Spring Break 2015: Day 7

I awoke at 7:35am to my tent attempting to flip since it was not staked down. Everyone else started waking up around the same time. I got ready, and then worked on loading the car (which always feels like a game of Tetris, and I wanted it to be well packed since we would be driving all the way back to Austin).

We left the camp site around 9:15am. The drive out of Zion was pretty - I really love Zion. The rocks and cliffs are so awesome! We drove an hour to get coffee and generally chill at Willow Canyon Outdoor in Kanab.

Once we hit the road again, we drove through Marble Canyon, where we were for most of last year's spring break trip. We stopped for a short break at the Navajo Bridge to take pictures.  It really is such a pretty area with the Vermilion Cliffs towering high above.

I drove for a 4 hour stretch from Marble Canyon to the New Mexico state line. We had planned to eat lunch in Flagstaff, but instead decided to just eat gas station food. No one really seemed happy with this, but perhaps it was the best decision considering lunch in Flagstaff would have been a rather late lunch.

Emily finished the drive to Albuquerque. The participants in our car had picked a Thai place to eat for dinner. However, after we accidentally went to the wrong place since one of the participants had given me the incorrect street number, we stopped at another random Thai place.  This place had a long wait though, so we decided to go to a New Mexican restaurant in the same shopping center. This ended up being a great decision, since the New Mexican food ended up being really good.

Sean, Brad, and Kelsey (other guides at UT who had went on a personal climbing spring break trip) slept on the floor in our rooms at the La Quinta (Kelsey in my room, Sean and Brad in the guys room). Although I hurried and took the first shower and got in bed at 10:15pm, I didn't actually fall asleep for another hour due to noise and talking.  So it goes.

Driving out of Zion towards Kanab 

 The drive between Kanab and Marble Canyon was so pretty!

Views of the mighty Colorado River from the original Navajo Bridge 

Looking over the railing of the original Navajo Bridge (photo by Tommy Vinyard)

On the original Navajo Bridge

The new Navajo Bridge

Spring Break 2015: Day 2

We woke around 7am, ate breakfast at the La Quinta, and were on the road by 8:15am. We saw some hot air balloons in the sky as we were packing up the cars.

Emily started out driving. The scenery was certainly more beautiful today! I drove the second half of the morning to Tuba City, AZ, where we stopped for a late lunch at McDonalds / Subway. This drive on 2-lane highways though rural Indian reservations let me see a different way of life that I had not previously seen in the USA. I can see why life on reservations can be difficult. It was shocking to see what would be generally considered to be favelas/slums/etc. in other countries in our own country (and not in the big cities where I would expect them, but out in the rural countryside).  As our car discussed how poor Arizona education is, I could not help but think that online learning and curriculum should really be able to drastically improve education if bureaucracy would allow it.  There seemed to be a disproportionate amount of 'no drinking and driving' signs in this area as well.  All in all, it was a sobering drive with lots of time to think.

After lunch Emily drove 1.5 hours to Lake Powell. We walked on the bridge over the Glen Canyon dam, visited the visitor's center (where a nice ranger gave us an overview of the area on a big, carved stereofoam map), and then we hiked 1.5 miles round trip to the Horseshoe Bend Overlook. The hike was much easier than we anticipated, and the trail and viewpoint were pretty crowded. But it was worth it! The view was great!  It is interesting that you have to pay an access fee for almost everything else in the area, but not for the Horseshoe Bend hike and overlook.  We also noted some people having what had to be a very expensive picnic dinner outing at the bottom of the canyon (we suppose they came up in boats from Lee's Ferry) as well as some pit toilets in the canyon (which I suppose are safe enough since the dam controls the river level).

After the short hike, Emily drove about an hour to our camp site near Kanab. We quickly set up camp at site 1 in the Ponderosa Grove NRA camp ground and started preparing our mango, black beans, and mandarin orange tacos. The meal seemed well received, and just the right size.

Emily and I retired to our tent shortly after dinner was cleaned up, as we were planning to wake up at 5:50am.

