Hiking the Grand Canyon (1 Viewer)

[dgrant]

MLU, I didn't realize you lived in AZ. Great stuff about the scorpions. I would like to see that myself. I guess there is a ferry to take someone across the Colorado river on a rim to rim? The shuttle set-up must take several hours.

Tony, that is a trip that is on my bucket list. I hope you keep the thread going to keep us updated on the progress. Its cool to live vicariously through someone else. I help lead out with a co-ed church scouting group called Pathfinders on some backpacking trips. The kids are a hassle, the logistics are complicated, and it is twice as much work as just taking your own family. You must have a really good troop leader if they are willing to take on such a monumental task.

 

[Tony in Brandon]

Tony, that is a trip that is on my bucket list. I hope you keep the thread going to keep us updated on the progress. Its cool to live vicariously through someone else. I help lead out with a co-ed church scouting group called Pathfinders on some backpacking trips. The kids are a hassle, the logistics are complicated, and it is twice as much work as just taking your own family. You must have a really good troop leader if they are willing to take on such a monumental task.

Thanks for the compliment! I am our Scoutmaster. I am beyond blessed that I have 15 other men that help me lead 55 boys into becoming successful men. One of my assistant scout masters came up with the idea. Six of us make up the committee that is handling various parts of this trip. This is something that several of us have talked about in the past couple of years. As our boys are earning their Eagles and aging out, we wanted to do one last hoorah. So, here we are.

 

[MLU]

MLU, I didn't realize you lived in AZ. Great stuff about the scorpions. I would like to see that myself. I guess there is a ferry to take someone across the Colorado river on a rim to rim? The shuttle set-up must take several hours.

We moved here in 2014 and I enjoy it more that I thought I would. Most of the state seems to be BLM land, so we hike, camp, float, etc at least once a month. I still love my homestate, but no one does sunsets and sunrises like Arizona. You cross the Colorado on a footbridge on the Bright Angel Trail. There are shuttle companies that charge about $80-90 for transportation and you'll set it up in advance. It's about a 4 hour drive.

Our last summer road trip we rented an RV in Sacramento and drove down the PCH to Big Sur, back tracked back to Monterrey, cut across to Sequoia Nat'l Forest, spent a night in Death Valley, drove through Valley of Fire State Park in NV and spent a couple nights on the North Rim at Locust Point before heading home. We intended to go further south on the PCH, but the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge was still a couple days away from being opened back up. My wife says she enjoys camping, but I really enjoy camping most with her when she's sleeping in an RV. She's not nearly as primitive as my daughter and I. The outdoor opportunities here are vast and good year round. In the summer months, we make it a point to take at least one long weekend each a month to Flagstaff, Greer, Alpine, etc above 7,000 feet to get out of the heat.

 

[Brennan77]

REI is running a sale on their house brand stuff.

 

[Tony in Brandon]

Saw that. thanks!

 

[Tony in Brandon]

One step closer to making it happen! We put down the deposit tomorrow for 38 boys and men to fly from Nola to Vegas!

 

[Tony in Brandon]

Haven't updated in a while. We ended up not getting any permits to stay overnight in the GC. However, we are still going. We're going to hike a couple of days in the canyon but split it up while going to some other areas out there and hiking. It sucks that we won't get to stay overnight, but we are going to make the best out of it.

 

[MLU]

That's to bad. Are the permits to stay inside the GC or at the campgrounds on the rim? There are plenty of places to camp dispersed nearby of you are looking for suggestions.

 

[Tony in Brandon]

That's to bad. Are the permits to stay inside the GC or at the campgrounds on the rim? There are plenty of places to camp dispersed nearby of you are looking for suggestions.

The permits are to spend the night in the canyon at a couple different posts. We will be staying at an adjacent campground, but we won't be able to stay overnight down in the canyon

 

[Brennan77]

That bites. It's the same thing that happened to us with our attempts for permits. It's just too many people trying to do the same thing.

 

[Tony in Brandon]

It's hard to believe, but our trip starts Friday. We will be flying out of NO Saturday morning at 6 to Vegas. We will be at the Canyon, Arches, Sedona, and finish at Death Valley. Here's to hopefully a great trip. Sunday we will be doing things around the Village and the rim trail. Monday is Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon, and head to Arches. Tuesday and Wednesday is Delicate Arch, Fiery Furnace, Wolfe ranch, seeing the petroglyphs, Park Avenue, Landscape Arch, Balanced Rock, Monument Valley, the Watchtower, Tusayan Museum, and the Desert View while headed back to Mather's Point Campground. Thursday is the big day. We'll hike into the Canyon but come back out that day. Friday we head to Death Valley and do a tour/hike there. Saturday morning is more activities at Death Valley and fly back to New Orleans from Vegas. If any of yall are members at St Matthews UMC in New Orleans, I want to thank you! We will be bunking there Friday night for our departure and then Saturday night when we fly back in from Vegas.

 

[MLU]

I was planning a hike near Sedona next weekend and I thought about this thread. You're going to have a blast.

 

[Tony in Brandon]

Well, the trip is over and back to reality. what a great week it was! The weather messed up our plans at the GC with 9 inches of snow and a 13 degree low. Arches was amazing. we arrived in the dark and set up camp. when we awoke the next morning, we were surrounded by incredible views and literally almost directly under an arch. We saw things of things and took several hundred pictures. here's one of my son and I at Death Valley

 

[MLU]

Yeah, we got a bit of late snow in AZ. This was from a couple weeks ago in Mesa, AZ. Not what you expect when you hear "Phoenix" is it?

 

[dgrant]

Would you say death valley is a "driving park" or get out in the backcountry park?

Great sunset. It kinda looks like you're standing in the ocean.