The Narrows Part Deux

Before I talk more about the Narrows I first would like to pay tribute to Ralphy who sacrificed his chair and his bum for us to have a good laugh.

"I'm having a little trouble here!" hahaha

Sooo on our second day of the hike... Woke up, had breakfast and headed out on Sunday morning. Switched to the fisheye lens so the rest of my pictures will be slightly rounded… Cool pictures but kind of took away from just how big some of these places were

Starting off bright and early and filling up on water at kolb creek.

Right before the piece where we got about chest deep in the water

Our first day hikers on that rock... or “gapers” as one of the backcountry rangers here calls them. Gapers are people that rent the special river canyoneering shoes, walking sticks, dry bags and sacks and pretty much all their gear from Springdale’s local gear outfitters. The gapers and dayhikers may have ruined the last chunk of the hike because there were so freaking many of them. Another deficit of the fisheye: made the water look yellow greenish but it was actually a beautiful blue green color. Lovely.

More narrow slot canyons and deep water… and gapers. Met up with JR and Addy again and went for a little swim. Was quite nice. Pretty much just booking it at the end.

Did some more self shuttling and headed back into springdale for dinner then more free camping on BLM land.

Monday morning woke up early again to go be shuttled around. Kind of a ridiculous photo of everybody haha I think we were all pretty tired and out of it at this point.

Hit up Angel’s landing. Probably the sketchiest hike in Zion. That’s it on the left. Scary looking right?) Several spots where you have to use chains attached to the rockfaces to climb up.

Very proud of myself for beasting it despite the sheer drops and intense heights. Beautiful though J

The Narrows

Getting so bad at posting! My apologies. The Robertson’s are here… Rolled in last night after a few transportation episodes. Very nice to see such familiar faces so far away from home.

Anyway…hiked the Narrows in Zion national park last weekend. Started at the top near Chamberlain Ranch and walked down (about 16 miles from top to bottom at the temple of Sinawava). Drove up Friday night with Jesse, Addy and JR. Rolled into the BLM campground around 10 and stayed the night (fo free.. always a plus).

Headed to the visitors center bright and early to pick up our permits and poopie bags (Leave no trace is kind of a big deal here…especially near water sources ha)

First part of the hike was pretty nice. Not too much water crossing…and not too canyoney yet either but very pretty.

Got a little further and went exploring into a little side canyon. Picture of Jesse, Me and JR... Temperature got about 15 degrees cooler in about 3 ft.

Lunch break in pretty sweet cave wall alcove. Twas pretty big…hiking companions for scale. JR reading the map, Jesse in the middle and Addy on the far right.

Parts like this photo were probably my favorite…walking in the slot canyons with sheer cliffs on either side and river flowing through. Addy and JR creeping in the shadows of one of those narrow spots. Very cool

Picture on right of the waterfall we had to go around…didn’t see the path at first and thought we had to go over….twas probably about 15 feet tall, I got a little nervous. Ended up stopping there and swimming under the falls with about 12 other narrows hikers. Most of them were middle-aged folk from San Diego that work together. Something about people hiking and stopping to play under a waterfall is pretty magical... We were all like a bunch of kids laughing and smiling and fooling around. Pretty funny

Felt compelled to post a picture of jesse swimming…mostly because he looks so great haha.

River got much more challenging when it joined with Deep Creek… About twice as wide, fast, deep and the rocks become much larger and more slippery. Definitly would have busted ass about 18 times if I didn’t have trekking poles.

Arrived at our campsite around 7 in the evening. Ate dinner, hung out, and all passed out pretty early from a long challenging day. Right photo (taken by Jesse!) is the fisheyes view of me, Addy and JR at our campsite (number 6, quite a nice one)

Enough blogging for now.... more to come on the Narrows hike soon!

Point Sublime

Took a siesta from blogging....

Figured I should get back on top of things. Had my first geology program today. Somehow I’ve been avoiding it. Went alright for the trial run. I feel like people just don’t get as excited about geology as they do about some of the biology stuff I go over (sorry Jess but its true).

Had a good weekend. Saturday was Western arts day at the North Rim. Made it out for the Utah Old time fiddlers. About 20 old folk playing country/bluegrass tunes. Very cute and a lot of fun.

Went out to Point Sublime on Sunday evening with Jesse and Addy. Was sort of dark by the time we got out there but still really cool. Stars were amazing ofcourse. Sat out on the rim drinking beers and reflecting on things. Quite nice. Also grilled up some beef and mac and cheese for dinner. Yum

Got up bright and early for sunrise and then hung out at the point for a while. (I like pictures with sunglare). Breakfast, coffee and chilling. The toilet was interesting. Wish I had gotten a picture. Basically a wall with a guy sign on one side and a gal sign on the other…. But behind the wall just one big toilet for errbody…out in the open. Pretty funny.

Got back into the forest and explored a bit. Ended up at the Rainbow Rim trail at North Timp point… Walked the trail down a few miles to Timp point. Nice walk. Had some lunch out at the point and walked back. Came across some sort of critter (photo on right). Judging by the size I’d say it’s a beefalo (the bison/cow hybrids we have out here). Nothing for scale in the picture but it was pretty enormous.

View from timp point. Some verga in the background and you could see deer creek falls. Definitely a future journey. Something about waterfalls in the canyon/desert excites me.

This weekend heading back to Zion with Jess, Addy and JR to hike the narrows. Basically hiking in the virgin river from top to bottom. Should be cold and wet..but awesome. Pictures to come soon assuming my drybags behave and keep my camera dry.

So long.

Happy Fourth

Might just get to do American things this fourth of July. Celebrating by listening to Garth Brooks and eating milk and cookies for breakfast (by the way martini glasses are PERFECT for cookie dipping J)

Camped at Cape Final Friday night. Both got done work at 6 so it was dark by the time we made it to the point (2 miles out from the trailhead, but about a 35 minute drive on the scenic road). Cooked spaghetti and chilled with some pbrs. Super windy. May have to do a tent next time.

Woke up for the sunrise which was quite nice. Ate bagels and cream cheese on the cape and took some photos. Jesse lost his visor to the crags of the cape final vista…Managed to climb down and retrieve it which was pretty entertaining to watch.

Headed over to check out a little side trail at cape Royal. Theres a wedding site there. Definitely be a cool place to get married for anyone that’s thinking of a somewhat extreme and beautiful outdoor wedding.

Got to check out a view of a side canyon I've never seen before (photo on left)

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)