Monday, July 04, 2005
For some reason, I thought Penn & Teller were Canadian. Apparantly not. Penn Jillette's latest quote leads me to believe he's never been outside the U.S., nor taken a good look at Batman's costume. I'm not aware of any country that forces women to wear skin-tight grey leotards and utility belts.
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This weekend I drove up to the Canyon and spent a couple nights at the Yavapai Lodge. Man was the park packed. Fortunately the crowd thinned out considerably a short distance below the rim. I hiked down Bright Angel to Indian Gardens, then out to Plateau Point for a nice breeze (ravens playing on the thermals) and a great view of the River. I've wanted to hike out to that point ever since I first laid eyes on the trail from the Rim. Of course, that was mublety-something years ago and I wasn't in any shape to do it at the time. Apart from the ravens I saw condors, numerous other birds, some kind of goat or antelope, and the ubiquitous thieving squirrels. Met a National Guardsman on the way down, who shared his MRE with me at the Indian Gardens stop. It was meatloaf, but I thought it would be rude to refuse, especially since I'd asked if it was any good. On the way back up the hikers clustered into little knots moving from one scrap of shade to the next. "Heartbreak Hill" wasn't even all that bad, because the sun had moved far enough down the sky that it was all in shade! One gal on the trail started calling me Wonder Woman because I was doing this hike on my own; ya know, "hiking alone" on a trail that 200-300 people take each day is kind of an oxymoron.
Having done it, I can now say with authority that July is not the best time of year to do this hike. The toughest parts were below Three Mile Resthouse and out on the plateau, despite having the least grade; it was freaking HOT down there and not a stick of shade outside the immediate vicinity of the Indian Gardens oasis. I got back top in time for dinner, but a few minutes after sitting down to dinner my guts knotted and I had to beat a not-too-hasty retreat back to my room via the park tram.
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Saw some fire activity on my way up to the canyon; there were about 6 planes or so that banked over I-17 and turned back east, presumably fighting the Cave Creek Complex fire. From Sunset Point rest area there was a lot of visible smoke to the south, and also a plume off to the northeast that might have been the Lousy fire. I didn't see any smoke on the way back down to Phoenix, but just south of Anthem there were two guys trying to put out a small fire in the median, and of course everyone had to slow down to rubberneck.
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Omega is eating and drinking now, halelujiah! OK, so it's Peaseblossom's food he's eating, not his own special diet, but it's a step forward towards getting some flesh back on his bones and that's all I'm concerned about at the moment.
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This weekend I drove up to the Canyon and spent a couple nights at the Yavapai Lodge. Man was the park packed. Fortunately the crowd thinned out considerably a short distance below the rim. I hiked down Bright Angel to Indian Gardens, then out to Plateau Point for a nice breeze (ravens playing on the thermals) and a great view of the River. I've wanted to hike out to that point ever since I first laid eyes on the trail from the Rim. Of course, that was mublety-something years ago and I wasn't in any shape to do it at the time. Apart from the ravens I saw condors, numerous other birds, some kind of goat or antelope, and the ubiquitous thieving squirrels. Met a National Guardsman on the way down, who shared his MRE with me at the Indian Gardens stop. It was meatloaf, but I thought it would be rude to refuse, especially since I'd asked if it was any good. On the way back up the hikers clustered into little knots moving from one scrap of shade to the next. "Heartbreak Hill" wasn't even all that bad, because the sun had moved far enough down the sky that it was all in shade! One gal on the trail started calling me Wonder Woman because I was doing this hike on my own; ya know, "hiking alone" on a trail that 200-300 people take each day is kind of an oxymoron.
Having done it, I can now say with authority that July is not the best time of year to do this hike. The toughest parts were below Three Mile Resthouse and out on the plateau, despite having the least grade; it was freaking HOT down there and not a stick of shade outside the immediate vicinity of the Indian Gardens oasis. I got back top in time for dinner, but a few minutes after sitting down to dinner my guts knotted and I had to beat a not-too-hasty retreat back to my room via the park tram.
-------------
Saw some fire activity on my way up to the canyon; there were about 6 planes or so that banked over I-17 and turned back east, presumably fighting the Cave Creek Complex fire. From Sunset Point rest area there was a lot of visible smoke to the south, and also a plume off to the northeast that might have been the Lousy fire. I didn't see any smoke on the way back down to Phoenix, but just south of Anthem there were two guys trying to put out a small fire in the median, and of course everyone had to slow down to rubberneck.
-------------
Omega is eating and drinking now, halelujiah! OK, so it's Peaseblossom's food he's eating, not his own special diet, but it's a step forward towards getting some flesh back on his bones and that's all I'm concerned about at the moment.
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