Friday, after driving terrifying snowy roads from Hurricane to Kanab and then south, the picnic participants arrived at Jacob Lake lodge and went in for a rest room stop (and chocolate chip cookies and hot drinks). I didn't realize a snowmobile trip was included in this journey but it was. Prince Many-Dots took the lead and plowed a trail for the rest of us. The road was generally covered with over a foot of snow with drifts and bare, icy patches in the long meadows. The long drive out to the North Rim trail head was long and treacherous. At times the car ahead would disappear in a puff of white snow, just like snowmobiles. Over drifts of snow, through the tall white stuff with me singing, "Sleigh bells ring, are ya listening?" My nervous passengers hated that. White knuckles gripping the steering wheels. Wee. Pant, pant. Whoa! Steer to the left, steer to the right. Man! I remember Many-Dots saying, "Good thing there were reflector posts on the side of the road to steer between." Thanks John for taking the Yak-by-the-horns, expending a half tank of gas and getting us out to the north rim. Jeepers, what an ordeal! I think we made a good friend in the Park Ranger you and Grizz helped pull back onto the highway. Good plan, that!"I loved the adventure of it all, the thrill of overcoming obstacles and the challenge of staying safe."Adventures in a wintery wonderlandGrand Canyon Picnic
11 November 2000_____Harvey Butchart, Grand Canyon Treks,
12,000 miles through the Grand Canyon, page 20
Single Picnic
Stephen
Kathie
Wally
Hooper
Bev
Joan
Thom
Chantrelle
Angelle
It was quite a brave thing to do: run down the trail on the
snow with the promise of warmer temperatures to come.
No one knew there was a long, long way down the trail before things
got better. Angelle and Chantrelle, doing their first single crossing
were enchanted with the fresh snow, making ski turns on the corners and
sliding here and there down, down, down the north Kaibab trail. The
trail was much better from there to Phantom Ranch. The cool temperatures
made the water situation less of a problem than usual. Now that the
fun downhill trail dancing was done, they started the march up the Bright
Angel Trail. I started down from the South Rim to intercept
them and only made it about a mile when they came charging up the snow
packed trail. 9 hours and 20 minutes for them. Good work!
They really enjoyed their tour of the canyon. The only complaints
I heard (other than being a little tired) was the pools of mule urine on
the trail that were very hard to step around in the slushy, icy conditions.
Back at Maswik Lodge in our room, I handed them each a huge Navajo Taco
from Cameron. A great dinner for a good days work.
The other single picnic participants had a good time as well. The
climb up the to the south rim, whichever way you came up was as tough as
ever. It is hard to imagine the difficulty Harvey Butchart must have
faced at times with his 116 seperate approaches to the river found over
a 50 year carreer. That means he had 116 difficult ascents back to
the south and north rims on just those trips. There is so much of
the Grand Canyon I haven't seen. The single crossing is one of the
most pleasurable of all my runs in the Grand. By all accounts from
the above mentioned, it was a wonderful trip for them, too.
Double Picnic
John
John
John
(yes, three of them)
Grizz
Lee
Duane
Duane started at 8pm the previous night and left the north rim before
the other runners got there. Imagine being by yourself at 2am and
trying to convince yourself to keep going up the North Kaibab trail to
get to the North Rim. That is fortitude. The other double crosses
started early Saturday morning and wet-footed-it to the North Rim and back.
John brought John and John on their first double becoming a sort of a guide
and cheerleader. John and John completed their first double in good
time and John who was the guide was a big help to John and John needing
some confidence boosters. John, John, and John are to be complemented
on their fine crossings. Grizz brought Lee along to do his first
double. Lee struggled a bit at the end but did complete the double
in adverse conditions. Great job Lee. (Hmm, you know, maybe
I could get Lee to be the 4th John - there is something in his full name
that would allow this - then I would have John, John, John, and John doing
the double and the more Johns, the better.) Thanks to all the Johns
who ran this double. (I am fearfully avoiding any potty humor here
to avoid any retaliation by the four Johns.) The following is from
John Moellmer:
"Don Pettit and his family were going down to Las Vegas the same
weekend as the GCDC in order to attend a convention there. As part
of his trip, he planned on driving out to the North Rim Saturday morning
and suprising everyone with an aid station. However, the highway
department folks at Jacob's Lake wouldn't let him drive
out because of the snow. (Probably just as well with his 2
wheel drive car). Don hung around there for about three hours (8
AM to 11 AM) waiting for the highway department to clear the road, but,
he ran out of time to drive out and meet the runners. Nevertheless,
I thought you might like to know that he was thinking of the run and wanted
to help out the rest of his running family. Isn't that what you'd
expect from a fellow double crosser?"
Yes, indeed. We thank you very much Peaches.
Picnic with a Hermit - Harvey Stagecoach victims
Stephen
Kathie
Wally
Hooper
Julie
Ruthie
Dave
These intrepid souls took off for the West Rim but also got stymied. Not to worry, they just hired a Harvey Shuttle to the tune of $7 each. Ouch! At first, they thought Catherine and Irv were ahead of them - 2 pairs of footprints. But soon they just ran into 2 day hikers. Their journey took them about 9 hours? Julie was finally winning back her legs after many a month of recovery. She's back!
