Honeymoon Part II: Lake Powell, Zion, etc.

Where'd we leave off?  Let's see... We got to car at midday and headed to the Grand Canyon North Rim Lodge.  Went in hoping to find a room.  The front desk people were kinda short with Anita (plus they were unable to give us a room) and that set her outlook on the place from the beginning.  Turns out all the staff were pretty lax.  They were mostly youngsters hoping to have a good time, and didn't care much about guests.  The view was spectacular.  We watched the sunset and I had a couple of cold beers.  We stayed at the nearby campground that night and got up at the crack of day for the sunrise, which was pretty, but all the tourists kinda put a damper on it for me.  I prefer seeing it from Point Sublime with just me and my family/friends.

First sun striking Angel's Gate as viewed from the N. Rim G.C. visitor center.

We decided that hanging around the N Rim Lodge wasn't for us and that Anita was hiked out for the moment.  Heard about a California Condor release happening 100 miles to the NE in the Vermillion Cliffs, so headed there.  Was an interesting affair.  Learned about how the main cause of death of Condors is lead poisoning due to the lead fragments in the gut-piles left during deer hunts.  Even if the main part of the bullet is found, small pieces have gotten into the guts.  Condors eat that stuff and it apparently kills them or their young.  The people orchestrating the release were called the Perigrine Fund -- they used to be focused on Perigrine Falcons, but the Perigrines are in better shape now and so they switched to Condors.  Headed to Page, Arizona.  I thought Anita might be interested in seeing Glen Canyon Dam and we could do some swimming in Lake Powell.  The dam is an impressive, if somewhat abhorrent sight.

Glen Canyon dam.

Giant dams are feats of engineering something like the Egyptian pyramids.  But this one covered up some exquisitely beautiful canyon country with a very thick layer of sludge.  We went swimming near Lone Rock.  There, vehicles are allowed to drive willy nilly across the sandy beaches and in the surrounding hills.  Good ole boys have swarmed the area with their trucks.  I would've traded the AWD Kia Sedona for one of their trucks a couple of times as the thing bogged down in the deep sand. I was concerned that I might have to ask some drunk dude to help pull me out of the sand.  Swimming was nice especially since it was about 95 F outside.

Stayed that night with a Mormon couple who ran one of two B&B's in Page, AZ.  Well, we stayed with the couple (grandma and grandpa) and a large part of their family.  And the photos of the remainder of their family were plastered all over the B&B.  But what do you expect at a Mormon B&B?  In the morning over breakfast (and they did make some pretty mean pancakes), I kinda egged the very nice grandpa into telling me about his political views.  I was intrigued b/c he worked at the large local powerplant for 30 years.  One of his opinions is that Obama is a communist who is trying to control every aspect of our lives.  Also, God made the earth for humanity, so whatever we do is right.  Strangely, though, he is in favor of nuclear power instead of coal.  Go figure.  Blames environmentalists for stopping nuke power from taking hold in the US.  Dude also had some very strong opinions about gun rights.  Of course, he feels that Obama the communist is trying to strip him of all guns.  All Obama wants to do, as far as I know, is to prevent every good ole boy from having an AK-47.  Another insult the guy made to his own intelligence was that volcanoes pump out more CO2 than humanity does by burning fossil fuels.  He had a good buddy who was sure volcanoes put out more CO2, and this dude believed that his good buddy would never lead him astray.  I signed heir guest book and asked him to send me his reference about CO2 output.  Here's an article on this issue:
http://tamino.wordpress.com/2011/06/19/volcanic-co2/

All the breakfast banter provided good conversational material on the way to Zion Nat Park that morning.  We discussed gun rights.  Anita thinks guns should be banned in the US; I disagree -- my understanding is that the founding fathers felt that people should have guns so that they could overthrow the government if they had to.  This radical view came about from experience under British rule for so long, and the success they had overthrowing it with their guns.  Anita and I agree that Obama is probably not a communist :)  We got to Zion, hit the visitor center, and did a couple of short hikes.  While at the visitor center, I had the wildlife experience of the trip -- a little caterpillar!  He was crawling into the sidewalk danger zone.  He was two inches long and half an inch in diameter.  Beautiful markings.  I prodded him and he stood up on his back legs and sprouted some ugly, mean looking horns.  Awesome!  My mom identified the critter as the caterpillar of a western tiger swallowtail butterfly.  We went on to visit a hilltop food storage site of some ancient Anasazi.  Then did the Watchman hike.

