Corridor 9

I’ve got to patch a few things on Corridor9’s server, so expect a bit of downtime within the next couple of days. I’ve been putting off security issues for a while now as I try to nail down a backup method that works for me.

Today I tested a new method on my laptop that I got from the Gentoo Wiki that allows me to create a full backup with ease. In addition, the restore process is simple and fairly quick. I’m going to try and get a DVD reader, if not a DVD writer, to put into the server so I can do all my backups on one disk as opposed to spanning cd’s.

I’m not sure if I’ll start the upgrade tomorrow, but be prepared for downtime sometime during the next 5 days.

It was an extremely cold night due to the dropping temperatures and bone chilling wind blew over mountainous terrain. We escaped the wind by sleeping under the fly of my tent. It wasn’t comfortable by any means, but it was fairly warm and dry. By the last day, I was just ready to get out of the canyon and into a warm vehicle, or better yet, a warm bathroom.

We awoke fairly early, packed our gear, and decided it would be wise to get out of the canyon before the weather took a turn for the worse. Listening to the weather radio the night before, we knew that the winds were supposed to be high all day, and that it was going to start snowing sometime in the afternoon. They had projected 8-12 inches falling that night, and we knew we didn’t want to be there when it hit the ground.

About half way out of the canyon, we stopped at the springs where we were met by most of Crash’s group. They had left at 6 that morning, and were almost twice as fast as us. Shortly after that, I split off from Gwen and Helen to get out to a bathroom. It was a long hard climb that took my breath away, but eventually we all made it out safely.

Next year we’ll have to plan a trip to somewhere as spectacular!

The night at Granite Rapids was awesome. Listening to the water rushing over the rapids can sure drown out others snoring.
I woke up fairly early, but took my time getting packed. I knew that today was going to be an easy day with the only tough part being the climb back out of the riverbed. We all set off sometime around 9 am at a leisurely pace. Paige had already hiked out, Sam headed out an hour or so earlier with Crash’s group, and Helen had taken off early in the morning to get as far up the trail towards the car as she could.

Along the path, we stopped to look at a baby tarantula that was walking along the trail with us. It wasn’t much bigger than the size of a quarter and was grey rather than black. We left it be and trekked on some more toward Hermit Ridge. About 12:00 we finally made it to the trail head. I decided now would be a good time to drop pack and examine our options. I was really concerned that out last days hike was going to be a bit extreme. I wanted to get as far up trail as possible with Gwen so we wouldn’t have to worry about tomorrows hike. The only problem was the fact that Sam had already gone down to the campsite and I didn’t want to leave him there alone.

In the end I decided it would be best to send Dad down to the campsite, while Gwen and I hiked as far out as we could. My plan was either to reach Helen, or to get out to the truck.

It took us a bit over three hours, and we had covered over 1/3 of the trail before we reached Helen. I wanted to push on a bit, but the weather was getting worse. I knew that Helen had picked a good spot to stop, so we just decided to stay the night there. The weather had turned bitterly cold with winds gusting to 45 mph. None of us really wanted to be blown off the side of a cliff so we setup camp right there on an overlook that offered plenty of protection from the elements.

Sorry guys, I tried.

This post was initially titled Grand Canyon: Day 4, Stealth Camping, but unfortunately I’m not able to compose that post at this time. As I sit here, close to 3 am, my mind just can’t concentrate enough to get my thought onto the screen. Although I visited the Doctor a few days ago, I’ve still been coughing and stuffed up all day. My throat has begun hurting again in the last 2 hours although right now I’m attributing that to the drainage from my sinuses.

I’m behind on my gear test reports, my blog, rebuilding my computer, and my sleep. I’ll be lucky if I can pull out 3 hours tonight. Unfortunately, my head isn’t cooperating with my body. My body wants sleep, but my head is aching and it’s keeping me awake.

So alas, here I sit, 5 minutes to 3am. Back to bed to try and sleep again.

Take a look at what I found on the web today!
http://www.icbc.com/road_safety/tvadsPU.asp

The first video is just ok… but be sure to check out the second and third!

