Not for Everyone

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P1410317Surely not everyone is interested in sleeping under the Royal Arch high above the Elves Chasm almost to the bottom of the Colorado River canyon, but for the six of us it was extraordinary. The easy shorter access is a couple days down from the south rim at the westernmost trailhead.  And that route involves the aforementioned 20′ rappel, whose only downside is carrying the extra pounds of rope and gear to make the descent safely.

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Fortunately we had a younger buck trail-named Matterhorn (AT and CT Thru-hiker) who gladly shouldered the 2 pounds of line and Melissa (Trip Wrangler and Canyon Botanist) who packed in the sling and hardware.P1410334

We also slept on a sandy beach at the rivers edge, on the Tonto (a dry camp where we had to insure enough water for a couple days, including the camping), and other times up on the Esplanade, also a dry camp.  The younger contingent and the old master Will slept most nights “under the stars” while Mike and I preferred to use our zPack Hexamid Duplexes.IMG_0212

IMG_0249Mid-November in the Canyon can offer temperatures and conditions across the spectrum.  We had clear days with temps in the 50’s and night time temps in the high 20’s to mid 30’s.  We could hike in shorts most days but had to use all the gear to sleep warm at night.  When you pack ultralight that means wearing all your clothes plus silk long underwear and down booties.  Not every night required the full suit of clothing but an 18- to 24-oz sleeping bag needs extra layers of insulation to help below freezing.SANY0022

It’s always interesting to see how hikers are treating their water, be it with a filter pump, chemicals or UV rays.  Will and I carry UV SteriPens which will kill the parasites in 40 seconds for a pint of water.  Chemicals take up to 27 minutes and pumps are heavy, harder and these days “old school.”  The filter of choice now is a Sawyer squeeze filter which our mates used and we had as backup.  One benefit of Fall hiking in the Canyon is the cooler temps require less water consumption so we only had to treat, pump or zap 3-4 liters a day.

P1410390The Grand (as the river is called by the cognoscenti) and the Canyon is full of history and lore that’s fun to discover and hear about.  Our group had several raconteurs and chroniclers, so we enjoyed stories, visited obscure sites, and saw ancient and more recent ruins.  Wish I could retain all that was related over the 8 days. One thing I do recall is that I should read Grand Obsession: Harvey Butchart and the Exploration of the Grand Canyon.
IMG_0367Happy to show anyone all the other photos from the trip. Thanks to group for sharing photos, as many of these are courtesy of them.  We probably have over 500 to choose from.

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What is certain is that I’ll need a refresher course and look forward to the next trip into our local Wonder of the World.  Here’s hoping we can do a reunion trip because we’ll all be “younger next year”.

 

Road less travelled…

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IMG_0096 - Version 2Just back from the road less travelled in the Grand Canyon and I’m a bit conflicted. Don’t get me wrong, it was an excellent trip: great hiking companions, wonderful weather (cept’n cold nights), outstanding views, super off-trail discoveries and just a wonderfully good time.

IMG_0079The conflict arises between wanting to boast about taking a difficult and occasionally challenging route that few people get to experience (because it’s off the normal hiking itinerary, at the far west end of the Grand Canyon trail system, involves crossing an Indian political Fee triangle, has a IMG_018720′ rappel, descends a rabbit hole with an ancient sapling for the final down-climb, and isn’t for the IMG_0114exposure-phobic folks like Stanna) and seeing one-other-group-a-day IMG_0111traveling this self-same route like it was no big deal, just something else on their bucket list.

Granted these “other” groups appeared to be skilled, proficient and worthy of boasting they’d notched their hiking poles for this route, but geeze, we figured we were part of a different 0.01%” that was able to brag about being the only ones in that area. Evidently this Route Less Travelled attracts 90% of the 0.01% or some other statistical aberration.

pano4The upside of my conflict is that there are just more people “out there” doing things that make them Younger Next Year, and that pleases me immensely. Not all that we saw were ultra light which would have pegged the glad-scale, but we did get impressed when a light-pack-looking bike-helmeted pair from northern California “interviewed” us all on our gear.  The trick question back to them was “So let’s cut to the chase.  What’s ‘your’ base weight?” To which they “weren’t sure.”  Also impressive was one of a three-person group just behind us on the rappel leg, who evidently free climbed down the 20′ drop while we were putting our packs on.  I’d have like to seen that.

