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“I think we’re in big trouble”
That’s all I could think as Dave and I looked around in the storm that had changed the weather to complete white out conditions.
We were lost. Bad. And completely worn out. We had spent so much energy rushing our way to the top, we had very little strength left in out bodies. It was obvious that we had missed a turn somewhere. In our rush to get back below the tree line we had somehow gone right past our turn. We were now on a completely unfamiliar part of the mountain and it would be getting dark soon.
Nighttime on that mountain could spell a death sentence. It was -2 degrees with gale force winds and the temperature was dropping. If we didn’t get back on course soon, we could be stuck out here all night. Without a tent or bivy sack, without a stove or sleeping bag. A night out here would be disastrous.
If only we could see more than 100 ft in front of us, we could tell which way to go. I was pretty sure we had gone too far west, but how far? If we wandered too far west, we risked heading down the Tuckerman Ravine. Over 1500 ft of near sheer drop off. Going back east meant going back up hill and trudging through waist deep snow. Our legs were so already spent, we could barely walk as it was.
I looked over at Dave. He was just as exhausted as I was. “I have no idea where we are man. This is bad.” We stopped for a few minutes to discuss the situation. We couldn’t stand here long. As soon as you stop moving, you get cold. Plus, we were losing daylight.
Dave decided to head up and east to scout out a new route. Meanwhile, I’d look at the map and try and orient ourselves. I could look as my compass and see our direction, but I couldn’t find a big enough object to use to direct ourselves. We had to find a way back down soon…..
It was Thursday afternoon and I was on the train heading to new york where I’d meet Dave who was up already up there for the day. He was going to grab me a couple of slices of NYC pizza, hop on the train and we’d roll the rest of the way up to Boston where we’d grab our rental that was waiting for us.
We got to Boston around midnight and I was immediately glad we decided to rent a 4×4. It was snowing like crazy. A weak weather system had gotten hung up on the east coast and was just sitting there, dumping snow all over New England. By the time we got the car and left the rental car office, it was nearly a full on blizzard.
A drive that was supposed to take a bit under 3 hours ended up taking nearly 4 and a half and by the time we arrived in Jackson, NH at the Synnott Mountain Guides Bunkhouse at 4:45am, we were thrashed. We quietly made our way inside to the one room house that featured several beds where other climbers were already passed out. With headlamps on, we found a free mattress and couch to crash out on, which we did almost immediately.
3 and half hours later, our guide Joe came in the door looking for us. We had booked an all day ice climbing class with Synnott Guides, and he was ready to get going. There were no blinds or curtains in the little house we had flopped in on the night before so the bright morning sunlight was reflecting off all that new snow and right through our window. Looked like getting up was our only option anyways.
So we threw on some clothes, test fit our climbing gear and set out for one of the many ice climbing destinations around Mt Washington. After a quick stop at the local Eastern Mountain Sports for a few last minute items and a second stop for a giant cup of McDonald’s coffee, we were at the trailhead, starting the 45 minute hike to Champney Falls.
We got to the falls, which was already covered with other climbers, and setup a top rope anchor. Our guide, who knew we were both rock climbers, took a very hands off approach to teaching us to climb. He helped us get our crampons on and basically just threw us on a wall with ice tools. 10 minutes later Dave and I had both top roped a 30 foot class 4 route.
During the way, our guide would take time to critique our technique or form. Showing us how to get better crampon purchase in the ice or the sound a tool should make when it gets a good stick. By the end of the day we were doing a 60ft class 4 plus route with relative ease.
While ice climbing is obviously a different animal from rock climbing, many of the same principals apply. Smooth, balanced movements are preferred, using your feet to climb instead of your arms, visualizing your route, remembering to breathe… All key if you want to have successful and enjoyable route.
We both had a blast and by the time we hiked back to the car we felt like the day had opened up new climbing avenues for both us. Too bad there’s not much in the way of ice climbing in Virginia!
