Searching for Prometheus, chasing sunset's light, and finding peace in the remote Great Basin Snake Range.

Stella Lake at sunset under Wheeler Peak (right) and Doso Doyabi (left).
 Great Basin National Park

Mount Moriah
Other adventures in Baker's backyard include summiting Mount Moriah, in the northern Snake Range, north of Great Basin National Park. This summit includes "the table" reached just below, a worthy destination all its own.  Our plan to summit this mountain failed when we parked too far away from Big Canyon Trailhead, the highest on Moriah's western side, after a very slow (5 mph) drive up a grueling and long rocky access road, doubling our planned hiking distance.  We didn't have it in us to do it this time.  Instead, we made it to a 10,000-foot summit nearby with a register in a glass jar and some bristlecone pines.  Mount Moriah will have to be a "grudge" peak for now.  We will probably access it from an eastern trailhead.  (Trail map to summit at end of this post).

Bristlecones! ♡ is an entry in the register that prompted me to explore more of this ridgeline, and indeed I did find some bristleccone pines a few hundred yards away, sadly dead or nearly dead.  I can't help but wonder what these stalwart trees witnessed over the possibly hundreds and maybe even thousands of years of their lives.

Hike toward Mount Moriah from NF Road 469.

Bristlecone pine or Limber pine?  I think bristlecone.  Near Mount Moriah Wilderness at 10,000 feet.

From the truck:  driving back down to Spring Valley, looking at the Schell Creek Range on the other side.
Nevada, the heart of the Great Basin, is significant for its many parallel mountain ranges as a result of extension of the Earth's crust.  Note the sun shining on the light-colored silt and clay playa, an ancient lake filled during Pleistocene times.

Ward Charcoal Ovens
The Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park near Ely and to the northwest of Baker features an essential process of remote silver ore mining in the American West.  It's a popular place to do night photography.  Located in the Egan Range, these ovens, or kilns, were used in the late 1800's to make charcoal, an efficient fuel used in smelters to extract the minerals from silver ore.  Normal supply lines couldn't reach these remote areas, so the kilns burned local trees to make the charcoal.  The image below was made by Mish.

Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park.
photo by Mish  (Mike Shedlock) - mishmoments.com
Comment from Mish:
“I used small, thin, Lume Cubes to light the inside of the kilns. The Milky Way was taken separately at Great Basin but is in the correct spot.  The kilns are a panoramic blend of 8 overlapping images with only 4 of 6 kilns used in the final composite.”
“I like blue hour blends. That is the hour after sunset or the hour before sunrise. Working with multiple sets of images improves the ability to capture details and reduce noise. There is a period of about 20 minutes in the middle of the blue hour where ambient light and light from Lume Cubes roughly match intensity. The resultant image is a whopping 656 megabytes.”​

​Wheeler Peak Bristlecone Grove:  Prometheus - the oldest tree on Earth
Fred and I searched for Prometheus, the oldest-known non-clonal organism on Earth, estimated to be 4,900 years old when it was cut down by a researcher in 1964.  It's in the Wheeler Peak Bristlecone Grove, but we didn't find the stump.  Its scientific name - Pinus longaeva - literally means "ancient aged."

Bristlecones flourish where many species cannot, in limestone rocks and soil; this reduces their chance of burning by forest fire.
The Wheeler Peak grove is unusual in that it grows in quartzite boulders on a glacial moraine.   The top of Wheeler Peak is quartzite, a metamorphic sandstone.
​
Prometheus, in Greek mythology means "forethought";  he was a god of fire.  Actually, myth has it that Prometheus stole fire from gods and gave it to humans to advance civilization.

​The bristlecone's dramatic, jagged and twisted appearance reflects its endurance in harsh conditions.  High winds twist them, cold temperatures contribute to slow tree ring growth, creating a protective, dense wood that resists insects and rot.

These majestic trees have been around during the fall of civilizations and the creation of America, survived through catastrophic volcanism.

Two other bristlecone groves in Great Basin State Park are the Mount Washington and Eagle Peak groves.

Our Photo Expedition
The challenge Mish and I had on this day was to find the right light conditions for photographing these bristlecones and then make sure we got to Stella Lake in time for optimal sunset shots.  Lucky for us, the wind blew away smoke from wildfires, storm clouds came in to reveal perfect illumination for photography.  