IMG_0127Fortunately, in the 55+ miles of trail we only sighted those other groups on the horizon or passed them going the opposite direction.  One solo hiker wasn’t very amiable when he brushed/bumped past during a fairly steep decline.  Perhaps he was concerned his (reported later by other hikers) apples, cheese and stick of butter rations didn’t allow for small talk.  So we did have all the trails and camps to ourselves save those brief encounters.

Details to follow…

Homework and Prep

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IMG_0086Stanna has been more productive than me this last week.  She’s almost done with another shawl.  It takes at least 4 times as long to plan, warp and thread the loom as it does to weave it.  Right now she’s weaving, enjoying the “dessert” of the efforts.

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All I managed was a measly sun shade for the upcoming desert hike. It’s long been on a list, but the crux move was locating an ultra-light fabric.  Fortunately, friend Janet had a remnant piece available and even gave me a pattern.  Velcro fasteners are heavier than the fabric shade itself so it barely adds any weigh to my load.

 

RecentHikesMike Taylor and I knocked off a couple of training hikes for the Grand Canyon adventure this last week and one mountain bike ride.  A couple hours into the ride we wondered why we were on a trail we wouldn’t even enjoy walking on.  Unusually heavy Fall rains had really rutted the tracks to the point of taking the fun out of the ride.  Fortunately the three hikes (left traced on Google Earth) offered smoother trails and lingering Fall colors.

IMG_0079The big November adventure will be an 8-day hike down into the Grand Canyon following the Royal Arch and South Bass trails.  If we’re lucky we could be some of the first to glimpse the results of a 96-hour flood release from Glen Canyon Dam to replace the sands and silting along the Colorado River beaches and bends. Map on the right is the GPX tracks pre-loaded on my iPhone GPS app.

This will be one of the longer ultra-light backpacking trips I have taken.  Most interesting is that the weight of the food, 9.75 lbs, weighs more than my entire base weight (pack, gear and clothes) at 9.59 lbs.  Biggest unknown is water sources this time of year, so we’re set to carry 4-5 liters each when necessary.  My starting load is calculated to be 27.5 pounds and will decrease by 1.5 pounds of food a day, plus 2.2 pounds less for every liter of water I consume.  If all goes well I should be able to climb out of the Canyon with only the 9.5 pounds plus a little water.

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Food prep is always a fun part of the preparation.  It takes lots of dehydrated ingredients, a kitchen scale and lots of ziplock bags.  We like concocting our own meals, so we can keep the weight down, calories high and taste palatable.  8 dinners, 8 lunches and 8 breakfasts plus snacks takes a bit of work to try and achieve 3,500 calories in 1 1/2 pounds a day.

And Stanna’s still getting out with the Wednesday Women’s Group.  This week they had a private tour of 3 ruins in McElmo Canyon 60 miles west of Durango.  She’s been Trail Boss for the past two seasons, organizing weekly hikes when we’re home.

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Super Week

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What a great week we’ve had.  Our outhouse project made the San Juan Mountain Association centerfold. “All of your unique talents really make a difference in the quest for stewardship on our land we love so much.” Holy shit, 10 photos in the centerfold of a publication that probably has over 350 copies.
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Where to begin. Finding and repairing the fuel hose leak in the power washer was a big deal at the start of the week.  Sussing out the location of my nephew’s new townhome and having a great visit with him was fortuitous and indicative of the luck and fortunes in the week ahead.
We’ve been planning, researching and maneuvering to cut the cord on a number of monthly expenses related to our phones and broadband.  This week we pulled it off when we moved both our iPhones to pay-as-you-go 10¢ a minute.  We’ve never used anywhere close to our “contract” allotments and hated paying the high monthly to AT$T so now we expect to spend far less on our phones per year.
The real coup was “porting” our home phone number to Stanna’s cell phone.  Now when you call our home phone Stanna gets it on her iPhone.  Only disadvantage is this last week of the political robo calling that our hopeful and elected representatives feel is their God-given right to invade our privacy and convenience.
Sticking with the digital theme: We also changed our broadband provider from the pitiful 3 MBPS DSL service to 30 MBPS of cable joy.  I don’t expect Netflix will ever buffer again. Also I managed to solve a broadband cut-out problem for friends Jack and Paula by running a “hard wire” in their home this week as well.
IMG_0058Another digital triumph this week was getting bluetooth in our car.  We love listening to books-on-tape or podcasts when driving cross-country and had never worked that out to our satisfaction.  It took finding a used car at an auction thru a local dealer, but we now have bluetooth for both books and hands-free phone usage.  We took delivery of our new used car this week.  Pretty special. The Avalon is history.
Red cliff loopOf course the best part of each week is getting younger next year and getting back into the routine of exercise each day and becoming guilt-free by 8AM.  I can tell in my spin class when my heart rate peaks above 160 that I’ve been slacking and getting out of shape from my Portland binge. Getting in a couple of hikes this last week has helped bring down the extra pounds gained on that ice cream orgy as well.  Plus I was able to break-in a new pair of hiking tenni’s for my up- coming 8-day Grand Canyon hike.
I shouldn’t leave out a full day with my sister Donna in Silverton knocking out a double turn-over in the Highlander.  We rock when working together cleaning, scrubbing, painting and repairing.
A really super week. I can’t remember a week when so many special things happened and I still have one day to go.