We left and headed out to the gear store so Dave could get boots and crampons for the next day’s hike up Mount Washington. Afterward we stopped a local dive bar for some well deserved greasy food and ice cold brewskis, and discussed our big adventure the next day.
After dinner we checked into our accommodations at the Nereledge Inn, local B&B that caters specifically to climbers. Steve, the owner, gave us a big, clean room with two comfy beds and promised to have a breakfast ready for us when we were heading out at 6am the next morning.
After we got unpacked, we wandered downstairs to hang out in the common area where there was a TV and a wood fired stove where we met two older guys playing chess. We struck up a conversation and found that they had both been on some pretty seriously climbs, including several winter summits of mt Washington, a 5 week long climb up Denali and even a couple of Himalayan peaks! They told us we’d have a blast on our climb the next day, but to take care to not underestimate the weather on the mountain.
After enjoying several beers and listening to stories and wisdom from newly found friends, we retired to our room. We got in bed around 9:30pm and set the alarm for 5:45am the next day. When we awoke, it’d be time to head off the mountain for the highlight of our little weekend adventure.
To be continued…..
We can’t all choose how we’re going to go. In fact, most of us will not. Statistically speaking most of us will succumb to one form of cancer or heart disease, hopefully when we’re older, likely in a hospital or hospice. It’s sad, but it’s a part of life that we all must face sooner or later.
But, the lucky few will pass from this world in a manner in which they would consider fitting or maybe even poetic. And while death is never something to be cherished, the life and legacy that remain should be.
My friend Dave’s brother-in-law, Ted Smith passed away on New Years Eve. A local surf legend in his home of La Jolla, Calf, he died doing what he loved and what he was best known for; surfing.
Last weekend, the local surf community came out for a “ride out”. One last surf to pay tribute to their dearly departed friend:
May we all be so lucky. Rest in peace Ted.
Happy trails.
outsidebrian’s photostream on Flickr.
On Sunday morning Matt, Dave and I went down to Carderock in Maryland, just on the other side of the Potomac to do a little outdoor top roped climbs.
While were there, Matt took some time to show Dave and some of the basics of traditional climbing, specifically setting artificial protection pieces.
It was a tremendous learning experience and a great way to spend a cool Sunday morning outside before heading home to drink beer and watch football.
Enjoy the pictures!
You shouldn’t do it, at least according to an email I got from them today. It was an interesting email and I would like the share the message with you:
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Today is Cyber Monday. It will likely be the biggest online shopping day ever. Cyber Monday was created by the National Retail Federation in 2005 to focus media and public attention on online shopping. But Cyber Monday, and the culture of consumption it reflects, puts the economy of natural systems that support all life firmly in the red. We’re now using the resources of one-and-a-half planets on our one and only planet.
Because Patagonia wants to be in business for a good long time – and leave a world inhabitable for our kids – we want to do the opposite of every other business today. We ask you to buy less and to reflect before you spend a dime on this jacket or anything else.
Environmental bankruptcy, as with corporate bankruptcy, can happen very slowly, then all of a sudden. This is what we face unless we slow down, then reverse the damage. We’re running short on fresh water, topsoil, fisheries, wetlands – all our planet’s natural systems and resources that support business, and life, including our own.
The environmental cost of everything we make is astonishing. Consider the R2® Jacket shown, one of our best sellers. To make it required 135 liters of water, enough to meet the daily needs (three glasses a day) of 45 people. Its journey from its origin as 60% recycled polyester to our Reno warehouse generated nearly 20 pounds of carbon dioxide, 24 times the weight of the finished product. This jacket left behind, on its way to Reno, two-thirds its weight in waste.
And this is a 60% recycled polyester jacket, knit and sewn to a high standard; it is exceptionally durable, so you won’t have to replace it as often. And when it comes to the end of its useful life we’ll take it back to recycle into a product of equal value. But, as is true of all the things we can make and you can buy, this jacket comes with an environmental cost higher than its price.
