A Grand Hike

The Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim hike went very well for me. When I arrived on Sunday, the wind was blowing at around 25mph, with 38mph gusts. I considered just driving back home, but decided to give it a go. The shuttle ride to the North Rim from South went well, with the driver giving some interesting information about different areas as we past. The North Rim was very cold with the strong winds, so I went into the Cabin to wait for my 5am shuttle ride the next day. I only slept 4 hours that night, and got up thinking it would be extremely cold. However, I did bring my jacket this year and the hike down went very quickly and the wind was calm. The entire hike had very little wind, so it would appear the canyon shielded me from the worst of it. My last 3 hikes at the Canyon were all done between 110-115 degress coming out from the bottom. This one was only around 80-85 and it was overcast for most of the day. This made for much easier going. After getting down the first 14 miles to Phantom Ranch without stopping and in about 5 hours, I completed the final 9 miles in just under 6 hours, making a total trip time of about 11 hours. Other than my calves and feet being sore/tired, I didn't have any big problems coming out. I managed to go up with only stopping once at Indian Gardens. Definitely another memorable Grand Canyon trip for me.

Lost After Dark

Yesterday I went with a group on a Hike on Finger Rock Trail to Mt. Kimball in the Santa Catalina Mountains. This was a Grand Canyon training hike and it lived up to that goal. Round trip was about 10 miles, with 4000' of elevation gain in 4 of the miles going up. I did fairly well, except for some leg cramping near the top. On my way back down, I ran into the group's leader who let me know that 2 of the hikers had taken a wrong turn up top on the way back down. We had spotty cell phone coverage with them. After giving him my cell phone and map, I went back down, as I was out of water. Unsure of the situation, me and the other 2 hikers waiting at the bottom went to the store to get some more water and food. When we got back, the lost hikers had again found the trail after a couple of hours of looking around. Another hiker on the trail had also given our leader more water and a head lamp, so we didn't need to go up with more supplies. It took awhile, but about 1.5 hours after sunset, the 2 lost hikers and the leader made it back down. Waiting for them ended up being quite an enjoyable experience for me, as we just sat out under the stars and talked until they arrived. Next week is my Grand Canyon Rim to Rim hike. I should be in fairly good shape for it, although I perhaps should have done a few more training hikes.