Windy Day Hike

I got up at 4:15am to get to the trailhead by 6:30am. My plan was a 19 mile loop, but after considering the limited amount of daylight, I decided to do a shorter 12 mile loop (that actually was about 14-15 miles). Started from Woodbury TH at Superstition Wilderness, hiked along JF Trail I got Roger's Canyon Trail and looped that back around to the Roger's Trough TH. Hiked along the road for a bit and finished up on Woodbury trail to get back to my car in about 8.5 hours. I'm glad I decided to do the shorter hike, especially with the wind blowing for the entire time. I wish the days were longer, it limits my day hikes to 18-19 miles maximum.

Hike at South Mountain

I didn't plan a hike this Sunday, so that means I didn't get off to an early start. I manage to motivate myself to leave around 11:30am to just do about a 11 mile loop at south mountain, using some of the new trails near my house. The hike was ok, but really I don't enjoy hiking at South Mountain too much. Being able to see the city around me for nearly the entire hike just takes something away from it for me. I am itching to go to the Grand Canyon again after my hike there last week, but the weather is a bit too cold for me to deal with right now.

Grand Canyon Hike

I have always wanted to do the Plateau Point trail at the Grand Canyon. Its 1.5 miles off of the main Bright Angel trail. Previous trips I've always bypassed it, as I was already going quite a long hike. I drove up to the Canyon Saturday night and stayed at Miswak lodge (aka hotel room). Sunday morning I got up and was on the trail by about 9:15am. I was disappointed to see that my favorite dirt parking lot right neat the lodge has been closed. I managed to get another spot fairly close, but I imagine in the summer months parking will require a shuttle bus ride. The morning as a bit chilly and it seems that the first 3 miles of the trail down probably gets little to no sun at all during the winter. Going down was quick and pleasant. The view from Plateau Point was quite good. Coming back, I managed to go the entire 6+ miles and 3000+ feet without stopping or feeling particularly tired. I love being out at the Grand Canyon and as there are a number of long loop possibilities besides my normal Rim-to-Rim hike, I may go back up there for some next year.

Hiking in the Dark

I got started on the 19 mile loop trail at 7:15am, about an hour later than I had wanted to, this would make things a bit more difficult for me. As I began the loop going on Dutchman Trail and then Whiskey Springs, travel was good without many problems. Well, other than my iPhone cutting out every few minutes for some odd reason. Once I got to the Red Tanks trail, things became more difficult for about the next 8 miles. As I hit the 7 mile mark I considered turning back, as I had taken longer to get to that point than I thought I would have and it was becoming obvious that I would not make it back before sunset. The idea of turning back did not appeal to me, as I did want to complete this long hike. There was also a sense of daring to the whole thing, of pushing my limit to see if I could do it. Finally a morbid curiosity of how I would handle things if I did end up having to sleep outside, mostly unprepared crossed my mind. The trail for these 8 or so miles had been made well many years ago, with many huge rock cairns marking the way. However, most of them were only slightly easier to see than the overgrown and at times completely lost trail. I pushed through cat claws and other inhospitable plants for hours. Concern did rise at times at my spending too long finding and sticking to the trail to get done on time. Perhaps, too, the trail would finally become completely lost to time and wilderness and I would be left with few options after crossing the half-way point in the loop. I pushed forward and my luck until finally, following the coffee flat trail back into Barkley Valley, the trail once again become fairly easy to navigate. I reached the Dutchman trail about 25 minutes before sunset, and about 75 minutes from the trail head. I had paid attention to this section of trail coming in, as I knew I may need to be able to navigate along it after dark. I remember thinking that once I reached about 30 minutes from the trail head, there were not sections too obscured for me to follow along at night. About 20 minutes from the car, I had to bring out my head lamp, as the dusk had finally given way to the darkness of night. I went to turn on the light and nothing happened. Remembering that I had given my batteries to someone in Glacier National Park for their camera, I did fortunately have the same size batteries in my GPS (which I had not needed, but provided good insurance from concerns of getting lost). I fumbled around in the dark for a bit, using what little light my iPhone screen could provide to get the batteries into the head lamp. Thankfully it did turn on, and I was able to return to the car without much difficultly. I did learn an important point that while having the right equipment is a good idea, it is worthless unless it is working. Next trip, I will be testing out my critical equipment before I start out on the trail.