After photographing the bristlecones in late afternoon, we took the long way to Stella Lake afterwards risking missing optimal sunset light on the lake.  We realized afterward that there's a quicker way to get to Stella Lake from Teresa Lake, next to the bristlecone grove.  We set up our tripods and began shooting just in time as the light grew more and more intense on Wheeler and Doso Doyabi and in the lake's reflection.  The clouds were perfect!

One of the extraordinary things about photographing nature is the few magic seconds when you capture a scene not usually witnessed by humans.  The fast-changing light of a sunset makes you realize how quickly time passes.  Mountains stay the same for eons and a bristlecone pine would barely change during our lifetimes, but light can change quickly.  After all, it's the various degrees of light we are capturing with our cameras, as "photograph" means "writing with light."

Bristlecones from Wheeler Peak Grove and Forest Road 469 en route to Mount Moriah's Big Canyon Trailhead.

Identifying features of a bristlecone pine:  one-inch-long needles in packets of five that grow in tufts, and cones with scales that are tipped with a claw-like bristle.

Bristlecones under Wheeler Peak

Stella Lake with Doso Doyabi illuminated above.
The name comes from Shoshone language meaning "white peak."

FUN-ky Baker

Baker, Nevada scenes on a very smoky day due to distant wildfires.  The smoke actually made good lighting conditions for photography but bad conditions for breathing!

"Museum of the Future Coming Soon" on an old cabin with photos below:  something to look forward to ;)

Abandoned cabin in "downtown" Baker.

Topo map of hike (yellow) from Big Canyon Trailhead to Mount Moriah summit.

References
Britannica Website - "Prometheus."
​National Park Service - Great Basin National Park - Bristlecone Pines

Walk on one of Earth's largest laccoliths in a quiet part of the Pine Valley Mountains near St. George, Utah.

Solitude, cool views of Zion National Park, nice pines and aspens, and unique geology are the rewards you get with this hike to Mount Baldy if you don't mind hiking through a large burn area and can handle some frustrating bushwhacking and deadfall maneuvering.

With this ascent, we conquered one of our "grudge peaks," as we gave this a try in April but faced a thick blanket of snow covering the steep mountainside that the trail traversed.  We should have known when we had to ford a cold, overflowing creek with waterfalls from snow melt at the beginning of the hike.

However, a few days ago, we added another peak - Mount Moriah - to our grudge peak list, so the net number remains the same!

The New Harmony trailhead for Anderson Valley Trail is at a large gravel parking lot with signboards and pit toilet.  
​
This is a less-traveled trail - maybe because most Pine Valley Mountain hikers are on trails leading to Burger and Signal Peaks, 10,000-footers to the southwest looking over Mount Baldy's summit.  The approach to the saddle/ridge is bare of trees and faces east, so there's minimal shade in the morning.

The human-caused 2018 West Valley fire left a lot of charred tree skeletons.  The last mile of bushwhacking/navigating is crawling over/hiking around lots of large pine deadfall.

Hike Summary
0 - 3.2  miles (5,324' - 7,000'):  Anderson Valley Trailhead to saddle on Baldy's north ridge.
3.2 - 4.7 miles (7,000' - 8,175'):  Saddle to turn-off from Anderson Valley Trail.
4.7 - 5.8 miles (8,175' - 8,890'):   Cross-country to summit.

The first mile is flat, crosses over a few streams via wooden bridges, goes through private land with two gates.  At the wilderness boundary, the trail begins to climb up shrubby switchbacks with loose rocks.

Reach the saddle on ridge heading due south to Mount Baldy.  The trail is overgrown in a lot of places, but still discernible.  Great views of Zion to the east.  Anderson Valley Trail then traverses the west side of this ridge with great views of Main Canyon draining from the heights of Pine Valley Mountains.  This creek was roaring with waterfalls in April.  Aspens appear at 7,500 feet as the trail climbs past two water troughs and then up to the turn-off of Anderson Valley Trail.

