severely advise against attempting to hike down to the bottom and  back in one day, not only because of the heat but also because of the elevation change. Knowing the weather for the day(s) of your hike is important as you don’t want to get caught in a lightning storm, downpour, flash flood, heat wave, snowstorm without being prepared.

Lesson 4: BRING A CAN OPENER

Somehow in all of our preparation we forgot to bring a can opener, we thought there was one on the multi-tool my little brother lent us, but there wasn’t. It’s rather unpleasant to be very hungry and looking forward to having a warm can of chili and then having to spend 30 minutes sawing a hole open with a knife and then using the pliers on the multi-tool to peel back enough of the can to pour out your chili. Also, it’s not very good for your knife (sorry little brother).

Lesson 5: TALK TO THE RANGERS, THEY ARE THERE TO HELP

I’m very thankful for the rangers at the national parks, let me give you a few examples. In the Grand Tetons we were looking for the other side of a trail, the map we had indicated that the Jenny Lake trail made a loop around the lake and it appeared that after climbing up to Observation Peak we could go down the other side. However, after hiking up Observation Peak and reassuring Sarah that we wouldn’t have to precariously work our way back down, we couldn’t find the trailhead for the other side. We kept hiking for about 20 minutes thinking that we would run into the trail head when we ran into a ranger. Talking to the ranger happened to be really good, as she informed us that the trail doesn’t go back around the lake (I would like to note, I still don’t believe this as our guidebook indicates that there are not one but two access points for getting around the lake) anyway, she told us that if we kept hiking the way we were hiking that we would be deep into the backcountry and that we probably wouldn’t have ran into anyone if we continued as she had been hiking for several hours without seeing a soul. So we hiked back the way we came with the ranger and talked to her about her job and the park. Driving into the Redwood forest, we stopped at the ranger station and the ranger there recommended we stop at Simpson-Reed Grove which was going to be right off the road on our way south, and which would allow us to walk through some true giant Redwoods. And at Yosemite, the ranger strongly recommended we get a topographic map, which really helped us in locating a stream to purify water from and allowed us to see just how far the point was we wanted to hike to as well as the elevation gains we would need to make. Talk to the rangers, they want to help you, and all the ones we talked to were extremely friendly and helpful. Who knows, maybe you’ll even see us out there as rangers in the future 🙂

LESSON 6: IF YOU WANT TO SAVE MONEY PLAN AHEAD

If you’re budget is tight like ours, a lot of planning in advance will save you a lot of money. Tips for saving money on the trip: 1) This should seem obvious, but CAMP. There are definitely lodges at most of the National Parks and many nearby hotels, but camping at $15-20 a night (which is how much it costs per night at each of the parks we visited) is so much cheaper than staying at a lodge which usually ranges from 130 and up. I’ll let you do the math on how much money we saved by camping almost every night of the 21 days, rather than staying in a hotel. Depending on your tolerance for camping, you might want to buy a hotel room in advance, we did this for two nights of the trip using priceline, and it was nice to sleep in a real bed and have a hot shower every five or six days. On the two nights of our trip when our plans changed or we didn’t have a campsite reserved, we ended up paying way too much for a hotel room that we were in less than 12 hours, hotels around the national parks book up, so unless you want to pay $150 for a deluxe king room for two people at 10 pm somewhere in Idaho that doesn’t even provide breakfast, try to purchase in advance. 2) BORROW OR RENT GEAR. If you have family or friends who love the outdoors and they are willing to let you borrow things, take them up on it. We borrowed a camo daypack, a large cooking burner, multi-tool, camp skillet, and a battery powered fan from my family, which definitely saved us some money. Check your local outdoor shops/outdoor clubs and see if they rent camping gear. If you are fortunate to live by an REI, they rent tons of gear for a decent price, which is also nice if you aren’t sure you really want to commit to buying all these things and just want to give camping a try.

Alison’s Much Late Summary of the Summer Trip

Five and a half months after returning from a three-week trip out West seems like a good time to bring closure to that journey. Looking back, I’m pretty happy with how our trip turned out. Like Sarah said, we got to see a lot of phenomenal National Parks, and even though we went during the busiest time of the year for National Parks, I’ve never felt more secluded from everyone before. If you can bring yourself to put some of life’s luxuries behind and spend the night in the backcountry, you won’t be disappointed. (Unless of course you camp at Mosquito Bay at Yellowstone in the middle of summer, then you will really be kicking yourself for hiking 11 miles in one direction only to be covered in mosquitoes every minute you stop moving). Though if you were at this site in a colder month, you would appreciate seeing the steam from the geysers and snow-covered mounatins across the lake. The drive to Point Reyes may be a little hectic, but nothing beats camping in the bluffs only a few hundred meters from the beach hearing the waves lull you to sleep.  Don’t get me wrong, I was a little tired of sleeping on the rocky ground after four days at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and I definitely wanted a shower; but I also loved being out there.