Hot air balloon from the La Quinta parking lot in Albuquerque

Big sky, as the road seemingly continues forever

Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam

The last part of the trail to Horseshoe Bend

At Horseshoe Bend

 Iconic Horseshoe Bend picture - you can see the picnic party and the pit toilet at the tip of the horseshoe

Our group at Horseshoe Bend (photo by Tommy Vinyard)

 Lots of people made their way out to the Horseshoe Bend viewpoint

 Toby by our kitchen at Ponderosa Grove Campground (photo by Tommy Vinyard)

Grand Canyon Day 6: South Rim Day 1

Today we woke up at 6:30am, broke down camp, ate a quick breakfast of bagels and instant oatmeal, and were ready to leave Lee's Ferry Campground shortly after 8am.

After saying goodbye to Steve and his dog Pepper, we were on our way to the South Rim.  I drove the rental Tahoe with 4 participants, tents, sleeping bags, and sleeping pads.  I was surprised to see pine trees appear in the desert as we neared the Grand Canyon.

We followed Josh to Grand Canyon National Park, where we got in for free since we had been doing volunteer work at Lee's Ferry with Josh.  We stopped at Desert View for our first look at the magnificent Grand Canyon.  It was really beautiful, but some of us were slightly put off by the many visitors (which apparently are significantly less than during the summer).

First views of the Grand Canyon at Desert View

 First views of the Grand Canyon at Desert View

Then Josh took us to Shoshone Point, which is technically open to everyone but requires a decent hike if you don't have a key to unlock the access gate.  I enjoyed driving the Tahoe off-road on the dirt trail too!

Josh unlocking the gate to Shoshone Point

Shoshone Point was incredible.  Such a great overlook, with no tourists or human-touch in sight.  So amazing.  We took group pictures, a guides picture, and individual pictures here.  The panorama was marvelous.

 Our group looking around at Shoshone Point

Emily chilling on a ledge at Shoshone Point

At Shoshone Point

Group picture at Shoshone Point (photo by Malika)

Guides picture at Shoshone Point (photo by Jena)

Then we said goodbye to Josh.  He's a really cool guy, and having him on the trip was a huge asset.  I wish I had been less sick and fatigued each night, and had been able to sit up and talk with everyone more.

Bye Josh! (photo by Joao)

We arrived at our two campsites on the Aspen loop of Mather Campground around 1:30pm.  We prepared lunch while everyone set up their tents and settled in.  Somewhat interestingly, all the participants set up their tents in the site containing the kitchen, while all the guides set up our tents in the other site. Lunch was pitas with peppers, hummus, chicken, salmon, and sausage, as well as cookies and Sunchips.

After cleaning up lunch, we had free time for a couple hours.  I drove the Tahoe to the general store, where I bought postcards, a magnet, a tee-shirt (a Grand Canyon Life is Good shirt!), and a mini bottle of milk.  Then I wrote and mailed the postcards at the Grand Canyon post office.

Then I decided to walk out to the Rim Trail while chatting with JT.  After walking a short while, I decided to just sit off trail a bit on a piece of rock sticking out into the canyon, and relax and blog.  As I was sitting there, it began to lightly snow! So cool!

 The view from my perch just off the Rim Trail

Then we all took the park shuttle bus to watch the sunset from Pima Point (recommended by Josh). Some people said it was the best sunset they had ever seen.

 Grand Canyon at Pima Point

 Grand Canyon at Pima Point

 Sunset at Pima Point in the Grand Canyon

Once we were back at camp, I started preparing my quesadilla meal. Lots of people helped by chopping vegetables. Emily and I grilled the vegetables, and then let everyone prepare their own quesadillas. We had corn and beans, grilled peppers, zucchini, and onions, chicken, sausage, and cheese. The cheese ran out too quickly since the cheese for this meal was not in the cooler and we instead took the cheese from Thursday's lunch. We're not sure if it was never bought/packed, or if it was used in another meal. Everyone liked the meal, but it left me somewhat hungry. I worked the grill the entire meal, but Emily prepared me a quesadilla so I did get to eat. After dinner we had smores and discussed plans for hiking the next day. We decided that one group would leave at 6:45am and hike quickly all the way to the Colorado River, while the other would leave at 8am and hike slowly to Plateau Point. Emily, Diana, Andrea, and I opted for the shorter hike. Emily and I finally got into our tent at 10:30pm. Since it was going to be a very cold night, I used two sleeping bags.