After a stormy night with lots of wind and rain, we awoke to to a beautiful sight. During the night, while we saw rain, the higher elevations were covered with snow. It was a very pretty sight.

We all rolled out of our tents fairly early, as we knew we wanted to make Granite Rapids camp fairly soon; A short 3 mile hike down a deserted riverbed, barely a trickle flowing amidst moss covered rock and stone. We arrived at camp around 10 am and setup along a serene stretch of beach. Because of the rain during the night, the beach had been washed of all human trace. It was like stepping back into time.

After pitching camp, it was time to day hike. I explored the rapids, and the wave phenomenon beneath them. It was an awesome sight, and just being there was one of the most spectacular parts of the trip.

We slept in a bit late this morning due to the long trek we had yesterday. In all we probably hiked a total of 8 miles between the Bright Angel trail and our trip out to Plateau Point. After having a little breakfast and packing up we all headed out around the same amount of time. Most of Crash’s group were hikers who liked to keep a fast tempo, but as far as my group, we liked to keep a leisurely pace. I’m not one to try and rush to a campsite and miss the scenery along the way.

Paige and Sam kept up with Crash’s group pretty much the whole trip. I ended up splitting off from the rest of the group about 20 minutes down the trail. I find that if I hike too slow then I tend to hurt more at the end of the day than I do if I keep a moderate tempo.

After about 5 hours I finally made it to Horn Creek. This was the campsite that Crash had for his group. I knew that I was a good deal ahead of the rest of my group so I stopped for a bit of a snack. I wasn’t there for 5 minutes before Paige and Sam left for Cedar Springs; the site that we had chosen for the night. After realizing how much ahead I was, I decided it would be wise of me to try and get to Cedar Springs and backtrack to Horn Creek just in case I needed to carry anyones gear. I knew that this day was going to be one of the longest days and I was worried about Gwen. I didn’t want her to get burnt out by such a long hike the second day when the last day was going to be killer.

I ended up making the 4 mile round trip in just over an hour. It was a nice pace to keep and I got a bit of much needed exercise and stretching done. Right as I was approaching Horn Creek again I saw Ken, Helen, and Gwen coming into camp too. I had made it just in time.

I took a bit of a rest before I donned Gwen’s pack and headed back to our campsite. Without all the weight on her back, Gwen was able to keep up with me. I think she realized how much she liked hiking, just not all the weight on her back. We all made it to camp around 5: 30 pm MST that evening as we noticed a storm brewing along the horizon.

We knew we didn’t have that much time to get things set so we quickly setup our tents and lashed them down. The wind was blowing quite hard and had the tents not been lashed down, I’m sure we all would have ended up very wet from the blowing rain. Dinner was quick that night with a bit of noodles and some Cherry Cobbler dessert that Gwen provided.

Sorry all. I haven’t been able to post yesterday due to a real bad cold. I ended up having to go to the Dr. and get a number of medicines. I’m hoping that I ‘ll get to post something tonight, but as it stands right now I don’t know. I’ve had a killer headache all day and every time I cough or breathe deeply it almost takes me to the floor in pain.

After getting almost no sleep, I awoke at 6 am in order to finish packing and get ready to head out.

As we began to descend into the canyon on the Bright Angel Trail, the first thing that hits you is the spectacular views you have over the switchbacks and cliffs. The second thing that hits you is the stench. Depending on what time you start out, you are likely to encounter the mule train shuttling visitors down to the bottom of the canyon and back. Unfortunately, unlike humans who are told to stray at least 50 ft from the trail, the mules relieve themselves wherever they can. Usually this is right in the middle of the trail, and in my experience, at a difficult point where you need especially careful footing. After you get over the sight and smell of mule droppings you can begin to appreciate the awesome wonder that is stretched out before your eyes.

It took me approximately 4 hours to hike down to the Indian Garden Campsite. Everyone in the group hiked at their own pace, so some were faster, and some were slower, but at least everyone made it safe and sound. Paige and Sam chose the campsite for us since they were the first in our bunch. We stayed relatively close to Crash and his team (the 6 people on another permit from Trail Talk) and setup camp before heading out to Plateau Point 1.5 miles away.

