The Petrified Forest and Painted Desert

Saturday 29 Mar 14

Wow, we're "Takin' It Easy" in Winslow, AZ (thank you The Eagles, for that great hit--now I can't get it out of my head).  We had a fun packed day hiking all thru the Petrified Forest.  Let me recap the day for you:

We spent last night in the Apache Indian Reservation at Hon-Duh (pronounced "Honda" like the car).  It had been predicted to get in the 20's overnight.  Lucky for us, it was only 32 at 7am.  We left the RV park around 10:30 and drove up to the south entrance of the Petrified Forest National Park about 20 miles east of Holbrook AZ.  I was totally expecting a "forest" of petrified trees... you know, like looking at stone trees...  Anyway, it was not a forest, it was a desert with petrified logs.  It was not unlike the Mississippi Petrified Forest except this one is so much larger per square mile (lots of square miles of National Park).

1/2 mile hike in Blue Mesa

50 shade of grey...literally

Greg and "ole faithful" petrified log

The reconstructed pueblo that was
600 years old built with petrified logs

We hiked around "giant" logs and then around "long logs" and upto a 600 year old pueblo (which the National Park "reconstructed" in the 1930's).  The whole area was basically a pre-historic log jam caused when the rushing rivers tore down trees from somewhere else and they floated to this area and stayed, later to become petrified.  We hiked about 4 miles total including a 1/2 mile hike down in the "Blue Mesa".  Lots of sandstone here with different colored shadings to show each era of geology.  I didn't really see "blue" sandstone.  It was more grey than anything but different shades....like 50 Shades of Grey...literally....not like the book!  We got to the park at noon and they close at 5.  We made it from the south entrance to the north entrance, even stopping at the historic marker for the old Route 66 that ran thru here, by 4:45.  We could have used a couple of more hours to take longer on the hikes but we knew we were short on time.  It was a truly great way to spend an afternoon.

I get my kicks on Route 66!

Part of the Painted Desert

City Park campground out of Windslow AZ

Grilled Caribou backstrap, mashed potatoes, gluten-free gravy
spinach salad, Hawaiian dinner rolls....YUM

So we're camping about 8 miles out of Winslow on Clear Creek at a city park.  No fee but there's no electric hook ups which is find with us.  We are right on the creek.  We got here at 6:15.  Relaxed with some drinks and appetizers.  Greg grilled caribou backstrap steaks (which he says he never does, usually pan fries them in flour).  It turned out fantastic!  We had a great day.

D&G

Open Pit Mining...an eyesore on the landscape

Friday 28 Mar 14

Woke this morning to 55 degrees.... just the way I like it!  Greg is still nursing his twisted ankle; I popped 2 more blisters under toenails last night so my feet are sore; but I went out for a 20 minute run just to stretch my legs (my toes did not appreciate that).  Greg has been finding lost items almost everywhere we go:  a flashlight, a wire meat encasement for the grill, a hatchet, butane lighters, silverware, camel bak water bladder..... lots of weird stuff others campers leave behind.  This morning on my run I found a hat that was left on one of the trails.  Who needs to go shopping, just go out for a run!

Copper Mountain Mine at Morenci AZ

We headed out of Safford at 10:00.  We are on our way through the Apache National Forest to the city of Alpine at 8000 feet elevation.  There is an RV park there that we are planning to stay at.  On the way to Alpine our journey takes us thru the mountains and thru the largest open pit copper mine in the world!  I took some pictures but they don't do it justice.  It goes on for miles and miles.  I think Greg said he read that it still produces tons of copper each day.  It was incredible to see.  The stark contrast between the mine and the natural landscape was unbelievable.  For our Alaska friends, if this is what the future looks like for Pebble Mine, then I don't want any part of it.

Copper Mountain Mine

Copper mountain Mine at Clifton AZ

We arrived in Alpine at 2:37.... lots of curvy mountain roads.  The highest area we passed thru was Hannagan Meadows at 9360 feet.  Still snow on the ground in some places here.  

Higher elevation with remains of
a fire.

Fire off in the distance toward Safford
where we just came from.

