13 churches and 3 bars

Somewhat of a horrendous weekend. Slew of rather unfortunate events that would be a bit more comical now if not for the dents in our bank accounts.

Headed down to flag on Saturday…Jesse bought a bike and we picked one up for our boss.

Down to Sedona. Bit of a tourist trap that one. Felt like Disney world of the southwest. Did get to the brewery where they had live music…Pretty secluded (located in a truck depot pretty much).

Up to Shnebly hill for some dispersed (free) camping. Never slept on the roof of a truck before…

Woke up for sunrise then headed for breakfast and then back to Flag. Almost bought a dog. Did however buy a good deal of groceries

Checked out Lee’s Ferry where they launch all the river trips. Talked to some river folk.

Went to leave and truck wouldn’t start. Went to Page to get it fixed. Nothing open on a Sunday (guess that’s what happens in a city with 13 churches and 3 bars). Rode bikes down to that dam…ya know, that dam that’s blocking the river upstream from the canyon.

Took some nice pictures though. Trespassed with the bikes to have dinner by the lake that used to be a canyon (Do I sound bitter? I guess Monkey Wrench Gang will do that to you).

Chilled with PBRs in the Visitor Center parking lot and talked with a fire fighter from the Coconino forest that hails from south Jersey.

Stole the fisheye lens and had some fun at horseshoe bend. Rode the bikes out to kill some time while waiting for truck repairs

Me at Horseshoe Bend..Cool view but rather hot there. Got back to our bikes to find Jesse had a flat tire. Luckily were able to snag a ride from a tour leader dude. Found his other tire was flat later on...Funny

PBRs and cream cheese and bread at a scenic viewpoint in our touristy garb. Look like we could be on a tropical beech somewhere no?

Did a search and rescue yesterday. Had to carry a litter halfway down to bright angel point and back up with a man who busted his shoulder and knee slipping off a ledge. Pretty exciting. Prepping all day so I wasn’t in uniform…SAR in jeans and a flowery hippy shirt but damn I looked good.

Happy belated birthday to meeeee

Unfortunately internet was spotty in the cabin and I was unable to give myself a birthday post on my actual birthday but thats ok.
Relatively unexciting day though. Worked... Had to give a nature walk and all the people on it sang to me. Milked it for the rest of the day, naturally. Went for food at Kaibab lodge and stuffed my face.

On a slightly more morbid note...am continually disturbed by the fire raging a few miles north of Flagstaff, the Schultz Fire. Started on Sunday and is still going.
Some Fire facts:
Cause: Abandoned campfire, no suspects (seriously?...its hot, dry and windy here people...put out your fucking fires)
Size: 14,300 acres
Percent Contained: 25% (Pretty windy, so they're having issues)
Number of Personnel: 961
Aircraft/Equipment: 4 air tankers, 7 helicopters, 56 engines, 11 water tenders
Cost as of this morning: $2,960,367!
Resources Threatened: residences, critical watersheds, wilderness character (over 1000 homes have been evacuated and they'll probably have to evacuate more)

You'd think that the fire danger signs, campfire regulations, and general warnings about the possibilities and dangers of fires spreading would caution people a bit. Guess not.

Wanted to get that in. Now back to work.

Nankoweep

Well. Survived Nankoweep. Beautiful trail…but whoa

Just to give you an idea…here’s one guy’s description of it:

“This trail is not one to be taken lightly. The Park Service lists it being the "MOST difficult of the named trails in Grand Canyon" and after hiking it once I would have to say that I must agree with that classification. The Nankoweap in many places is simply trouble waiting to happen and unless you've got a lot of Canyon miles under your boots I would not suggest that this trail be attempted. If, however, you do have those miles under your boots, want to see some extremely wild regions of the Canyon and feel comfortable that you are at peace with your maker (in case hiking the Nankoweap results in your meeting he or she somewhat sooner than you may have expected), then the Nankoweap is for you.”

that about sums it up….

Started out at point imperial for sunrise. (above photo) Then headed into the forest for 2 miles…out of park boundaries down to saddle mountain and back into park boundaries at the trailhead. Pretty steep decent through Coconino crap and hermit shale…

Jesse heading up at the start of the Supai Group (right)

Longest part of the hike was probably around the Supai. Relatively level but along a cliff edge on your right and cliff walls on your left. Relatively sketchy.

Chilled at tilted mesa for a little siesta. Had some issues locating the trail and finally found out. Turns out you have to climb down about 10 feet around rock and tree.