Next time we hike this we would turn left to leave the trail right after what I call "the obelisk," a solitary rock pinnacle (see photo below) next to the trail to begin the cross-country navigation southeast toward Mount Baldy.  The AllTrails track for this hike goes further on Anderson Valley Trail and ends up unnecessarily mounting a steep and rocky ridge which you have to climb down anyway, so it's wasted effort.  This turn-off is ~ 4.7 miles in from the trailhead.  As with many other times climbing an off-trail peak, you find a more efficient track to and from the summit on the descent.

Now it's a steep climb (700 feet in one mile) through brush and over deadfall to the summit.  We made our way over a ridge just to the north of Baldy, then back down and up again to a saddle just north of Baldy.  From there, climb south to Baldy's summit.

I couldn't find a register or survey marker on the summit, but the views of the sheer orange cliffs of Zion's Kolob Canyons to the east was a contrast to this green and gray mountain.  Signal Peak, the highest in the Pine Valley Mountains loomed over us to the southwest.  There's a lot of Mount Baldys in the U.S. and now we can say we've climbed our local one!

This northern end of the Pine Valley Mountains with its trails and peaks deserves more exploring.  

Trailhead to saddle/ridge (0 - 3.2 miles)

Saddle to turn-off of Anderson Valley Trail (3.2 - ~4.7 miles)

Cross-Country to Summit (~4.7 - 5.8 miles)

Looking at the west rim of Zion National Park. The last peak on the right with the small "bump" is Mount Kinesava.

For the Geocurious:  Geology of the Pine Valley Laccolith
​Geology: 

• Most of the hike is on eroded Pine Valley Laccolith, perhaps the world's largest, formed by intrusive igneous rocks emplaced into existing rock layers 20.5 million years ago, and has since been exposed.  The rock is a quartz monzonite porphyry, with phenocrysts (large, noticeable crystals) in a groundmass (fine-grained).  
• Granite vs. quartz monzonite:  granite contains more silica, quartz, sodium and potassium than does quartz monzonite, which contains more hornblende and biotite, and calcium.
• Quartz content:  Granite = > 20% quartz.  Quartz monzonite = 5-20% quartz.  Monzonite = > 5% quartz.

The Land of the Laccolith
The "unique geology" appears once you've completed the first set of switchbacks to arrive at a saddle on Mount Baldy's northern ridge.  The rest of the hike to the summit is on perhaps the largest laccolith in the world.   The rock is a common igneous intrusive; it's the geomorphology (geo = earth, morphology = form/structure) and the size of this laccolith that make it unique.  Twenty million years ago, magma from a heat source deep within Earth's crust rose up through cracks in the rock until it found a layer with less resistance, causing it to spread horizontally and create a "lake" of molten magma (lakkos = pond or lake, lith = stone).

The molten rock formed a dome underneath the more resistant rock layer above it which prevented the magma from escaping.  The magma cools and forms a laccolith.  Over the millions of years afterward, the overlying rock eroded, exposing the Pine Valley Laccolith.  The heat sources still underlie this area as evidenced by the basaltic lava flows and cones in the area that are less than two million years old.

Cross-section of the rock units underlying the Pine Valley Mountain Laccolith.
Bottom orange unit = Cambrian (500 Ma).   Blue units = Permian (280 Ma).   Jn unit = Navajo Sandstone - famous cliffs found throughout southern Utah - the main rock of Zion NP (190 Ma.)
Geologic Map of the St. George area

References
Biek, R.F., et al.  2010.  Geologic Map of the St. George and East Part of the Clover Mountains 30' x 60' Quadrangles, Washington and Iron Counties, Utah.  Map 242DM, Utah Geological Survey.

Miller, R.  2/25/2018.  Our Geological Wonderland:  The Pine Valley Mountain Laccolith.  The Independent.

Utah State University Fire History Tracker.  ​https://fht.wildfirerisk.utah.gov/

Washington County Historical Society.  New Harmony, Utah.

This awesome hike up the much-loved and revered rock tower known as Mount Timpanogos lived up to the lore and legend.  Its final summit approach perches on its steep, rocky sides where you can gaze upon the cities like Provo that sprawl along Utah Lake's eastern shore on one side, and Robert Redford's posh Sundance Resort on the other.  I love these small, ultra-high summits  where, when I look down thousands of feet below to glaciers and meadows, I get a funny feeling in my stomach.

