Hedy and I will be driving (???) to the Grand Canyon Thursday and Friday (Oct 6 and Oct 7, 2022). We will meet up with my youngest daughter Sophia and her husband Tommy at the 7 Mile Lodge in Tusayan and spend 3 to 4 days in the canyon; perhaps a bit longer.
The main purpose of the trip, for me, is to spread the ashes of my beloved dog Colter, a true friend and companion for 16 years. I’ll make a separate post about this on my return to San Antonio.
Another goal of the trip is to participate with Sophi and Hedy to introduce the Grand Canyon to Tommy who has never visited. I’m quite certain he will be taken in by the grandeur and potential for adventures that the canyon offers. I hope so.
GPS tracking for Grand Canyon hike-Grandview Point to South Kaibob Trailhead, April 2016
This was an important hike to me as it filled in a 20 mile section of the Tonto Trail that I had never hiked before. Hedy and Colter accompanied me to Tusayan and shuttled me to and from the canyon. The hike was 4 days and I exited the South Kaibob at about 5:00 pm. My rate for climbing out of the canyon was about 1/2 mile an hour due to the heat. I made frequent stops where I could find shade. Water was a problem but fortunately I was able to get a liter from a young man who was day hiking to Skeleton Point and nearer the top a couple gave me a 16 oz bottle and another couple filled a liter bottle for me from their hydration pack. I am thankful to these folks.
Now that I have completed all trails on the South Rim, what do I do? My daughter Nataly is planning a rim to rim hike that I would like to join. I also would like to hike with Colter to Cape Solitude. So I will be looking for opportunities to revisit the Grand Canyon.
This spring break I hiked in the Grand Canyon with daughter Nataly and her husband Josh. We arrived in Tuscayan late in the evening of Saturday, March 8, 2014. The next morning we were hiking into Phantom Ranch by way of the Bright Angel Trail.
Josh and Nata ready to explore the Grand Canyon. We started out with a hike to Phantom Ranch and throughout the week (March 9 to 13, 2014) made day hikes to Santa Maria Springs, Horseshoe Mesa, and Plateau Point.
Here are the GPS track images of our hikes—
Bright Angel Trail to Indian Garden and Phantom Ranch. Return by Kaibab Trail.
Day hike to Santa Maria Springs.
GPS tracks of Grandview Trail to left arm of Horseshoe Mesa. Day hike, March 12, 2014.
I struggled with iMovie to make this video. iMovie is what I have on my new MacBook Pro and I thought I should try it out, I really don’t want to purchase Adobe Premiere if I don’t have to. My experience is with Roxio VideoWave and Adobe Premiere. iMovie is a completely different experience. It seems that everything is redesigned differently from a traditional approach to making digital video. I struggled with this but was able to make incremental progress and come to understand some of the nuances and shortcomings of iMovie. For example, my MacBook Pro comes without iDVD. That is not offered any longer. So I have no good way to burn a DVD for grandma. There are menu commands for iDVD in the iMovie interface and, of course, these connect to nowhere. This was disconcerting but I was able to work through this by googling iDVD and that’s how I found out it was not included with the later MacBook Pros. And, there is no replacement so I’m out of luck.
I finally did come up with a decent video of Vivian and her recollections of the Grand Canyon hike we took over Spring Break. Once again, neither Vivian or I captured very good photos. I don’t know what it is about the Grand Canyon and wish I were better educated at the skill of photography, but the Grand Canyon has been unkind to me. I think much of it has to do with the lighting and capturing images during the day. Another factor is fatigue. It might sound strange, but it is work to take a photo when you are hiking. And while great photos might be a priority before the hike the actual hike can create a different set of priorities and capturing great photos can slip to the back of your mind as you are looking for a cairn, or checking the GPS, or just zoning out.
Here’s my first iMovie creation-Vivian’s Recollections of the Grand Canyon, 2013.
Last week Vivian and I returned from our 2013 adventure on the Grand Canyon. We hiked the Boucher Trail-Hermit Creek-Granite Rapids and came out the Hermit Trail. Full details are on the 2013 Grand Canyon page.
Here are the GPS tracks for the hike—
Grand Canyon Hike, March 2013. Boucher Trail, Granite Rapids, Hermit Trail.
The Grand Canyon trip for 2013 begins next Saturday, March 8. Vivian and I will be leaving San Antonio at 11:40 and arrive Phoenix 4:45. It is about 3-4 hour drive to the rim from there. We will be HQing in the Red Feather lodge at Tusayan Saturday and again when we come out of the canyon on Thursday.
This canyon trip is a bit strange. I had originally wanted to do the Escalante Route but was unable to get the permits. Our permits are for Hermit campsite, Granite Rapids, and on the Tanto Trail between Granite Rapids and Indian Garden.
Depending on the weather we plan to go down the Boucher and return by the Hermit. But there are some other variations we could follow. We could possibly do a Hermit to Bright Angel run. Or go down and return on the Hermit. We will have to see how the weather is and how are stamina is and then make some good choices. Ideally we would go down the Boucher and return via the Hermit with visits to Hermit Rapids, Granite Rapids, the Monument and possibly Plateau Point and Indian Garden (for water).
