MAYBEN Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 nice views Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFairbanks Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share Posted January 9, 2013 Got word today that my brother and I have been approved for another permit/intinerary. Made reservations at a place just outside of the park for both the night before our excursion and the night that we come out. Learned that lesson from last time. This one was tougher to get as there are a lot of people that get denied, for all months pretty much except July and August. This itinerary will be slightly longer mileage wise than the last, but will allow us to cross the Colorado over to the North Side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubba Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Good luck, may will be here before you know it. Look forward to the tails of the trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFairbanks Posted April 27, 2013 Author Share Posted April 27, 2013 Three more weeks. Found this video of the amazing sights, and thought I would share it. [ame=http://vimeo.com/50960672]Grand Canyon : Blink of Time on Vimeo[/ame] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mc2hill Posted April 27, 2013 Share Posted April 27, 2013 Excellent Chris! Fingers crossed for a better start this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBX5 Posted April 27, 2013 Share Posted April 27, 2013 What trails on North rim? I went to school for guiding at northern Arizona University and know the canyon well. Last guide test was 28 days in the canyon. Last summer I took my wife and her mom down Bill Hall, thunder river and up deer creek what a trip they had! Not living in AZ anymore so anytime I plan a trip it's north rim or obscure south rim trails. On our trip last spring we saw 6 people in 6 days other than down at the river. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFairbanks Posted April 27, 2013 Author Share Posted April 27, 2013 What trails on North rim? I went to school for guiding at northern Arizona University and know the canyon well. Last guide test was 28 days in the canyon. Last summer I took my wife and her mom down Bill Hall, thunder river and up deer creek what a trip they had! Not living in AZ anymore so anytime I plan a trip it's north rim or obscure south rim trails. On our trip last spring we saw 6 people in 6 days other than down at the river. Starting on the south side. Going down the Hermit over to Boucher. Down the Boucher to the Tonto. Across the Tonto. Then over the bridge for our last night at Bright Angel. Then back over the bridge and up South Kaibab to Yaki Point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFairbanks Posted April 27, 2013 Author Share Posted April 27, 2013 Excellent Chris! Fingers crossed for a better start this time. Thanks Michael. I know what foods to steer clear of this time. Coffee and caffeine are big. Going to give it all up atleast a week before. And eat small portions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBX5 Posted April 28, 2013 Share Posted April 28, 2013 Starting on the south side. Going down the Hermit over to Boucher. Down the Boucher to the Tonto. Across the Tonto. Then over the bridge for our last night at Bright Angel. Then back over the bridge and up South Kaibab to Yaki Point. Nice love the Boucher Tonto trails! Much more rustic and back country than most of the S rim trails. When I lived at the canyon 20 years ago that area was still a bush whack and from a friend I hear it still is rough but fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFairbanks Posted April 28, 2013 Author Share Posted April 28, 2013 Last guide test was 28 days in the canyon. Last summer I took my wife and her mom down Bill Hall, thunder river and up deer creek what a trip they had! 28 Days....That had to of been the life. I would love to experience something like that. My brother and I originally when were planning this for last August when I got sick were going to do that Bill Hall, Thunder River trail. But decided to hit the South Rim. Do you have any pics that your willing to share? Nice love the Boucher Tonto trails! Much more rustic and back country than most of the S rim trails. When I lived at the canyon 20 years ago that area was still a bush whack and from a friend I hear it still is rough but fun. It was rough, and getting sick like I did made it that much more difficult. I can honestly say that I can see where people just give up. Now that I know what triggers my acid reflux and how to manage it I should be good this time. Didn't know that I had it like I did. Some things you just get used to and don't realize it isn't normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBX5 Posted April 28, 2013 Share Posted April 28, 2013 Just a few from the last trip. It was a real eye opener for my 68 year old mother in law! She did ok but suffered big time on the way down. Most of my photos from the school trip are on slides and a few got tossed out in the trash when we moved (thanks to my wife haha). Ill try and dig a few more up at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFairbanks Posted April 28, 2013 Author Share