                         

We were going to overnight at Coronado RV park outside of Alpine but it was still early in the day so Greg decided to keep driving.  We could get into the White Mountains in 1-1/2 hours and there was a nice RV park there.  Nice drive took us into the Apache Indian Reservation.  We drove past the Sunrise Ski Area.  It looked like there were lots of runs and a pretty nice ski resort.  We ended up at Hon-Dah RV resort just outside of Pinetop-Lakeside area.  This is a HUGE RV park with over 300 sites.  Most of them look to be full-time campers here.  Across the street is a Casino and Hotel.  We are out in the middle of no-where!  It is so strange to see this big development here.  We walked over to the Casino but didn't play any slots.  Just walked around.  It is amazing!  Went back to the RV and grilled chicken and annaheim peppers.  I made gluten free parmesan biscuits and canned corn with steamed spinach.  We even watched a movie on TV (X2 more of X-men series).  I went to bed early but Greg stayed up and watched almost all of it!

We're # 20 of 336 sites!

Entrance to RV park with Casino just
across the road.

Tomorrow we are going to drive up the road to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert.  It looks like we are in for cold and windy days the further North and West we go.

D&G

Laundry and Groceries Day

Thursday 27 Mar 14
Burrrrrr.... 41 degrees at 7am!  It was cold but only to Greg.  I stayed nice and toasty warm snuggled beneath the King-Size Down Comforter until after 8.  (Greg got up at 7).  During the night the winds gusted quite a bit so it kept waking me up.  Not much sleep.  We packed up and headed down the mountain toward Safford (still in AZ) at 10:15.  Safford is about 18 miles from where we were camping.  Campsite at 6700 feet, Safford at 2900 feet..... lots of curvy roads.  Got a campsite at Roper Lake State Park again (this is the same place we stayed on Sunday night AND we got the same campsite as before).  Before we parked the camper we drove into Safford, found a Safeway, bought groceries, had a prescription transferred from Anchorage, then went to a laundromat to do a couple loads of clothes!  What a productive day!!!!  We got to the campground around 2:30.  Sat outside and relaxed in the warm weather (75 degrees).  Then the wind started blowing.....we can't seem to get away from it!  I took a wonderful hot shower and we drove back into town to get dinner.  Greg said it was our anniversary dinner since we didn't go out to eat last week on our actual anniversary (he is SO sweet).  We ate at Casa Manana's.  We both had margaritas; I had some kind of spicy meat enchiladas x3 with green salsa and Greg had a huge chimichanga with rice and beans.  It was ok food, nothing like we thought it would be.  But we cleaned out plates!  It's not every night we go out to dinner so I made sure I ate everything on my plate.

Tomorrow we are headed toward Alpine AZ in the Apache National forest.  Very high elevations and all the campgrounds we have found in the area a closed until 1May.  Outside of Alpine there is a privately owned RV park where we have gotten reservations for tomorrow night.  The low temp for tomorrow night is 23... the RV park has electricity so we'll be running the electric heater!  We eventually plan to make it to the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert near the town of Holbrook AZ sometime over the weekend.  Then we'll start making our way West.  Maybe going to another area of the Grand Canyon.  I'm hoping my luck with the internet holds up and I can keep up with the blog.

Havin' Fun
D & G

Lazy Daze (That's the name of a model of RV I saw recently!)

