Grand Canyon

This weekend a girlfriend from work and I were going to backpack the Grand Canyon, spending two nights at the bottom. Mother Nature changed our mind on the trip. We knew there would be a storm coming in but still drove up there planning to decide what to do when we arrived. At the backcountry office we were warned that there was an 80% chance of rain on Sunday with possible flash flooding. It was warm enough that the storm is brining rain rather then snow. Our backpacking trip quickly turned into a wonderful day hike down to Plateau Point on the Bright Angel Trail. Hiking in heavy rain with snow already on the trail did not seem like a smart idea. I had never hiked in the Canyon with snow, so this was a new adventure for me. I was prepared with YakTrax (kinda like cramp-ons). It turns out I loved hiking in the snow! It evens out the trail making it less jaring to hike on. Plus, just fun to be out in the snow hiking around. Hikers leave all sorts of messages in the snow - little snowmen, names, or my favorite smiling face pointing down the trail and frown face pointing over the edge and up the trail. It is a 12 mile round trip to Plateau Point where we decided to go. The Canyon was not crowded this time of year. We did not time it quite right hiking on the way back up, so the last mile we were hiking in headlamps. In fact, on the way up we only saw two people right below the top who like us, did not plan to be out hiking in the dark. Though, with all of our gear we will fully prepared for any situation and they had just a small flashlight. That is common hiking in the canyon to find people not prepared for the situation so I have found that on most trips at some point we are giving advice, water, or in this case light to help someone out. With the quiet, snow, and unbelievable stars out it seemed rather surreal. We headed back home that night to get a start on the rest of the weekend and avoid driving in the weather.

The other big news is my triathlon training! I joined a local group to get advice on how to complete it. We have group swims, runs, and bike rides - even going out to lakes in order to have open water training! That is the part I am most nervous about. I am already signed up for one in April (though it is a pool swim) and maybe doing another in May. I decided to rent a bike for the next several months rather then buy a new one - I already have a mt. Bike and figured I may want to know more about what I want before spending lots of money on another one.

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