Arizona – Wild Wanderer

Humphreys Peak – 12,633 – Arizona Highpoint

RT Length: 10.55 miles

Elevation Gain: 3649’

Last week I saw a post indicating someone had successfully summited Humphreys Peak from the summer trailhead, so I decided to give it a go. (Humphreys Peak Trailhead / Kachina Peaks Trailhead / Snow Bowl)

I woke up at 2am, worked out for an hour on the treadmill, and then drove to Arizona, stopping along the way for a few work calls. I’m not a big fan of the New Mexico city of Gallup: Nothing good has ever happened to me there. This time, as I was getting gas, a man was sitting in front of the gas station entrance cleaning a knife with a blade at least 8 inches long, swinging it around every few minutes like he was practicing martial arts moves. Also, all of the bathrooms in the gas stations and fast food establishments in NM and AZ are closed due to covid. So was the bathroom at the Bookman’s I stopped at in Flagstaff. I had a voucher for Bookman’s I’d received in 2016, and since I was in the area I decided to use it. I got this very appropriate book

Then I drove to the Snow Bowl, where the trailhead is for Humphrey’s Peak. There were a lot of skiers driving down the mountain, but I was the only one going up. On the drive in I saw a sign that said “Skiing Open 10am-4pm, TH-SU”.

I made it to the parking area and found a place to park. This is the trailhead

I walked around the trailhead, and noticed the beginning part of the trail goes right under a ski lift. I also saw this sign:

Ugh. That was unexpected. I’d driven all the way from Colorado only to be thwarted by a technicality. As I was standing there, I noticed two female hikers walking towards me, directly from the ski area where it said pedestrians weren’t allowed. They told me they hadn’t had any issues (indeed, at least 5 more hikers came down after them, and all said the same thing). I decided to hike the following morning, early, and try to make it down before the 10am skiing session began. Side note: these women were badass, and had a great list of mountaineering accomplishments. We talked for a bit, and I gave them some fireside stickers.

I sat in the back of my truck and started making dinner. A young man pulled up with a similar set-up and got out to enjoy the sunset. He spent his time sitting in a chair enjoying a beer, alternating drinking with doing push-ups. I went over and talked with him for a bit, and we ended up doing a few whiskey shots together (both of us had various bottles in our rigs). He was a nice young man (reminded me of my son) and this was his third time this week at the trailhead. He hoped to summit the next day as well. After the sunset I wished him good luck and told him I’d see him tomorrow on the trail (either up or down).

My view tonight

I went to bed and had a peaceful night’s sleep, waking up to my alarm at 2:45am, I was on the trail at 3am. Interestingly enough, as I was leaving a vehicle pulled up: it looked like there was another hiker hiking with me this morning. We ended up leap-frogging each other on the trail. The trail starts at the north end of the parking area and heads northeast, across the slop and into the trees, before zig-zagging up the west slope.

Plot twist: When I started out at the trailhead it was dark, all except for a really big light, accompanied by a loud buzzing sound. Turns out they groom the trails at 3am, and there was a snow groomer working this morning. Drat! I decided to turn off my flashlight and wait until the groomer had passed me, then darted across the field to the safety of the trail in the trees, where I turned my flashlight back on. I’m sure this would have been comical to watch.

There was another trailhead once I entered the trees. Note: I wore microspikes for the entire hike, and didn’t need snowshoes. If hiking later in the day, they would have been necessary.

Once in the trees there was a lot of snow, so I had a hard time following the trail. There were several downed trees covering the trail, and a lot of social trails. If you’re doing this peak in summer it will be a straightforward, class 1 trail. If you’re doing it with snow on the ground expect some route-finding. I switchbacked northeast to the saddle. The saddle you’re aiming for is the one that’s directly east of you from the parking area (it’s a clear, skiable path).

As I neared treeline the snow declined and there was no longer a trail. I kept heading northeast to the saddle

Once at the saddle I turned left, and followed the ridge north. (Going right will take you to Agassiz Peak) There’s a faint trail here that picks up as you go along, as well as wooden posts to guide the way. Stay to the left while on the ridge.

