Last Year Kevin's University switched from quarters to semesters, giving us a long break in December and January. We are still trying to figure out the best stuff to do during this time. We started out with a ski trip at Wolf Creek. Some of you blog followers might recall that we started our CDT attempt there last summer. Jay and Kevin skied every day for a week I got what's becoming my traditional sinus infection and spent the week in the cabin. bummer. Jay had a fantastic week; he skied double X, double diamond, hike to the top terrain, then pulled off a 360 Degree jump. We left Colorado and headed across the big Navajo reservation to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. After a frosty camp at Mather Campground then on Christmas Eve we hiked down the Bright Angel Trail to Indian Garden. It was really strange to be headed into a canyon and getting warmer. The trail was icy at the top then sandy and dry at Indian Garden. The next day we hiked down to the Bright Angel Camp and Phantom Ranch. Kevins Birthday is Christmas Day so I hiked some Santa gifts and a can of Happy Camper Ale down the Canyon for gifts. Kevin met a ranger at Phantom Ranch that had his exact birthday 12/25/66. We chose an unfortunate camp right at the bridge, everybody in the campground stopped to talk. One of the coolest was a young woman named Sirena Dufault She is a Gatway Community Liason for the AZT or the Arizona Trail. She showed us the brand new guide book and now Jay is hot to try biking it.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0899977472/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=1535523722&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1565792793&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=04PX1ETQ0JKYJAFSCT73
From Bright Angel camp we hiked up the Kaibab to the Tonto trail on our way up the trail there was a one horned desert Bighorn posing for a perfect photo. The Tonto trail runs the length of the park on an apron of rock about a thousand feet above the river. We hiked for three days on this trail. Short miles for the short days. Our Longest trail days on this hike were 7 miles. With the sun coming up at 7:30 and setting at 5:30 We didn't have time for those summer treks.
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| This trail has tunnels! |
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| And very tame deer |
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| At Indian Garden Jay and Kevin hiked out to a viewpoint called Panorama Point |
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| Classic Grand Canyon photo. Jay makes an awesome model. |
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| Kevin at Bright Angel camp with his birthday brew |
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| The bridge on the Kaibab trail ends in a tunnel |
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| The one horned Bighorn |
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| The Hiking Mattsons |
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| Hiking into Grapevine Canyon the trail got very narrow and cliffy |
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| The Tonto trail goes into every side canyon and turns around like this. We found water in some of them |
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| After the Tonto Trail we hiked up to Horseshoe mesa. Fantastic views |
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| Then out Grandview Point where it got icy again at the top |
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| Some of the trail work was fantastic |
After the Grand Canyon we went back to Colorado and skied at Purgatory and Creste Butte and Monarch. reliving much of our CDT hike in Colorado. We even saw trail signs at Monarch. We stayed at hte Gunnison Hostel, it was a very homey place and we really enjoyed our stay there. They had $54 lift passes for Crested Butte.
After our stay in Colorado we headed to Michigan to see Aunt Laurie and Uncle Tom in Kalamazoo. Then the deep freeze started, Kevin went to Ann Arbor to do research on his next book while Jay and I stayed in Kzoo. We meant to go to several museums but instead we sat by the fire and chatted. Jay and I got on an Amtrak and hooked up with Kevin in Ann Arbor. Jay and I went to a great Museum called the Kelsey Archaeological Museum.
Here our links to some of the places we went and stayed:
Near Durango CO
Arizona
Colorado again
http://www.skimonarch.com
Michigan
