Grand Canyon 2013

Russ and I have been talking about doing a Grand Canyon trip for a long time.  We decided it would be a nice high school graduation present...lots of fun in the sun after years of toil at the textbooks.  So we hooked up with Arizona River Runners and went for their 8 day motor trip in early July...cushy,wet,fun and HOT!

Road Trip!

Our boats at Lee's Ferry

Ready to board on a scortching hot day

 Navajo bridge...the last vestige of civilization for 180+ miles

Hance Rapid on Day 1

Getting ready for a short hike on the morning of day 2 to North Canyon

 North Canyon

 Better reading can't be found

 Red Wall Cavern...room for 50,000 people according to John Wesley Powell

 At the end of another stellar, hot , long day

 Camp, day 4

 Another one of our short hikes

 Aquamarine river...the Little Colorado

 The Little Colorado

Camp just below the LC

 Overlook at dusk...4 billion years of geology to contemplate

 The Old Man

 Elve's Grotto

 Kenny, our boatman, in a side canyon

 A desert bighorn sheep

 Deer Creek Falls

 Deer Creek

 Our boats tied up at Deer Creek

 Havasu Creek

 Russ at HC

 The last night out...a little older and wiser?

 Last camp at Whitmore Canyon

 InSpecter Chasm!

It was an incredible 8 days.  A great chance to enjoy the GC, think, relax, and spend time with Russell.  Thanks to Kenny, Zach and the rest of the crew to make it so memorable!!!

White Rim in a Day 2012

OK, my last two posts were about "In a Day" efforts.  Obviously, I haven't gotten them out of my system.  So off I went with Courtney Phillips to do another lap on the White Rim Trail.  As fast as we could in a day.  This is my sixth WRIAD and I have always gone counterclockwise, thinking that the last 30 miles and the brutal slickrock you encounter would somehow get easier over the years.  Well, it hasn't, so we decided on another strategy...

We started at 0600 at the bottom of the MIneral Bottom hill. We climbed that hill and the 10 miles to the highway by headlamp in 30-ish degree weather.   A perfect warmup for what was coming.

Full of beans at 0730 at the top of Shafer

The famous Shafer switchbacks

Monument Basin

Big Scenery

White Crack. Finally. The last 10 miles had not been kind to me.

Twisting jeepies!

 Feeling good at the top of Murphy's.  It's 1300 and we're full of...

 CHIPS!

After rounding the corner and seeing the Green River we knew we had it in the bag

The Green River from the top of Hardscrabble

The last mile.  You can barely see the car in the distance.

Yeah, mon.  9 hours 45 minutes.  Not bad for an old fart.

Of course, Courtney could do that time on Schwinn Stingray, but that's another story.

All in all, it was an incredible day.  Perfect 60 degree temps, blue sky, no wind and a great companion made it memorable.  God only blesses us with a few days like this...so I try to make the most of them!!!!

The Grand Teton In A Day

I had always wanted to climb the Regular Exum route on the Grand in a day.  Luckily, I had a  very willing accomplice in Russell, my son.  He is super fit and strong...a perfect person to do it with.  And a dream come true for me!

After a 3 AM start we finally got to some of the business around 7 AM.  Here is Russ climbing through the Eye of the Needle.

At the start of the Wall Street "step around" we were bogged down by other parties and waited about an hour.  I'm not a good wait-around kind of guy.

Finally up high on the route.  The sky is hazy from nearby fires but the view is still incredible!!!!

Nearing the top. Russell in fine fettle.

Ze top at noon.  Cold wind, Subway sandwiches and Clif bars.

Coming down from the Lower Saddle.  Only 7 miles of feet-trashing, gut-busting hiking to go!

At the car.  Can you say, "Fun, fun, fun!"

All in all, it was an incredible experience to share one my favorite places with my son.  He is definitely a gamer, and I can't wait for the next "In A Day" project with him!

Half Dome In A Day

I've always been drawn to projects that call for doing the maximum amount of effort in the shortest period of time.  It seems natural to me.  And since one of the standard units of time is a day the logical thing to do is dream up projects...they can be anything...that can be done in one 24 hour period.  I've done a lot of In A Day efforts over the years, and I thought I had them out of my system, but the bug bit me again this summer...hard.  So here is a brief recount of two In A Day trips that I had been thinking about for a LONG time.  It's great to be able to tell the stories because I had a blast doing them....

I have dreamt of climbing the Regular Route on Half Dome since I was 14 years old. It is one of the iconic climbs of the world...hundreds, if not thousands, of incredible stories have been written about it.  And as the years went by it seemed my chances to do it were dwindling.  Enter luck and an incredible partner to make it happen.  Peter Croft was kind enough to take a day out of his life and share Half Dome with me.  And what a day it was.  Here are a few photos to round out the experience:

Got Caffeine?  The start at the car.  2 AM in the valley floor.  Only 9 miles and 3000' vert up the Mist trail to go!

At the shoulder below the cables we got our climbing shoes on and got ready to scamper down to the start of the route.

The first pitch.  We had the entire wall to ourselves.

Peter contemplating the Robbins Traverse.

The start of the chimneys.  Rated "Yosemite 5.8," they are are burly and fearsome.  At least to this old duffer.

The famous Thank God Ledge.  This part isn't too bad.  It's the 5.9 offwidth after it that kicks your butt.

At the top, 10 hours after starting.  What an incredible day of climbing.  Now we only have 3 more hours of hiking and 3 more hours of driving....you get the picture...to do it in a day!