Month: May 2018

The Scribner….Eagle….Person has landed… I arrived unscathed for the most part; there was a casualty en route, but I’ll get to that later. Settling into a comfortable leather chair with my feet up for a few days in Kitsap Count(r)y is the current plan for at least a few days. My view includes the Hood Canal, the Olympic mountain range, and plenty of tall, pointy, and  green pine/cedar trees…

While am still glad that I undertook this trip; I am glad that it’s over. 5 weeks of living of your car, sitting still for hours on end, sleeping in a different place almost every night, and endless hours of monotonous driving takes a toll on your patience.

Some Observations…

• Pace: I realized in the last week that throughout the duration of the trip I had felt pressured to not stay in one place to long. I’m not sure if this pressure came from a a perceived schedule, budget, or (most likely) my general restlessness. Overall I think it was instructive for me to see that happening and realize that it’s important to be mindful about when my need to move is forcing a decision or if I actually have a schedule to meet.
• Interactions: I realistically talked to dozens of people, but feel like I still didn’t talk to enough. Between people on trails, the occupants of campsites, hostels, hotels, restaurants, diners, bars, and breweries. I’m currently working on another post about this with more specifics.

The Casualty….Was my poor car. Somewhere in the middle of Kansas there was a large piece of aluminum scrap metal in the road. I attempted to swerve, but there was no missing it. I was honestly lucky that it didn’t take out a tire or electrics. Unfortunately it did take out a piece of my facia/bumper. I stopped at a local hardware store and applied a liberal amount of Gorilla glue, which seemed to hold until I reached Northern California. I’ll have to figure out what to do next…

Over the next week I’m going to spend as much time as possible writing down the stories and experiences from this trip while they’re still fresh in my memory. I honestly and truly wanted to write about them every day, but after hours of driving, or hiking, or just in general being run down….The last thing you feel like doing is spending hours editing photos and writing about them. This was my trip, my experience, my adventure; I wanted to do it my way and that included a reasonable amount of sleep.

Today….Yesterday? Whenever The 2nd….Started just like any day; waking up at 4AM thinking that you’re about to be mauled by a cougar, sprayed by a skunk, or attacked by a giant elk….The night before I’d taken refuge in a Marriot-esque hotel in Flagstaff, AZ..Seriously don’t remember the hotel, it was super modern and nice though. Unfortunately I needed to be back at the Grand Canyon’s Backcountry Office before 8AM to see if my lottery number (for backcountry camping) would be called. Fast-forwarding….It was. While waiting for the building to open there were a bunch of people hanging out outside waiting for lottery numbers, I mentioned to them that being in line didn’t matter, and that if they wanted camping spots for that night…They should have come the day before…They didn’t like that. Oops.

After I got my slot assigned for Angel’s Landing campground for the following evening, I went about being a tourist. I took the bus out to Hermit’s Point and hiked all 7-ish miles back go the main tourist area of the Grand Canyon Park. Realistically I got all of the pictures I could have ever needed of the Grand Canyon from this portion of the visit to the park, but fortunately for the reader, I’m a bit of a masochist…

The following morning  I hiked down into the Grand Canyon and through one of the more harrowing experiences on this trip and honestly of my life. It started on the evening of the 1st….After spend all afternoon and evening reorganizing and packing my hiking pack, I went to be with the expectation that the “rain” that was supposed to arrive early that afternoon that never arrived…..Wouldn’t show it’s ugly face.  This was a foolish assumption. Around 4AM I woke up to rustling noises outside the tent I was sleeping in on BLM Land…(I couldn’t hear or see anyone else in the vicinity) I thought it was a skunk, cougar, elk, antelope, alligator, griffin, or cerebus. You know…Normal forest creatures. Eventually I was woken around 4AM when the noises became un-ignorable….Moderately freaking out at this point because there was something brushing up against the tent, I considered my options. I could blip my car’s alarm…..Attempt to yell loudly enough to scare whatever it was off….Or lunge at it with the forest axe I had with me in the tent. Reasonable right? I thought so…After 20 minutes of mental jockeying…I decided to make my move….

I opened the tent door and discovered that mother nature had deposited two inches of snow on the surrounding earth in the wee hours of the morning…The noises I’d been hearing was the snow sliding off the tent periodically through the night….Jeez.

MOVING ON…..Woke up in the snow and packed up a soaking wet tent and slightly wet sleeping bag into my pack and made the 30 minute run into the park…All of the guides said to be on the trail by 6AM to be off by 10AM because of the potential for heat stroke, but I made a reasonably justified decision that in the middle of a blizzard I wouldn’t have to worry about heat stroke from the sun…I ended up making it to the parking lot by 9:30(ish) after doing some work online from the nearest town’s Starbucks. In the midst of the blizzard/white-out….We arrived on the park bus at the top of the South Kaibab Trail Head. It was snowing heavily…to the point that visibility may have only been  70 feet infront of me. Regardless…I, and the group who was coincidently with me from the backcountry center set out down the trail…

For the first hour and a half the visibility remained the same…Moderate-White-out conditions. I was grateful for my over preparation on snow gear and new Merrell boots…Eventually the snow conditions broke for about 30 to 45 minutes and the views were spectacular, you can see the transition in the photo series I should hopefully be posting soon. Unfortunately the calm didn’t last long, the sky opened up and began pouring rain and hail upon my head. I truly can’t think of a more unpleasant experience in my life.  This continued for a good while, eventually the hail let up, but the rain came and went as it sadistically pleased…Four and a half hours later….I arrived at the Canyon’s bottom still under the bridle of a heavy rain…Four and a half hours later…

After a few hours of on and off again rain…The skies opened up to a blue expanse that allowed me to dry my belongings on the camp table and backpack rack…This wasn’t a bad way to spend the evening, but good lord I wish I had brought a book.  By about 6PM I was bored out of my mind and as soon as it got dark I went to went to bed.

The immediate effect of going to bed that early; is that you’re up early….I woke around 4:30AM and began repacking my (now) dried out belongings. After a very humble breakfast of dried fruit and painstakingly prepared coffee. I set off for the South Rim at 6AM sharp, on the way down and on the way up there are numerous warnings about hiking to your ability, eating plenty of salty foods, and drinking lots of water. They are not kidding around….Atleast the views are worth it for the most part. My ascent time was 6 hours and 4 minutes which is moderately fast for most backpackers; certainly didn’t feel fast to me…It’s two days later and my legs still ache. Ooofa.

Total Distance Traveled: 16.5 Miles….Total Elevation Change: 9,040ft