Tiger swallowtail caterpillar.  Has "horns" that protrude when it gets riled up.

Next day, we hit the Zion Narrows.  We got to the part where you have to wade and Anita pulled up like a horse that spotted a snake.  She was spooked and though she did cross the first water, it was with the utmost reluctance.  I'm afraid I didn't give her enough time to settle in to the notion that the water crossing would not be dangerous before rushing her across.  This was what's known as a "dumb young husband move" and resulted in some emotional suffering.  I continued a bit further than she did, wading into nearly neck-deep 55 F water.  Intense.  Anyway, this hike was crawling with tourists and was paved until the last half-mile.  Of course, you could continue on another 5+ miles and escape the crowds.  We went back down-canyon and hiked the Emerald Pools trail.  The pools were a dirty brown in the fall conditions.  In the spring, I'm sure they're much more attractive.  We did spot a tarantula on this hike and a snake (non-venomous).

 

Anita and I on the trail near Emerald pools with Virgin riviera below.

On our final day in Zion, we hike to the Subway.  It's about an 8-mile round trip.  I figured it would take us about 4 hours.  Wrong.  Even the most gung-ho hikers would require 6 hrs.  We took a leisurely pace at first and took a wonderful break at a pool that had banks covered with cute little frogs.

 

A tiny frog near a pool on the Subway Hike.

Once we realized we were going to run out of daylight, we picked up the pace and finished in 8 hrs.  The huge upturned sandstone blocks covered with dino tracks are an impressive sight.

 

A dino track.  Amazing how this area was muddy, then suddenly changed such that this track was preserved.

 

These two large sandstone slabs are covered with dino tracks.

We tried to keep dry on the way up until the last mile or so when it is obvious that you gotta get wet.  On the way down you save some time by just sloshing down through the creek until the last mile which requires a climb out of the canyon.  At the top, we were treated to the beautiful Subway itself.  It's a highly unusual formation.  It's a bit like a slot canyon, but at the bottom of the slot, it opens into a wide tunnel -- like a subway!  The floor of the canyon at that point is immaculately carved by eons of gentle erosion so that there are deep blue pools here and foot-deep slots of rushing water there.  Amazing. 

 

The mouth of the Subway.

Looking down the Subway.  Anita took this photo which I think is suitable for Nat. Geographic.

Overall, it is a rough hike.  I whacked my head against trees and slipped cartoon-character-style into a completely horizontal position before plummeting to the wet, slimy, and very solid sandstone.  Anyway, we survived all the ups and downs of the hike and reached the car just before dark.  I ceremoniously leaned my trusty agave hiking stick, which I had plucked in the Grand Canyon, against the trail signpost for the next hiker to enjoy -- it was quite useful on this hike with all the water challenges.

On our last day, we hit the town in Vegas for a few hours before catching our plane back to MN.  We stopped into one of the casinos and found some penny slots that suited us perfectly.  I almost won $2 after starting from $1.  Then I got greedy and lost the entire wad.  Anita didn't fare any better.  But it was kinda fun.

Overall, I think it was a very successful honeymoon.  We could've had a good time in some
tropical or otherwise exotic place, but plane tickets would've cost a lot more, we probably
wouldn't have gotten nearly as much exercise.