There’s also a trail sign here, indicating the way

I followed the ridge north/northeast as the sun began to rise

The girl I’d been leapfrogging with took a different route up (there were several snowshoe tracks to follow), and when we hit the ridge she got out a sleeping bag and decided to watch the sunrise. She never did go to the summit, and was gone when I made my way back down.

I continued on, following the ridge

I made it to the summit at 6:20am. There were a lot of windbreaks at the summit

I found a buried summit register, left it there, and took a picture with the broken summit sign

Humphrey’s Peak:

It was cold and windy, so I decided to head back. Here are a few photos of the route down. I (mostly) re-traced my steps.

Here’s the saddle I was aiming for

And the ridge to get there

Once at the saddle I did my best to follow my tracks back down

Taken from the saddle, the parking area is circled. Here you can see it’s a straight shot west from the saddle, but that area was all skiable and off limits, so I did my best to switchback down the mountainside, following the summer trail.

I lost the trail several times, but was able to follow snowshoe tracks down. If you’re blazing your own trail, you can stay in the trees and parallel the ski area by heading west, which will lead you to the parking area.

Here’s the exit route back to the parking area

I was still really early, and there wasn’t anyone on the slopes. I was making tracks on the newly groomed snow however.

I made it back to a still empty parking lot at 9:00am, making this a 10.55 mile hike with 3649’ of elevation gain in 6 hours. I never did see that man I met in the parking lot last night. I can only think he had more whiskey than he could handle and had a hangover. That’s what he gets for drinking with a pro.

Here’s a topo map of my route

R2R2R – North Rim to South Rim – Grand Canyon

Rt Length: 29.15 miles

Elevation Gain: 7482’

Time: 10 hours

This hike has been on my bucket list since I’ve had a bucket list. About 18 months ago I made a reservation to stay at the North Rim, and figured I’d do this hike for my 40^th birthday. Well, COVID happened and my reservations were cancelled and they stopped the shuttle service between rims. I was bummed, and for a while wasn’t sure what I should do. Then I got a topper on my truck and everything changed: I can now sleep wherever I want, so I didn’t need those North Rim reservations anymore. All I needed was a willing shuttle driver.

At the last minute I was able to get Eric to be my shuttle river, and we were off. After a full day of driving and a side trip to Horseshoe Bend, we made it to the North Kaibab Trailhead. We did a little exploring, ate dinner (Subway) and met some of the other hikers in the lot. In my opinion, the views from the North Rim aren’t as good as the views from the South Rim.

Here’s what the trailhead looks like. There’s a lot of signage and free water. All of the water spigots were turned on, so water wasn’t a problem on this trail. However, since this is the Grand Canyon I brought extra water anyway.

The trail starts at the south end of the parking area. I took a picture of it before I went to bed because I knew I’d be starting this hike in the dark

I made it an early night and was on the trail by 1am. I’d initially wanted to wear a hat that said “Happy Birthday” on it, but it was way too cold for that: 25 degrees at the North Kaibab Trailhead at 1am. I put on my jacket and gloves and was off. This trail is extremely easy to follow, even in the dark. Here are a few pictures from along the trail in the dark.

Initially I hiked down into the canyon, and once there crossed from side to side on several bridges. There was water flowing under the bridges, and I saw quite a few bats.

It started to get light around 6am. Much of the trail looked like this once down in the canyon

Finally, I saw a sign indicating I was close to Phantom Ranch

I made it to Phantom Ranch around 6:30am, after hiking for 5.5 hours and 16.5 miles. There were dozens of neat little cabins set up, and deer in the area who couldn’t read the ‘no trespassing’ signs.

I was a bit tired, but I didn’t want to sit down. I hadn’t had a drink of water all day, but figured now was a good time to start. I made my way around the cook house and found the water spigot. I drank half my water bottle and filled it back up again.

While I was there the camp cook opened the door (wearing a mask of course) and asked if I was hiking thru. He then offered me a small carton of orange juice, which I gulped down. He also offered me an orange, but I declined. He was a very nice man. I also heard someone comment on how good the breakfast had been. I may just try to schedule a trip down here one day (maybe with a Rim to Rim to Rim?). Here I took off my outer jacket and put on mu “Birthday Girl’ ribbon.

I passed through Phantom Ranch and saw the mules ready for their day. They looked very well groomed and well fed. There was also place to ‘vote’ on your favorite Grand Canyon experience. I thought that was kind of cool.