Life went back to the basics in the backcountry, not just having to worry about the basic amenities like food, water, heat, and shelter. It was back to the basics of me, who was I in this natural world we were wandering through, what did I want from my life moving forward. Even though we were on a fast paced schedule, I feel like I stopped rushing for one of the few times in my life. My childlike wonder and awe came back while were out there, I marveled over the roads and tunnels that wove their way precariously through the West, I scanned the world around me for new wildlife and wildflowers, and I stopped filling the silence with words and kept silent so I could finally hear the world again. Of course, Sarah was right by my side for most of the trip, so I wasn’t ever really alone, and that was important too.  It was nice having someone to share the trip with, to stand in appreciation together at the vistas, to take a break with and encourage me to keep going, and and to have a shared experience that we can keep looking back on day after day. Splitting the monetary cost and the weight of the supplies was also nice as well.

Looking back there isn’t too much that I would change. Maybe bringing more than four varieties of energy bars would have been a good idea and bringing a few more warm clothes. Otherwise I think that everything went well. Though sleeping in a new place every night was kind of exhausting, it was a great way to see a little bit of everything and now we have a better idea of where we would like to go back to and spend some more time. I could have definitely used more time at most of the places we were at.

Looking forward, I would like to go back to the Tetons and do some kayaking right up to the mountains and see some of the allusive moose. We barely saw Yellowstone in the three days we were there and could spend more time exploring the falls and hot springs especially in northern Yellowstone. Unfortunately most of the hikes we wanted to take at Crater Lake were still closed due to snow but I’d still like to go back and do the Mt. Scott Trail and the Watchman. I feel like what we saw of the Redwoods was spectacular and that I don’t need to necessarily go back just to pay to drive through one of the trees. Point Reyes was too short of a trip and we missed out on kayaking in Tomales Bay while we were there. Yosemite was phenomenal, and though I could do without the crowds in the Valley, I think that hiking up to the top of the Half Dome would be worth it. I’d also love to spend more time in Tuolumne Meadows, the meadows, sharp, rocky peaks, and lakes are definitely calling my name. The North Rim was the way to go for the Grand Canyon, but we heard great things about Havasupai and the hidden oasis seems worth a return trip. Bryce Canyon was beautiful, and I’m still yearning to hike through the hoodoos there and see more of this mysterious landscape.

There are also some other famous National Parks that we passed by without stopping such as Zion, Arches, and the Rocky Mountain National Park. Luckily, we have lots of time left to plan and explore these  new and old National Parks alike. A helpful word of advice, buy the book The National Parks of the West by Fodor, it’s what we used to help us in planning our trips and tells you everything you would want to know about the hikes you can take, how to make reservations, how to get to the park, what the campsites are like, and the wildlife you might see. Thanks to those of you who have been following our travels, it’s been fun to share with you, and I hope that you get out to some of these places and experience them for yourselves. As for now…it looks like the next stop on our National Park trip will be Rocky Mountain National Park sometime this summer.

Sarah’s Summary of the Trip

Going out West had been a romanticized wish of mine fore the last few years. Time, money, and commitments kept me from fulfilling that wish until this past summer, when the magic combination of a long stretch of free time, just enough money, and no real commitments finally came through. It was a lot of planning and even more preparation, but I feel it all paid off in a three week nature escape that was remarkably uneventful. Still, not everything went according to the perfect plan in my head. The drive itself passed through some of the most remote stretches of road in the U.S., with little in the way of quirky side stops that I’d hoped for. Because our itinerary called for us to sleep some where new every night, we were always in a big of a rush, which kept us from fully taking in each new destination or from fully relaxing. And we did suffer some casualties – most notably, Alison’s lost sandals and sunglasses, my poor rodent-attacked pack, and our beleaguered Target tent, which began falling apart toward the end of the journey. Overall, thought, this get away was one of those once in a half-lifetime experiences – by that I mean we took a trip that most don’t attempt until they reach retirement age. Along the way, we saw craggy mountains that appeared to be straight from a painting, jaw dropping geologic features, a lake so blue that no photo could ever capture its essence, trees that made you redefine your definition of massive, the majestic Pacific coast, and more blue sky days in a row than any you’d see in the Midwest. We went on 1/2 mile day hike and an 11 mile day hike, saw pika, elk, an bison, and got accidentally immersed in geyser steam. We waded in Crater Lake, camped by a beach, stood nearly underneath one impressive waterfall and right behind another. I drank organic beer and cheap microbrews and found all especially tasty, while Alison drank a liter of chocolate milk to cap off our trip. And I crossed off a personal life goal – hiking the Grand Canyon – with surprising ease, churning out the last day’s seven mile endless climb in just a hair over five hours. The Canyon from within is a rare treat, something few get to experience, and you’ll encounter some of the friendliest fellow travelers that you’ll ever meet. With the right preparation and strong legs, even fierce heat and meager meals can’t keep you from a continual feeling of awe. Overall, this trip gave me an unprecedented survey of many of the most jaw-dropping scenes in the nation, and a greater appreciation for taking the time to leave it all behind. I hope you will too.