There is much to be done and plenty for us all to do. Don’t buy what you don’t need. Think twice before you buy anything. Go to patagonia.com/CommonThreads, take the Common Threads Initiative pledge and join us in the fifth “R,” to reimagine a world where we take only what nature can replace.
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Yet another reason why I love Patagonia (you can read my review of my down jacket here). Not only do they make outstanding products which I love, they have a value system that directly impacts the way they handle their business.
And it’s a good reminder for me to reflect on purchases I make not only today, but everyday. Because more and more, I’m finding myself wanting buy things that I’ll own not for a year or two, but for a decade or more. Not only do I end up being more environmentally (and financially) responsible, I end up owning things I cherish far more. And, I have a lot less useless, unwanted junk cluttering my house that eventually ends up in a landfill.
It’s been a crazy few months. Between getting married, the honeymoon, tough mudder, marine corps marathon and the seneca rocks trip, I feel like i haven’t had a chance to catch my breath. I promised my wife after the last trip that I was going to take it easy for a while. And frankly, I’m looking forward to spending more time at home with her and the dog. Not that I won’t be keeping busy, just not quite as busy as before.
One of the things I’m doing now is planning for next year’s adventures. I’ve got a few months during the upcoming holidays to put together a game plan for what I want to do in 2012, and would you know I’ve already come up with some ideas…..
1. Mt. Washington Winter Hike – I’ve been wanting to do this since last year. We had the plane tickets, the gear and the will, but a bout of bad weather cancelled the flight and ruined our hopes of making it out there last winter. Next year, I’m hoping to take another stab at the home of the “World’s Worst Weather”.
2. Appalachian Trail Hike – No, not the whole thing. I would like to do a multi-day hike of the of 101 miles of Appalachian trail that winds through the Shenandoah National Park. It would be a great chance to see a good part of the park and a pretty decent physical challenge as well. I feel like I could get at least one or two of my crazy friends to come out and join me.
3. New backpacking trip – I’ve been out in the Shenandoah more times than I can count. Last year we went out to Dolly Sods Wilderness for a change of scenery and it was amazing. I’d like to take another trip to a different area to see other backcountry trails on the easy coast. Maybe North Carolina or Tennessee?
4. Kayaking – I really wanted to try out kayaking this summer, but I just ran out of free weekends. So it looks like this will get pushed out till next summer. Luckily there should be a lot more free weekends to experience the abundance of kayaking opportunities in the DC area.
5. Grand Teton – Climbing Seneca Rocks was the most epic outdoor adventure I’ve done. I really loved climbing routes outdoors and summiting an actual mountain. Now I want to go bigger. I’ve never climbed anything out west and, after doing some research, I think I’m going to make Grand Teton in Wyoming my next climbing challenge. Grand Teton’s 13,775ft summit is a considered a classic American mountaineering destination and is featured in the historic climbing text Fifty Classic Climbs of North America.
And who knows what else might pop up next year? I found all kinds of fun, impromptu adventures last year that we didn’t really plan too far ahead of time. So who knows, maybe the best adventure is one that I’m not even planning yet….
What about you? What are your big adventure plans for 2012?
Till next time, happy trails!
Before our little climbing adventure weekend out to seneca rocks last week, I went out and purchased a GoPro Hero HD camera from REI. This little video camera, which includes shock and waterproof cases and a helmet mount, is an inexpensive way to get pretty high quality video. The idea was to shoot video of us climbing using the GoPro, and shoot other video around the camp site and what not with our Canon Rebel t2i. I’d then get home, copy all the videos to my Macbook and edit it all into a sweet video using Final Cut Pro.
Problems? Well for one I’ve never really shot videos before, so I really had no idea what kind of shot selections I needed to look for. I also ran out of both memory cards and batteries before the weekend was over, so I missed out on a lot of really cool shots that should have made it into the video.
Oh yeah, I also never used Final Cut Pro before. I think it’s funny that I just assumed I could come home and instantly know how to use a professional grade piece of software.