We leave for the AT Saturday. Hedy and Nata are both joining me for this 9th leg of the trek. Hedy will provide shuttle for Nata and myself. Nata will hike with me for one week before returning to San Antonio. I last hiked with Nataly in the Grand Canyon in 2003. We hiked down the Kaibab and stayed 2 nights at Phantom Ranch. We also took an extensive side trip on the Clear Creek Trail before returning to the South Rim via the Bright Angel.
This year we will begin the AT at the exact point I left it last year, as always. This will be a spot very near Salisbury, Conn., about 7 miles from the Massachusetts border. We are planning on camping the first night as there is no good exit point. We plan to exit the following day at the 30 mile mark where Hedy will pick us up. That is a pretty aggressive goal but that is basically what I was doing last year and feel that we can maintain it. Nataly is in good shape, not overweight, and has geared herself up for this.
We will be HQing in Duncan, Mass. That is about 60 miles north of Salisbury and Nataly and I plan to make it in 4 days.
I’ll let you know how it goes when I return. We will be on the trail July 1 and our final trail day will be July 16. I plan to be near Rutland, Vermont at that time. We are flying in/out of Logan in Boston.
Well, it’s been 6 weeks since Sophi and I did the Tanner and I’ve had a bit of time to reflect on that adventure. Hiking these past weekends in Government Canyon has given me a chance to think about this last hike and future planned hikes.
Tanner Trailhead at Tanner Beach.
I realize that I have been extremely fortunate in my hiking this past few years. This year, partnering with Sophi, maximized our chances for success. Neither of us really realized what a difficult 5 days we were getting into and without a good partner we would not have completed the hike, which would have been devastating for me. We encountered two groups on the hike where one of the partners wasn’t up for the long haul and they either quit or changed their destination plans.
Sophi is very tough and she is experienced. She knows what she is in for when she goes with me and is the perfect hiking companion. It is great to hike with your daughter. Sophi has done the Royal Arch Route with me and now the Tanner-Beamer. Those are probably the two toughest trails on the South Rim. Sophi is the first person I hiked with into the Grand Canyon when we hiked down the Bright Angel to Phantom Ranch-just exploring the possibilities of the canyon.
I have been fortunate that Vivian will partner with me as well. She is equally tough and experienced. Vivian has done the Cheyava Falls hike and the New Hance Trail-Grandview Trail loop. Vivian is going to do the Escalante Route with me next March. That will be a tough test and I jumped at the chance to have Vivi join me for that upcoming adventure. This will probably be my last Grand Canyon hike at this level of difficulty.
So, I have been blessed with having some tough daughters who are willing to explore the canyon. Nataly is in line for Spring break 2014 and I have tentatively planned a Boucher-Hermit Trail loop with explorations to the Boucher Rapids, Hermit Rapids and Granite Rapids. It is possible that Josh will be joining us for that hike.
And I can’t ever forget Vivian’s husband Jesse hiking with me when we did the Royal Arch Route. This guy was a trailblazer, and our last 2 tenths of a mile out he was breaking a path for us through crusted snow up to his thighs. I will never forget that.
So, the Tanner has made me reflect on the Grand Canyon hiking and my luck with hiking partners. I am already looking forward to the Escalante Route with Vivian.
It’s been some time since I’ve posted and that is due entirely to a severe computer crash, external hard drive crash, and general lack of access at home. I am updating this post from my wife’s HP. When I return from this Grand Canyon adventure (Tanner-Beamer Trail) I plan to buy a new MacBook and get back online as normal.
This Grand Canyon trip for Spring break 2012 will certainly be an exciting one and it will be a challenge, no doubt about it. Sophi and I will arrive in Phoenix about 2:00 PM and drive to the South Rim. We will stay at the Red Feather Lodge and will make preparations for an early start Sunday morning down the Tanner Trail. The plan is to hike down to the beach on the first day. The second day will be our shortest as we will poise ourselves to set up a second camp near Lava Canyon Rapids. According to our guidebook that is the last suitable campsite on the Beamer. The area near the Little Colorado, our ultimate destination, is restricted. The third day will be our longest as we will hike from Lava Canyon Rapids to the Little Colorado and then return to our camp. The fourth night we will find a suitable campsite on the Tanner Trail heading out. That will leave us with an easier hike out on the final day. We have an extra day assigned to give us a bit of wiggle room but I don’t think we will need it.
I hope to borrow Hedy’s camera. This should provide us with some stunning views of the canyon. It’s great that Sophi can join me for this hike as she is very good in the canyon.
Vivian and I returned late Thursday evening from our Grand Canyon adventure. I am currently working on the Grand Canyon page. I have about 30 photos that are OK. I was a bit disappointed in the quality but then again, that’s the price one pays for carrying a light camera. I have not yet seen Vivian’s photos but intend to mix the two together and hopefully present a good idea of this wonderful hike. Below are the GPS tracks for this hike—
March 13 to 16, 2011, my oldest daughter Vivian and I hike the New Hance Trail to the Colorado River and then followed the Tonto Trail to Horseshoe Mesa and left the canyon at Grandview Point. The map above shows the GPS tracks of our hike.
