The Big Ditch

Right now I am sitting in a hotel room in Denver waiting out the first big snowstorm of the year here and harkening back to my time in the Grand Canyon just a few short days ago. A group of us, Amber, Jim, Butch, Tab and I, drove from Sedona to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon with a plan, or rather, two plans...

Amber and I planned to do a 22 mile or so loop, starting at the South Kaibab trailhead to Phantom Ranch and back up the Bright Angel trail, finishing at the El Tovar outside lounge for sunset and margaritas (and a very close view of an elk feeding).

For Tab's birthday, Jim, Butch and Tab planned to join Christie-from-Fairbanks to run from the South Rim to the North Rim and back to the South Rim, aka R2R2R. Now, mind you, R2R2R is approximately 47 miles of desert running with 12,000+ vertical elevation gain and 12,000+ vertical elevation loss (think screaming quads) in 30-40 degree and 85-90 degree temperatures. They were not planning on seeing sunset from the deck of the El Tovar, but somewhere on the switchbacks lower down in the canyon.

So...as we pulled up to the South Rim and took a look at its vastness, silence hit the group and we quickly made plans to eat a lot of calories and then go immediately to bed.

The R2R2R gang got up at 4am, checked their headlamp batteries, bean burrito and bacon supplies, sunscreen, water and anti-chaffing cream and were on the switchbacks of Bright Angel by 5am.

Amber and I slept in and started our run down the South Kaibab trail at 8:30am. We took pictures and stopped for mules and basked in the amazing beauty of the Grand Canyon. We stopped at Phantom Ranch and the Colorado River about two hours later, drank lemonade and marveled at the view from the bottom of the canyon (note the menu...$42.20 for a steak and $26.69 for stew).

In the heat of the day, we started the 6553 foot climb (per my GPS) back up to the top of the South Rim. It was a hot, slow climb but gorgeous. We took a few dips in the creek along the way and joked and laughed our way back to the top. We thought about the R2R2R crew and felt a little concerned. We guessed that at that point they were likely finishing the climb to the North Rim and still had more than 22 miles to go.

After we arrived back at the top of the South Rim, we found showers at the campground and then sipped prickly pear margaritas in the setting sun at El Tovar...all according to plan. Around 5pm we started wondering how many hours it would take the R2R2R crew to emerge from the Big Ditch. By that time, they had been traveling 12 hours.

Around 6pm the South Rim started cooling off and Amber and I put on warmer clothes and chatted with our new friends at the El Tovar. Around 7pm we started checking our phones every 3 minutes and started counting the minutes over 14 hours that the R2R2R crew had been running. Finally, at 14 hours 42 minutes from their start, Jim and Butch gave us a call and we were off to pick them up at the South Kaibab trailhead, 5 miles away. They were understandably tired and cold so we took them to the campground for showers and settled in to wait for Christie and Tab...but, just like that, we got a text from Tab that they needed a ride pronto. Amber and I tore off in the car back to South Kaibab to get them...A mere 40 minutes after Jim and Butch.

I'd love for one or more of the R2R2R runners to tell their stories so I can add them to my blog. What they accomplished was truely amazing and deserves serious, life-long bragging rights!

Cheers,

Kelly

**Photo credit to Jim and Amber. The pics are a combination of those from Jim's, Amber's and my cameras...

Alaskan Takeover

Well, the Alaskans are in Sedona, AZ and have taken it by pale-skinned and squinty-eyed storm! The gang (Amber, Butch, Jim, Tab and I and locals Rick and Chris) went for an amazing run in the red rock and fading light of the sun yesterday. Here are the pics! Next stop, the "big ditch" aka Grand Canyon.

Cheers,

Kelly

Rattlesnakes and Sunny Skies

I just completed a fantastic road trip with Cari starting in Bend, Oregon and ending here in Las Vegas. We found a random hot spring based on a tip from an elderly man at a bar in Austin, NV and camped in some amazing spots along our drive...

We drove down through some pretty wild and barren country in Nevada and Utah to our first destination...Cedar City, Utah. I wouldn't recommend the night life,* but the mountain biking is first rate!

The first day we rode the Three Peaks Recreation Area and saw only ONE other person the entire day. I had a bike malfunction wherein I had to ride the entire ride with my brake on. After only 12 miles I felt like I had done an Ironman. I was feeling pretty apprehensive about our more ambitious riding plans to come.

We left Cedar City the next morning and drove to the bustling metropolis of Hurricane (pronounced "Hurrikun"). We arrived late and ended up camping at the trailhead for the J.E.M. trail. This was a 20 mile loop that included fantastic easy single-track. It was one of my favorite rides of the week.

Next, we drove up to Gooseberry Mesa. It had rained in the area the week before and the dirt road was trashed. I was worried my little Honda wouldn't make it but after some excellent driving by Cari, we decided to re-name my car "Bitchin' Honda." Several folks were impressed with BH when they saw us camping up on the mesa.

Gooseberry was a slick-rock, technical mecca, but not the kind of ride that you'd "g-out" on. Cari rode the trails and I'd say I did more of a hike-a-bike on our first day. Just to get our adrenalin going a little more, Cari nearly rode over the biggest rattlesnake that I have ever seen. Thankfully, we came back the next day and rode the rest of the trails without incident.

We took a "day off" from our 5-6 hour daily riding routine to do some hiking in Zion. We spent the night with the masses at a campsite in Springdale and hiked Hidden Canyon, Observation Point and the beginning of the Narrows (in one day). Amazing! I highly recommend a visit to Zion. I wanted to spend a month there.

Our last epic ride was at Little Creek Mesa near Hurricane. The guidebook and everyone we asked said that it was "a little tough to navigate" and that you "either need a guide or GPS tracks." Well, that didn't stop us! We had our GPS watches, headlamps, emergency gear and water. We did really well until we came upon an area where the cairns just stopped and our map failed us. Luckily, our GPS watches pointed the way we wanted to go. However, we didn't see a trail there...At that point we were chasing daylight so we went back to a fire road we had seen earlier and just followed it to see where it ended up. Fortunately, it let to the main road and back to the trail-head. We commiserated with our new found friends from California about the tricky route in the parking lot just as the sun was setting...

Our last two rides were hot, hot, hot ones in the St. George area. Again, Cari tried to ride over a rattlesnake.

This afternoon I had to say good-bye to Cari at the Las Vegas airport. It was a wonderful trip and I hope to meet up with her again soon for another epic adventure.

Cheers,

Kelly

*When we asked a few people "Is there a brew pub in town?" and received the following answer..."What is a brew pub?" we knew we should just concentrate on finding the good biking spots.