apAdventures

Some photos from a run up Douglas Springs Trail last week:

posted by arr

Imogene Pass Run is fast approaching. Only 4 weeks away! We made another trip to Flagstaff so Mandy and I could get some training in. This weekend’s goal: Complete a 17 mile loop up on Mt. Humphreys. And we did!…woohoo! Oh, and of course we did some climbing while we were up there too. 🙂 Here are some pics from the weekend. No climbing pics unfortunately because my camera battery died.

Ivan and Alina at Priest Draw. What’s she so excited about over there?

Dalan, Silas and Mia

The pony’s in for it

I’ve given up long ago trying to keep this boy clean while climbing

One of the many gorgeous views on mine & Mandy’s 17 mile loop. From the Snowbowl parking lot we ran the Kachina Trail to the Weatherford Trail up to the Humphreys Saddle and then down Humphrey’s Trail back to the parking lot.

Mandy contemplating what she’s gotten herself into

Gaining elevation

Still gaining…

Almost there

The apex of our journey. On a clear day you can see the Grand Canyon from here. This day was too hazy.

Mandy at Humphreys saddle and psyched!

The boys got jealous of us gal’s big run so later that afternoon we watched the kids while they went off on a short excursion of there own. They ran a 5ish mile loop from the campsite up to the Kachina Trail and back down the campsite road. Here’s John on the Kachina Trail.

Paul on the Kachina Trail

Relaxing at camp after a hard day’s play

The next day’s agenda: Paul and John go for an early summit bid of Humphreys via the Humphreys Trail (~10 miles roundtrip) and then afternoon bouldering at Priest Draw. Here’s Paul on the summit. 10 miles + v10 = Ultimate Winner of the Day. Paul just missed it by falling on the last few moves of Lolita on the Mars Roof.

This about sums up the weekend. Tuckered out!

posted by arr

Itching to stretch our muscles after all our eastern-ly travels, we wasted no time after arriving home and headed up to Flagstaff this past weekend. Paul is eager to tick some of his long-standing Priest Draw projects and I’ve committed to running the Imogene Pass Run in Colorado this September. So Flagstaff is the place to be. We met up with our friends John and Mandy and their three little ones (I talked Mandy into running Imogene too!…not that she needed any persuading) and had a fabulous time, despite the torrential monsoon downpours!

Ivan, psyched to be out on another big adventure

…but not quite sure which activity to try first: bouldering, trail running or investigating his newly found fingers/hands

Silas’ choice is simple: Diggers. All the time diggers.

…or picking flowers for mama again

Ivan enjoying the bouldering

Silas too

And let’s not forget mama

Now dad’s turn

Paul working out the moves on BK Broiler, v10

More BK Broiler

Construction / snack zone

Tree hugger

My Morgie

Paul on Lolita, v10

More Lolita

Attack of the Silas! (Silas loves to jump on dad after dad falls off the boulder)

Don’t throw rocks please

Away from the pads while dad is climbing please

Me and my boys

“Baby Ivan sooo cute”

Are these what I think they are?

Yes! The fingers I’ve been drooling over all day!

Hey, mama’s sending! Doesn’t anyone care?

Silas with his new friend Mia and her ponies

posted by arr

The Coronado National Forest is in lockdown. No camping, no picnicking, no hiking, no climbing, no trail running, no nothing. Do not enter. The Coronado National Forest encompasses all mountains surrounding Tucson. This means no Catalinas (i.e. Mount Lemmon), no Rincons, no Santa Ritas, no Chiricahuas, nada. Seriously. Due to the extremely dry conditions (and no doubt the fact that the country’s firefighters are all busy fighting other AZ fires), we can’t risk a spark. The mountains are closed until further notice. Read: Rain. And the monsoon season is at least a month out.

We’ve been turned away from the cool forests during the hot summer before – Flagstaff has closed the Coconino Forest in the past (i.e. no Priest Draw), but never on our home turf. And now hanging around the house on this lazy Sunday with the temps cookin’ outside Paul and I are at a loss of what to do to. It just so happens Paul decided to sign up to run Colorado’s Imogene Pass Run this fall to enforce a serious rest from climbing to heal up his elbow tendonitis. Not good. If one can’t get on the trails and run up the mountains, how exactly does one properly train for a 17 mile race that runs from Ouray to Telluride up and over a 13,000+ foot pass? Dunno.