But, despite all this, I still managed to slap together this little video. Let me know what you think and hopefully the next one will be better:
Seneca Rawks! from Outside Brian on Vimeo.
Happy trails!
“The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.”
― Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild
If you are the kind of person who pursues adventure, sooner or later you’re going to be tested. Your adventurous spirit will be put to the test and you will question whether or not it would have been a better idea to take up stamp collecting instead. You’ll have to take a step you’ve never taken before. A step that takes you outside of your warm and happy comfort zone and thrusts you into the unknown. if you’re that kind of person, you’ll have some of these moments.
If you ever aspire to be a person who climbs outdoors, you will probably have many of these moments.
Climb with safe people, be a safe climber, and ensure all your protection is properly in place and you’re probably more likely to die in a car accident on the way home. That’s logical. But logic has a way of disappearing when you’re clinging to a rock 500ft in the air. And if you were logical, you wouldn’t be up there in the first place!
You stand there, visualizing the route you’ll take to the next ledge, trying to control your breathing and slow your heart rate down. But it’s hard when you look down and see 75ft tall trees below that look so small they could fit in your pocket. Sure is a long way down…. maybe you’ve climbed high enough for the day…
Matt, Dave and I have been planning this trip for weeks. Matt, my climbing buddy mentor, is a west coast transplant with some big wall credentials. He’d been pushing us to take a trip out to the Rocks since we started climbing together in the gym last spring, and Dave and I were more than happy to oblige. The idea was to take the 3 hour drive out to Seneca Rocks in West Virginia on a Friday morning, setup at the camp ground across the road. Then, ideally, we’d have a couple days of climbing on the numerous routes all over the rocks there.
Seneca who? Purchased by the federal government in 1969, Seneca Rocks is one of the best-known landmarks in West Virginia. These rocks have long been noted as a scenic attraction and are popular with rock climbers.
The rocks are a magnificent formation rising nearly 900 feet above the North Fork River. Eastern West Virginia contains many such formations of the white/gray Tuscarora quartzite. Seneca Rocks and nearby Champe Rocks are among the most imposing examples. The quartzite is approximately 250 feet thick and is located primarily on exposed ridges as caprock or exposed crags. The rock is composed of fine grains of sand that were laid down approximately 440 million years ago, in an extensive sheet at the edge of ancient ocean. Years of geologic activity followed, as the ocean was slowly destroyed and the underlying rock uplifted and folded. Millions of years of erosion stripped away the overlaying rock and left remnants of the arching folds in formations such as Seneca Rocks.
The town of Seneca itself, across the street from the Rocks, is what I always imaged what a little climbing town would look like. The town center consists of 5 buildings; an abandoned garage, 2 general stores (with restaurants built in) and two climbing stores/guide services. There’s also a small campground right across the street that’s close enough to allow you to walk right up to the mountain. What more do you need, right?!
So we pulled into the campground on Friday afternoon, setup our tents and headed over to the Rocks to hike around and check out some routes. It was a little late to actually do any climbing, but at least we could scout out some spots we read about in the guidebook and be ready to get going first thing in the morning.
The rock formations are impressive to say the least, especially if you’re an east coaster like myself. Like a set of jagged teeth ripping into the sky, they’re as frightening as they are beautiful. Matt was as giddy as a little kid on Christmas, Dave and I were quiet. “Are we going to really climb that thing?” I whispered to him. “I dunno man….”
But Matt’s confidence was infectious. We hiked back to the campsite, got a big fire going, and cooked up a huge gourmet campfire meal of chicken tika masala, palak paneer and white rice (which surprisingly turned out pretty well). After dinner was finished and we’d enjoyed a few nips of whiskey and some delicious pumpkin beers, we headed off to our tents to rest up for the next day.
Morning sun came and we awoke to frost covered tents and bite of a cold November morning. After downing some cheap breakfast sandwiches from the general store and a few cups of coffee, we set off for our first day on the mountain.
