For my vacation this year I went on a 6 day hiking trip to the American southwest. Like all the other trips I've done, this was a great trip in many ways. I left home on Sunday, 9/16 and got home Sunday, 9/23. I had direct flights between Indianapolis and Las Vegas where the trip officially started and ended. In between we visited and hiked in Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion National Parks.
As with any hiking trip the weather can be a big factor. In this case for the entire trip it was a positive factor - we had great weather the entire time. The north rim of the Grant Canyon is about 9,000 feet altitude so we had mountain weather - cold at night and hot during the day. Likewise at Bryce and Zion. But since they were lower altitude it was mostly cool at night rather than cold.
The Grand Canyon has the most number of search and rescue missions of any of the national parks. The problem is hikers start with going down rather than like mountains where you start by going up. At the Grand Canyon people can get down easily but don't factor in the issues of getting back up. The main issues are the effort - most trails are pretty steep and you're at some altitude. Also it gets very hot in the canyon and people don't carry enough water which leads to dehydration.
At the Grand Canyon they started a program called P.S.A.R. - Preventative Search and Rescue. There are uniformed volunteers at certain points along the trail. They will talk to anyone going down further to make sure they are aware of the conditions and the effort involved. For example anyone planning on going to the bottom should be carrying 3 liters of water. It takes about twice as long to come up as it takes to go down. This program has reduced the number of search and rescue missions in the Grand Canyon.
All of the hikes we did on this trip were great. But one stood out. At Bryce Canyon we hiked into the hoodoos and then hiked out of the park to our van which took us to where we were staying for the next two nights. Two days after hiking out we were driven back to where we came out of the park and started hiking at about 6 a.m. back into the park. It was still night so we used flashlights for about half an hour. Once in the park among the hoodoos again we hiked another park trail to a small ridge. We faced east and watched the sun come up. We then turned around and faced west watching the rising sun light up the hoodoos. We could see people on the rim of the park overlooking the hoodoos. But they just got to see the sunrise. We got to see the hoodoos light up.
We were told that the most dangerous animal at the Grand Canyon was the rock squirrel. They treat 4 squirrel bites a day turning visitor season.
Just to show the regard in which squirrels are held in this area, we heard this story. A couple people were sitting at a table very near the rim eating ice cream cones. One of the people looked back and saw a squirrel eating on his cone. The person reached over, grabbed the squirrel by the scruff of neck and threw it over the rim.
For a trip of this nature it's unusual to have equipment problems. But I had several. One the very first significant hike into the Grand Canyon, I had plenty of water in my pack. But before we hit the trail someone pointed out that my pack was leaking. It turns out that one of my water bottles developed a crack. Fortunately there were liter bottles of water in our van so I grabbed one for the hike down. But having a water bottle crack was the first meltdown.
Several days later I was getting ready to take off on another hike. I take 2 pairs of glasses, my usual bifocals and my sports glasses. The sports glasses are photochromatic which means they turn darker in bright light. They also just have my distance prescription since bifocals don't work too well for watching your feet when the going gets rough. I was starting to put them on when one of the arms came off. Fortunately I carry clip-on sun glasses which I put on my bifocals and made it through the remaining hikes just fine. That was my second meltdown.
Near the end of the trip we were getting ready for a hike when I found that my other water bottle was missing. That was my third meltdown. Of course I still had the liter bottle I'd picked up earlier in the trip so I was fine for water. But it was still annoying to lose both of my water bottles. Until, that is, it turns out it had fallen out of my pack in the trailer where we carried our gear. So, in the end, it was only a partial meltdown.
I had always know the people populating the American southwest in ancient times as the Anasazi. These are the people who built the cliff dwellings and pueblos in that area around 1200 B.C.E. However I learned that the term now preferred for these people is Ancient (or Ancestral) Puebloans (or Pueblo Peoples). Anasazi in Navajo means "Ancient Enemy" and the people descended from these ancient people object to this term. This is understandable since the Navajo are not believed to be descended from them.
It's possible that this may be my last hiking vacation. I have a progressive condition called hallux limitus which means having limited range of motion of the big toe. It did not cause me any issues on this trip. However it did limit my jogging leading up to this trip. And the rate at which it is getting worse suggests that I may not be able to train very well for future trips. However that doesn't mean I would be stopping traveling. There are still plenty of interesting, exciting places to go and things to do which don't require hiking. And as I write this (Oct. 21, 2012) I am scheduled for a cortisone shot in a couple weeks to at least temporarily improve matters. So, we'll see.
The trip was 6 days long but started at 8 a.m. on the first day. So the trip only consisted of 5 sunrises. 4 of them were special in one way or another.