With each southwest summer and the smothering 100+ degree temps it brings, I like to try to compare it to the coldest of cold winters in the Northeast. Only the tough will survive. Only the hardcore will dare go out it in. Only the crazy will actually ..gasp.. enjoy it. So I remind myself of this as I put Silas down for his afternoon nap and glance at the thermostat that reads 102 degrees, and then proceed to go outside into the oven to campus. Tough, yeah. Hardcore, yeah. Crazy, yeah. My mantra has never been so necessary as it is now. What other option do I have? How else can I train? Dunno.

The one thing we do know is that they haven’t closed the Flagstaff forests. No yet anyway. So probably like all other Tucsonians that need to escape the heat we’ll be heading back up there very soon. Here are some photos from last weekend’s trip:

Silas giving his go on a variation of Bat Roof, v3

Contemplating the day’s climbing

Awaiting his power breakfast – hurry it up, Dad, I’m ready to go climbing

Warming up

The usual cuteness

More climbing

Are we heading to the rocks soon?

The drool kiss. I love it.

Finally! We’re at the rocks. Now get climbing mama!

Singing itsy btsy spider on top of his trusty friend

Mama being all spider-like on Meateater, v7

Meateater, v7

posted by arr

Paul’s sister-in-law Francine was here for a short visit this weekend. It was her first time seeing Silas and her first time in Tucson. As for showing her the sites, we packed in as much as reasonable….leaving plenty of Silas-cuddle-time. 🙂

Paul, Silas and Francine near the summit of Mt. Lemmon. (Not that Francine needed any more sights of snow; she just dug herself out of Pittsburgh’s crazy snow dump to get here!)

Marshall’s Gulch, Mt. Lemmon

The whole family

Marshall’s Gulch, Mt. Lemmon

Mt. Lemmon’s Ski Valley, the southernmost ski resort in the U.S.

Our first babysitting opportunity (thanks to Auntie Francine) and where do we go? No, not the movies…on a trail run of course! Bridalveil Falls, Douglas Springs Trail

Bridalveil Falls, Douglas Springs Trail

Bridalveil Falls, Douglas Springs Trail

posted by arr

The family fun started off with some local activities: a day trip to Bisbee, a hike on Mt. Lemmon, good food and lots of tequila. Part II of the family fun took Paul, myself, brown dog Morgan, and my parents to the Grand Canyon for a few days. My mom had never seen the canyon before, my father just got a quick glimpse of it back in ’03, and the last visit for Paul and I was the big “Grand Canyon Adventure” in Oct of ’06. So needless to say, all of us were all pretty anxious to do a little more than just the standard peer over the South Rim, tourist style.

The original Plan A was for the four of us to all hike down to Plateau Point together; a nice little family day hike. ‘Nice and little’, however, is hardly an accurate description. After Paul and I refreshed our poor memories with the fact that this was a 12.2 mile hike roundtrip, with over 3,000 feet elevation gain (ahem,”loss”), we all quickly realized that this wasn’t quite what we had in mind for a fun family hike. Thankfully, we realized the magnitude of this hike up on the Rim versus down in the heated depths of the Canyon, (contrary to all the misfortunate hikers in “Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon;” a *fascinating* book of gruesome cooked-to-a-crisp mishaps in the big G.C. that we picked up in the gift shop and just CAN’T PUT DOWN!) 🙂

On to Plan B. Now, let me just mention one thing here – had Paul and I devised Plan B in the car on the way to the G.C., it most likely would have gone something along the lines of a moderate out-and-back, minimal elevation, perhaps hiking the Rim Trail from start to finish, etc. But no. The answer to Plan B was immediately dictated upon our first glance into the Canyon and down at Plateau Point: Paul and I were going. And that’s all there was to it. We *had* to go. The gravitation of the Canyon was practically yanking us off the South Rim. Come on in! It’s a party down here! Perhaps this is the natural tendency of the massive Canyon….does everyone feel this way or is it just us? Or perhaps the big “Grand Canyon Adventure” pried open another passion that is quietly, patiently waiting for us to get this rock climbing obsession out of our blood so that we can move on to bigger mileage mentality (not likely, haha). Whatever the case may be, Paul and I decided right then and there that we were goin’, and goin’ in deep.

So Plan B turned out to be this: Paul, myself, Mom and Dad would all leave the South Rim together and start heading down Bright Angel Trail. Paul and I would run, and Mom and Dad would hike. After 2 hours of downward progress, the plan was for both parties to turn around and start heading back up to the South Rim. At 2 hours, Paul and I estimated we’d be at Plateau Point (6.1 miles) and my parents somewhere around the 3 mile rest-house. Paul and I would then book it up to meet up with Mom and Dad and we’d all enjoy the Rim top-out together. That was the plan, man.