Mountain goats are often seen:  a fellow hiker pointed one out on the west side of the mountain below Timpanogos Saddle.

​Even before we finished this hike, I wanted to go back again.  Lush blankets of wildflowers surrounded the trail, especially in Timpanogos Basin on the way up to the saddle between Mt. Timpanogos and Bomber Peak.  I was blown away by the sheer numbers of lupine, bistort, columbine and paintbrush.  So many bluebells!

​"Timp," as this mountain is affectionately called by Utahns, is the second-highest mountain in the Wasatch range.  Mt. Nebo, 11,933 feet elevation, which we hiked two years ago, is the highest.   Both peaks have a huge prominence, a measure of the vertical distance from summit to lowest contour line encircling that mountain with  Nebo at 5,489' and Timpanogos at 5,269'.

When we got to the trailhead parking lot in the dark, at 5 a.m., we saw a lot of vehicles parked and wondered if people were backpacking.  It turned out that many students started the hike at 1:00 a.m. to witness the sunrise from the summit.  We passed a lot of groups of them descending.  Since this was a Monday, we didn't need a parking pass (see link above for recreation.gov permitting).

Seems this is a perfect training mountain for the serious trail runner and cross-country athlete.  We met a family at the top who run and hike this mountain every year.  The fastest known time is 2 hours and 18 minutes round-trip for 14.3 miles and 5,000 cumulative feet of elevation gain!  We were passed by a few runners.

On the trail at 5 a.m. with headlamps, we hiked the 7 miles to the summit by 9:30, taking our time and having a "second" breakfast break.  It was refreshing to be on an actual and well-traveled trail for a change, since we have been doing more scrambling and navigating to peaks.

Aspen Grove Trail, another way up to the summit, intersects with Timpooneke Trail as you enter the basin.

A metal building topped with a pyramid-shaped roof with hundreds of signatures scrawled on its walls crowns the summit.  This summit hut has overlooked the spectacular scenery of snow, glaciers and lakes and mountain goats for almost 100 years.  The Timpooneke Trail was completed in 1921.  The pointed roof acts as a survey marker that can be seen with a telescope from the valley below.

Next time I would drive a little further on Utah State Hwy. 92 to the Aspen Grove Trailhead and hike Timp from the east.  There's a snowfield to hike through in Timpanogos Basin that looks really fun.  There's more elevation gain with this approach.
​
I have passed by and eyed this imposing peak many times on Interstate 15.  Finally I can say we were on the top!  I think we'll join the many hikers and runners to make this an annual pilgrimage.

The Best Lobster Roll
The "welcome book" at our excellent Bath Airbnb recommended The Five Islands Lobster Company in Georgetown, Maine.  I've had a few lobster rolls in my life, but this one was THE best!  This lobster shack is located in the fishing village of Five Islands in the town of Georgetown, south of Bath.  The waters there are  among the deepest and coldest on Maine's coast, which means really excellent lobsters.  I guess we just missed the "blessing of the fleet," a tradition in which the local clergy pray for a safe and bountiful season.

Dining is outside on the wharf, looking at beautiful scenery.  BYOB.

16 Essential Maine Lobster Rolls - Eater - Maine

We are talking about making this an annual trip.  So much to explore in New Hampshire and Maine!   People are happy and very friendly.  Already looking forward to my next lobster roll and White Mountain hike.

On Top of New Hampshire Again, After 25 Years
There's lots of reasons why this New Hampshire loop hike rates a 4.9 out of 5 on AllTrails:  beautiful forest, three peaks to summit, a fun ridge (part of the Appalachian Trail) with spectacular views, waterfalls, and just enough challenge.  The trailhead is just off I-93.  The historic Greenleaf Hut at the base of Mount Lafayette allows you to refuel and replenish your water.

We return to our old "stomping grounds" 25 years later - we hiked many summits and trails in the Whites and other ranges back in the late 1990's.  We have great memories of hiking in all New England conditions - gorgeous autumns, buggy summers and icy winters.  We bought our MSR snowshoes there and continued to use them when we moved to Idaho.  Fred proposed to me on Mt. Cardigan, and we were married in Nashua in 1999.  ​

Greenleaf Hut finally emerged from the forest.  It's full-service season is end of May through mid-October.   You can reserve a bed in the unheated bunkhouse and get a full breakfast and dinner and naturalist programs.  

