This weekend: an out-and-back from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, down the North Kaibab trail to the Manzanita Rest Area. 11.5 miles total and 3641 feet elevation loss / gain. While there’s nothing at all special about the Manzanita Rest Area, the North Kaibab is my favorite trail of all time, and in the top 3 for Paul. We were SO eager and excited to show it off to the kids. Giddiness was as high as it gets as we all quite literally bounded down the trail in the early wee hours of the morning. My memory did not disappoint, the terrain was as beautiful and wild as I remembered it.
And the kids…LOVED it. ❤️
After our morning hike we checked into a sweet little campsite at the North Rim Campground. We spent the rest of the day chillaxing, then decided to walk the rim over to the lodge for a cocktail, bringing our total daily mileage up to 15.5 miles. One would think the boys would be beat by then and ready to hit the sleeping bags early. Um, nope. Not these boys:
I scoured Tucson area trail maps Friday evening, looking for the next big banger. After summiting the Santa Ritas (south of Tucson), and then the Catalinas (north of Tucson), I sooo wanted to get to the top of something in the Rincons (east of Tucson). While the mileage and vertical gain stats of Rincon Peak looked very tempting, the trail is on the wrong side of the mountain for a summer time hike – the eastern slope. Douglas Springs is another option, a favorite we run often, but to summit any of Rincon’s three peaks from “Dougie” is waaay too much mileage to crank out and back in a morning before the heat. Dang.
Close the Rincons map, open the Catalinas map…. Eh. We’ve done all these trails!
Close the Catalinas map, open the Santa Ritas map… Hmmm. We’ve summited Mt. Wrightson a few times now, but via the same trail – the trail that EVERYBODY summits with, Old Baldy. Looking at the map though, there’s all kinds of stuff! I find a nice looking line up Florida Canyon (pronounced Flo ree’ da), with the option to connect to Baldy Saddle, and on up to Wrightson if one is feeling extra wild.
Florida Canyon it is! Not quite all the way to Baldy Saddle but good ‘nuff: 12.5 miles, 5k elevation gain and the entire trail all to our ourselves. With the overgrowth, single track, and pristine grassy and flowery saddles, it’s obvious that this is a trail less, if ever, traveled.
Just a wee bit overgrown. I will NOT be wearing a skirt to work anytime in the near future.
Today was a Mt. Lemmon day. We decided on a trail up high, on account of all this wonderful rain we got in the last 48 hours thanks to a very generous tropical storm in Mexico. Sure enough, all the canyons were gushing and water was coming out of everywhere on our drive up the mountain. We parked at the tippy top, hucked on our hydration packs, and scurried passed all the day-trippers. We headed west, down the ridge. Following the Mt. Lemmon trail we hooked south and started descending down toward the Wilderness of Rocks.
Oh the clouds! Remnants of the prior days’ storm, clouds and mist whisked passed us and over us. What would typically have been a very sunny, and thus very hot trail (too much rock for trees to grow in the Wilderness of Rocks!), was moist and shady and lovely. Today was the perfect day for this adventure.
And an adventure it was. Headed back east now on the Wilderness of Rocks Trail we crossed water maybe a dozen? Two dozen times? It was hard to keep track. Once we even had to wade, as there were no rocks to hop on. And another time we crossed a dead tree that was suspended a little to high for comfort over the water. The trail was overgrown and at times hard to follow with all the water. Our feet got soaked, our legs got ripped to shreds, and we lost the trail many times. It was a fantastic 10 mile day.
Summited Mt. Wrightson today, 11 miles and 4000 feet elevation gain. The monsoon rains have been good to us this summer in Arizona. And as a result, Wrightson was bursting with greenery, wildflowers and the most diverse display of mushrooms I have ever seen in my life! I got pictures of most, but not all. We saw a black mushroom only once and I neglected to snap a photo.
We did a little jaunt with Joe and Holly yesterday: a loop up and around Grandeur Peak above Salt Lake City. Only about 10 miles and 4000+ feet elevation gain. 😉
Our 6th annual November Yosemite Valley trip has finally come to a close and we’re in the van now, driving back to Tucson. Yesterday’s climbing day had the psyche but not the juice to pull off any big sends. No big deal though, as we are all very tired and extremely satisfied. Stats from our stellar trip:
Days climbed: 10 out of 14
Days rained out: zero
Problems sent: too many to count
Routes climbed: zero, although we did rope up to suss the moves out on a highball boulder problem – Spock Was Here, v6
Hikes: two big ones and many small ones
Bike rides: too many to count
Dinner at the Curry Pizza Deck: twice, exclusively reserved for days of big sends
Marshmallows cooked over a campfire: a whole bag minus 3
Dog poop incidents: one, involving Ivan and his bike
Bear poop incidents: one, involving Silas and his shoe
Major first aid incidents: only one! Last trip Silas banged the blunt end of an ax on his head, this trip he just peeled off…oh I dunno…5 or 6 layers of skin from his middle finger in a bike crash
Minor first aid incidents: two. Ivan cheese-grated his face skidding off a slab climb and Paul bit it on the fire ring walking across camp to go pee late at night without a headlamp
Number of times the kids in the campground didn’t become instant lifelong buddies of our kids: once. This is officially a first! Ivan was told by these two boys that they didn’t want to play with him anymore. He came back to camp all confused and sad. After some prying, I believe it maybe had something to do with these other boys being bigger and older, racing on fancy geared mountain bikes and getting beat by Ivan. Just once or many times? I asked. “All the times.” 😬
Interesting animal sightings: bear, wolf, heron, deer, ravens, and two bucks with big racks fighting
Average hours of sleep per night: a blissfully glorious 11. Every. Single. Night.
Showers: one. With all the climbing, hiking and biking, we couldn’t really find time to ever fit this in
To celebrate our 17 year wedding anniversary: a ride on the Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, a cozy cabin, and a gorgeous hike in fall colors.
Mt. Wrightson: 9,456 feet, 10ish mile hike via the Old Baldy trail with over 4K feet of elevation gain. Well over 100 degrees this day but we hit the trail at 5:30am to beat the heat. Our buddy John joined us (a well deserved Father’s Day morning for this father of 4). Wrightson was a first for Ivan and I. Paul and Silas did it last summer. All participants were psyched start to finish. And the ladybugs on the summit were quite the special treat.