Erica’s Kitchen Phase II

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IMG_9872We’ve just finished the kitchen we started last December in Portland.  Thanks to IKEA and an empty finished wall, the install went from 640 pounds on a shipping pallet to a complementary pantry and storage addition in less than 4 days. Not having any plumbing or electrical also made things easy.

IMG_9873There are probably many reasons IKEA has been so successful world-wide, however besides easy instructions, simple tools required, and snap together pieces, they even bring the cartons inside when they deliver: a bonus when there are stairs involved and heavy bundles.

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The great thing about visiting the store in person is the kitchen design personnel can point out flaws in your thinking and planning even when you’ve done several before: like remembering to add a filler between a cabinet door and the wall. I wasn’t sure why we’d received an expensive side panel until I realized the IKEA lady anticipated an exposed portion of the pantry that I hadn’t seen when laying out the drawings.

IMG_9884Only item missing in the finished setup is a countertop, which will be added later.  Erica now has more storage than she ever imagined with dedicated drawers for things like baking, snacks and canned goods. Here’s last December’s half of the kitchen for the full picture:IMG_9858Oh, and we had a good time seeing the grand-girls and their parents as well.

Everything said here probably sounds like a product placement, but rest assured there was no quid pro quo from IKEA, just fun to have a quick and successful project.

50 years!

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Small Don BLKWe survived my 50th high school reunion in San Mateo, California this weekend. It was a hard decision to make: whether to go or not. It’s not natural to put yourself in awkward situations and I only can remember three guys from my class of ’64 that I hung out with.  Fortunately two of those showed up and helped with the ice-breaking. Only 80 out of 500 showed.

IMG_5226The organizers endeavored to collect fifty-year bio’s on the classmates so we’d be caught up on their histories.  Three or four dozen submitted theirs, so I could scan them ahead of time for mutual commonalities. I’m glad we did. There were a number of sailors, one thru hiker and a cyclist who we could seek out to get our conversations started.

IMG_5222We learned an interesting technique for identifying faces in a multitude of people and got to practice it twice.

We did find a couple of surprising encounters with classmates or their spouses: one woman raised her family on a 49′ Swan pretty much in the same cruising waters we sailed, and a spouse who was raised in Farmington, NM, went to law school in Boulder and one of his first jobs was in Durango involving a tourist couple murdered and stuffed in an outhouse in the 60’s.

Most surprising was being embarrassingly reminded of forgotten prom date partners, who I might have gone to middle or dancing school with, and exactly how long I’d dated certain girlfriends. I struck out on most memory challenges. Thankfully not many were obese or appeared like great-grandmothers in my preconceived notion of 68- and 69-year-olds I’d be revisiting.

IMG_5231It was apparent that the people at the various reunion venues were totally unknown to me, the only ones I ever knew were frozen on the pages of the yearbook.  Only one of my two “buddies” was recognizable after 50 years including me. Now I’ll have to recognize them by number.

AragonThe school has been greatly upgraded and expanded since we first occupied the brand new building (we were the first class to attend Aragon).  A recent proposition allowed for a new 2-story science building, new 1,700-seat gym, re-designed swimming pools and a 400-seat self-standing theater building among other things. Amazing to tour the grounds again after 50 years and see all the improvements.  Our sophomore guide didn’t get the joke about the “culinary arts” studio (3,000 sqft of mini-kitchens) that has microwaves now, since they weren’t even invented in our time.