Honeymoon Part I: North Rim of the Grand Canyon

Anita and I had a beautiful and excellent wedding in Minneapolis in September really deserves its own post (!), but I'm focusing on the outdoor stuff in this blog. After the wedding, we did a nice trip to eastern South Dakota (Badlands, Jewel Cave, Mt Rushmore, etc.) with Anita's family and Indian relatives. Then, we took a trip to CA, where I went to a workshop in the Bay area (Livermore), and then visited southern CA, where we saw friends and I visited a private fusion company. Finally, we were off on our honeymoon down in the Grand Canyon area. We did a 3-day backpacking tour from the North Rim on the Bill Hall trail to Thunder River, then toured down to "Lake" Powell (actually a reservoir that is highly controversial from an environmental standpoint). After visiting the Vermillion cliffs where we saw the launch of a few endangered California condors, we went down to Page, AZ, where we had an interesting stay in at a B&B with a Mormon family.  We concluded the trip by visiting Zion National Park.  For all the details, read on! For all photos, see:
https://picasaweb.google.com/remierice/20110920SfLaGcZionBestOf

This N Rim trip is probably my 4th or 5th trip to this part of the Canyon. My dad brought me and my Uncle Rick down here back in 1995. What an adventure we had with no GPS and limited backcountry experience :) Ended up eating fish from Thunder River for sustenance.. but that's another story. I figured with all my accumulated mountaineering and backcountry travel experience, I'd have no trouble guiding my (physically quite capable, but not exactly mountain-tough) new bride down here without ending our marriage and hopefully making it stronger by sharing this beautiful place together :)

We flew into Las Vegas on Tues the 20th of Sept, and headed to Pipe Springs National Monument ranger station to get a permit. We were too late, so skipped the permit (which actually turned out to be legal after all). We headed down into the Kaibab (the forest on the North Rim of the GC) to camp that night. Found really nice spot near turnoff onto the little FS425 that leads out to some excellent N Rim hiking. Saw a bushy-white-tailed Kaibab squirrel (famous for its existence as a distinct species after separation from its South Rim cousin squirrel) and a few deer, but no turkey or anything else. Wednesday morning, we headed to the Bill Hall trail parking lot at Monument Point.

Looking down from Monument Point. Bridger's Knoll center left. The esplanade is the flatish area upon which the Knoll sits. Powell Plateau is the flat feature in the distance at left.

As we started the hike, we saw a Perigrine cruising around but it didn't swoop down past us. Didn't see a whole lot of other wildlife for the duration of the GC hike, but the breathtaking vistas alone are sufficient to hold one's interest. No rattlesnakes (but didn't go beating through the bushes). Anita was somewhat distressed about the exposure in some spots as we headed down the trail, dropping through about 1000 feet and many millions of years of rock layers. Notably, near the beginning of the hike, there are some hair-raising dropoffs as you walk along the trail. In one or two spots, the trail has mostly sluffed off, and you have to take a big step over the sluffed spot. Then the little step down the Toroweap went smooth, but was still a little scary for her.

Anita questioning her new husband's honeymoon location choice (hey, it was a JOINT decision!).

After about 1000 feet, you hit the so-called esplanade, a layer of tough sandstone called Supai, which forms a sidewalk-like surface that rings the canyon. There is an interesting geological story behind the Esplanade: above the Supai is a layer called the Hermit Shale. The Colorado easily cut through this shale layer (after slicing more slowly through the Toroweap and Coconino above). Then it dwelled for a long time in the Shale layer, slowly washing it downstream. As it washed some away, it left overhanging cliffs of Toroweap and Coconino. These cliffs, once deeply undercut, broke away and their crumbled remains were also washed downstream. The river meandered in the Shale, carving away at the cliffs until the Supai "sidewalk" of the Grand Canyon was exposed. You can see the esplanade best in the first photo from Monument Point.

We camped on the Esplanade at roughly the planned spot, just above Surprise Valley. Some people were occupying the best little spots under the ledges, but a few hundred meters further (and right near the rim), there was a nice spot. Brought 6 L each down from Monument Point. Turns out we needed 4 L each. Left 2 L at bottom of first decent from Mon Point. Left 2 L or at first camp. The camp was within 100 feet of the rim of Surprise Valley, which has to be one of the more astounding geologic features of the Grand Canyon (see photo). Surprise Valley was spread below us to the south, and to the east was Powell Plateau, a vast and strikingly flat feature which has one of the few virgin Ponderosa Pine forests in the world.