Wednesday -- 26 Mar 14
It rained a little more last night after I posted in the blog and after we got into bed.  Hearing the rain hit the roof of the RV was a soothing sound.  It reminded me of listening to rain hit a tin roof when I was a child.  I slept really good.  This morning we woke to chilly temps in the 40's and breezy.  It was only 55 by 11:00.  Greg decided to go for a run but I couldn't muster the stamina to brave the wind (I'm a wimp).  I stayed in and did an hour workout with resistance bands.  I did manage to get out around noon and try to run down the road.  The only problem with that is that we are at 6700 feet and the road down is curvy and steep so I would have had to run back up it..... I'm a wimp remember..... I bailed on the run after 5 minutes.  Plus my feet were still hurting from the last couple of hikes I went on.  Greg returned around 12:30 with a twisted ankle.  He ran up the trail we hiked on yesterday.  It took us (ok, ME) an hour to get maybe 2 miles.  He did that plus further up the trail in 50 minutes.  He's a stud!  On the way down, he twisted his ankle twice.  It was starting to swell when he got back to camp.  We iced it and got it elevated.  We were done with our outside activities by 1:00.  The wind was blowing and the temps finally got into the 60's by 2:30.  I was cold all day.  Had to put on my fleece hat, pants and top.  We chilled all day (hence the title "lazy daze").  For supper, Greg ventured out in the wind and grilled up some caribou kielbasa sausage and stuffed poblano peppers (we LOVE these!) and I pan-fried potatoes and onions.  Food is just better when you're camping.  I don't think we've had a bad dinner yet!

Another great dinner.  Grilled caribou kielbasa
and poblano peppers, pan-fried potatoes and
onions.  Yummy Good!

Tomorrow we may head down the mountain and go back to the Roper Lake campground where we stayed Sunday night.  I need a nice hot shower..... no further comment on that.  This has been really nice at Arcadia campground especially since we haven't had to pay (it would have only been 5.00 a night and we may stick a check in the payment slot even without a payment envelope).

Finishing up tonight listening to the wind and a lonely owl hooting in the distance.  Hey we're still in Arizona, did I mention that?!!!!

Another Hike and We're Still in Arizona!

25 Mar 14 -- Tuesday

      

Tomorrow I'll duct tape my whole foot!
Toes are painted purple to hide the ones
that are black already.

It didn't get as cold over night as predicted, only 49 at 7am.  This is a very quiet campground (and that's not because we are the only ones here).  At bed-time last night I heard an owl hooting but nothing else the rest of the night..... pretty eerie!  We went for another hike this morning.  The sky was overcast and it was a little cooler than yesterday.  We both wore our long sleeve technical shirts and bike jackets.  My big toe had been hurting all night and I finally checked it and found a blister under the nail bed from the hike yesterday.  I popped the blister but the toe was still painful.  Of course I put my hiking boots on again with 2 pair of socks (because I have blisters on both of my heels and the side of my left foot.).  I used 2 walking sticks and managed to go for an hour before I bailed.  The trail was steep but not as steep as we have hiked in the past.  My feet just hurt so bad that I could hardly walk.  The picture above is at the turn-around point where I had to take my socks off to check to see if there were more blisters.  Luckily not but putting everything back on over sore feet was not pleasant.  We left the RV at 11:40 for our hike and was back at 2:25.  Just as we made our way to the campground it started raining.... not a downpour, just sprinkling.  It was dark'ish outside and pleasantly cool.....perfect for taking a nap!  By 4 the rain had stopped and the sun was trying to come out again.  Greg started a fire at 5 and we sat in the lawn chairs with our coats and hats on until it started raining again.  The fire had been started so that the bed of coals could be used for cooking dinner.  It still worked out.  We fixed salmon patties (from the last of canned salmon from home) with chopped red bell pepper and purple onion.  I made gluten free macaroni with 3 cheeses (cheddar, Parmesan, and cream cheese----nothing dairy-free here) and coleslaw with mandarin oranges and celery.  It was so good that we didn't have any left-overs.  We turned the generator on for a little while after dinner to run the furnace on electricity to get the inside warm before bed.  At 7pm it was 49.  Wow... I just noticed it was the same temp at 7 this morning, too!  Anyway, it's drizzling some more and it will be cooler tonight.  I'm so glad we have the new King-size Down Comforter!  Did I mention we are still in Arizona?  Who knew we would be cold here!!!!!

The beginning trail for Arcadia Trail

Part-way up.  Lots of dead trees from
an old forest fire.