I continued hiking past the tent campsites. Only 2 were taken, and I’m sure that was due to COVID as well.

Here I saw a doe and baby deer. They were directly on the trail and let me pass withing 2 feet of them.

I’d been told via facebook groups the bridge to Bright Angel Trail was out, and to take the bridge to the South Kaibab Trail instead. Indeed, signs at the trailhead corroborated this information, so I took the further bridge across the river.

This ended up adding a few miles to my trip, but since this was a long hike in the first place I didn’t really mind. I crossed the bridge, went through a tunnel, and then followed the River Trail to the Bright Angel Trail. I was glad I was doing this in daylight so I could enjoy the view of the river.

As I hiked, I saw the Mule Train start their day from across the river

And as I passed the Bright Angel trail, I was surprised to see the bridge was open! I’d made that detour for nothing! Oh well, at least I got in some extra miles.

From here it was all up, starting gradually

The trail had several small stream crossings

The trail was still very easy to follow. Here’s a look back

While the trail was easy to follow, it also didn’t feel like I was gaining any elevation. The rim always looked the same distance away

Water on the trail

One good thing about starting so early and hiking in the morning were the shadows. This kept me from getting too hot. I’d definitely recommend starting either late at night or super early in the morning (before 2am)

Indian Garden was kind of neat. I filled up my water bottle here, and found someone’s cell phone (and was able to return it to them).

From here there was a sign stating it was 4.5 miles to the South Rim. With this news I was ecstatic, and after filling up my water bottle I took off towards the rim. The trail is easy to follow, but difficult to see from below. The trail actually goes to where the arrow is pointing (eventually, after many, many switchbacks).

I passed a mule train, and one of the riders asked me why I was smiling. I told him it was because I was almost done with the hike (little did I know the rest of the hike would still take a few hours). They all wished me a Happy Birthday!

I continued along the trail for what seemed like miles

Imagine my surprise when I made it to the 3 mile rest area. I thought for sure I’d already hiked 3 miles past Indian Garden, but apparently, I’d only hiked 1.5 miles.

That rim just wasn’t getting any closer! The sun was starting to heat the trail up

I had a beautiful view of my path to this point however

Around the 2 mile point I saw a park ranger talking to everyone on their way down. He was trying to get them to understand hiking back up was going to be more difficult than their hike down. The people he was talking to had a hard time believing if it took them 3 hours to get to Indian Garden it would take them 6 to get back to the South Rim. I had no trouble believing him. The 1.5 mile rest area seemed to take forever to reach as well. In fact, the last 5 miles were one long trudge uphill

I started seeing more and more people, especially near the rim. I was hot, tired, and sticky, and the people hiking down were still fresh. I was huffing at this point. They looked at me like I was insane, but I just kept trudging on.

I made it to this sign and saw Eric

He’d seen me from above and decided to join me on the last little bit of the hike. He was encouraging and seemed excited to see me. I made it to the Bright Angel trailhead at 11am, took off my pack, and took some pictures. It was close to 100 degrees (a 75 degree difference from my start at the North Rim).

I hiked from the North Rim to the South Rim in 10 hours. Bucket list item checked off. Happy 40^th Birthday to me! Check out the topo!

Horseshoe Bend – Page, Arizona

What a fun and unexpected side trip! We were on our way to the Grand Canyon for my birthday Rim to Rim hike, when Eric mentioned we were close to Page, Arizona, and Horseshoe Bend. To be honest, visiting Horseshoe Bend has always been on my bucket list, but I wasn’t quite sure where it was. I had no problem taking a mini side-trip to see it.

They’ve done some improvements in the past two years to the place. Now you need to pay to get in ($10) and park in a large lot. Then there’s a three-quarter-mile walk on a nice path to get to the overlook.

It was a nice day, no more than 80 degrees outside, so the walk was an easy one. You kind of come right up onto the bend without noticing in, and then, wham, several hundred feet drop into the river

Wow! This was so cool! I took some video of Eric, he did his adventure speaker thing, and he took some pictures of me.