Another 1.1 mile steep climb brought us to Mount Lafayette's west ridge and the highest elevation for the loop, and also a huge prominence of 3,320 feet.  That rivals the west's mountain prominences!  These Appalachian Mountains look a lot different than the raw and jagged ranges of the west like the Rockies because they are much older, rounded and eroded.

Even though Lafayette is 1,000 feet lower than famous Mt. Washington, New Hampshire's tallest, it still feels like you are on top of the state with spectacular views.  On Lafayette's broad summit, hikers lazed in the sun and great weather.

The hike along Franconia ridge, part of the Appalachian Trail was glorious.  Great to see so much emerald green!  We saw the familiar krummholz trees  - brought us back to memories of hiking these mountains so many years ago.  We had experienced some of the harsh conditions these stunted trees are subjected to on a few hikes - cold winds, snow and ice.  

By the time we reached our third summit of the day, Little Haystack Mountain at 4,760 feet, we were ready to descend via Falling Waters Trail with no idea the beauty we would see in a few miles.

Steep boulders and rocks made the initial straight-down descent slow.  As switchbacks appeared, we came upon the soothing sound of Dry Brook which was anything but dry.  I see why hikers would prefer to ascend via Falling Waters Trail because you cross and walk in this stream for awhile - the rocks were slippery.

Dry Brook descends with a series of beautiful falls.  Stunning Cloudland Falls drops down several rock ledges.  A light yellow dog named "Lemon" (I wish I would have taken his photo!)  needed help from his owner to navigate the slippery rocks.

I wished we could re-hike more New Hampshire peaks.  I'd choose New Hampshire if I had to live on the east coast, but my heart still lies in America's grand, dramatic and often mysterious southwest.

Imagining a Natural Catastrophe
Still feeling energized after our Grand Canyon rim to rim hike, we decided to maintain our hiking fitness and get out of St. George's heat to hike a remote peak.  I often go to Stavislost website to get ideas.  Sandy Peak looked like a great opportunity for us to explore more of the forested Markagunt plateau near Cedar City, Utah.

The rocks on Sandy's summit are just a microcosm of Earth's largest landslide - covering at least 1,600 square miles of southwestern Utah's high plateaus.  It's called the Markagunt gravity slide, a catastrophic event that happened 20 million years ago when the surface of a huge volcanic field collapsed and slid southward for many miles, placing older rock on top of younger rock.

"Markagunt Megabreccia" is the name of this rock unit.  Breccia refers to jumbled angular rock fragments cemented together by a fine-grained matrix, with "mega' referring to fragments that are larger than one meter length.  Catastrophic events like volcanic explosions create breccias.

"Markagunt" is the Paiute word for "Highland of Trees".  It resides in the Colorado plateau province.  Cedar Breaks National Park rises from one of its highest points.

Our Route:  Avoiding the Steep Climb until it got Really Steep
We parked just off the Old Spanish National Historic Trail in Upper Bear Valley.  Locally, it is a nice graded road out of Paragonah that is also named Forest Road #077, Markagunt Plateau Trail and Bear Valley Road.  

0 - 1.3 miles - walk southeast over Bear Creek right after parking, then walk up road (not numbered) that leads around the knoll to the east and drop into Ashton Creek at when it turns to the right (south).
1.3 miles - 2.9 miles - walk up Ashton Creek.  
2.9 miles to summit - steep walk up Sandy's west slope, avoiding the top of the long ridge just to the north of the summit.
​
We couldn't see Sandy Peak from the road approach.  If I were to do this hike again, I would get out of Ashton Creek sooner and climb the first ridge on the left (east) I could see, which leads easterly to intersect with Sandy's north ridge.  In the creek, we saw what looked to be a hunter's path (found a camera on a tree and a salt lick nearby) that led through a nice forest of pines, aspen and meadows, although we had a bit too many mosquitos.  Getting on the ridge sooner out of Ashton Creek would have probably meant less bushwhacking.  