Standing near our first campsite on the esplanade .

What a view just 100 feet from our camp. Surprise Valley was created in a colossal landslide. Water had greased the skids, and the Supai and Redwall collapsed in a rotational landslide, forming the valley and blocking the Colorado river.

Headed down to Thunder Spring Thursday morn. Still some distress on Anita's part hiking trail leading down to Surprise Valley. More distress on the way to the Spring itself. Again some hairy spots. To me, these hairy spots go completely unnoticed unless i'm hiking with somebody like Anita who's scared of heights. I came to recognize when she'd be scared. On the final trail down, we saw a dude hiking up that we thought might've been a ranger. He was a young guy (my age), with the posture of a fresh military recruit out to impress, and a clean-shaven face.  He had a big and very clean stiff-brimmed hat. As we later learned, he wasn't a ranger after all. When we got to the Spring, Anita was ready to sit for a while. There was a woman sitting there who we briefly chatted with. She was sitting reading a book and explained that her badass hubby had busted it over toward Deer Creek that morning and was coming back later in the evening. I didn't guess it at the time, but this was the wife of "the ranger".

 On some rocks while hiking down into Surprise Valley.

From the Spring, I scouted ahead to look at the trail. It was too tough for her, and I couldn't justify asking her to come down to the upper camp. We didn't have permit anyway, although it appeared that there would be a nice two-person spot remaining for the night. (Two other groups were going to be taking up the main sites.) Plenty of rafters down near Thunder Spring. We had several offers to join rafters for dinner down at the CO river at their camps. They, as usual, were loaded for bear, foodwise. Swordfish was apparently on the menu.

Lots of rafters were climbing around near the spring pouroff

Headed back up to Surprise Valley and camped there that night. Wandered along trail to near the Y intersection and found nice spot a few hundred yards short of that. Our food was really good. We did simple things like Idahoan mashed potatoes with jerkey + dried fruit, and tortilini pasta. We got some non-meat jerkey called Seitan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_gluten_%28food%29).

Friday morning, we got cracking at 4 am and hiking by 5. We made the Esplanade a little before 8 and stopped for a good brunch of pita bread, butter, peanut butter, oatmeal, string cheese, etc. "The ranger" and his wife had camped up in Surprise Valley right near the dropoff to Thunder Spring. They reached the Esplanade and passed us just as we were getting going again. We leapfrogged them several times on our way up to Monument Point.  The ranger and his wife were all business on the trail.  The only conversation we had was when we talked about what a bunch of slobs people are on the trail.  Yes, people are a little ridiculous to ditch all the stuff they do.  Food, water bottles, etc.  But I must admit that on one trip somebody (it MIGHT have been my own father) decided to ditch all sorts of junk out of desperation -- we were really low on water and out of food! -- including an entire backpack and a thermarest.

Hardly any flowers were out in the fall, but there were some impressive agave stalks out on the esplanade.  This is a good example of the "sidewalk" nature of the esplanade.

 The fruit at the end of an agave stalk.

The walking was pretty smooth and easy along the esplanade. Not too hot mid morning. Made good time to the forty-something switchbacks leading up to Monument Point. The guidebook I have claimed there are exactly 49 switchbacks, so I decided to count. To keep myself and Anita entertained, I decided to tell the story of my life, one year at a time as we hiked up beginning on switchback 15 at age 15. The pace was slow and plodding in the mid-day heat, so I had plenty of time to think as I breathed deeply and sweated my way up. When I got to 31, I started telling the story of Anita and Eric. At age 35, we had a child. At age 37, we had another. At age 45, the first kid (named Liam as an abbreviation of William) was 10. Etc. It was kinda fun. Eric became a professional tennis coach, for example. The final push to the top was hot and slow, but no big problems. Both of us had no major foot pain, and we had plenty of water.