Grand Canyon Day 5: Service Project Day 3

Note: This post reflects my memories of this day.  The original post remained in the 'publishing' state for 6 days, until it finally disappeared.  Hence, I'm rewriting this post one week later.

Today we awoke at 6:30am, ate non-instant oatmeal for breakfast, and reported for our final morning of invasive Sahara mustard removal at 8am.  Josh started the day by telling us some facts about the Grand Canyon - including facts about invasive plant removal, national park jobs, and visitors.

Two people went with Josh, while the rest of us went with Steve.  Steve's group searched along the road leading from the campground to the landfill, and then we walked along a wash leading from the landfill back to camp.  We found a few plants along the road, and found some truly massive plants in the wash.  We took a short break in the wash near the landfill - it was a pretty area to just rest and chill.  Many people ended up taking a short nap in the sun.  Once we reached the campground, we searched every site and removed a good bit of Sahara mustard from the campground.

Leaving the campground in search of Sahara Mustard.  I can almost hear the chants of 'Kill the Mustard'

Many rested in the wash leading back to camp...

 ...while Dan took the opprotunity to climb high above us!

Then we had lunch, which was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Emily started toasting the sandwiches, which led me to make a grilled cheese out of the remaining deli cheese.  So good!  It was at this point that we realized that grilled cheeses might be a good lunch (or dinner) idea for the future.

After lunch we drove over to the river launch at Lee's Ferry, and started our afternoon hike up the Spencer Trail.  The trail was about 1.75 miles to the top, where we were rewarded with amazing views in all directions.  I hiked up in the back of the pack.  Tommy stayed with me, and interestingly enough all the guides ended up reaching the top last!  I felt like I was out of breath the entire way up.

Once we were at the top, we all explored for a while and took lots of pictures.  I found a ledge to relax on that looked upriver towards Lake Powell.  The climb up was tiring, but the view at the top was certainly worth it.  I could have stayed at the top for much longer than we did - I'm not sure why everyone was in a hurry to get down.

View downriver from the top of Spencer Trail.

 View upriver from the top of Spencer Trail.

Group picture at the top of Spencer Trail (photo by Andrea)

I walked down near the end of the pack, walking with Emily for the first part but walking most of the hike alone.  It was a good time to think and reflect, while also focusing on footing to be sure I didn't fall off the cliff at points.  There were a few sketchy points, where the trail was either really narrow on a cliff or a small rock-slide had made the trail a bit unstable - but I never felt like it was really unsafe.

Once we all reached the bottom, we drove back to camp.  There was some debate among with guides about whether we should drive into Marble Canyon and eat or eat the planned stir-fry meal.  We eventually decided to eat the stir-fry meal as planned.

Josh had us all gather together before we began cooking the meal.  He gave us Oreos and Steve presented us each with a NPS volunteer sticker and a Vegetation Crew bandanna.  Apparently one of Steve's friends had designed the bandanna a few years earlier, just as the Grand Canyon vegetation crew was starting to actually go 'below the rim' in the canyon. It was a pretty nice presentation by both of them.  Then we filled out evaluation forms for the NPS volunteer experience.

Overall, I was happy with our volunteer experience.  I expected that we would work longer hours, and likely find more prevalent Sahara mustard.  But apparently due to the weather this past winter, Josh thinks that perhaps the Sahara mustard will not really begin to appear in Lee's Ferry for another couple weeks.  But the other option is that volunteer work like ours is actually starting to put a dent in the amount of Sahara mustard that is appearing.  Although I had planned to work longer hours, I was happy that we did get so much time to relax and do neat things (like hiking Cathedral wash on Monday, relaxing at the beach and seeing Lonely Dell ranch on Tuesday, and climbing Spencer Trail on Wednesday).  Especially considering it was our Spring Break, this seemed reasonable and certainly helped morale.  As I said in my evaluation, I will consider doing this trip again if UT RecSports offers it next year.