The Phantom players at the picnic
Lise -Down Bright Angel to Phantom, up the South Kaibab to the Tonto,
west to Indian Gardens and up.
Candy
Tim
Paul
Jane
Picnic on the Tonto Plateau
Catherine
Irv
Saturday, 7:18am , Catherine and I discovered signs declaring the west rim was closed due to adverse road conditions. I looked at the fluffy inch of snow on the road and snorted with derision. Who are they kidding? We obviously had to come up with a new plan. Running 7 miles out to the Hermit trail head didn't seem like a good idea. We decided to head to Indian Gardens. I had been told by Chantrelle and Angelle that the trail was pretty lousy but seeing is believing. What a soupy mess! The pools of stagnant mule urine refused to drain and stood out like some festering boil on the landscape. It was tough work going downhill and squishy. About a mile from Indian Gardens, the trail improved greatly. Water was running at the Gardens and after a brief bathroom break, we dropped down the trail and slanted eastward onto the Tonto Trail. The conditions had improved remarkably. The sun was out at times and the trail conditions were terrific on the Tonto Platform, top of the Tapeats Sandstone formation. From a distance, the Plateau looks like a lot of boring gray Black Brush. Up close, the colors of the rocks were strikingly different and bits and pieces of harder rocks stuck out of larger sandstone pieces. Cactus and Spanish Bayonets threatened our legs with sharp pointy limbs and needles. The scenic views of the Cheops Pyramid and Sumner Butte were constantly changing with fast moving clouds swirling around them. We momentarily got lost in the Pipe Creek crossing. The trail going through there is a little vague at times. After a few more minutes, we settled down in a little canyon past Pipe Creek and ate our lunch of dried jerky, sesame crackers, and various assortments of sugar with chocolate dominating the dessert. If you stop, you get chilled and so we were soon on our way with Catherine in the lead. We came around a corner and noticed 3 does and a buck (Mule Deer) feeding in the brush about 50 feet away. Awesome. Ravens periodically checked us out to make sure nothing edible escaped their beady eyes. Cactus Wrens came near us and lots of Oregon Juncos. We saw no one until we actually climbed onto the South Kaibab trail. After another bathroom break (interesting how I managed to get my bladder to get in synch this year with the location of the rest rooms) we started for the top. The ascent up the South Kaibab was in mush better condition. We didn't hit mud and gunk until 2 miles and then it was possible to walk on rocks off the side of the mud and mule pee. There is no getting around it. That climb up even from just the Tonto Platform is a tough cookie. We kept slogging our way up the mucky trail while sipping water and eating a few goodies to get to the top. Finally, we were there having treked the last mile (packed snow). We made the trail head at 3:05pm and headed for the shuttle stop at Yaki point. It took us an hour and a half to get back to our rooms. We just missed the every half hour shuttle and had to beg our way onto a cramped bus. Obviously, tourists just want to ride the buses, not get off at observation points and look at anything. Arrggghhhh!. At Mather Point, we had to walk to the new Visitors Information Center and transfer onto the next bus going over to the lodges. It was a good thing we were wearing 3 layers and a fleece coat - could of froze to death waiting for World War II vintage bus service. If I had to do it over, I would have just ran over from Yaki Point to the Visitors Center where the shuttles were leaving every 15 minutes. It just wastes too much time to expect that Yaki Point bus to pick you up. The rim was very cold this year with the snow and the wind. Wildly beautiful, though. It took us 9 hours to do our little 16 - 17 mile run. Good thing we didn't try for more. I wouldn't count on the Yaki Point puzzle to get solved for a few more years until they get light rail in.
Irv's Moonlight Madness run
Sunday morning is one of solitude. In the many trips to the
Canyon, I have yet to have a companion to run out on the west rim
observation point opposite to the Bright Angel Trail head area on the eastern
side of this canyon to catch the sunrise. Obviously, I have only
smart friends. Drat the luck. I started a little late this
year, 6:05am and man, it was cold. Fresh snow had fallen in the evening
and a light wind with gusts was blowing. I ran up the road in the
cheerful light of a full moon above the western horizon beaming through
the openings between trees. All I could hear was my ragged breath.
Out on the rim I looked at the lights to the east of the Bright Angel area.
I could see the lower canyon very well with the moon lighting the landscape
and eerie cloud shadows crawling across the Tonto Plateau. As I started
back on the rim trail, I could see the sky lighting up. Dawn was
creeping up slowly. I stopped at the shuttle bus station for the
west rim and was accosted verbally by a tourist who wanted to know where
the bus was, what I was doing, and a bunch of other things. I must
have looked like a trail guide, I guess. She looked at me very suspiciously
when I said I had been down in the canyon yesterday. "Right", she
pondered. Obvious lunatic quality, so she let me leave with no further
questions. A full moon on the west and a rising sun in the east was
a great way to end the trip.
El Tovar - the food and the club picnic wrap-up. The breakfast was five star in my book. I had an omelet with asparagas and sun dried tomatoes. I mark them down a little for not having hot chocolate. I compensated for this by having fresh squeezed orange juice
More story coming?
Irv
If you have anything to add or comment on, please email me.