The honeymoon so far wasn't as relaxing as laying in the sun on a tropical beach. However, it was an experience that few can say they've had.

Elfin Lakes tour

Elfin Lakes ski tour
Eric Meier and Jeff Schomaker
Friday-Saturday April 1-2, 2011

You're a grad student being hammered by research work.. sitting around day after day running simulations and writing papers. You're in Seattle near the end of the winter.. it's been raining something fierce and moss is growing between your toes. What do you do? You get your ass out into the mountains for a ski tour! I tell you, it's like a religious experience for me to get way up in the mountains, preferably in the sun with an expansive view of wild and ragged mountain peaks. This trip was no exception. Awesome. Everything comes into focus out there.

Some noteworthy things have happened since I last blogged (like getting engaged!), but I haven't gotten out on many good adventures this winter. In November, just before they shut down Hwy 20 over the Cascades, Reid, Jeff, and I did a nice skiing day trip up by Blue Lake. Also, the three of us did a day trip at Baker in January. Finally, I got out again! Jeff and I headed up to Canada. Jeff was none too optimistic that the weather or skiing would be any good. But it all turned out pretty well.

All pics (and a video somewhere near the end of the picture set) can be found at
https://picasaweb.google.com/remierice/20110401ElfinLakesWJeff#

We headed up across the Canadian border to Garibaldi Provincial Park on Friday. As usual when one of the infamous Meier brothers crosses into Canada, they want to do a full cavity search. Well, it's not that bad, but they always stop me going in for a few minutes. It's kinda hilarious how the Canadians have a need to waste their own time and mine. I joked with Jeff, who was driving, that they always stop me on the way into the US too.. but they give the driver the cavity search. (Actually, we did get stopped coming back into the US! They harassed us for 1/2 hr or so. Jeff was sweating bullets because he had some prescription pain killers for emergencies. They let him off the hook, telling him he should not cross with painkillers.. but if he was going to, he should crank up his operation some.)

We stayed in an awesome shelter in Garibaldi Park near Elfin Lakes. The shelter comes equipped with a heavy duty propane heater, a kitchen with four propane stoves and lots of pots. It's user maintained and is in good shape. Lots of propane.

Elfin Lakes Shelter upon arrival Friday eve.

On Friday night, the shelter was pretty quiet. Only three chicks from Vancouver were there. They were pretty cool and didn't smell too bad, which was good. One of them was a nerd like me and wanted to play some chess. I took her up and we had a good game. Two of them spoke French (one was a teacher of French), so I spoke some with them. She said she thought Americans like the French (so maybe that's why I would pick up the language). Au contraire, I told her. Most Americans are French-hating rednecks.

We slept like lazy bums until 7:00. When we woke up, things looked marginal. But after about 1/2 hour, it looked absolutely gorgeous and we seized the day. Good visibility was needed to navigate the terrain around there without being in danger of avalanche, cornice failure, etc.

Elfin Lakes shelter with Garibaldi in background

Elfin Lakes area panorama

After some vigorous exercise, we made it to the top of Diamond Head which is about 7,000 ft high at the shoulder of the larger Garibaldi. Looking around at the top was quite a treat.

Panorama from the top of Diamond Head. Garibaldi at right. Coast Range in distance.

Had some great turns on the way down... until I sprained my ankle during the last downhill run. It was a pretty bad sprain and made it quite painful to struggle down seven miles to the car. It's five days after the injury, and the swelling is basically gone, but it's still tough to go down stairs or to move aggressively at all. Anyway, it's a small price to pay for the pleasure of the trip.

On the way down (limping along), we ran into a weird dude from Vancouver who wasn't using his skis. They had good skins on them and he had good boots, but he was carrying them. He asked us, "why does anybody use these things on the way up.. I do better walking." We said "Uhhh. You new to this? You might want to try skinning again." Skinning is a great way to get around in the mountains.