Slogan for most of trip from Jesse: "They used to bring horses on this"

True story. Used to be used by the natives here and then by outlaw characters who would steal horses in Utah and sneak them down to the border via nankoweep. Don’t know how you’d get a horse down that tree but I’m sure they had their tricks.

Jesse and trail tree on right...interesting with a 30 pound pack on your back

View from right after Tilted Mesa

Continued down through the redwall limestone, muav, and bright angel shale into the tapeats sandstone (which may have the coolest looking stuff of all the formations). Definitely a trek that one. Steep down hill and real loose, scrambly trail. Decided not to try for the river since it was getting dark and stopped at a nice little campsite. Primitive, no ammo boxes, picnic tables or water on this route.

Headed down to the creek in the morning for water and breakfast. Lovely shady little oasis down there (right). Then along the creek down to the river. Lunch…and hot and sun…checked out the granaries briefly and then headed back.

Good old colorady river and some granaries on the right...Little square holes right in the middle (hard to see...was too lazy to try and get any closer)

Trip back up was a challenge. Definitely. Pretty much all up hill until the supai group then more uphill. We ended up hiking into the night til we got to Marion point. Napped for a bit then made it back up to point imperial around 12:30 Monday afternoon.

Low and behold an angel was waiting for us next to the truck…Offering us ice cold tecate (beer) and chocolate. Though it might be a dream…or me seeing the maker.

Quite a journey. Great trail but might wait for fall or spring to do it next time. Definitely a test of strength and self-preservation haha

End of the road at Point Imperial trailhead. (Notice leaning on the sign for support)

East Rim

Headed out to East Rim...started on the Arizona trail (photo). Went down through the forest and took a little side trail to check out North Canyon spring and the trout..... which we did not see haha. Kind of like hiking through PA...mosquitos and ungroomed trails. Views were nice though.

PBRs for the road. Nice way to do a hike yeah?

Harassed our backcountry ranger friend and headed up to the fire tower (Abbey's tower). So named for Edward Abbey himself who lived up around there. Possibly in this little burnt building at the base of the tower...where there happens to be the decapitated body of a porcupine that has apparently been there for years. Photo may be posted upon request. But until then the one to the right is a view from the top.... Some nice aspen trees at sunset.

Came back and made ourselves some sushi... sushi sans fish and seaweed. Basically rice balls with wasabi and vegetables on top... plus some margaritas in martini glasses to complete the theme.

"why people go out for sushi" -Jesse

View from Nankoweep trail start. The trail we'll be doing this weekend. Supposedly the most strenuous in the canyon so we'll see how that goes. Beautiful though. More updates to come in a few days when we return to civilization.

So long!

Zion

Back to work now, but Sunday's journey to get gas in Kanab (about 1 1/2 hours away) spurred a very impromptu visit to Zion National Park...Which just may be the coolest park I"ve been to thus far.

Because it was just supposed to be an informal gas and grocery trip with maybe a quick hike on the way back I grabbed my camera on the way out. SD card but no wide angle lens...so I was forced to take a lot of close up cliffface shots and flower pictures haha. Did see a condor though!

Can you see it?! Haha a bit far away but definitely a condor. Now I can give my condor talks without admitting that I've never seen one.

Weeping rock and hanging gardens were also pretty cool. Lots of golden concubines and other pretty flowers.

Photo of me at base of narrows (taken by Jesse). Unfortunately they were closed due to high water levels so thats on the list for the next zion visit. Hopefully some camping and more hiking will be in order as well.

Day off on Monday was spent hiking out to East Rim and down to Canyon spring. Not quite the spring we were expecting but still nice. Probably the most Pennsylvaniaesque trail we've done so far..and lots of mosquitos!

Hit Abbey's tower and the Nankoweap trailhead on the way back. real cool. gotta do that trail soon too. I shall post pictures momentarily but until then.... cheesy bread and bed...night!

Greetings

My first ever blog post...besides the lame ones I had to do for a women and gender studies class......

DONFI today (Day off not fucking interested, copyright my friend Kate)- also happens to be the first day of horrendous weather at the North Rim of Grand Canyon. Thus plans to get out to marble view and north canyon spring were foiled. Plans to bum around, eat mac+cheese and set up a blog are now in order.

Went out to Cape Royal last night to capture some sweet lightening photographs. Naturally left my SD card in my computer. plans foiled again....was forced to sit and observe the lightening with brews instead. Not so bad.

Managed to get a few stellar photos of myself taken though...

Probably not the best situation when your hairs sticking straight up in a lightening storm on a cliff and you've got a beer in your hand... Was also still peeved about not having an sd card

Nice starry shot compliments of Jesse and his fisheye.