Rockin’ the Rockies

After a wonderful night’s sleep in the luxurious KOA Kampground (somewhere in the middle of Utah), we packed our tent up for the last time on the trip and set our sights on Denver. The plan was to meet up with Alison’s aunt and her husband, who serendipitously happened to be out West for the tail end of our trip, and were eager to meet up and hear about our travels. We also had some sort of set plans to visit Arches National Park on the way out of Utah, but after hitting the road a little later than planned, we decided to save that national park for another trip. I honestly don’t remember much about our drive to Denver, but it was definitely beautiful as we drove through lots of red rock formations and into the Rocky Mountains. We stopped only a few times, and one of our last stops came high up in the mountains, with great views of some nearby peaks. Getting out of the car, I noticed a very large Great Dane in the next parking spot, along with a girl who couldn’t have been any bigger than me. I commented on how cute the dog was as we headed inside to the rest area. On the way out, we were shocked to see this seemingly cute dog randomly leap at a nearby man who was also walking out, and bite his arm while snarling viciously. Of course, the girl didn’t have much control over her massive pet, but the man only shook the dog off and fortunately was wearing a leather jacket that absorbed most of the damage. That definitely made me re-think my desire to get a big dog — if I do, I’ll have to start working out a lot more to control it.

The rest of the drive to Denver was very hilly and curvy, but we made good time into the city, with plans to meet Alison’s relatives for dinner. I was excited to actually spend some time in the city since I’ve driven through it many times, but never actually stopped to sight see. My excitement was tempered over the next 40 or so minutes as we drove aimlessly around downtown Denver, attempting to find the hotel and then find a parking spot. To make matters worth, the hotel was near Coors Stadium, which happened to be hosting a Rockies game that evening, so I also was trying to avoid many drunk fans and reckless drivers. Both of us got pretty stressed out, and my nerves were pretty frayed, but after a minor meltdown, we finally found a spot a few blocks away and headed in. It was great to see Jenny and Ed, and meet Ed’s brother Carl, who was accompanying the two on their Western excursion. We got a recommendation from the desk staff on where to go to dinner — ironically, it was Rock Bottom Brewery, a restaurant that’s also in Milwaukee, and one we’ve been to a few times. But we had a good time catching up, and the food and the complimentary beer (courtesy of the hotel) was delicious.

Alison and I had planned to drive back out of Denver that evening and stay at one last campsite in the Rockies, but by the time we got to dinner, we were both pretty tired and unsure about another longer drive that same night. Jenny and Ed generously offered to let us stay in their hotel room for the night, and even though we’d already paid for our campsite (a non-refundable fee), the prospect of staying in a nice, climate controlled hotel room without having to drive anymore was too good to pass up. So we changed our plans once more (good thing we’re both willing to be spontaneous) and after dinner, we went back to the hotel and crashed. We got a good night’s sleep, and we definitely needed it, because we had to make it to Kirksville the next evening for our friend Katey’s bachelorette party. A packed three weeks was finally coming to a close, and we maneuvered the workhorse Yaris (no worse for the wear) back to the flatter lands of the Midwest.

Beautiful Bryce Canyon

7/28/10

7:17 MT

Alison- The drive though Utah was extremely beautiful with mountains and red cliffs all around speckled with trees. Originally when we were planning the trip, I had the brilliant idea that we would drive all the way to Denver the same day that we hiked out of the Canyon. Luckily, Sarah decided that this would be a horrible idea as we would most likely be exhausted and severely sore and so we switched up our route and decided we’d stop somewhere in Utah, we weren’t quite sure where but it looked like there were several campsites on the road we were taking and we’d just stop when we felt like it. So we’re driving up I believe highway 5 in Utah and Sarah is napping to recover from the rapid pace she had been taking which is when I began seeing signs for Bryce Canyon. I guess traveling runs in my veins because my grandfather took two trips out west and when I asked him what his favorite part of his trips was, he told me that Bryce was one of his favorite stops. Naturally, I felt compelled to take the short detour over to Bryce to look around for a few hours, in my family what grandpa says goes, and as usual grandpa was right.

Bryce is much smaller than a lot of the other parks we visited but the geological formations here are worth checking out. Spires come out of the canyon but unlike the pinnacles that we saw at Crater Lake, these hoodoos, as they are called, were created from the erosive forces of ice freezing and thawing over millions of years.

Sarah and the hoodoos

If we hadn’t just hiked seven miles out of the Grand Canyon it would have been awesome to take the trails below the rim and walk at the base of the spires. Unfortunately, our tired bodies, the cooler temps of 60 degrees compared to the 100 degree temp we had felt a few hours earlier and the rain kept us from doing any hikes. One of the nice things was that there are maybe 10 outlooks of different formations that you can see just by parking your car and walking twenty feet so we still got some good pictures in whenever the rain would stop pouring.