                     

YUM!  Salmon patties, mac n 3-cheese,
mandarin orange coleslaw, Hawaiian roll 

Pinaleño Mountains

The views from 10,028 feet
Heliograph Tower
Pinaleno Mountains

23 Mar 14 (Monday)---- by the time I woke up Greg had gone for a run (that was at 7:30).  It was sooooo beautiful outside that I drank my coffee in the lawn chair by the RV ---I love it!  I wanted to go for a run also, but because we had electricity and wi-fi, now was a good time to get caught up on the blog (I hope you've read all the other posts created on 3/23).  It took me 3 hours to get finished.  In-the-meantime, Greg was back from his run, showered, and had breakfast.  He was getting the RV ready to leave so at 11:15 when I finished what I could do on the blog, we finished cleaning up and pulled out at 11:45.  We had to drive into Safford to get propane and stop by the National Park Service office.  Got really good maps and camping instructions for the Pinaleno Mountains just out of town.  The drive is 22 miles up the mountains which is only 5 or 6 miles out of Safford.  It takes you to an elevation of 9100 feet (Safford is approximately 2500 feet).  The drive took us about an hour to drive the windy, mountainous road.  Our plan was to camp at the campground just opposite the pull off for the 9100 ft elevation sign (Shannon Campground).  There was still too much snow so the campground was gated shut.  Next to the campground is a service road that leads up to Heliograph Tower at 10,028 feet.  We ate lunch, I took a nap, then we put on our hiking gear to walk up to the tower.  It was a pleasant hike up a dirt road with many places covered in snow.  The temps were in the 60's so it was very comfortable on the way up.  Took us less than an hour to go 2 miles and the views from 10000 feet were extraordinary!  It was about 5pm when we started the hike back down and the weather was definitely cooling off.  We made it back to the RV at 5:45.  We drove back down the mountain to 6700 feet elevation (10 miles) and parked at Arcadia Campground.  We had the pick of the campground.  11 sites and no one here but us.  There were also no fee envelopes so we camped for free!  It was 6:20pm by the time we parked so it was starting to get dark and temp dropping to 55.  The predicted lows for tonight in the low 40's.  We heated left-over spaghetti and caribou swiss steak.  I microwaved a potato to put the swiss steak juices over and we fixed a spinach salad.  I was amazed that I had 2 bars of cell coverage on my phone and the wi-fi hotspot got us to 3G.   Wow! and we're in a National Forest.... that's unheard of.  I can't wait to see if I still have reception tomorrow.

Just some of the snow covering the
hike up to Heliograph Tower

At the top of the hike--- 10,028 Feet Up!

Arcadia Campground

Civilization for a night

23Mar14 -- Sunday -- After 3 nights in Mesa with no electricity, 1 night at Roosevelt lake with no electricity, 2 nights at Stockton Pass with no electricity (we had lights, just had to run everything off the batteries)..... we arrived at noon to Roper Lake State Park with electricity and water hook-up!!!!  Yeah!  I even have cell service and wi-fi!!!  There is a small lake with beach area (the water is too cold to swim in) and a natural hot springs hot tub (too hot during the day to get in it), bath house with flush toliets and hot showers!!!!  I have died and gone to heaven!!!  It cost us 25.00 for the night but it was totally worth it to get my hair washed, my legs shaved, and my blog updated!  For supper tonight Greg seared caribou steaks on the grill and then I simmered them in fire roasted tomatoes with green peppers and mushrooms and made mashed potatoes (out of real potatoes!) with a spinach salad.  All good!