Of course I did the shadowselfie and selfie thing

And Eric and I got a selfie together

Here’s the jump I took videos/pictures of Eric jumping across. Even though the rock was grippy, I felt my legs were too short for the attempt. Sorry, no pictures of the jumsp (they’re on his camera).

There were actually quite a few people there for a Friday September day (September 11) but it wasn’t difficult to get in a good picture, making it look like you were the only one there.

Ok, now we’re off to the North Rim to prepare for tomorrow morning’s hike!

Surprise Visit

When your Airman is stationed in Alaska but texts you to let you know he’ll be in Nevada for the weekend you use up all your airline miles and fly out to go see him!

Well, actually, at first I thought about driving out, but after doing the math realized if I did I would only have an hour to spend with him before I needed to drive back home, and that didn’t seem like enough time. So next I checked flights: Hey, flights from Colorado Springs to Vegas are supposed to be cheap, right?

They’re not. Well, they might be if you make them a couple of months in advance, but since it was last minute I didn’t have a lot of options. In the end I used up all my airline miles and still had to pay about $500 to fly Emily and I from Denver to Vegas (and back). Totally worth it! The downside? We had to leave at 3am for our flight in, and didn’t get back until 12am the next morning (and then I had to drive home from the airport and turn around and go to work). We did get to spend a lot of time with Thomas though, and my mom and Tom drove out so we got to see them for a bit as well.

First stop (after picking up our rental vehicle) was breakfast. Mom and Tom were picking up Thomas and meeting us at Eggscellent, a breakfast restraint with the highest ratings online (we all loved our meals!)

It’s weird seeing Thomas wearing glasses. Emily and Thomas spent a lot of time exchanging memes, but we got a lot of great conversation in with everyone as well. Thomas loves his job, has made new friends, and likes living in Alaska (it’s a lot like Colorado…)

After breakfast Mom and Tom drove back to California, and I took the kids to the Hoover Dam. I’ve been all over the United States, with extra emphasis on the Southwest, and for some reason I’ve never been to the Hoover Dam. I’m not sure why? Most likely because I thought it would be underwhelming (it was). We parked and decided to walk around for a bit…

There was a dedication area that intrigued the kids: there were bronze statues and the entire walking area was a map of the stars that would indicate to celestial beings the exact time and date the dam had been constructed. I thought this was a little self promoting, but realize it isn’t a new idea. Touching the toes of the statue(s) was encouraged.

There was a summit marker here, which I appreciated.

We crossed the bridge, and the ‘dam’ jokes began.

Don’t sit on the dam wall

Dam Tumbleweed

Dam fish

Dam birds

Dam boat

Dam tour

Dam project

Dam guard

Dam dog (yes, there’s an actual Dam dog that was portly because the 3500 workers all loved him and liked giving him treats)

(you get the idea)

The kids even started putting together memes…

There was a great joke made about Emily being in APUSH and Herbert Clark Hoover being the first president of the United States (don’t ask, but it was funny) and Thomas wished for a basketball to roll down the side of the dam (a dam basketball) to play physics games.

Of course we took some family photos (points to Thomas for taking as many photos as I asked for!)

Thomas asked me how the dam had been built and I didn’t know the answer (well, dam). It was getting warm so we decided to go to the visitor’s center to find out. Admission included a 10 minute (dam) video, explaining how the dam was built: They blasted huge holes in the mountain to divert the river, and then poured 3.25 million cubic yards of concrete to form the wall. It was way more complicated than that, but that’s the gist. It had some really bad grammar for a documentary (‘builded’ was one of the words used). Also, they didn’t explain how they re-routed the river back? All in all it was very (dam) educational, and the kids actually enjoyed the experience. I’m glad they’re old enough to appreciate learning, even when the way it’s presented isn’t fun. It was kind of cool being in both Arizona and Nevada and going back and forth between time zones. The entire experience from parking to leaving took about an hour and a half.

Next we drove to Red Rock Canyon. I’d been told this was the place to adventure in the Las Vegas area and had high expectations. Apparently so did everyone else: it took us 45 minutes to get through the admissions gate! Thomas had a military pass that got us in for free (thanks Thomas!). We decided to drive and look for some places to hike. There were so many people there this was more difficult than it sounds. The first three turnoffs held dozens of vehicles and they were all full, so we kept driving and looked for a less popular spot. There wasn’t one, so I parked about a mile away from a trailhead and we walked along a dirt road that would take us to look at White Rock.