Natural Bridge

Freezing, with our campsite in central Utah still be determined, and little relief coming from the rain, we hit the road again. Absorbing the beautiful scenery further in the rear view mirror as Sarah drove for a little while, I saw two rainbows in the sky on top of each other, so we pulled over for a quick picture

Rainbow

(the one on top is a little more difficult to see, but the bottom one was really gorgeous and only lasted a little while as the storms moved on. As we drove closer to camping options that I had found on our travel schedule, Sarah decided that she was tired of camping in parks and decided to splurge ($25) for us to spend the night at a KOA in Utah. Honestly, it was a really nice change of pace, the sleeping temperature was perfect and the air mattress felt like heaven after spending 3 nights sleeping on the floor of the tent. One more day left of our trip tomorrow as we head to Denver before getting back into reality.

Life Goal Accomplished: Hiking the Canyon

7/28/10 7:17 MT

Alison & Sarah:

After three long, hot, and supply-less days, we were both pretty ready to ascend out of the Canyon and back into civilization. However, there was a lot of apprehension surrounding this ascent, mainly due to our experience hiking the seven miles down to our first campground — pain, aches, and more pain. We woke up the earliest yet to start our hike out, at 3:15 AM, and after attempting to load all our gear by the light of the moon and our headlamps. Heading out of camp, the trail is relatively flat, which was nice since we were hiking in the dark. Both of us were worried about running into nocturnal pink rattlesnakes or scorpions, and Alison often focused her light on the ground to ensure that strange objects were actually harmless rocks. When we took our first rest stop about a mile from camp, Alison realized that she had left her new hiking sandals back at camp. Both of us were bummed since they were nice shoes, but neither of us wanted to add another two miles to our hike to retrieve them, so we moved on with another casualty in gear. It drizzled and rained most of the hike which was definitely a blessing — it would have been super difficult to hike out in the sun. The 4,000 feet elevation gain over the seven miles was pretty challenging and we were both glad that we did the dreaded stair workouts when we were training. Alison thought it was pretty  interesting that the bottom of the canyon is in desert and the top is among evergreens and aspens — a complete transition in terrain — and the temperature also drops quite a bit as you  head to the top. Now we’d like to bust one big myth that most people probably have about hiking the Grand Canyon. Please note that this myth is only for the North Rim — the South Rim might be entirely different, but this was our experience.

MYTH: Going up is harder than coming down.
BUSTED: Not true. Although it seems like you could coast down the trail to the bottom, it’s actually a lot harder than it seems. You have to navigate sharp switchbacks and hairpin turns at steep angles, and you’re constantly grinding your quads and calves to keep from slipping off the edge of the trail. On the way up, you’re still putting quite the grind on your legs, but it’s actually easier because you can control your pace. You also don’t have to worry as much about falling off the edge, so mentally it might be a little easier. Finally, on the way up we knew exactly how far we had to go, and that helped us better pace ourselves and motivate ourselves as we got closer to the top.

Sunrising on the canyon

When we were still in the tent overnight, we heard the Boy Scouts get up and off to start their hike out. It must have been 2:30 AM, and I was sure that we wouldn’t see them until the top since they had about an hour lead on us. However, as we headed up we kept hearing voices getting closer and closer, and we started spotting them far up the canyon once the sun came up. Since we are both competitive, we decided to take a little extra motivation from attempting to catch the Boy Scouts.  Sure enough, their pace slowed as we picked up our  hike, taking fewer breaks and moving rather rapidly considering our climb. We finally caught up with the Scouts about a mile from the top, as they sat in a line along the side to take a rest. Sarah gave them a cheery greeting, but they didn’t see in much of a mood to hold a conversation, so we headed on. Once we passed them, we didn’t want to get caught, and that gave us just enough of a kick to drag ourselves up to the top. The closer we got to the rim, we saw more and more people heading down, and we knew we were getting close when we saw hikers without packs on a leisurely stroll. At last, the top came into view, and we crested the rim at a little over five hours, which was less time than it took us to get down. We were met at the top by a group of parents, who just happened to be waiting for the Boy Scouts to come up. I was impressed by their dedication to the Scouts, especially considering the distance they had to travel, and they were surprised to hear that we had also come up from the bottom, a little concerned that something had happened to the boys. We assured them that they were fine and well, and all of the parents congratulated our effort. One of the dads actually took our picture at the rim, and they offered us beer and water from their well-stocked cooler. Feeling a bit like celebrities, and pleased with our effort, we slowly moved over to our car and headed back into civilization.

About ten minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of the North Rim Village, intent on a hearty breakfast at the Canyon Lodge, which is the nicest spot to eat on the North Rim. We were a little concerned about not having reservations, after reading in our guidebook that they were essential during the summer, but we figured that since it was mid morning during the week that we wouldn’t have too many problems. Unfazed by the fact that we were sweaty and gross, we marched into the Lodge and up to the hostess, and fortunately she didn’t discriminate against us based on our condition. We had a nice breakfast for a decent price, and we both thought that the views were even better than the food. Our table was right next to a huge window that overlooked a drop-off into the canyon, and although it was a bit rainy out, everyone was commenting on the spectacular views. After wolfing down large quantities of food, we took nice hot showers, and finally felt a bit human again. Although we were both fairly tired, we didn’t really feel like we’d done something as strenuous as hiking seven miles out of the Grand Canyon, and we were both relieved to know that the hard hiking was now truly over. I had a few celebratory sips of beer from the Boy Scout parents, but beer before noon didn’t sit well on my stomach, and combined with my large breakfast, I felt a bit queasy as we took to the road once more. We both let our parents know that we were safe, and with plans to stay in Utah for the night, we left four challenging, memorable days in Arizona behind.