Dinner actually ended up being really delicious - Sebastian made two excellent sauces to go with the vegetables (one spicy and one sweet).

Despite wanting to hang out with everyone after dinner, I instead decided to just clean up the dishes and camp and then head to bed.  Being sick is no fun, as it forces you to cherish your sleep over getting to know everyone better.  Apparently the other guides talked with Josh and Steve after I went to sleep about hikes to do in the Grand Canyon.

Grand Canyon Day 4: Service Project Day 2

Today we awoke at 6:50am after a windy, cool night.  I awoke many times coughing or extremely congested. Poor Emily (my tent mate).

For breakfast we had toasted bagels with butter, peanut butter, and cream cheese.  Then we drove down to Lee's Ferry and searched for Sahara mustard for about 3 hours. We found a good bit of trash, and saw a decent bit of native mustard, but found no Sahara mustard. We also saw multiple groups setting up rafts for 2-4 week Grand Canyon trips.

We headed back to camp for lunch at 11am, as we were supposed to have an interpretive talk at noon. We ate tortillas with hummus, tuna, pepper jack cheese, and leftover ham and roast beef.  I could only stomach one roll-up with ham and cheese.  After lunch a bunch of us laid down and napped. I'm feeling pretty sickly and drained today (worse than the previous days).

Apparently the person who was supposed to give our noon talk was delayed when her plane couldn't take off due to wind, so we just went down to the Lonely Dell Ranch to explore.  I was really dragging during the 1 mile self-guided tour.

Orchard at Lonely Dell Ranch

 The Paria River, by Lonely Dell Ranch

We got back in the cars and went to remove more Sahara mustard. We walked by the river for a bit, where we were thrilled to find 2 Sahara mustard plants.  Then we got to a beach, where we napped, got in the cold Colorado River, and played Ultimate Frisbee.  I stayed in the water the longest - it felt good and I'm glad I got in, but now everything is so sandy. It was relaxing to sit on the beach for a while and just chill.

Hunting for Sahara Mustard in a small wash

 Beach at Lee's Ferry

Once we returned to camp, Josh noted how helpful having 17 other people out here helping him grid and remove really is.  Apparently he is the only Grand Canyon front-country invasive species person.  He also noted that it really is a victory when we grid an area and find no Sahara mustard.

We made a quick trip to the gas station convenience store tonight. Most people got lots of snacks and ice cream.  Everything was pretty overpriced.  I got a little bag of Cheese-its and a Marble Canyon hiking tee-shirt.

We made potato and garbanzo bean soup for dinner.  The soup seemed like it would not be tasty for a while, but eventually we added enough spices for it to actually be pretty good.

It seems like it will be another cold, windy night - probably worse than the previous night.  We'll see how it goes.

In general, everyone seems tired but happy and relaxed tonight.  Today was a pretty cool day.

Grand Canyon Day 3: Service Project Day 1

Today we awoke at 6:30am and had non-instant oatmeal with toppings (apples, brown sugar, almonds, honey, ect) for breakfast. We met with Josh and Steve at 8am to be briefed for our day. We learned how to recognize and remove Sahara mustard.  The plants had small bumps on their leaves, fuzzy undersides to their leaves, a distinct smell, and the mature ones also had yellow flowers on stalks.  We were also reminded to always wear our PPG - personal protective gear - when using our geopick to remove Sahara mustard.  Then we split into two groups and conquered different areas.

My group walked from camp and walked along the road to the boat launch looking for Sahara mustard. Then we climbed a steep hill with lots of loose rocks, before looking for Sahara mustard near the ranger residences.  We were pretty 'unlucky' in the morning - which is depressing, but also very positive for the park.

Looking from camp towards Lee's Ferry (photo by Malika)

Such a pretty backdrop for our service project (photo by Andrea)

We stopped for lunch at 11:45am. Lunch was my deli sandwiches (roast beef, turkey, ham, cheddar, and Munster) with apples, chips, hummus, avocado. Everyone laid down to nap after lunch.