We were already tired when we made it to the trailhead, and everyone there said there wasn’t anything to see, it was just a ‘hike’ so we turned around and walked a mile back to the car, intent on hiking somewhere with a destination.

Petroglyph Wall sounded promising, so we drove there next. Once again, there wasn’t any parking, but I found if I waited long enough someone would leave. This was a short walk from the parking area to the site, with dozens of social trails we could take to get there.

The site had a few petroglyphs, and we’d been expecting… more. They were blocked off and there were shrubs and bushes all around so there wasn’t a great view.

We are really spoiled with the petroglyphs we have at The Ranch , so the kids weren’t impressed here at all. We took a few pictures and decided to go exploring

I went off trail and found a place we could boulder for a bit. The kids were against it at first (“Mom! Don’t go off trail!”) but quickly followed, eager to boulder as well. I found a really good spot with a few crumbling petroglyphs and called the kids up.

Thomas decided to bushwhack his way up and ended up tearing a 4 inch hole his shirt! He took it well but was disappointed since he really liked that shirt. I told him we’d go shopping on the way back and get him another shirt (somewhere…). In any event, bouldering was fun

On the brochure they gave us at the entrance gate there was a picture of some bighorn sheep petroglyphs, but no information on where they were in the park. It would have been fun to find them, but they looked really well preserved and I’m sure they weren’t in an ‘obvious’ place or they would be behind fencing (etc). We now had a plan (Thomas needed a new shirt) so we left the park and went to a shopping area.

Thomas found a shirt and a pair of shorts at the first place, and Emily found a shirt at the second. Satisfied we’d shopped enough for today we went in search of dinner. The kids both wanted In n Out, so we found one close to Thomas’ hotel and went in. There were so many people there (most in less than appropriate bathing suits). The food was good though

There was an ‘In n Out store’ nextdoor and we had time so we decided to take a look. They had a bunch of In n Out merch (obviously) and while we were there Thomas decided to buy a shirt and hat: his Halloween Costume is now taken care of.

Next we drove to the strip and parked as close as we could to Thomas’ hotel. It took us a while to find a parking spot, and the lot was intended for customers only so we went inside and bought a pack of gum for the flight home. The security guard talked with us and said it was ok for us to park there while we walked around for a bit. We only had half an hour before we needed to leave.

None of us are big fans of Las Vegas. It’s just not our style, but that’s where his hotel was and Thomas wanted to see the Bellagio Water Show (his roommates weren’t interested). It was a close walk, and the show went on every 30 minutes.

We found a TAC military store, which was great because Thomas’ initials are TAC

And of course took a picture by the Eiffel Tower and had to quote Gru: “We stole the Statue of Liberty – the small one, from Las Vegas! I won’t even mention the Eiffel Tower… also Vegas.”

We ended the day at the Bellagio water show, which was only 3 minutes long but a highlight of the day. The kids and I sat on the fence to watch it. We were all impressed, and I’m sure Thomas will go again to see it before he leaves.

Goodbyes are always hard. We walked back to the car, Thomas gathered up all his gear (new clothes, costume, leftover cinnamon roll from breakfast) and we hugged goodbye, not sure when we’d see each other again. It could be months or even years. I need to find a way to get to Alaska to visit him…

My favorite part about the day was being together. I loved seeing the kids laughing and joking and having fun!

The flight home was uneventful. Emily and I both tried to sleep but that’s more difficult than it sounds on a plane. Vegas is beautiful from far away

Emily had a lot of homework to do this weekend she wasn’t able to get done and she didn’t get a lot of sleep, but I believe bringing her to see her brother was more than justified: we may not see Thomas again for another few years and my kids are all best friends. It was so cool seeing them interact together: I only wish Rebecca could have made the trip as well.

When we got home Emily had tons of homework to do, but since it was 2am I told her to go to bed. The next day she was anxious because she had a lot of homework to catch up on. I told her to explain to her teachers it was a last minute trip to see her brother who’s stationed in Alaska and who she might not see again for a few years. She’s in honors classes and doesn’t think her teachers will buy it, but she’s also a good student and I think they’ll be lenient this one time…