 

Projects, projects

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IMG_9793Yes, I regularly pickup trash along with our Rotary Club every Spring and Fall.  This year we upgraded our gear to iridescent green, and I took along my GAIA GPS app and tracked the mileage and elevation gain/loss.  My Rotary partner and I managed to get in 3.5 miles and a track that looks like a drunken sailor.  Elevation gain was a surprising 1,542 feet up and same amount down.

IMG_9799More on the fun side was helping Mike Taylor install his Murphy bed and IKEA cabinets in his newly constructed “man cave”.  Layout is real similar to our sewing/guest room.  His was about half the price since we found the Murphy bed kit online and used IKEA cabinetry. I’m eager to see it tricked out once he moves in.

IMG_9803The HIghlander always demands our time in the summer and this week it was a failed flashing seal on the roof access that was allowing heavy rains to slip down it’s sides.  In true tg fashion (“If it’s worth doing, it’s worth over-doing”) there are now three more layers around that box.

All this before we headed out to expand the kitchen for Erica in Portland.  Projects that you can get done in a day’s time are always satisfying.

 

San Juan Skyway

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IMG_7979DejaVu crew were real troopers, literally.  As soon as they came back from their whirlwind tour to northern California, out by way of the Grand Canyon and return via Salt Lake City, they trooped off with us on a 2-day loop around the San Juan Skyway.  (They probably logged 3,000+ miles of windshield time while visiting the West).

San Juan SkywayWe wanted to finish showing off our cruising grounds, since they don’t get this way on their normal passages.  Once again the Mexican hurricanes played havoc with our “300 days of sunny weather in the Four Corners,” pushing a low pressure system over our mountains and trying to dampen our fun with fog, clouds, rain, sleet and finally some snow. Nevertheless, the Fall colors and alpine views shone thru the dreary moments of the excursion. We just had to outfit the crew with foul weather gear before casting off.

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The San Juan Skyway, some 232 miles of our best alpine scenery, circles around from Durango to Telluride, thru Ridgway and on to Ouray and Silverton, before ending back in Durango. There are 4 major passes (Lizard Head, Red Mountain, Molas and Coal Bank) along the way, not to mention Hesperus and Mancos hills plus Dallas Divide to challenge those bike riders attempting the loop.

IMG_8057IMG_8054We generally try to introduce our visitors to Telluride by entering the town via the Mountain Village gondola just to make a dramatic entry into this hidden hot spot.  The 3-stage gondola ride is free in the off season (not sure about the Ski Season) so parking on the other side of the mountain seems like the smartest way to go.  Telluride has alway been a little too rich for my blood, but Helen found out how the locals manage by sorting thru the “free box” which has been a institutional fixture on the corner of “main street” for over 35 years that I know of.

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The Ouray Hot Springs was a highlight as well, primarily because the 105° waters were most welcome to the fair weather sailors. Poaching ourselves while the sleet and snow flakes melt on our heads is always a treat. Neither of us wanted to risk a wet camera so there are no photos of the Hot Springs, you’ll just have to come see for yourselves.

We also managed to see the McKenneys, who evidently were on the same mountain area tour we were the day before and just arrived home as we dropped in.  Their house, Martha’s garden and Tom’s shop were special to see.  Martha’s crops overflowed her raised planters like the Horn of Plenty. Our visit was short because the weather changed to snow and we’d only brought the fair weather vehicle, rather than the heavy weather rig, and wanted to cross the last three passes before the roads got foul.

IMG_8077As per usual, there is always something to check out at the Highlander.  This time Joe and I sleuthed out a minor roof leak revealed by the two past storms. No rest for the handymen.

The crew boarded their homebound flight back to Canada for a well-deserved rest before setting out for the boatyard in Jacksonville and the Bahamas shortly thereafter.

 

Attractive Nuisance Removed

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P1400553The world’s an ever-so slightly better place now because our WIS crew removed an attractive nuisance from the Needleton Trailhead at the Silverton Narrowguage Railroad stop.

This outhouse was probably installed in the 50’s when Needleton town site with it’s few remaining cabins was less of a popular train stop than it is now with almost 10,000 backpackers disembarking at this remote trailhead.