The steep walk to the top on Sandy's western flank was riddled with deadfall, rocks, and vegetation, adding to precarious footing at times.  Maneuvering around rough volcanic blocks at the summit was fun.  The view was huge.  To the north, we saw smoke from a fire just south of the incredible Tushar Mountain range, and to the southeast the orange rocks near Bryce Canyon.

This area of the Markagunt Plateau, squeezed up between Parowan Valley to the west, and the Panguitch Valley to the east has lots of trails, mountains, and mountain-bike friendly roads to explore.  Gotta get back there!

Visions of a Centro Woodfired Pizza got me through the last bit of route finding out of the creek.  Per tradition, after hikes in this area, we went to this restaurant in Cedar City.  Route-finding, wilderness, amazing view, pretty tough hike (at least for us), great pizza and great beer makes for the perfect day.  Life is good!

Riding instead of Hiking
We decided to switch up our usual mode of adventure - hiking - and get on our mountain bikes.

After our epic Grand Canyon rim to rim in one day journey a few weeks ago, we noticed the beauty around Jacob Lake and GC's north rim in northern Arizona.  Only a few hours drive from St. George, Utah, we got out of the heat to explore the cool, aspen-filled forest on the Kaibab plateau.  So many aspens that it reminded me of Colorado high country.

We stayed at Kaibab Lodge, five miles from the entrance to the north rim of the Grand Canyon National Park in a spartan "hiker's" cabin, the last place available there.  Maybe a rim-to-rim hiker had cancelled at the last minute.  The dinner and breakfast buffets were a bit spendy, but then again this is a pretty remote location.

The Arizona National Scenic Trail links Mexico to Utah through 800 miles of prime Arizona deserts, mountains, and canyons.  It's divided into 43 sections, or "passages."  At the Mexico border, it begins in the Huachuca Mountains, trekking through grasslands to gain 3,000 feet to a ponderosa pine forest.  The final passage is through Buckskin Mountain to the Utah border, where you can see the Vermillion Cliffs.  It's open to hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians.

We rode a gorgeous section of this trail through pristine forest and meadows in the Kaibab National Forest on a splendid single track to a viewpoint of the east rim of the Grand Canyon, making a loop by riding back on perfect gravel roads.  No other vehicles - we had it to ourselves.

The day before this, we just picked gravel roads to explore and ended up at an old cabin, possibly a line shack for ranchers.  

Our friend Jeff is an avid mountain biker.  We hiked the rim to rim trail with him.  When I showed him photos of this single track, he said, "Looks great.  Let's go."  That's the spirit!

Looking forward to another northern Arizona adventure!

Epic Adventure
We did it!  Three months of training on southern Utah trails, in St. George and Zion National Park, and on the Skyline Trail in Palm Springs helped Jeff, Fred and I conquer the Grand Canyon rim to rim hike.  Two things helped us:  training for distance and at least 4,000-foot of elevation gain, and we were lucky with weather.  It was cooler than usual!

To observe the Grand Canyon, one of the seven natural wonders of the world from its rim is a memorable experience.  But to walk all the way through the depths of it - almost 24 miles from north rim to south rim along the clear and roaring Bright Angel Creek is epic.  Your ability to tolerate a 50 or 60-degree temperature variation, drink enough water, and climb steep, relentless switchbacks will be tested.  

We took longer to do this hike this time (just shy of 11 hours), compared to our last time 13 years ago (9:50).  I felt really tired the last mile up to Bright Angel Trailhead.  I think I slowed Jeff and Fred down a bit!
​
North Kaibab Trail → Phantom Ranch 
Lindy dropped us off at North Kaibab Trailhead on the north rim at 6:00 a.m.   As we descended from a fir, spruce and ponderosa pine forest into a rocky color-layered paradise, she drove around to the south rim, descended 4 miles on the Bright Angel Trail to meet us later in the day.   In the shadow of the north rim, we walked along verdant Roaring Springs Canyon to the bright yellow light below, reaching Supai Tunnel, the first restroom and water stop, at 1.7 miles.  Wild roses bloomed against yellow and red walls.  We didn't need a water re-fill until 5.4 miles down the trail at Manzanita Rest Area, a beautiful spot past Roaring Springs.  