Bagel…One, Toilet Paper…Zero, Miles…Seven

7/27/10

12:30 PT

Alison + Sarah: The bagel that Sarah bought yesterday may be the highlight of the entire trip for me. Ok, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration but at this point in our travels the soft, chewy, bagel with gobs of smooth creamy cheese is like a small piece of heaven before starting our return journey leaving Phantom Ranch. I probably could have eaten two or three bagels at this time but due to our lack of money we had to split a bagel. I am so tired of whole wheat tortillas, pita bread, and trail mix that we’ve been eating non-stop the last two days. It wouldn’t be so horrible if I never saw a tortilla again but I’m pretty sure we’re having them for lunch and/or dinner today.

Our hike started quite early again today, neither of us have really slept very well since there always seem to be little rocks digging into our backs while sleeping on the ground. However, leaving early it was definitely a reassurance to know that we would make it through the Inner Gorge in plenty of time today. Yesterday, we cut it a little close with the sun just beginning to hit onto the top of the Gorge as we passed through and you do not want to be in that area when the sun is bouncing off the walls. All of the guide books describe it as being like walking across a black parking lot in Vegas in the middle of day, which is something we had done a few days ago and I definitely did not want to repeat now that we had all of our gear. Covering the seven-miles in reverse wasn’t so bad considering we already knew what the terrain would be like and where we could stop to soak ourselves in the creek.

A couple miles into the trail we ran into a couple who we hiked directly behind for about a quarter of a mile before they realized we were right behind them.  In turns out that the husband and wife were from Milwaukee and we later learned that they were actually hiking the Grand Canyon for their honeymoon (they told us they were a little “off”), after they left we exchanged confused glances and agreed that there is no way in the world we would ever consider hiking the Grand Canyon in late-July as a honeymoon destination.  (Side note: It seems that while hiking in the backcountry that if you can’t bring yourself to talk about your common experience of pain and agony, then clothing is a good conversation starter because either you or your conversation partner will know someone who knows someone that has lived where you live(d) and so you’ll have something to talk about and maybe momentarily forget what your body is doing.)

Overall the seven miles weren’t too bad, except when the sun was high enough to crest over the canyon walls and beat us into submission. It was definitely hot today and we were in the sun way more than I would have liked. Sarah and I had different strategies regarding the hike, her’s was get off the trail as soon as possible regardless of how merciless the sun was, while my strategy was to rest in the shade as often as possible so that none of the vultures would mistaken me for dead on the trail.

Four hours and fifteen minutes after leaving Phantom Ranch we were back at Cottonwood (it took us the same amount of time to hike down as it took to hike back). However, we were unhappy to find that a ranger had still not returned to the station and all of the pit toilets were out of toilet paper. Not only were the toilets out of toilet paper but we were out of TP as well, this was not a good sign considering we still had another 7 miles to hike out tomorrow and the time of the month.  We decided to check the first aid kit outside the ranger station and were impressed with the number of supplies that it contained including to our good fortune a small compact roll of TP that would probably last us until we got up and out of the Canyon. The group of Boy Scouts at the camp had already proven to “be prepared” as we had seen them with full rolls which seemed a bit excessive so we figured it wouldn’t hurt if we hoarded the supplies for ourselves. Sarah ran into some of the leaders who told her that the teenage Boy Scouts and their four leaders were hiking Rim to Rim to Rim. They were starting at the South Rim and then hiking up the North Rim then back to the South Rim, why you would do this was beyond us, they would cover 42 miles when it was all said and done and it would take them six days and they were on day two right now. Again I exchanged a look of disbelief with Sarah when she told me this and I equated this group of people to ultramarathoners, anyone who is willing to do more than me is crazy.

Heat Does Strange Things to People

7/26 1:36 PT Bottom of the Grand Canyon

Alison + Sarah: After the creek yesterday we moved downstream to see if we could find more shade, and it was here that we met Denny and John, two hilarious and unforgettable older men. As we walked toward the deserted ranger station, we noticed them sitting on one of the benches in a state of semi-exhaustion. Denny was probably about 50 or so, with close-cut white hair and a stubbly white beard. Unlike most of the overly-prepared hikers on the trail, Denny was wearing a t-shirt, athletic pants, and…flip flops? He was also carrying an over-sized bottle of “Naked” fruit juice that was filled with water, but didn’t appear to have any other gear with him. John, a larger gentleman, seemed to be a bit more outdoorsy, but also in a bit of disarray. He also sported a stubbly beard and longish curly hair, as well as dark tan that came from spending weeks outside, and hiking sandals that appeared to be held together by duct tape. Both men seemed very happy to see us and quickly struck up a conversation with us that ended up lasting for the better part of the afternoon. John was from England and had a cynical, sarcastic nature that was complemented with his quick wit. His most memorable quote was about a beer he had in Utah called “Polygamy Porter” with the slogan “It’s okay to have more than one.” Denny was an organic guy who last lived in Hawaii and was in the process of checking off  his life list as he traveled around the country. Apparently the two had run into each other while hiking separately from the South Rim, and although John was at first a bit concerned with Denny’s mental state due to his attire, they became hiking buddies for the rest of the trip down. Denny was a bit on the eccentric side, but didn’t seem to have any real mental problems, and he grew more and more animated the more we talked. John and Denny spent the afternoon with us by the creek and shared their many travel stories, interspersed with hilarious commentary about politics and the differences between the U.S. and Europe.

