Adventures in the Outdoors and Such
The final countdown is totally on to my last vacation of the year! While that is a little sad to type, i’m super stoked to be headed to Grand Canyon again. This year is pretty much the same as last years trip, just a few weeks later in the year (hopefully it’ll be a little less hot).
Thursday, September 5th we’ll wake up early, meet up, and hit the road. Who doesn’t love the driving towards adventure, thinking of all the cool experiences to come?
Hopefully we’ll make good time and be able to start hiking before noon, last year we started at 4pm. The only real bummer about the late start was doing the last part and arriving at the campground in the dark. Looking forward to walking out onto the black bridge in the daylight!
It’s nice having the experience from last year, knowing exactly where to park and which buses to hop on to get to the South Kaibab Trailhead.
We’re going to hike down South Kaibab to Bright Angel Campground, and spend 2 night sthere. The day we hang out at the bottom I’d like to do a decent hike up the North Kaibab Trail, last year it got pretty hot during the hike, hopefully it will be slightly nicer this year 🤞. After our hike last year we enjoyed sitting in Bright Angel Creek to cook off. The cool water and a few sips of bourbon made for a nice afternoon.
We’ll get up early on Saturday, hike up Bright Angel trail to the Indian Garden campground, chill out there for the day and the hike out the next morning.
It’s getting close enough that I’m starting to look at the extended forecasts, not that it really means that much this far out, but I can’t help myself.
Just got a new sleeping pad for the trip, and while my old Therm-a-rest has served me well for many years, you can’t beat the size and weight of these modern air pads!
This will probably be the last time for a while I do this particular hike, would like to go Rim-to-Rim-to Rim sometime, and I’ve heard the Thunder River/Deer Creek loop is pretty amazing.
What great hikes have you done in the Grand Canyon?
I’m always chasing this guy!
Didn’t get out as early as I wanted this morning, things kept getting in my way, but I was able to make it out for a quick, warm bike ride.
It’s been pretty hot here lately, even for Phoenix, so my late start made for a sweat-fest. Still glad I got in a ride, really going try to hike tomorrow morning. Gotta be ready for the Grand Canyon coming up soon!
I haven’t been riding very much this summer, unwilling to fight the heat. I feel like it’s time to get back at it, so i’ll be ready when the weather comes around! This is a great short ride for fitness, a little flatness to get the legs warmed up, some hills, a steeeeep short hill, and some hills on the way back. I feel super lucky to have such a great riding area right in the neighborhood!
I was hoping to have a solid summer of biking and hiking, but I just haven’t had the motivation to go out in the Phoenix heat!
For a long time I’ve been able to deal with and train through the summer, but in the past few years it has really started to effect me. I started noticing this in 2015, there were a few hot bike rides that really sent me sideways. I’m much more careful than I used to be when it comes to afternoon summer activities, always want to make home to the wife!!
I know with proper hydration and getting up early I can safely enjoy outdoor activities all year long, lots of people do it. But, sometimes when I take the dog out at 4am and it’s hot I just don’t feel like sweating it out.
Hoping to find my mojo!
What do you do when the weather makes you lack motivation to get out and go?
Time to focus on the next adventure, another relaxing Grand Canyon hike! South Kaibab – Bright Angel Campground (2 nights) – BA to Indian Garden ( 1 night) – BA to Rim.
Every year I look forward to my backpacking trip, usually to Southern Colorado. Putting on the pack and walking into the mountains is always such a great way to mentally escape the stresses of life.
This year we choose the Conejos River area near Antonio, Co for our backpacking adventure. We hiked from the Three Forks Trailhead to Blue Lake. As I’m sure you know, Colorado got a lot of snow this winter, and it’s still hanging around up high! This meant that 2 of our 3 stream crossings were cranking pretty good.
The gravel road out to the trailhead is about 25 miles, overall is in good condition and a sedan should have no problem getting out there.
After we parked and loaded up, off we went on the trail, passing through fields of wild flowers and sub-alpine meadows, and into the forest. After the second steam crossing, that was thigh deep and cold, we started running into snow drifts that blocked the trail. The last third of the hike entailed navigating around these, trying to keep the boots dry.
We got to Blue Lake in the late afternoon, found a campsite and got set-up pretty quickly. It’s always nice to get the tents set up, take off the boots, relax and take in the beautiful views.
The next day we planned on hiking somewhere else, but my friend’s boots did him no favors on the hike in and his feet needed some rest. Hanging out, a little fishing, exploring the area right around the lake, and a nap. Not a bad way to spend a day. The rain started about 6pm and lasted almost all night, the volume was impressive sometimes!
After our leisure day and 12 hour stint in the tents hiding from rain, it was time for a hike! Blue Lake is right next to the Continental Divide Trail, an easy decision on what to hike!
The trail was super cool. So many hikes we do in the mountains are up-up-up for hours and then down-down-down. This trail, not surprisingly, was a rolling trail with saddles of alpine tundra and amazing views.
We got in about 6 miles, a nice relaxing hike. Someday I’d really like to do a decent distance, point to point hike across an awesome trail. I’ve not yet been able to organize that, but it’s on the list for sure!
The damage to the forest by beetles is terrible. So many dead trees, I’m very worried when this area goes through a dry spring/summer.
The day we hiked out we had a relaxing morning and slowly packed up. Pretty sure I had 2 cups of coffee that morning. It’s great to be able to have a laissez faire attitude about packing up!
The hike out overall was pretty nice, except the streams we had to cross were cranking because of the rain.
Three stream crossings was a bit much. One is cool, but it’s such a momentum killer. Take off the pack, take off the socks and boots, put on the sandals, put the pack back on, cross the stream, and then sandals off, dry the feet, boots and socks on, pack on. All just to go a 100 feet, even writing it kind of makes for a run on sentence😁.
I enjoy these trips so much, the simplicity of your worries while being in the backcountry is very freeing. Shelter, food, as much fun as you can have. Here’s to more adventures, please feel free to share any of your favorite hikes!
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