Posted April 28, 2013 Those are some amazing pics, Joe. Thanks for sharing. Photography is a big hobby of mine and part of why I'am wanting to do this trip. Really some beautiful country down there. My wife had only seen pictures of it till I took her to see the south side. Her explanation is that pictures don't do it justice. She said it took her breath away to see it in person. Really looking forward to getting lost down there for a week. Not literally. I used to do a lot of this stuff before I had a wife and kid. I'am only able to get back into doing it now. And fortunately my brother is one that has all of his own gear and wants to do it as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFairbanks Posted May 6, 2013 Author Share Posted May 6, 2013 Like a kid at Christmas time. Counting down the days. 2 more weeks. Started lining up my bag again today. Going thru camera gear and deciding what to bring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFairbanks Posted May 26, 2013 Author Share Posted May 26, 2013 (edited) So I made it back from my trip today. We left about 0530 on Sunday morning and drove 9 hours to the south side. We got there and spent a couple hours wandering around the top side looking down at what awaited us. Went and checked in at the hotel we were staying at, then spent some time at the bar. Had some salmon, rice, and vegetables for dinner that night. Good stuff. The next morning we were up early. Everything was closed at the time we left except for McDonalds. Had an egg white mcmuffin and some oatmeal. Really wasn't bad at all. So day one we hit the trail. Saw where I got sick last time and had to snap a pic of that of course. Thought that the trail wasn't going to get any worse than what we had already seen. Wrong. Had to down climb a couple of spots and the stuff was steeeep in places. My brother almost stepped on a rattle snake, then everything that moved after that was a potential snake. lol. We never did see another, but we did hear another one. Walked about 9 miles that day and made to where we set up camp and got some more water and a bite to eat. Then to bed. Day two we were up at the crack of dawn. Got a bite to eat and packed everything away for what was going to be a long day. Ended up being the longest mileage wise that day. Walked roughly 13 miles that day. And it was hot. Have pictures showing thermometer reading 100 in the shade and 120 in the sun. Some how ended up walking past our scheduled stop and ended up staying at our day 3 location. Missed it being that it wasn't marked at all or we some how missed the signage. That was ok, because it put us that much further ahead. The camp sites at this location where all infested with ants. So we ended up sleeping on our pads on this huge rock. No tent, just our pads and sleeping bags. The wind that night howled bad. Probably the windiest night. Sleeping bag with me in it was flapping like a kite in the wind. No joke. The morning of Day 3 we found a pool of water that was loaded with tadpoles. Got get the water where you can. It tasted just fine and we both had all the necessary gear for purification. We were each going thru about 7 liters of water everyday. Which is equal to about 1.8 gallons. Walked about 5 hours and a little over 7 miles to a place called Indian Gardens. Indian Gardens is a somewhat touristy place and is 4.6 miles from the top. So people will walk down for the day and back up. Loaded up on water again, and spent the day just hanging out. It was nice to have a down day so to speak. At about 5 in the evening we headed 2.5 miles back to where we camped for the night. Took us 50 minutes. Temp at that time was a little over 105 in the shade. Guy on the bench was dying and looking at us like we were nuts as he saw us throw on our bags and take off. He was talking about how took him and his wife an older daughter 4 hours to come down from the top. 4.6 miles. My brother and I just shook our heads and thought about some of the ridiculous stuff the Rangers deal with on a daily basis. From not being prepared, mentally and physically. And not having the right gear, especially footwear. Day 4 we headed back past Indian Gardens and down to the Colorado. Crossed the river to our last location. Bright Angel Campground and Phantom Ranch. Kind of a neat place but definitely crowded in comparison to where we had spent our previous nights. The other nights we were the only ones there. Literally. Up until day 3 we only ran into 2 groups of people and a total of 10 people roughly on day 1. The one group was fairly large and they were both doing short loops. Nothing like the 50 miles that we did. Spent the day sitting in the creek bed. It felt good. At first it was way cold, due to the body being hot. But once you got acclimated to it, it felt great. The morning of day 5 was the day we were going to come out of the canyon. The wife had no idea how we were doing as there was literally no contact with the outside world the whole time we were there. We were up and on the trail at 0345. Walking by headlamp. We wanted to get as far as we could before the sun come up. Had roughly 9.2 miles and 5000 feet in elevation gain to get to the top. I commented to my brother that a lot of times for me I tend to travel further than I think I have in the dark. And this case would be no different. We reached Indian Gardens which is the half way point from the bottom to the top. 4.6 miles traveled from the time we left the bottom. He pulled out his phone for time (didn't work for anything but time and camera for him due to no cell service) and asked to make a bet on time. His guess was 0620, mine was 0545. It was 0524. 