IMG_8002The Weminuche Wilderness area wasn’t designated until 1975 an the Needleton town site is still an “in holding” within the 488,210 acre Wilderness, meaning it’s still privately owned.  Of course the Silverton Narrowguage has it’s right-of-way thru the wilderness as well it’s possible to breech the Wilderness restrictions of “Only primitive forms of travel – foot travel and stock animals – are allowed in Wilderness. This includes motor vehicles, bicycles, wagons, hang gliders, carts and any type of motorized equipment, including chainsaws”.  So the wheelbarrow in the photo was legal just on that tiny parcel at the outhouse and train stop. We brought all our tools in the narrow-gauge train boxcar.
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Our plan was to de-construct the outhouse in order to preserve the barnwood exterior and possible sell it to someone to benefit the San Juan Mountain Association, however once we took a few boards off we were more certain of it’s provenance and little value.  Nevertheless, we still had to pack out the entire structure so we kept the lumber in as much original state as possible.  Tipping it over, proved expeditious to it’s disassembly.

P1400556P1400562It only took 50 minutes for us to have it apart and another 45 minutes to pull all the nails.  After we broke up the concrete base we burned the shingles and scrap wood in the 4 foot iron base. Then we filled the holes and adjacent depressions with the broken up concrete and numerous wheelbarrows of rock, before we set to “naturalizing” the site.

IMG_8004This process took us five times the amount of work, because we had to find a source of easily transportable dirt, not to mention rocks, plants, duff and gravel to give the mound a unobtrusive natural look.

We camped up river overnight and came back the next day to finish off the project and ended up removing three large fire rings and naturalizing them at the same time.

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IMG_8002If you’ve read this far, it’s worth showing at couple more photos since this started out with removing 4 large trash bags of trash that had been thrown down the seat.  And what the load all bundled and bagged up looked like for the baggage car home. It was fitting that we took on this project during the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act.IMG_8006

 

 

The crew was pretty satisfied with the results.

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DejaVu Passage thru Durango

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IMG_7955Joe and Helen Berry made a quick passage thru Durango this week en route to California and should be back through here in a week. We spent the first day catching up and doing a little mac’ing out.  Helen had been here visiting Rita several years back, but this was the first trip for Joe since his family vacations of his youth.  They let us show off the town by visiting an artists street fair, walking downtown thru the gauntlet of tourist shops, and driving the rim for an overlook of our compact community.

IMG_7972Rita and her new beau came for dinner and we recounted old times from Tarpon Springs. Joe & Helen go way back with Rita, as she was there when DejaVu was conceived behind the Tarpon house. Rita lives in Durango now, and the Berrys in Canada when they aren’t on their beautiful cat in the Bahamas.

 

 

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Mexican hurricanes brought a low pressure area to the San Juan’s so we had to delay a trip to Silverton by a day, which gave Helen and Joe a chance to tour Kurt’s boat currently hauled in a local yard. The master shipwright gave Kurt lots of sage advice and tips he graciously accepted.

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We wanted them to see some of our heritage homeland and past projects up in Silverton so we chanced the weather and headed north in a squall.  By the time we got to Animas Forks and the restored mining town structures, the weather was just fine.  Elevations above 11,000′ didn’t phase the the sea-level mariners a bit, and when the clouds lifted they got to see the San Juan’s famous changing of the colors with the iridescent yellow and red aspens and scrub oaks.

IMG_7980Joe got into photographing some of our mining and railroad history while we toured the restored buildings of Animas Forks, high above Silverton.

After a tailgate lunch on the 4Runner in the high country, we made it back just in time to catch the Silverton narrow gauge train back to Durango. Joe shot another 100 photos on the downwind run.

IMG_7988IMG_7957We sure look forward to their layover on the way back.  Stanna wants Joe to tweak the flying shuttle on her loom just a little more, and we’d like to show them another couple days of this wonderful country.  We sure enjoy it when you all visit us in our undisclosed remote location.

 

 

Urban Hiking

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With all day to explore several towns and a Swiss train pass to travel between places we still managed to get in almost ten miles a day visiting castles, and walking the waterfront of Lake Geneva. Our first day off we actually traveled back to Zermatt where we finished last year’s Haute Route hike. It seems bizarre to zip around on a few trains and a cog railway just to go to lunch, but with the rail pass you can travel anywhere in Switzerland on buses, trains and some gondolas, so why not have lunch in Zermatt? The Matterhorn wasn’t as glorious a view as last year’s cloudless sunny day, however it’s fun to notice and see the changes taking place.