Well, our estimate couldn’t have been anymore dead on. Paul and I made it to the amazing Plateau Point, and my parents to a sweet vista just below the 3 mile rest house. Both parties enjoyed a tasty lunch with a view to die for. Paul and I met back up with my parents about 1.5 miles from the Rim and we all cruised to the top. A perfect hike in the world’s most perfect Canyon.

Well, the snow didn’t last too long at the house. The sun came out mid-morning, so by the time we got home from work the only remaining snow was up in the mountains and bits here and there in the shadows. Paul, Linda and I wanted to end this ‘snow day’ with a trail run up on the mountain, however, the Catalina Highway was said to still be closed. We decided instead to turn our running legs toward this lower elevation trail that we had yet to check out before, the Agua Caliente Trail, the trailhead only minutes from our house. Turned out to be a great trail and a great run.

Then to top it all off, we finished the day with some warm, snow-day, homemade cookin’: Great Grandma’s macaroni and cheese, vegetable soup, and chocolate chip cookies. Mmmmm.

Stellar day. 🙂

It’s a good thing we’ve been doing a lot of trail running the past few months because we had to sprint through the airport to catch our connecting flight to Pittsburgh. Thank goodness because the next available flight was two and a half days later due to the Denver snow storm. I guess our luck at the beginning of the trip was a good sign because the entire 10 days we were away turned out awesome!

Click on the photo below and see a short slideshow of a few places we went while in Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, we were only able to make it into the climbing gym one time. Unfortunate because we are getting a little out of shape but not so unfortunate since we got to do so much stuff with family and friends. To try and stay a little in shape while eating, eating, eating and more eating we managed to blast out a few “city runs.” Instead of seeing views of mountains or wild animals the city certainly had comparable sights to the mountain trail runs we are used to. The graffiti along the “jail trail” (which actually leads to the Pittsburgh jail) is full of beautiful colors and hidden messages (like f**k the police). Also, we always managed to keep a nice fast pace because of the need to dart past cars in traffic, crossing streets at the “right” time, bums asking you for money, and just plain weird people you don’t want to talk with. Overall it was a blast and I loved being back in my home town. I shouldn’t convey that the entire time running was full of city excitement. On two of our runs we managed to escape the noise and crowds of people by hopping on the trails in Frick Park and Shenley Park.

One of the biggest highlights of our trip and probably a favorite by both April and I were the two hikes we took with my parents. We visited Cooper’s Rock State Park in West Virginia and Linn Run State Park, about 1 hour outside of Pgh. The weather was perfect both days. Actually, that depends on how you view perfect. I think of it begin near what I consider the perfect temperature for climbing. But, not perfect when you think that it’s December! What’s going on? Where’s the snow? Check out the photos to see what I’m talking about.

Actually, the snow was in Tucson (so we heard)! And…it snowed at our house!

Today is October 2nd…our wedding anniversary. Paul and I have spent this celebration day hobbling around with sore legs and big smiles. Our leg muscles are destroyed from the last 2 days of strenuous running/hiking. Our smiles are beaming as we discuss and recap the stellar vistas that those tired legs carried us to. We are celebrating for 2 reasons. The first reason, another happy year of marriage together. The second reason, another exciting adventure together.

Saturday morning, at 6:07am, Paul and I embarked on one of our most amazing adventures yet: Run from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon to the North Rim. Sleep. Then run back the next day. The planned route was to take the Bright Angel Trail from the South Rim down to the Colorado River and over to the Phantom Ranch (9.6 miles, 4320 feet elevation loss). From there we would take the North Kaibab trail all the way up to the North Rim (13.8 miles, 5770 feet elevation gain). And then from there, we’d make our way over to the Grand Canyon Lodge (1.5 miles, FLAT!). We planned to return by the same route. We were hoping to run the downhills and the flats, and speed-hike the ‘ups’.

So Saturday morning, 6:07am, here we are. Excited, a little nervous, and probably over packed. We each have a backpack filled with water, some warm layers, and food – a light dayhiker’s pack. The Bright Angel trailhead starts right on the edge of the rim on the paved tourist walkway and heads…well,…straight down. Don’t trip or you might start rolling and not stop. The sun is just coming up and the canyon colors are glowing. I try not to look out too deep into the canyon, for fear that I might get scared at the extremely large task we were about to try to accomplish. Well, let’s do this. And we’re off. Paul and I burn down the trail, a focused, quick pace, staying concentrated on the terrain underfoot to avoid any tweeks or twists on the joints. As the sun rises and the rays creep into the depths, the canyon walls flame up around us. We take a few breaks to take in the beauty and snap some pics.