Around 3pm another older, portly man slowly appeared, pulling himself along with trekking poles. He asked us if he was at Bright Angel Campground, and appeared to be serious. We all exchanged looks and then told the exhausted man that he still had another seven miles to go, advising him to wait out the heat of the day with us. Needless to say, he wasn’t very happy, and commented how he would like to stab the person who organized the trip with his trekking poles. Although he had started off with a large group from the North Rim, they had apparently deserted him since he was a bit of a slow mover, and now he was all alone in the canyon. He kept muttering under his breath, “seven miles…seven miles!” and sat at the picnic table with us, mopping his brow with a camo bandanna.

After a while, we headed down to the creek again with Denny and John, and here we think the heat really got to Denny. We were perfectly content to stick our tired feet in the creek along with John, but Denny decided to take things a little further. He started taking off his shirt and John asked what he was doing. It became quite apparent the Denny was going to skinny dip in the river in front of us, and there wasn’t much we could do about it. When we all looked concerned, Denny brushed it off: “Oh I’m sure it’s not anything they haven’t seen before in college” and we simultaneously mentally counted the number of naked men we’d seen in college: zero. So he dove in and we averted our glances while continuing to talk to John, who was a bit embarrassed for us, and stated “Well you’ll be happy to know that I am not joining him.” As for the gentleman who joined us at camp — well, he headed off again while we were at the creek, and since we didn’t see him again, we assumed he made it safely to Bright Angel. A little later, we headed back to camp, and after sharing some granola bars with Denny, who was planning to eat bacon and Oreos for dinner, we called it an early bedtime. Although rocks were jabbing us in the back, we managed to sleep fairly peacefully throughout the night.

As with most things on our tip, something went wrong, and our alarm didn’t go off. Luckily, we weren’t too late getting up, and we managed to get back on the trail after sleeping in until 5:30. The second half of the trail is much flatter, which was welcome since our legs were very sore from yesterday. We detoured a little to Ribbon Falls, a beautiful waterfall that cascades down a moss covered mound into a clear pool. John had assured us that it was well worth a little bit of extra hiking, and he turned out to be very right. On the trail you can go both behind and under the waterfall, which was definitely a unique experience, and the water was crystal clear and very cold.

Bright Angel Falls

Back on the trail, we were very fortunate to avoid the sun until 8:30, and then it only came down in patches. Although the hike was only another seven miles and much flatter than the previous day’s expedition, it seemed a lot longer since we were both so tired, and most of it was in an “inner canyon” that prevented us from seeing our final destination. We wove back and forth through the inner canyon, getting grumpier by the minute, and stopping frequently to dunk our hats in the creek. After what seemed like forever, we ran into a solitary hiker coming from the opposite direction, and I asked how far we were from Bright Angel. “Very close,” she replied, with a sunny smile, and we were both filled with hope. Turns out, “very close” apparently means another mile of hiking, and we finally dragged ourselves into Phantom Ranch after exchanging snarky comments about the distance. It was about 9:45 in the morning, the perfect time to have a cold lemonade from the little snack shop inside Phantom Ranch, which is really a glorified cabin/cafeteria with a few long picnic tables and attached kitchen. However, the lemonade came in a huge cup, and was cold and delicious, so it was well worth the small amount of cash I happened to have on me. The Ranch also includes several cabins that are booked up throughout the entire summer, and the grounds were pretty busy with campers planning day hikes and hanging out at the Ranch.

We then marched about another quarter mile over to Bright Angel Campground, which is basically a bunch of campsites that line the Bright Angel Creek, much like the first campground halfway down. The projected high at the bottom of the canyon was supposed to be 110 degrees, but we were saved by the monsoons, which blow in every day during July in Arizona. Clouds rolled in, rain started to spatter, and the temperature dropped by about 2o degrees, which was extremely welcome. We spent the rest of the day lounging around the campground, wading in the creek, and we did eventually walk down to the Colorado River, the true bottom of the canyon.

Colorado River

We also watched acoordinated, impressive effort from our campsite neighbors, a family of six, who spent most of the afternoon making a dam to redirect the flow of the river. When you don’t have much in the way of entertainment out on the trail, you have to get creative. In the evening, we went back to the snack shop for another lemonade, and I had just enough left to buy a bagel with cream cheese, which would prove to be a delicious breakfast for the following morning. It was another hot, uncomfortable night, but we were tired enough to pass out and gather much-needed strength for yet another seven mile hike the next day.