We worked on finding and removing more Sahara mustard from 1pm to 3:30pm. We had much more success after lunch - I removed probably 60 plants myself.  However, apparently we are finding many less than last year and are way under the 2000 plant daily estimate for our group. During our search, Tommy found some wire, and shaped it into a longhorn - pretty cool.

 Working to remove Sahara mustard

Sebastian remembering to drink water!

Then we left to hike the Lower Cathedral Wash at 4pm. It was a pretty neat hike though a canyon to the Colorado River. I enjoyed scrambling around in the canyon. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it, but it seemed to tire most of us out.  It wasn't as epic and difficult as Fern Canyon in Big Bend National Park, but it did push some people out of their comfort zone and was indeed beautiful and fun to explore.

Something about me loves exploring canyons...

Pepper easily made her way through Lower Cathedral Wash

Hiking through Lower Cathedral Wash (photo by Andrea)

Hiking through Lower Cathedral Wash (photo by Andrea)

Determining the best path in Lower Cathedral Wash

 At the end of the Lower Cathedral Wash trail, next to the Colorado River

Josh climbed up this crack, and two participants followed. :)

We arrived back at camp as the sun was setting, and I started my tortilla soup (black beans, corn, tomatoes, chicken broth, cream of chicken, avocado, cheese, and tortilla chips). I made a regular version, as well as a no-dairy and a vegetarian version. I also made celery and peanut butter snacks before dinner. All the guides helped me prepare the dinner, which was cool.

I'm still feeling sickly.  I'm more congested, but overall am doing better as long as I take the DayQuil or NyQuil.

Grand Canyon Day 2: Caballo Lake to Lee's Ferry

We awoke at 5:30am, and found we had no propane left so there were no hot drinks for breakfast.  Breakfast consisted of granola bars, tangelos, and dried fruit - which really wasn't enough or appetizing.

 Good morning Caballo Lake!

I tossed and turned a lot overnight, but awoke feeling refreshed - but with a terrible sore throat that had gotten progressively worse over night.

We left Caballo Lake State Park shortly after dawn at 7am.  I drove the rental Tahoe from Caballo Lake State Park, through Albuquerque and to Flagstaff (484 miles). We arrived in Flagstaff for lunch at 1:30pm.  Flagstaff seemed much smaller and alpine than I expected - but we only saw the outskirts so it is difficult to really give an opinion on the city.  The other cars swapped drivers 180 miles before Flagstaff (in Gallup), but I kept driving until Flagstaff since it was impossible for all three cars to get refreshed drivers at the same time.

On the last 200 mile stretch I began feeling terrible - sick to my stomach with a terrible headache and chills. We had lunch at Tacos los Altos de Jalisco, where I had a bacon breakfast taco, fries, and horchata.  After lunch, Tommy took over driving the Tahoe.  I went with Emily to CVS to get some cold meds to hopefully help me feel better (since this would be my last chance to get meds anywhere besides a gas station or gift store).

Then I rode with Emily, Celia, and Anna from Flagstaff to Lee's Ferry, in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. This drive took about 2 hours.

The scenery during our drives today was awesome. When we hit the road at 7am, there was a really pretty stretch on the interstate where all I could see was our two Suburbans, the interstate dipping into a canyon, and a beautiful rock landscape.  As we were nearing Flagstaff, seeing snow-topped Humphreys Peak grow was awesome.  And seeing the ever changing desert landscape with mesas and rock structures was cool.

Once at camp, we met Josh and Steve, our NPS service project partners.  We're sharing two of the large group camp sites with them. We set up tents and our kitchen, and then we drove down to the Navajo bridge. The original bridge was built in 1928 to be the only connection between Utah and Arizona across the Colorado - this bridge is currently just for pedestrians.  Another stronger bridge was built in 1996 to handle modern-day traffic.  This bridge was built using the same methods. The Colorado River was pretty far below the bridge and the canyon was pretty cool.

 Our campsite at Lee's Ferry.

Our group walking on the original Navajo bridge.

Our group on the Navajo bridge (photo by Joao)

We stopped at the balanced rock on the way back to camp. Everyone enjoyed running around and climbing rocks.

Then we made dinner - a Sebastian meal of onions, lentils, and rice - as well as toasted apples and almonds for dessert.