We powered our way down the steep portion, through the wide Bright Angel Canyon, tracing the clear and loud Bright Angel Creek with its occasional waterfalls, hiking through Cottonwood Campground.  The prickly pear were so full and healthy; it seemed the creek was flowing much more than we remember from our rim to rim hike 13 years ago.  It appears the southwest has had more rainfall in the past few years.  We hiked rim to rim 23 years ago and then again 13 years ago and it seems Bright Angel Creek was higher this year.  

We were happy to see Bright Angel Campground and Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon where we re-filled our water and made sure to drink electrolytes.  The temperature was 85 degrees.  We took 20 minutes in the shade to eat and muster the energy to start the long, warm and steep hike to the south rim.

The dark red, brown and grey Vishnu Basement rocks are one of my favorites of this hike, as you enter the core of the Grand Canyon.  It forms the rough, contorted, massive base for the prettier rock layers above.   It's not often that you get to walk in some of the Earth's oldest rocks; in this case the Vishnu schists, gneiss and granite are 1.7 billion years old. 

You get to see the rapids of the green Colorado River through the mesh floor of the long suspension bridge as it passes a huge swirling eddy near the shore, delivering you to the Bright Angel Trail and a long, arduous hike out.

Water stops along the North Kaibab Trail:  distances from North Kaibab Trailhead.
Grand Canyon Critical Backcountry Updates

• Supai Tunnel:  1.7 miles from trailhead
• Manzanita Rest Area:  5.4 miles
• Cottonwood Campground:  6.8 miles
• Phantom Ranch:  13.6 miles
• Bright Angel Campground:  14 miles

Phantom Ranch → Bright Angel Trail 
Water stops along the Bright Angel Trail

• ​​Havasupai Gardens
• Three Mile Resthouse (water off as of 5/30/24)
• Mile and 1/2 Resthouse (water off as of 5/30/24)

The Bright Angel Trail at the river bottom begins sunny, hot and dusty.  We paused where we could find shade.  We stepped to the left, leaning against Vishnu rocks to let a long mule train transporting equipment pass by.  We caught up with a trudging hiker that had started at the north rim at 4:30 a.m.  "It's about six more miles, right?" he asked.  "About 6.5 more miles!" I said, trying to sound encouraging.  

We finally reached Havasupai Gardens, our last water stop (we knew the resthouses above did not have water) with 4.7 more miles to go!  Dousing my hat in the cold water from the "community" faucet and letting it drip down my head felt so good!  Shortly after eyeing the south rim's steep cliffs above that will be our trail, we resumed and were excited to see Lindy, who had descended 4.5 miles to meet us.  

Climbing higher, along Garden Creek, legs are tired, yet the terrain gets more challenging.  We step over countless old juniper logs and rock bars used to stabilize the trail on forever switchbacks.  We are trying to make it in under 11 hours.  Dozens of short-distance south rim hikers congest the last half-mile.  Don't want to lose momentum.  Endure and grow stronger!

All Fired up!
As Pat Benatar's song goes, we're "All Fired Up" for next week's Grand Canyon rim to rim hike!  Her song is a fitting accompaniment to the goblet squat video below.  Fred and I needed elevation training, so we went to Palm Springs, my old stomping grounds, and hiked the Skyline Trail for a gain of 4,700 feet, the same Bright Angel Trail gain on the south rim of the Grand Canyon. 

​We encountered too much snow at 8,000 feet in the Pine Valley Mountains just to the north of St. George, preventing a good elevation gain.  My last post, Grand Canyon Rim to Rim In One Day:  Training in St. George, Utah, explains how we got creative with emulating distance and elevation.  We did great on the Skyline; we're now ready for the big hike!

New goal:  hike to the tram this October with some of our hiking buddies.  Oh, the nostalgia and the beauty of this mountain!
I'm grateful that I can still be hiking it 31 years later - let's say that the Advil this time was very helpful!