It’s just going to get hotter and hotter

7/25/10

1:43 PT

Alison: Driving to the Grand Canyon’s North Rim was nothing like what I expected, I thought it would be a red vast desert and then we would run into a massive hole in the ground. But again my assumptions were proven to be wrong as we drove through aspen forests and encountered bison grazing in the meadows. Even after getting to our campground I still didn’t feel like I was at the Grand Canyon other than the massive drop offs visible in the distance. Making dinner we found that we had some left over uncooked bacon that we weren’t going to use so we offered it to our neighbors who in return offered us a chocolate Toblerone bar for our hike down (I think we got the better end of this bargain). Then we spent about an hour getting packed up not wanting to forget anything for our four days of backcountry hiking. We loaded ourselves down with all the dry food we had, lots of trail mix, energy bars, gatorade mix, pitas, and peanut butter. We were going to be covering seven miles a day for the next four days in the heat of the Canyon and did not want to run out of food.

Sunlight finally hitting the Canyon Walls

Canyon at Sunrise

Ice Cold Water keeping us Alive

The next morning we got up around 3:30 and got on the trail by 5, every guidebook and sign we had encountered said to avoid hiking between 10 am and 4 pm and we didn’t want to find out what would happen if we didn’t heed the warnings. Hiking down the North Kaibab trail we started off in the forest with temperatures in the low 50s. The trail is quite interesting because as you go down you enter various ecosystems with different kinds of rock, planets, and wildlife corresponding to the temperature of the canyon. As we descended the 4,000 feet the trail was extremely narrow and the red dust was quite loose and slick. Sarah took a slip that was pretty scary being near to the edge of the trail, and I managed slip and fall with my leg underneath me kind of hurting my hamstring but mostly just hurting my ego. Again, I was quite happy to have the trekking poles as they really helped with stability. On the way to the campsite at Cottonwood our surroundings changed from aspens to cactii. The only wildlife we encountered on our way down was a hummingbird and a few large lizards. We saw two people hiking up on our hike down which was strange for a weekend day in July, we thought it would be more crowded like the other parks, but then again the Grand Canyon is hot and maybe other people weren’t as crazy as us. We got to Cottonwood campground at 9:45 am and were surprised to find there was no one else in the entire camp, which was lucky for us because we got to choose our site out of the 11 sites available and quickly found the one that looked like it would offer the most shade throughout the day and that was relatively free of rocks since we were going to be sleeping on the ground without any sleeping pads (we decided not to bring them to save some weight and hopefully save our backs from a little bit of pain). There is a nice creek at Cottonwood campground that is icy cold even in the heat of July. Honestly, it seemed like we were at the bottom already when we were at Cottonwood because the trail flattens out near the campground, we are going to try to get an early start tomorrow since its only supposed to be hotter at the bottom and its already approaching 100 today. Though we don’t know what the forecast is like since the ranger at this station appears to have abandoned camp at least a week ago as indicated by the old forecast on the board at Cottonwood. Anyway, its time to cool off in the creek as its getting hot here in the sun, more tomorrow from the bottom.

From Solitude City to Sin City

7/24/10

Sarah: Most people reading about our trip will probably wonder why we took a detour to Las Vegas. After all, it’s the man-made capitol of glitz and excess, and it seems to be the polar opposite of all these natural parks and all of this natural beauty that we’ve been harping about. Truthfully, neither of us really ever harbored any great desire to visit Sin City, but a welcome coincidence steered us that way after our time in Yosemite. We share a favorite band, Keane, a Brit-pop wonder that toured the States only last year. Being dutiful fans, we followed them to Chicago, and had such an amazing time at their show that we promised ourselves to make it to another one. Out of nowhere, Favorite Band decides to throw a bone to their followers, releasing another album that — guess what — called for another tour of America. Only this time they were actually going to be playing in Milwaukee, right down the street from where we lived! I was elated to read this, but so quickly deflated when I realized that this date ironically came during the midst of our Trip Out West. Much as we loved Favorite Band, we couldn’t justify canceling this massive production of a trip just to see them (again), so we were both a bit forlorn. Soon after that, however, we realized that they would be playing a gig in Las Vegas the same day that we would be driving through the state of Nevada from Yosemite, on our way to the Grand Canyon. This was too good of a coincidence to be true, and after a little finagling, we most certainly fit the concert into our schedule. Of course, this required some funds that we hadn’t really budgeted for, including another hotel stay on the Strip of all places, but…we justified our way into it. Anyway, that is why we were driving out to Las Vegas after spending two weeks in the woods, and we were both a little unprepared for the overstimulation that followed. Massive casinos everywhere, endless appeals to ogle over strippers, ads on every corner and every other car, and a terrible lack of green space. Also, it was blazing hot, which I guess was good preparation for the Grand Canyon, but further minimized our desire to “experience Vegas.” (However, many very nice people enjoy visiting Vegas, and I am glad they have such a good time, it just wasn’t really for us). We checked into our hotel, and after a prolonged chat with one of the clerks, who gave us a thorough list of to-dos and to-don’ts, headed to our room, already both mentally and physically exhausted. Because we’d had to drive about six hours to get to Vegas, we were behind in our concert itinerary, namely, arriving as soon as possible before the 6 pm show to snag choice positions near the front of the stage. And this is where the fun really began.