2 hours later, we’re staring at the massive Colorado River. 2 hours…woo! We’re cruisin’! A couple miles upstream lies the Phantom Ranch and we’re psyched. We trot along merrily through the white beach-like sand that borders the river and soon we reach the suspension bridge to cross. (Little did we realize, we’ve been training our legs all summer for uphills, not downhills, and our legs would scream this at us later for dropping almost 4500 ft in 2 hours).

Upon arrival at the Phantom Ranch, we see that the place is not as dramatic as we had imagined it would be. We were picturing huge, red, vertical walls on all sides – the ranch nestled in between the great massive-ness. Instead, we are quite surprised to see that it’s actually pretty wide open down here. If you woke up in your tent in the morning and looked outside, you might not realize how deep into the earth you were. Oh well, tis the excitement of not knowing what to expect. The ranch is bustling with people. Clean people smelling of cologne, dirty people smelling of B.O. You’ve got the mule-riding cabin dwellers and the backpacking tent-sleepers down here. And every now and then you pass, or get passed by, another rim-to-rimmer. You can tell by their quick pace, small packs, and quaint ‘hi’s”. They mean business, baby, so watch out.

At Phantom Ranch, Paul and I pick up the North Kaibab trail and switch our run to a quick hike. My right knee is starting to say hello so we’ve adjusted the pace accordingly. I momentarily consider whether we should turn back due to some pesky knee pain. That moment is soon gone and we excitedly trot forward.

The North Kaibab trail runs up a spur canyon from the Grand Canyon proper. You can actually see this spur canyon, as well as a faint thread of the trail, from the South Rim – we later find out. Immediately upon departure from Phantom Ranch, the walls close in around us and we’re running alongside a gushing stream through a corridor. The air is somewhat cool and the gushing water makes it feel even cooler. Enjoy it now, because it’s about to get hot, hot, hot.

The spur canyon then opens up wide for probably about 5 or so miles. There is absolutely no shade at this point in the day. The trail works its way up at a gentle grade, and the elevation gain is hardly noticeable, which has us worried that the worst is yet to come. Paul and I speed-hike along, thankful that we’ve grown accustomed to exerting ourselves in the heat by training in the Tucson desert all summer. We pass through Cottonwood campground and a (concerned?) old man offers us his advice on the upcoming water stops to the rim. So far, we’re fine with water. There have been way more water stops than we had anticipated, and we realize we’ve probably been carrying too much! We press on.

Finally, the North Kaibab trail starts to ascend at a steeper grade and we’re psyched. We pass by a group of backpackers and a woman asks, “You doing rim to rim?” “Yep!”, we say. “Nice! You look great!” she says. We’re real psyched.

This next section of trail ranks itself as one of the most amazing trails we’ve ever traveled. The switchbacks cut through sheer rock faces. The massive drop-offs from the trail’s edge are breathtaking. The red, white, purple, gold, black, grey, and brown-colored cliffs shoot up in all directions around us, above us, below us. Yes, this section ranks right up there with the best.

It is now about 3pm and Paul and I are barreling up the last sections of switchbacks to the North Rim. We are starting to see golden Aspen trees and evergreens. The air definitely feels like “fall” here. We’re tired, but not that tired. We feel good. Just a few more switchbacks, and……….

……we’re there. We’ve made it to the North Rim. Actually, we’re not there yet. We hold the pace and continue on toward the North Rim Lodge, only 1.5 miles away…and yes, as promised by our topo, the trail is flat…wooo! It has now been 10 hours and 16 minutes and Paul and I cruise up, finally, to the entrance of the Grand Canyon Lodge. The traveling for Day 1 is complete.

We check into our delightful little cabin. It’s cuter than we expected. We have dinner at the main lodge…..a BIG dinner, stuffing ourselves until it hurt. The Grand Canyon Lodge is situated right on the cliffside of the North Rim. Through the giant picture windows of the lodge, Paul and I look out over the gaping gash in the earth. The Grand Canyon looks HUGE from this vista. “Whoa, look over there!” Paul says to me. He’s pointing out the spur canyon that we came up in. We look, and look, and look, following the contours of the canyon as it stretches further and further and further away from our current position and endlessly towards the south rim. “I can’t look anymore,” I say to Paul. The distance that we had come today, and were attempting to travel tomorrow, was too absurd to look at.

