Friends - I hope you will allow me a pause in our trip to Cambodia and Vietnam. Partially, we are at a logical stopping point: the next place we will visit is Siam Reap with perhaps that most famous of Cambodian monuments, Angkor Wat. Partially, because after the horrors of Tuol Sleng, a palate cleanser is order.
Mostly perhaps, because I would like to go back to the Grand Canyon before the experience is too much behind me.
Longer term readers may remember that this is not the first time that I have been to the Grand Canyon; the last time was in 2021. That was a very different trip for this one (also, it seems, it was one of the first times I tried to write a trip as other than a series of pictures).
I had fully intended to go and hike the Grand Canyon last year; sadly due to Hammerfall 3.0 I was unable to pay for it (however, they did keep my deposit which just got moved to this year, which is super nice of them).
I enjoy hiking the Grand Canyon. It is incredibly different from my hikes in the Sierra Nevadas. As I have explained to others, when you live in a rainy environment the world is defined by its different shades of greens. Here in the Grand Canyon it is is defined by the shades the rocks that one sees, mostly reds and purples.
Also, the opportunity to see the Colorado River again was not to be missed.
This hike promised to be quite different from the one we made in 2021. It was considered more technically difficult. Also, it was out of the North Rim instead of the South Rim. And finally - unlike the last hike - we would be descending and ascending and then descending back down to the River. No Escalante route where we could largely hike near the Colorado.
Transport to our starting point - Flagstaff AZ - was via a flight to Las Vegas, meeting up with The Outdoorsman and The Brit, and then a four hour drive into Arizona (I had never actually been "through" the Las Vegas airport before but only changed flights there. There are worse airports.).
We overnighted in Flagstaff after our pack check, had a delicious traditional burger meal with a beer, and then got up early the next morning for our pickup and drive to the trailhead.
Adventure awaited.
Excellent photos. They make me reflect how subjective environmental preferences are. I grew up in the midwest with lots of trees. I had a friend who grew up in New Mexico in the desert. At the time we both lived near the bayous of gulf coast, yet we each loved and missed the ecosystem we grew up in. Even so, I guess this is what makes travel so interesting.
ReplyDeleteThank you Leigh! All done with whatever version of the phone I have. I am quite impressed with its photographic capabilities.
DeleteI wonder if part of why we miss the ecosystems of our youth is that we become accustomed to them. For example, I cannot imagine thinking fondly of the heat and humidity of the Southeastern U.S., but there are people that stay and never leave it.
That said, I do like seasonal changes, which was a byproduct of where we grew up but not of New Home. That I probably missed as much as the weather.
Yes! Just what was needed this cold, dark, wintery morning.......splashes of blue sky....thanks TB! Looking forward to this adventure.
ReplyDeleteWe aim to please our customer base, Nylon12!
DeleteOther than a bit of cloudiness our first day out, we pretty much had sun - which was good and bad. Temperatures never got much above the mid 80's/28 C, but that is still more than enough with a pack and no shade.
Although I love the change in scenery, the thing that keeps me from staying in such a place is just the aridness of the environment. All my skin dries out and any wounds I sustain against cacti or sharp rocks of which there are plenty of both, never quite seem to heal. Going back to my Midwest home is like soaking in a bath of aloe.
ReplyDeleteEd, I am not much of a desert rat either. And to be fair, we have gone in the late Autumn, when temperatures are "manageable". That said, it really does make one appreciate the value of water and water sources and how civilizations ended up where they did.
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