After frantically driving across the strip to the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay, we had a terrible time finding parking before rushing inside at about 4 pm. At our last Keane concert, we’d arrived about three hours early and still found ourselves in the middle of the line, and we had been determined to do better this time around. We dashed into the casino and finally found the House of Blues tucked into a corner with…approximately two people in line. Feeling both a bit elated to be so far up and a bit frustrated to have rushed so much for nothing, we took our places as next in line. It turns out that there were really about four people ahead of us in line (two of whom showed up later to claim their “saved” spots), and all were giant Keane groupies. We learned this through their insider chatter, and we were more than slightly amused when Keane Groupie #1 interrogated a later arrival about how often she participated on the boards and what her screen name was. Keane Groupie #1 had apparently seen the band on this tour twice or maybe three times already, had flown to South America for their last tour, and had been popping downstairs from her hotel room in the casino since noon to monitor the progress of the line. Two of the other groupies actually appeared to be from England, and the fourth groupie would go into a prolonged trance of ecstasy once the actual concert began. We felt pretty hardcore being behind only the groupies in line, but this didn’t last long.

After I had scrounged us up some grub for dinner (a $9 sandwich and a $4 brownie from Starbucks being the only “fast food” I could find), HOB managers or bouncers or something informed us that we were in the special, preferred fans line, and that in order to stay in this line, we’d have to spend a minimum of at least $15 at the HOB before the show began. As you can imagine, this news wasn’t taken so well by us or by the rest of the crowd that had gathered, especially since many of us had already been waiting over an hour. But we weren’t willing to spend even more money to buy some merchandise that we’d probably never use again, so we relegated ourselves to the other line that quickly formed, a few feet away from the special line. Feeling a bit quarantined with the rest of the cagey misfits, we struck up a conversation with two girls behind us, who had already cracked us up with their witty observations on life in the casino. We learned that the girls were sisters, and had actually come to the concert with another friend who we’d briefly met earlier in line (and now stood in the special line, as proof of her hard-core fan status). We spent the next half hour or so cracking jokes with them, and they told us that they were originally from Alberta, Canada, which of course prompted more questions. They promptly dubbed us their “BFFLs” or Best Friends For Life, and helped the remaining time in line fly by. With about five minutes to go we were motioned to bunch up right next to the folks in the special line, and chaos broke loose once the doors opened. We beelined for the stage, and (what do you know) found ourselves front and center, only one person away from touching the stage itself. The BFFLs quickly followed and we caught up with their friend, who was a bit disappointed that her preferred line status hadn’t gotten her much farther. But she was also very nice, and we formed a nice little chat circle that was very entertaining as we waited for the show to get started.

BFFLs

Oh…the actual show. It was very good, with Fran Healey (from Travis fame, but before our time), and Ingrid Michaelson opening. Both had stellar mini shows, with Ingrid proving especially hilarious, and far from what I thought she would be like. Case in point — her hand puppet demonstration of Dawson’s Creek, and her choreographed dance to Britney Spears’ “Toxic” to finish the set. Keane was great, as usual, and they interspersed two or three songs from their new album with their best songs from the previous three albums. They ended up not taking the stage until almost 10 pm, but managed to energize the flagging crowd in short order. We found out that our new friend was also a huge Tom Chaplin fan, and I enjoyed both of our giddy excitement whenever he came within three feet of us (which happened a lot, considering our position near the stage).

Tom Chaplin of Keane

It also had a “What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas” moment, courtesy of a very drunk girl who elbowed her way to the front of the crowd during the show. Earlier, one of our Alberta friends had told us that she didn’t handle rude concert-goers very well, and provided a couple of examples to demonstrate. We had joked that Keane was way too mellow for anything bad to happen, but we were wrong.  So we were all getting more than slightly annoyed by the drunk girl’s endless distractions, and security wouldn’t throw her out. Of course, the drunk girl ended up spilling her beer on our Alberta friend, who became VERY annoyed, and an altercation/smack down was imminent. So after the drunk girl tossed the rest of her beer and curses at our Alberta friend, she promptly shoved the drunk girl — hard — sending her flying back five or six people. Apparently that was enough to get her thrown out, and our Alberta friend had to go with security for questioning — but she got to return, to a hero’s welcome, new positioning at the front of the crowd. Anyway, the concert was, to say the least, very entertaining, and we made some new friends to top it off. After we got up late the next day, we didn’t really feel like braving the heat and the sensuality of Vegas anymore, so we had a late breakfast and took off to the solitude of our last national park of the trip and our biggest challenge — the Grand Canyon.