We started off at about 11am on the eastern side of the south ridge on a relatively easy route that would take us through 4 pitches of airy climbing to the top of the middle of the ridge known as the Gunsight Notch. From there, we’d take another 2 pitch route all the way to the summit. Matt, the only one with real outdoor experience would lead the climb. Since this was a traditional or “Trad” climb, he’d also be setting the protection (in the form of spring loaded cams and nuts) in the wall as he went up. Dave and I would follow, one at a time, each on a separate rope.
It was slow going all the way up, for a number of reasons. First, Matt took a lot of time to explain to us what he was doing so we’d pick up some knowledge of lead climbing. Secondly, because there we’re three of us, we had to stop and wait each time for all the climbers to get to the same anchor point before we could continue. Lastly, Dave and I were both a little nervous (read A LOT NERVOUS) and it took us a little while to get our climbing rythym going.
But aside from being a little slow, everything was going pretty well. Then we got to the ledge half way up the route. That tiny little ledge we had to anchor in on. It was barely the side of small table and the dropoff below was at least 250ft. We each had to stand up, manuever around the other climbers and then sideways climb across a little wall with nothing below us but air. It was a little puckering to say the least.
I watched as Matt fearlessly traversed across it, set in a piece of protection and continued on his way up. A few minutes later, he called down and told me I was on belay and I could start coming up. I stood up, wiped off my sweaty palms and dug deep into my chalk bag to get a good coating of white powder. I wondered if there was an easy way for me to downclimb from here. I scanned the surrounding rock and decided the easiest way, unfortunately, was going to have to be up. Just had to get past this one piece and it all would be easy after that.
So I took one last tug on the rope, double checked my knot and took a deep breath as I stepped away from the ledge. I slowed worked from hold to hold, taking only a brief moment to glance down at the air below. The final move involved reaching across a chimney and planting my foot in a little crack in the rock. Boom, in the rock and I was across. I let out a sigh. It had taken about 3 seconds for me to cross, I felt like i’d been up there for a year.
“You made that look easy” Dave’s words of encouragement entered my brain. I was already moving up the chimney and heading back up towards Matt.
I had just crossed some kind of a threshold. Anxiety was gone and its place was calm and serenity. It was as though someone hit a switch inside of me. I felt transformed.
After about 4 total hours of grunting up the route, we finally emerged on the top of the Gunsight notch with its spectacular view of the valley below and the true summit less that 100 vertical feet above. Even though it was getting a little late, summited wouldn’t be much of a problem. Unfortunately, we got stuck in a traffic jam behind another group of climbers who were taking the same route as us. Rather than spend time looking for another route and attempting a risky late day summit, we decided to rappel down do some top roped climbing down near the foot of the Rock.
We didn’t hit our goal of reaching the summit, but we still had a pretty awesome day of climbing. We hiked back down to the car, drove over to one of the two restaurants in town and enjoyed some hot pizza washed down with ice cold Breckenridge Beer.
The next morning, we loaded up our gear again and headed back to try and get on top of the summit before we had to head home. Once again, fueled by cheap breakfast sandwiches and dark coffee, we decided to take a more direct route on the western face of the ridge known as Old Man’s Route. This four pitch climb was pretty easy, relatively quick (especially since Matt didn’t have to spend as much time babysitting Dave and I) and got us to the lower summit in about 2 hours.
Once up there, we walked a short traverse to the true summit, a 6 foot wide fin of rock rising almost 900ft in the air with sheer drop offs on either side. It was frightening, breathtaking and awe-inspiring all at the same time.
After taking a couple of quick pictures and signing the guidebook, we headed back to the lower summit, anchored in and took a 200ft rappel off of the western face of the Rock. It was one last thrill of the day. Since we didn’t have a rope long enough for a 200ft rappel, we tied two ropes together (which actually works) and used them both to get us down to the bottom of the western wall in minutes. Once down at the bottom we tied up the ropes and hiked back down to the campsite to pack up the tents and enjoy one last celebratory beer.