Roper Lake campground with lake in the far distance

Roper Lake campground

Adding to the Blisters on my Feet

22Mar14 -- Saturday -- I slept in until almost 8:00!!!  It was 56 outside the RV and 54 inside!  Thank goodness for the new King-size Down Comforter (I am repeating this from a previous post!).  We hiked today up a 5 mile trail from the campground to Swift Trail road.  It was very steep, rocky, lots of sticker bushes, hot, windy, buggy..... I was not in a very good mode to hike today.  I only made it 3 hours up (approximately 4 miles).  Greg went the entire 5 miles.  We didn't have a trail map so we're not sure what the elevation gain was.  I can tell you that it was steep.  It was a beautiful day, temps in the 60s with a slight breeze.  Not much scenery different than what we have been seeing.  A lot of pine forest with some panoramic views.  At the top there were still some snow patches here and there.  By the time we got back to camp, my legs were shot.  I had a couple of new blisters.  Can't tell if I lost more toe nails because they are still painted dark purple from the last pedicure that I got.  I'll find out soon enough when they start falling off.  We celebrated our hike with some cold beer, beef jerky, sliced cheese and crackers.  I laid on the bed with my legs elevated against the wall and felt much better by dinner time.  It took us 5-1/2 hours to do the 8 miles for me / 10 miles for Greg.  For dinner we had grilled butterfly pork chops, stir-fry green and red peppers with red onion and garlic, left over brown rice.  The pork chops were melt-in-your-mouth GOOD!!  What a great way to finish off the day......now for a much needed long NAP!!!!!

At the top of 5 mile hike.  That's snow in the foreground.

I'm smiling because we are on our way DOWN!

3 miles to go to get to the RV

Just a glimpse of what most of the trail was like.

Has It Been 16 Years Already!

Friday March 21, 2014
It was 16 years ago today that Greg picked me to be his wife!  I am the luckiest woman on earth.  I still can't believe it has been 16 years, where did the time go?  It still seems like yesterday we just met.  I am certain that I love him more today than I could have even imagined all those years ago.  Happy Anniversary Honey and looking forward to many more!
This morning we woke to another beautiful day.  We both went for a run:  I ran just under 45 minutes from our camp across the highway to the main campground and around the lake.  It was very peaceful.  Greg ran for over and hour from the RV up the dirt road into the mountains (I am not into hills).  It was 50 degrees at 8:30am and 56 at 9:30....perfect running weather.  After breakfast, we left camp at 11:45, stopped at Walmart in Globe AZ (30 minutes down the road).  We bought a new camera and groceries.  Made lunch and ate in the parking lot.  Headed on down the road 75 miles to Safford AZ then into Coronado National Forest.  The campground we were looking for was not posted from the road so we drove past it.  Turned around a couple of miles later and almost missed it again.  The only sign for it was a blue generic picnic table icon; nothing to indicate camping or a campground.  We drove into the area but there were no picnic tables and it didn't look much like a campground.  Greg walked around and finally found the actual campground.  It was further down the washed out/rutted dirt road that we were on.  The campground (Stockton Pass) was nothing to write home about.... an outhouse and some concrete picnic tables.  We were the only ones there.  It's free to camp so what's not to like?  We are at 5650 feet elevation so nice and cool.  For dinner we grilled Copper River Red Salmon that Greg seasoned with salsa, olive oil and garlic salt.  He also grilled stuffed poblano peppers (with cream cheese).  I made brown rice and canned black beans.  What a wonderful anniversary dinner.  The only thing missing were the candles!

Food prep
Salmon and poblano peppers
for the grill

Grilled to perfection!

Happy 16th Anniversary!!!!!

                                     

Stockton Pass Campground

Stockton Pass Campground

AZ-88 and the Road Thru Hell

The drive thru Hell.
Tortilla Flat to Roosevelt Dam

20Mar14 (Thursday)--- we slept really well beneath the covers of our new King-size Down Comforter!  It is another beautiful morning!  We are leaving today and heading SE from Phoenix toward the Pinello Mountains.  We left camp at 10:45.  Drove AZ-88 road to the Town of Tortilla Flat past Canyon Lake.  It was a twisty, mountain road to Tortilla Flat but beautiful views of the lake.  4 miles on the other side of Tortilla flat we saw a sign "unpaved road next 22 miles".  What!!!!!  Sure enough for 10 miles we drove on dirt, ruddy, washed out, single lane, blind curves for 45 minutes!  OMG.... we stopped at an overlook for Apache Lake to eat lunch and chill out.  Thank goodness there was not much traffic on that stretch of road or we might not have made it.  After lunch we drove the remainder of the 22 miles (another 12) on the same type of roads!  It took us 50 minutes to do that section.  We ended up at Roosevelt Dam outside of Roosevelt Lake.  It had taken us nearly all day to drive less than 50 miles.  We visited the Tonto National Monument Cliff Dwellings for about an hour then drove back to Roosevelt Lake to camp for the night.  In Tonto National Park, you have to pre-pay to camp with a "tonto pass".   We didn't have that and it was 4:00 when we got to the campground.  We didn't want to drive another 20 minutes to buy a pass then drive back to the campground so we just went across the road and camped for FREE on a dirt road that's part of the National forest.  For supper, I used left-over caribou K-bobs and made spaghetti sauce with gluten free noodles and salad.