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The Chateau du Chillon in Montreux was a favorite site on Stanna’s 2012 trip and impressed me as well this year. Unlike other historical structures, one could visit almost every nook and cranny of this 1200-year-old many-leveled castle, from the dungeon to the ramparts. The castle was far larger than it appeared from the lake bank where it was situated on a toll road “pinch point” between the mountain slope and waters of the lake, because we spent over three hours wandering thru the reception halls, bed chambers, wine cellars, chapels and quarters.

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Most interesting was to learn that the Count (the highest local nobles of the times) only spent three days in most of his castles, traveling continuously with his entire retinue around his realm in order to maintain his authority. Seeing and learning about the way they transported every item of their household from clothing to dishes. As many as three hundred carts hauled everything in trunks which were carried up into each castle where staff setup bedrooms, hangings, bathtubs and the lot.

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Another interesting fact was what was required of the locals each time the royals showed up. They had to fete the group for their entire stay, providing everything from firewood (1000 carts-full), 100’s of animals for meat and literally tons of other food stuffs (a list of which would fill our largest supermarket several times over). Of course each castle housed the local bailiff or constable who collected taxes for the region, generally consisting of in-kind goods, which were audited with each of the royal visits.

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IMG_9149.JPGStanna’s special day was celebrated with a lakeside dinner and chocolate dessert and we learned that Wiesbaden, my German heimatstadt in the 70‘s, was only 4 days 7 hours and 30 minutes hike from Montreux.

 

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Rather than zip back to Geneva on the train we choose to walk along the lake to the next town, Vevey, where we ran into a memorial to Charlie Chaplin who happen to live here many years. Interesting contrast to see the opulent and grand chateaux lakeside compared to the farmers’ huts and homes in the mountains. Even the cities and urban towns had some agriculture within the city limits although most the lakeside crops were vineyards.

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Another great trip to Switzerland.

“Home Thoughts from Abroad”

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What we like most about traveling is the constant thought, discussion, comparison and even research (thanks to instant access usually nightly to the Internet via iPad) that we involve ourselves in. The cultural, economic, infrastructural, construction style and method, domestic and commercial ways that are different as well as those that are the same.

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Almost every construction site is a place to pause and ponder, “what would McKenney think about this…?” Half timber construction is everywhere in the mountains, scaffold techniques and requirements that would warm the hearts of TSA-emboldened OSHA inspectors, copper rain gutters on the steep snow- and ice-prone roofs, not to mention 300-year-old buildings serving contemporary needs.

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Public transportation we know surpasses ours, but we spend continued hours realizing, or better speculating, why the Swiss have theirs working like their renowned clocks. Trains that depart shortly after regional buses arrive, even buses that leave minutes after gondolas descend. It all makes perfect logical sense but to see and experience it work is not only convenient but inspiring. Just the stable of bus sizes ranging from intracity 3-car articulated buses to the 3 or more sizes of ubiquitous Post buses deployed in rural and mountain communities. There just isn’t a need for a car, and when there is one the size of a Rav4 is large.

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Construction and transportation are easy comparisons but we get challenged by population distribution, GDP, percent tourism provides to the ecomomy, ethnic diversity, ownership of the alps and fascination with why mountain bikers strap their helmets on their handlebars riding the tortuous uphills trails, how it is that families are still farming right within towns, even to the point of mowing and raking the grasses down those steep slopes around their homes. Or even why public restrooms have blue lights.

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What’s finally occurred to me is that even if Switzerland and Colorado were equal sizes in population, GDP and geography (which they aren’t quite), the difference is that Switzerland’s federal taxes go directly into funding infrastructure within it’s borders while Colorado’s federal tax contributions go to a much broader national budget. If Colorado had that 15 or 20% of it’s Income as tax to spend on infrastructure we might afford trains, eduction and roads like Switzerland. Or we might see more soccer fields downtown with parking underneath for the adjacent stores.

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There are still plenty of things I like better in the states. It’s just fun to think how two western cultures do things differently and yet how many of the things are the same, just with different logos or labels.