As I sipped my beer and stuff the poles of my tent away in the bag, I looked up at the giant piece of quartzite that we had just summited, towering off in the distance. I briefly thought of how different it looked now that I had stood on top of it. No longer menacing, but now looking purely majestic in the light of the setting sun. I tried to think of what next adventure could be, but my mind quickly turned to hurrying home and settling in for a nice quiet evening in front of the TV with my wife. I’ve had enough adventure to fill my spirit for a while.
Dave driving to the rocks. We're running late as usual.
Whoops! We forgot the kitchen sink!
View of the rocks from the campsite
Matt making the fire go
Dave trying to fix his little chair
Campfire coffee!
It's a little chilly out
The gear and the beer!
Hold on little carabiner!!
Matt doing some belaying
View of the rocks. We summited the right hand side of the notch in the middle (The Gunsight notch).
Another view
Dave and Matt looking strong for a second day of climbing
Yours truly standing on the fin of Seneca Rocks.
Dave used this opportunity to Tebow on the top of the rock.
I made it down in one piece! My wife will be so pleased.
Dave being Dave.
Matt. Climb leader extraordinaire!
So what’s the next big thing? In the near term: NOTHING. I’m taking a couple of months off of adventuring to catch up on the household stuff, work and just relaxing. But don’t worry, it’ll also give me plenty of time to check out new gear, do write ups and reviews and do some other smaller adventures and trips. Also, it’ll give me time to put together THE VIDEO from this trip. That’s right, I bit the bullet and bought myself a helmet cam and recorded all kinds of cool footage from the trip. I should hopefully have that up within the next week or so, once I figure out how to use Final Cut Pro! In the meantime, I posted a short little raw teaser from the trip below.
Happy trails!!!
WATCH THE TEASER VIDEO HERE:
The plan was simple. We’d fly from Jamaica to Las Vegas, spend a night there, then drive out first thing in the morning to the Grand Canyon. We’d get there, hike down into the canyon, spend a night at a lodge on the South Rim, and then continue our journey to Sedona, AZ. There was even an REI on the way! This was going to be easy right?
Well, after leaving Vegas in the late morning and making quick stop to grab some last minute stuff at the REI in Henderson, NV (just outside of Vegas) we made it to the south rim of the Grand Canyon in about 5 hours or so. Upon arriving at the Grand Canyon village, I was surprised to see how built up it all was. I mean, I knew we’d be staying in a lodge on the Rim and I knew there’d be restaurants and what not there, but I guess I thought it would be less built up.
No matter, we checked into the lodge, I dropped my bags off at the cabin went to go park the rental car while the wife unpacked. I parked right by the rim and took a quick stroll over to the edge to have my first look.
I just stood there for a minute or too just staring off into the depths of the canyon in awe of it all. I suddenly felt about as small as I ever have in my life. There’s no way to describe how insignificant one feels when the look at something like the Grand Canyon for the first time. Like other massive natural wonders that have been dug out, built up or shaped over millions of years, there’s nothing you can do other than stand there and gawk. Saying it was breathtaking would be cliché, but it wouldn’t be far from the truth.
I rushed back to the cabin to tell the wife what I had just seen. I was thinking of some poetic and dramatic way to describe it for her and when I walked in I said “WOW. This thing is really f**king big!”. Ok, not the most poetic, but pretty accurate I’d say.
Because it was so late in the afternoon and it was still kind of overcast and drizzling, we decided to take a few minutes to hike around the rim, take some pictures and then head over to have dinner at one of the lodge’s restaurants. We would have to save any real hiking for the next day, assuming the weather cleared.
Well, that night we enjoyed a nice steak dinner, a few glasses of Sam Adams Octoberfest and crashed out in our cabin hoping for clear skies in the morning.