4.6 miles in an hour and forty five minutes. We took about a 12 minute break and made our last stretch out to the top. Made it out at 0800. A little over 9 miles and 5000 feet in elevation gain in 4 hours. I was surprised myself. That last stretch was tough. I texted a picture to the wife and called her. She was in tears, and happy to hear my voice and know that I was safe. She expected us to be out mid to late afternoon. We hung around the top for a while and then checked in to the same hotel and went back for more salmon. It was good stuff. Then woke up early on Saturday and drove the 9 hours back home. Glad to be home, but this was a big accomplishment for me. Were already planning another trip to maybe Bryce Canyon. Not sure on a date yet. It may take me a while to get pictures processed and posted, but I will share them when I get them done. Edited June 24, 2014 by LFairbanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86lxjunker Posted May 26, 2013 Share Posted May 26, 2013 Congrats - cant wait for the pics !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dabirdzR/T Posted May 26, 2013 Share Posted May 26, 2013 CONGRATS! that looked like alot of fun and hard work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFairbanks Posted May 26, 2013 Author Share Posted May 26, 2013 So here are just a couple of pics that I'am able to share right now. This is the shade temperature. This is the sun temperature. The bridge crossing the Colorado. This was our bed the second night. All designated camp spots were loaded with ant hills. And the wind howled like crazy that night. Just slept out in the open with our pads and sleeping bags. Me making my way down the trail. Getting some much needed water. Those black specks are tadpoles. After I process all my pictures, I will post them with a link to browse. May take me a while though. MAYBEN 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mc2hill Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 Very cool Chris, can't wait to see more pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFairbanks Posted June 3, 2013 Author Share Posted June 3, 2013 (edited) So here are just a couple of teaser pics. I have processed everything and now am going to go back an make them watermarked to where they can't be copied. I will then post a link to them on Smugmug for those that want to view them. These two that I posted aren't the best, but I did that intentionally. You can see the image quality with what I posted earlier. Those where done with my brothers cell phone. These were done with my camera. Edited June 3, 2013 by LFairbanks MAYBEN 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
07RS4 Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 Sweet Chris, looking forward to more pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFairbanks Posted June 9, 2013 Author Share Posted June 9, 2013 (edited) So here are several pics that I have posted for sharing. I have watermarked them heavily and made the resolution poor if they are blown up too big. Sorry. Have had way to many issues with this in the past. I also posted some captions at the bottom of several of the pictures. Let me know what you think. I hope you enjoy them. Here is the link. http://lfairbanks31.smugmug.com/Nature/Grand-Canyon-May-2013/29881095_RwQvgn Password is: Grand Canyon 2013 Edited June 9, 2013 by LFairbanks MAYBEN 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveVY Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 Look forward to seeing the pics! My wife and I will be visiting the south rim next year and will be doing day hikes. Tried your link above but it requires a password. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFairbanks Posted June 9, 2013 Author Share Posted June 9, 2013 Look forward to seeing the pics! My wife and I will be visiting the south rim next year and will be doing day hikes. Tried your link above but it requires a password. Sorry. I thought it did and when I tried it before I posted it seemed to work without. The password is: Grand Canyon 2013 (Just like you see it here) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFairbanks Posted June 10, 2013 Author Share Posted June 10, 2013 For those that have been waiting to see pictures they are now up. http://lfairbanks31.smugmug.com/Nature/Grand-Canyon-May-2013/29881095_RwQvgn Password is: Grand Canyon 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveVY Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 Awesome pics! Spectacular scenery, can't wait to get out there next year! Thanks for sharing. (I would insert emoticons here but still haven't figured out how to do that in this new forum site) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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