Awww.... Half-way thru Hell at
Apache Lake.

Taken thru the windshield.
The road thru Hell.

     

The Adventures Continue

Monday 17Mar14 -- Greg drove from the Grand Canyon back to Phoenix and I flew from Jacksonville FL back to Phoenix.  We hooked up at the airport at 10pm.  Greg had gotten a camping site at Usery Mountain Regional Park just outside of Mesa which was about 30 minutes from the airport.  By the time he picked me up and we stopped at a drug store for Mucinex, it was 11:30pm.  I was recovering from a bad cold and Greg was suffering from sinus issues.  We both took Mucinex and passed out.  It had been a long day for both of us.

18Mar14 -- Tuesday-- Woke to beautiful skies and 56 degrees.  We are camping in an overflow area of the campground with no hookups, but nice large camping spots with covered picnic tables and big fire pits.  This overflow area is actually used for group camping.  There are 4 of us camping here but it is very quiet.  It is located just outside of Mesa which is part of Phoenix.  We can see the city lights but not heard any of the sounds.  It is wonderful.  We did absolutely nothing today... well, I lied, we went to the grocery store, but other than that, we both enjoyed a nice relaxing day of recovery.  It got into the 80's (LOVE it!).  For supper, we grilled caribou burger k-bobs with Anaheim peppers, red onion, grape tomatoes on skewers with side dish of prepackaged rice and veggies with a spinach salad.  The night sky was fantastic and we could hear some coyotes howling in the distance.

Usery Mountain Regional Park at sunset

19Mar14 -- Wednesday - This morning we rode our bikes about a mile up to the ranger station to pay for another night (it's 10.00 / night), then we rode another 1 1/2 miles to the trailhead of Wind Cave Trail.  It's a 1-1/2 mile hike up to a large overhang of the mountain where the indians and settlers would go to get out of the heat.  At the trailhead the elevation is just over 2000 feet, the hike takes you about 800 more feet up.  There were ton's of people here.  The hike wasn't real difficult just lots of rocks to step up on.  The trail was nice but single track in some places so we'd have to stop to let those coming down go by us.  Very pleasant once we got to the top.  We did see a couple of coyotes, lots of humming birds, and some chipmunks.  After lunch we decided to drive into Mesa in search of a new comforter (we have been using thin blankets since we got the RV and freezing our butts off....enough of that!).  As we drove out of the camp, Greg remembered he needed to do laundry so without the help of the internet we had to rely on the Garmin GPS to find us a laundromat.  That's a long story for another day.....but after an hour of searching we finally found one.  I brought from Anchorage 2 full quart-size baggies of quarters to do laundry with and of all the laundromats we found this one didn't take quarters, it has a debit-like card that you load money into.  It only took 1's, 5's, 10's, 20's, to load on the card......no quarters!  Oh well, we managed to scrounge up a couple of 5's to get the laundry done.  We then went to a Target and bought a down comforter.  Whew!!!!  We finally made it back to camp at 6pm.  We rode our bikes back to the main campground to take showers.  We grilled halibut and had quinoa, baked beans, and raw veggies for dinner.  Total exercise:  biking: 3miles; hiking: 3 miles.  Not a bad day.

At Wind Cave (2860 ft elevation)

View from Wind Cave

  

Greg and the The Grand Canyon..... in his own words

12Mar14 ---- Up at 4am, drove Dona to Sky Harbor Airport (Phoenix) for a 6:30am flight to Jacksonville FL.  I drove 3+ hours to the Grand Canyon.  Did a little sight-seeing, then pulled into the trailer village with hook-ups.  I drained the holding tanks and filled the fresh water tank.  I went over to the Back Country office to see what camping spots were available down in the canyon and snagged spots for the night of the 13th at Boucher Springs; on the 14th & 15th at Granite Rapids.  Back at camp, I packed for my 3 day hike and ate left-overs from last night (grilled chicken thighs, stuffed poblano peppers, brown rice).

