Grand Canyon Rim Trail

Route Name: Rim Trail
Start Elevation: 6,817 ft.
End Elevation: 7,117 ft.
Distance: 3.12 mi.
Start Time: 6:30am
End Time: 7:48am

Trip Report:

For our last morning at the Grand Canyon we had about 2 1/2 hours to work with before the long drive out to Phoenix.  We had 3pm flights and I'm usually paranoid about getting there early.  We were up right around 5am, tore down our camp, loaded up the car, and head for the Visitor Center parking.  There we hopped the Village Shuttle to ride it down to the Bright Angel Trailhead.  We actually got off at the shuttle stop titled "Hermit's Rest Route Transfer".  The plan was to hike the easy Rim Trail all the way back to the Visitor's Center.  

Humphreys Peak

Route Name: West Slopes
Trailhead Elevation: 9,294 ft.
Summit Elevation: 12,635 ft.
Distance: 9.52 mi.
Elevation Gain: 3,656 ft.
Start Time: 6:57am
Summit Time: 10:10am (13 minutes on top)
End Time: 12:52pm

Trip Report:

For my brother David and I we were looking for a good hike to spend our third full day on after having spent the first two hiking Rim-to-Rim in the Grand Canyon.  Its not like us to have a vacation and allow a full day to slip by without making the most of it on some trail somewhere.  We've also come to learn that mountain and alpine environments are definitely our strong suit and personal preference and so after two days in the desert heat of the Grand Canyon going up in elevation seemed preferable as our best option.  So with that in mind we took a look at the maps of the area and sought out the tallest peak we could find and in Arizona, that is Humphreys.  We're not "State High-pointers" in the sense of those who are checking off the list, but we are mountain climbers and for that Humphreys was great.  We're even wondering after having done South-to-North and North-to-South in the Grand Canyon, with the high point Humphreys in addition, if this could be considered some type of "Arizona Triple Crown" for epic hikes in the state.

Grand Canyon R2R2R

To hike the Grand Canyon rim to rim is an especially beautiful thing and certainly a hike that is on the bucket list of many.  For a number of reasons this is typically done with a backpack and over multiple days.  The physical exertion alone necessitates most to camp somewhere in the canyon to make this a 2 or 3 day hike across.  For many others its also about taking the time to enjoy the scenery and sights along the way.  For the wise among us its about timing the hiking to avoid the heat of the day.  On the other end of the spectrum are a crazy few amount of people that not only hike the canyon rim to rim, but they hike it rim to rim and back to rim in a single day!  These crazy antelope are usually ultra-runners who just know how to keep moving.    My brother David and I have had our sights set on the infamous R3 (Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim) but we wanted to settle on a plan that was somewhere between crazy insane and physically do-able while also being enjoyable and challenging.  Our plan would be to do the R3 but over the course of two days with a night camping in between.

Pinckney Trail Half Race 2017

This was my third go-around racing the Trail Half and I was excited as ever.  This year's training has been some of my best ever.  I was finally approaching this race with preparation that had me at about 100%.  With that came higher personal expectations so I felt a little bit of the self-imposed pressure. 

Pre-race

This was the warmest morning I've experienced at the Trail Weekend.  The temp was around 50° which meant I could do my pre race routines without having to huddle in my car with the heat running.  I left my place about 5:40a this time and made a stop at Panera in Ann Arbor for a bagel.  I also ate an apple and an oatmeal square along the way.  I kept a banana in the car which I ate about 10 minutes pre-race.  Upon arrival I found that this year they were checking for the Michigan State Park Pass at the booth as folks drove by, a change from previous years.  Thankfully they had that streamline and it didn't slow up traffic.  I pulled into the lots just before 7am and had very good parking as usual.  I went to registration where they had folks filling out waivers and then grabbed by shirt and bib.  I did a bunch of walking around, ran into a few people I knew and ran about a half mile warmup on the trails.  I hit the bathrooms once about 7:15a and found the desire to do so again about 7:45a.  I hit the bathroom by the bike trailhead and the line didn't free me up until about 7:52am.  This left me 8 minutes to change clothes, get my bib on, and hop on over to the race start.  I made it with about 90 seconds to spare.

Kearney Park Loop Snowshoeing at Leadville Fish Hatchery

Route Name: Kearnery Park Loop (Rock Creek Trail to Colorado Trail to Kearney Park Trail) at the Leadville National Fish Hatchery
Trailhead Elevation: 9,636 ft.
High Point: 10,652 ft.
Distance: 5.85 mi.
Elevation Gain: 1,020 ft.
Start Time: 10:18am
End Time: 2:50pm

Trip Report:

Having just completed wonderful days on our winter trip to Colorado with a summit of Mt. Bierstadt and a great day of skiing at Copper, we were looking for one last enjoyable mountain activity before we flew out of town.  In fact, we had flights leaving around 8pm this evening so we needed something without complications.  Snowshoeing fit the bill.