At the point, we were greeted with a most spectacular view of the Colorado River located a mere 1000 ft beneath us. The river was a cool green with lots of rapids in sight. After about 20 minutes there, we were treated to a special appearance of the 4 California Condors that were nesting in the canyon. They were quite beautiful and very social. One of them even allowed us to get within 10-15 feet as we took pictures.

The night was filled with laughter and stories as we were finally able to sit down and meet each other. We discussed our lives, how we started backpacking, our recent experiences, other people from Trail Talk, what we did for work, etc. We became quick friends and realized that our experiences with hiking brought us all together.

Stay tuned yet again for tomorrows episode

Ever since I started camping I’ve always wanted to do the “big” trips. Don’t get me wrong, the short weekend jaunts are nice and the time away with only my pack and my thoughts are wonderful. However, there’s just something about going places that are remote, dangerous, and strenuous that make hiking and backpacking even more worth wile.

That’s how I felt this past week during a 5 day jaunt to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. My fascination started months ago when I found the posting on the TheBackpacker.com Trips page.

Finally, after months of waiting, it all came together for quite a wonderful experience.

We left on Saturday the 4th of March for Nashville. After a stop at REI to pick up a few needed things we hopped a plane bound for Denver, CO and then on to Las Vegas, NV. We met up with all our companions at the airport and hit the motel for some much needed rest. Unfortunately, rest was not to come as we found out that everyone snored quite loudly. I only got about 3 hours sleep that night, but was so excited to be heading out that it didn’t really matter to me.

After a short trip from the hotel we stopped at the Hoover Dam before continuing our long 5 hour drive. We finally reached the south rim where we met up with some other campers, setup our campsite, and hit the Bright Angel Lodge restaurant for a nice dinner with 11 of the people going on the trip.

The next morning, we packed up our stuff, shuffled the cars around so we would have a few at the trailhead where we would be coming out, and hit the trail for a nice 4.6 mile hike down to the Indian Garden Campground.

Stay tuned tomorrow for more about the trip!
More pictures can be found here!

I’m home from camping. I’m going to spend a bit of time with Kendall and Kristie though, so don’t expect any trip reports till tomorrow. I’ll upload pictures tonight or tomorrow morning and update you on all the wonderful adventures I’ve had the past week.

I heard about this on Paul Harvey. It was quite a touching story. I happened to run across a clip earlier and just had to post this to the blog. I think you’ll find it interesting.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-818944862742874918&q=autistic+basketball

the other side!

I found this tonight and just had to post it. Its a commentary that Ben Stein wrote on Christmas. I think you’ll find it enjoyable.

http://www.benstein.com/121805xmas.html

And still I have yet to pack!

I’ve finalized my itinerary and set my plans in motion. I’m jittery as all get-out and can’t wait to get out of here.

I spent a little while at dad’s house today getting all his gear in order with him. I’m really glad that he has decided to leave a number of items behind. I’m surprised at some of the items he left as I thought for sure he would want to take some of these things, but in the end I think he learned his lesson with the 65 lbs pack last time. I’m hoping to get a few more things out of his pack that I don’t think he will need (like 2 or 3 different knives), but I’ll just have to fight a bit over that one.

I think I have all my clothing ready to go, but I need to get it all together to make sure I have enough cold weather clothing. I am fairly sure that the weather inside the canyon will be along the same lines as what we are experiencing here, but I’d hate to have a cold spell hit and not be prepared.

I’ve been turned down for all the items I’ve applied for on BGT.org, but I hear that this isn’t unusual due to the fact that I have yet to be selected to test anything, and most of the items that I have applied for are high dollar items. I hear that it is hard for moderators to justify giving away a $200 tent, or something along those lines, away to someone who hasn’t proved themselves worthy.

I’ll try to post something Saturday prior to heading out, but if not know that I’ll have plenty of information when I get back!

PEACE & God Bless!