Hiking the Canyon

I would say that I woke up at sunrise, but I'm not sure that I ever really went to sleep.  What a miserably cold night!  I rolled out of the tent in my biker leathers and caught a look of concern from the parents of the family that was having breakfast at the campsite next to me.  All I could do was smile and laugh, but they showed no sense of humor.

After shaking off the cold with a cup of coffee and a can of chili for breakfast, I headed over to the rim and the trail-head of the Bright Angel trail.  If you click on the picture below to enlarge it, you can see the trail as it extends out through the what appears to be the valley floor.

It's about 8 miles out to the point where it looks like the trail stops.  But actually, it's another 1.3 miles from there down to the river.  There are rest-houses along the trail at 1.5 miles and 3 miles.  Both have water, but you're on you own outside of that.  After a 10-hour motorcycle ride and a cold, wet night with little sleep, I figure I'd be doing good to get to the 3-mile point and back.

The picture above is from the 1.5-mile stop.  The 3-mile stop is that little point sticking out near the middle of  the shot.  It's a 2,000 ft elevation drop from the rim to the 3-mile stop, so the trail is pretty steep.  On top of that, it was 96 degrees when I got there.  So much for being cold and wet.

 They advise that it can take twice as long to hike up from the trail as it takes to hike down, and that a reasonable fit person can make it down to the 3-mile house and back in 4 to 6 hours.  I did it in 3:15, so I'm going to claim to be in pretty good shape for an old guy, and ready to play in the rugby game next weekend.

After the hike, I found the park's general store, where I was able to buy a new sleeping bag for $130.  Not nearly as nice as the one I lost, but I'd have paid twice the price to not have to repeat last night.

On the Road! But Not What I Expected

Got a later start than I had hoped for, and caught a little rain just past Barstow.  In the 100 degree heat, the cold desert rain felt kind of nice at first, but then it came blowing in at 50 mph, and perpendicular to my line of travel.  So, my while my right side was soaked, my left side remained completely dry.

The rain itself wasn't too bad, but the wind made things a little dicey.  Throw in the turbulence from passing, or being passed by an 18-wheeler and it felt like I was in an 80 mph wrestling match with my motorcycle for most of the day.

By the time I got to the east of Kingman, AZ, it was dark, and I could smell more rain coming.  It  cold and light for the first few miles, then opened up.  Riding in the rain during the day is one thing, but at night, and at any kid of speed, well......  Let's assume that I've got a total of 12 square inches of tire tread in contact with the road - a 3-inch by 2-inch patch for each tire, and that the bike and I weigh in at about 1,000 lbs total weight.  Even at just 50 mph, it doesn't take much of a puddle to make the bike hydroplane. And if you can't see the puddles, well, you just know that things are going to end badly.

I've gotten a lot of good motorcycle advice from my buddy San Diego Pete.  One time, he told me "sometimes, you just have to stand on the side of the road next to your bike in the rain". And so I did.  In the dark. The only up-side was that I had my rain-suit, and some bug spray.

It's 500 miles from Newport Beach to the Grand Canyon, and I got to the park at about 10:00 pm. Left at noon, so it took me 10 hours to get there.  The south rim is at an elevation of about 7,000 feet, and it's 50 degrees outside. So, at 55 mph on a motorcycle, it's pretty freeking cold. Once I got my tent set up, I was looking forward to warming up in my sweet, 3-season, goose-down mummy sack.  But it's gone! I don't have that much stuff to look through, and it's just not here.  I know it was there when I filled-up with gas in Williams 60 miles away, but now it's gone!

My only source of warmth is my leather riding gear, which is still wet.  This is not the way I wanted to start this trip!!

The Ride Is On!

Airfare to Indy still seems a bit expensive, but at the end of the day, this ride is just something that I really want to do.  Kids are back at school, so campsites seem generally available in all of the national parks that I investigated.  I'm going to start off with the Grand Canyon - one day to get there, and one day to hike down into it.  I'll spend the second night there, and then head off to Durango, CO.  I'll get there for Labor Day and the Four Corners Biker Rally.  How nice!

Still in the planning phase

This idea is only half-baked right now.  I'll be deciding to fly or ride in the next week or so, so stay tuned.  If I do ride, it looks like I'll try to leave around August 29th or 30th.