South Rim Grand Canyon

The Rig at campsite 

13Mar14 ----Thursday am, up at 5:00, ate breakfast then drove the RV to Hermit's Rest trailhead.  Hit the trail at 7:15.  Hiked until around 11:30, stopped to eat lunch and assess the situation.  My pack was around 50 lbs.and was kicking my butt!  I had already fallen once onto some cactus which then took me a while to get up and then pull stickers out of my arm and back and out of my shirt.  I was concerned about managing my heavy pack.  At Yuma Point, about 6 miles down (3 to go) I pondered carrying the pack for the rest of the hike then decided that was pretty stupid so I walked back out to the trailhead....scratching the idea of hiking for 3 days.  I made it to the trailhead at 5pm, drank a cold beer, drove back to the campground. Needless to say I was completely shot!!!

14Mar14 --- I slept for over 10 hours, that is completely unheard of for me.  I obviously needed it to recover from yesterday.  I spent most of the day working on downsizing my pack and recovering.  I picked up a steak and potato for dinner.  Went to bed at 8:30.

15Mar14 ---- Saturday, up at 6:30, went to the general store and rented one of their 1-man tents.  Drove to Hermit's Rest trailhead again.  Headed down the trail around 8:20 with a much lighter pack (30 lbs.).  Made it to Granite Rapids (9 .3 miles from the trailhead) at around 3pm.  Pitched the tent, filtered water from the river, and rested.  Ate Mountain House stew for dinner with a little tabasco sauce for added flavor.  Beautiful sunset and at 7:30 the full moon lit up the canyon like a flood light.  It was absolutely stunning!

campsite at Granite Rapids

Greg at Granite Rapids

16Mar14 ---- Sunday--- up at 4:45 with the moon still lighting up the canyon.  Ate oatmeal and had coffee for breakfast.  Headed out at 6:15 (back up the 9.3 miles to the trailhead) just as the sun was lighting the trail.  I made a couple of wrong turns but corrected and passed by Monument campground at 7:23 (1.3 miles from Granite Rapids).  After 7.5 hours, 9.3 miles, 4600 feet in elevation, I made it to Hermit's Rest trailhead at 1:45.  Celebrated with a cold beer at the RV.  Drove back to the campground.  Bought another steak and potato and poblano pepper for dinner and cracked open a nice Merlot (to boost my red blood cells).  My body aches even after a hot shower, but I'm elated that I made the hike.

Hermit's Rest trail

I hiked this!

and I hiked this!!!

Colorado River at Granite Rapids

Copy and paste the link below to your web browser and view all of Greg's Grand Canyon adventure.

https://plus.google.com/photos/110850467887248889630/albums/5994193027003404273

Iditarod 2014 Skwentna Checkpoint

Greg and Brian at the water station

Brian helping an unidentified musher

We left the RV parked in long-term parking at Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix on Feb. 24 and flew home to Anchorage for a couple of weeks.  Brian and Greg flew to Skwentna on the 28th to help "man" the Skwentna checkpoint for the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.  This year was pretty warm and the trail conditions for the mushers and dogs were horrible with little to no snow in places.  Many of the mushers scratched just after the Skwentna checkpoint.

The plane getting it's engine heated

 before takeoff to Anchorage

On Thursday March 9, I got to "babysit" Sean's puppy, Kaya, for a few days while he was on a cruise.  What a cutie pie.  She just loved to play and play with Tessa (my old dog).  Tessa would play but when she had enough all she had to do was clamp down on the back of Kaya's neck and Kaya was putty in her "jowls".  It was too much fun to watch them.

Kaya, siberian husky, 6 months old

We flew back to Phoenix on March 11, then I flew to Waycross on March 12...........

And the journey continues.

Stay tuned.