When we woke the next morning at 6am for breakfast, we were not disappointed:
Our plan was to hike down the Bright Angel trail near out cabin to the Indian Garden, rest and then turn around and be back before 1pm. The Indian Garden is a small oasis and campground along the Bright Angel trail about a mile and a half or so from the Colorado River. Its lush greenery and shady trees provide a stark contrast to the desert landscape of the rest of the canyon. It gets its name because, as you probably guessed, it used to be a popular place for native people to grow crops.
Because it was the tail end of monsoon season, severe thunderstorms are common in the afternoon and you really don’t want to be stuck on a canyon wall when that’s happening. So we tried to hurry and do the entire 9 mile trail in about 6 hours.
So we filled out Nalgene bottles and started the hike down
Fresh canyon water. mmmmm...
The wife, enjoying the views as we begin our descent
Just a giant hole in the wall
Down at the Indian Gardern
"Hey, nice ass!"
One last look as we head back up to the south rim
We made great time getting to the Garden, covering 4.5 miles and about 4500 feet in elevation drop in about 2.5 hours. At around 10am the temps in the Garden were around 80 degrees so we thought it best to turn around and head back up as quickly as possible, to avoid the peak sun and heat that was already starting to beat down on us.
We were about a mile into the return trip when the sky suddenly turned black. The air had turned cool and a light rain began to fall. I had hoped that it was just a light storm coming through that cool us off and quickly pass. That’s when the hail started.
Being exposed on a canyon trail in the middle of a hail storm, with the nearest shelter almost a mile away, is not as fun as it sounds. Okay, it’s not fun at all. We got pelted and pummeled by hail the size gum balls. All we could do was hug the wall of the canyon and try and shield ourselves from the hail with as best we could with rain shells and garbage bags.
And it kept coming too. Wave after wave of storms would hit us, separated by minutes of blue skies, each worse than the one before it. At one point had to take shelter under a small cliff and watch as it turned into muddy waterfall in front of us.
And the thunder and lightning. Wow. You’ve never experienced thunder until you’ve felt it through the cliffs of solid rock and echo up canyon walls. If we weren’t awe stuck before, we sure were now!
Oh yeah, and when it rains in the Grand Canyon, a lot of weird stuff happens. Stuff like trails turning into rivers. And canyon walls turning into raging waterfalls plunging hundreds of feet down below. I would have taken more pictures, but I was trying really hard to focus on not being swept to our early demise.
But, after crossing some newly made rivers and waterfalls, traversing the landslides that wiped out some of the trail and slogging up the soggy trail, we finally made it back to the top, right as the strongest wave of storms was about to hit. PHEW!!
Hard to tell here, but that's a river. Of mud.
Yah, that river/waterfall wasn't there before.
Lessons learned here:
1. Always pack better rain gear if you’re going to hike during monsoon season. A garbage bag and a mesh baseball cap won’t do. (funny that my wife, who picked up a nice rain shell and a wide-brimmed at REI was better prepared than I was!)
2. Leave earlier. We didn’t get hiking till almost 8am. We should have left at 5:30am like we originally planned. Though not as common as in the afternoon, monsoon storms can pop up as early as 11am (such as in our case)
3. Hail hurts:
Pack better rain gear. Dummy.
4. Even though we got soaked and pelted with hail, I’d still do it all over again. The hike in the canyon was epic. Even the wife, who’s not as big on hiking as I am, loved it. The giant thunderstorms, while frightening, were also incredible to witness. And oh yeah, checked another thing off the bucket list!
Once back at the lodge we dried off, changed clothes and jumped back in the rental to make the two hour drive to Sedona which, believe it or no, was even more beautiful than the Grand Canyon. But that’s a story for another day.
Till then, stay day and happy trails!
Sorry, I owe ya’ll an update on the North Face Endurance Challenge and a few other things, but I’ve been too busy vacationing. I’ll be back on Monday to tell you all about it. Till then, happy trails!
Wish you were here!
OK, not really, but I thought I’d share a short video from our around our campfire on Saturday. Enjoy!