Sunday morning, 5:37am. We step out of the cute little cabin and begin Day 2’s journey. It’s dark and Paul and I make our way by headlamp over to the North Kaibab trailhead. There are some others at the trail head as well. Other rim-to-rimmers.

Immediately the trail plunges down, down, down the switchbacks…and my knee is not doing so hot, to say the least. I tell myself that the pain is a product of all the downhill running yesterday and that it’ll feel better on the flats and uphills. And eventually, around 8 miles into the day, it does. We’re now cruising along, at a grandma trot of a run, on that gradual-grade section where the spur canyon opens up wide. Luckily, the sun is still low and behind the walls. We decide to keep pressing forward with minimal stops all the way to Phantom Ranch. We weren’t sure how long the return trip would take us, with sore legs and my bummer knee and other aches and pains that kept creeping up. “Let’s just bang this section out and rest at the ranch.”

We’re now around 13 miles into the day. The trail is endlessly twisting and turning through the roaring stream corridor before Phantom Ranch. Just around the next bend, just around the next bend. We’ll stop when we get to the ranch…….

….our grandma trot turns into a dying-grandma trot. Then it turns into a walk. Then it turns into practically a stumble. I’m feeling somewhat spacey…lightheaded….I’m getting sick of this stupid roaring stream and the canyon doesn’t seem as pretty as it did an hour ago….my feet hurt…my legs hurt…I can’t WAIT to get on some uphill terrain….give the downhill muscles some relief and turn on the fresh uphill muscles….Paul and I haven’t spoken in the last 30 minutes…is he still behind me?…turn around to look back….whoa, off balance…don’t fall into the stream! Yep, here’s the part of the adventure where you’re like “hmmm, things could be better right about now.” Just around the next bend….just around the next bend….

And there it is. Phantom Ranch. Heaven on earth. The roaring stream corridor is over and Paul and I sit for the first time in 14 miles. We relax, eat, look at the beauty around us, and chat. We’re re-charged.

The final stretch feels great. Our uphill-honed legs thank us for the change in the terrain and treat us nicely all the way up to the South Rim. We cruise at a pace faster than estimated. Wooo!! We’re psyched once again. Seeing the trail go by in reverse is almost like being on an entirely different trail. Vista, after amazing vista….it’s endless.

11 hours. The 49th mile of the weekend. We’re making our way up the last switchback of our Grand Canyon adventure. We can hear cars and people just above us on the South Rim. The trail is packed now with tourists strolling down from the rim to get a better glimpse of the depths below. We stop briefly for one final water break and to savor the canyon interior one last time. 2 older men (from Pittsburgh!) start asking us questions. They slowly pry out of us what we’d been up to over the last 2 days. After much disbelief and serious judgement on sanity, they ask “Well, here’s the real question: Did you enjoy it?”

“Every step.”

Our tradition to do a hike every year on our wedding anniversary started last year, on our 1st ever anniversary. Next weekend April and I will celebrate our 2nd year anniversary and continue our tradition. Yep, we’re going to do a hike (and run). Uh…maybe we’ve gone crazy but this is what we have planned…

1. Saturday September 30th: Hike/Run from the Grand Canyon’s South Rim to the North Rim

– 25.3 miles (counting the hike to the North Rim lodge)

I should plot this but here is the elevation profile from South to North
Bright Angel Trail Head 6800ft
Mile and a Half Resthouse 5730ft
3 Mile Resthouse 4920ft
Indian Gardens 3800ft
Plateau Pt. 3760ft
River Resthouse 2480ft
Bright Angel Campground 2480ft
Ribbon Falls 3720ft
Cottonwood Camp 4080ft
Supai Tunnel 6800ft
North Kaibab Trailhead 8250ft

2. Sunday October 1st: Hike/Run from the Grand Canyon’s North Rim to the South Rim

– 25.3 miles (counting the hike from the North Rim lodge)

North Kaibab Trailhead 8250ft
Supai Tunnel 6800ft
Cottonwood Camp 4080ft
Ribbon Falls 3720ft
Bright Angel Campground 2480ft
River Resthouse 2480ft
Plateau Pt. 3760ft
Indian Gardens 3800ft
3 Mile Resthouse 4920ft
Mile and a Half Resthouse 5730ft
Bright Angel Trail Head 6800ft

3. Monday October 2nd: Relax…it’s our anniversary!!!!