Training Log Archive: Sandy

Intermittent jog/walk around the meadow loop.

I am definitely not in any kind of shape for the O events coming up but am in a great mental state after two weeks of rafting down the Grand Canyon with no access to the outside world. Super fun trip - will add some descriptions and pictures at some point but am still working my way through emails and getting sand out of everything.

C • Welcome back! 5

And then a flight home and back to cell phones and news and technology.

I really loved this trip - for some of the same reasons I liked the Kilimanjaro trip. There was a lot of time to just let your mind wander and you didn't have to think too hard about what you were going to do. Everything was done at a leisurely pace but there was always something to do. Camping for 11 nights wasn't bad and I got used to having sand in everything after a day or two and it didn't bother me as much as some of the others. I learned to not listen to the guides when they said the hike was easy and I could do them in my sandals - I just carried my trail shoes in my day pack and put them on whenever there was anything with rock scrambling involved which was most of the hikes. Just like Kili, the weather couldn't have been better so I think we got lucky on that front. All of the guides were great, each for different reasons, and while I didn't make any fast friends, I did met several people I really liked and it was easy to avoid those that I didn't. Definitely glad I did this!

Our guides:

We got helicoptered out of the canyon to the Bar 10 Ranch where we could shower and clean up. I got to ride shot-gun which was really interesting; never been in a helicopter before.

Then we took a small plane to the south rim and the main Grand Canyon Park visitor's center and it all seemed so anticlimactic to me - I know it's impressive but having been down on the river for two weeks, it seemed a bit of a let down. And from most of the lookouts you couldn't see the river. It didn't help that it was kind of a hazy day.

Our last full day on the river, we saw a lot of bighorn sheep.

We did the most famous rapid (Lava) but as I said, hard to get pictures. I always felt perfectly safe in the boats and had complete faith in the guides. (I was much more nervous about the hikes and in awe as they scampered up these crazy rocky trails and across narrow ledges in their flip-flops.) I was in the back of the boat for this one and got bounced around big time flying high in the air at one point - but it was easy to just hold on and you just came back down on the rubber raft so a soft landing. One of the baggage boat guides went out of her boat; she got an oar caught in the current and just got flipped out but had surfaced and climbed back in before she was even out of the rapids - quite impressive. But as I said, difficult to photos of the rapids.
View from our last campsite.

This was a very scary hike - always exposed, some shimmying around cliff faces on 6 inch ledges, but a really cool oasis at the end.

One of the more interesting camps we stayed at - called "Ledges" for obvious reasons. Carol was another woman on her own and we generally picked out spots near each other so we could help each other put up/take down tents and other things.

My spot was a little further up the slope. OK - I admit it - I was nervous about rolling over in the middle of the night and ending up in the river.

Another glorious morning.

Havasu Canyon

Another campground - this one showing the topeat sandstone formations which provided a nice handy shelf behind my tent. At this point I was still putting up my tent, but sleeping outside under the stars. I loved staring up at the milky way and seeing so many more stars than you ever see around here.

And another hike ending in a waterfall.

And this day was much like the others with gorgeous scenery and a hike up a side canyon with a clear stream and a waterfall at the end.