La Verkin Creek Trail to Kolob Arch - Zion NP
This long hike features attributes found in Zion National Park's main canyon, including an arch, sandstone cliffs and a river but without the throngs of people.  It's in the northern Kolob Canyons section, has a spur trail to impressive Kolob Arch, and also meets up with the Hop Valley Trail, a route to the main Zion Canyon.  We hiked 7 miles in to Kolob Arch and back for a total of 14 miles, the same distance as Grand Canyon's North Kaibab Trail.  It drops down from the parking lot at Lee Pass Trailhead into the La Verkin Creek drainage.  The same mileage as our Skyline Trail hike, but not nearly the same elevation gain.  

We've got one more training hike on Zion's West Rim Trail this week with Lindy and Jeff, and then we should be good to go for the Grand Canyon.  We are lucky to have such inspirational places, some of the most beautiful on Earth, in which to train!

Strengthening exercise for powerful hill climbing:  Goblet Squats 
I have found that since I started doing CrossFit and working on strengthening my legs, I have more stability and power for steeper hiking.  Goblet squats can be done with a kettlebell as well as two dumbbells, each resting on your shoulders.
Strengthens your core (trunk) muscles, glutes and hips.  Points to remember:

• Feet hip-to shoulder-width apart with toes pointed slightly outwards.
• Hold dumbbell or kettlebell at your chest with your elbows pointing down.
• Pull in and "zip" up your abdominals, raise  your sternum up, squeeze shoulder blades together.
• Look forward:  inhale as you squat, holding weight against chest - don't lean forward - keep trunk upright.
• Lower hips to below knee level, then squeeze your glutes as you push to stand through your mid-feet and heels.
• Keep your knees tracking over your toes.
• Exhale, repeat and know you are that much stronger to climb hills!

​​The First Cactus to Clouds Challenge - October 1993
Summit of Mt. San Jacinto, 10,804'.
From left to right:  Sue Birnbaum, (don't remember his name), Roger Keezer, Maria Keezer, Ray Wilson, and Vickie Kearney seated in the middle.

​On May 23, we will be walking Grand Canyon from its north rim to its south rim in one day - again.  Fred and I first hiked this 23 years ago, to celebrate birthday #40 for both of us.  We hiked it on our 50th.  We talked about doing it for our 60th, but it wasn't until our friend Robin asked us to go that we got our motivation to train for rim to rim #3.  Jeff will do it too, and Lindy will train with us but when it comes to the big day, she has generously offered to drop us off at the north rim and drive all the way around to the south rim to pick us up.

Since January, Fred, Jeff, Lindy, Robin and I have been hiking the most challenging trails near St. George, Utah and in Zion National park.  Creative planning like linking trails together ensures optimal distance and elevation training.  We need to be able to cover 23 miles and a 4,500' gain for rim to rim.  Just when your legs are tired from descending 14 miles on North Kaibab Trail, you face the biggest challenge:  climbing up Bright Angel Trail for another 9.4 miles.  And temperatures on the climb out can be hot, which was the case when we did this hike 23 years ago.  We ended up soaking our hats in streams on the way up to cool off.  Fred drank 9 liters of water!  The next day, we hiked back to the north rim.

Some of Our Training Hikes

• Snow Canyon south to north
• Wittwer Canyon/Land Hill - Santa Clara River Reserve
• Zion NP - West Rim Trail
• Red Mountain Traverse in Red Mountain Wilderness
• Zion NP Kolob Canyons section - LaVerkin Creek Trail to Kolob Arch
• Suicidal Tendencies Trail, Barrel Roll Trail and Ivins "badlands"

Planned training:  Skyline Trail in Palm Springs, a portion of Cactus to Clouds hike, a 10,300-foot gain challenge that Ray Wilson and I created in 1993.

Strengthening for Hill Climbing - Walking Lunge with Overhead Weight
Climbing out of the Grand Canyon requires strong glutes!  The most important function of your gluteus medius during hiking is to stabilize your pelvis to keep it level while standing on one leg (stance phase of walking).  The stronger they are, the better protection for your knees, and the more efficiently they work, the less energy you waste.  Walking lunges challenge your glute and core strength.  Holding a weight over your head adds more challenge to your core musculature including abdominals and back extensors, as well as your shoulder girdle stabilizers (rhomboids, trapezius, serratus).  Good training for scrambling hikes where you have to use hands to propel up rocks.
Action:
Hold dumbell or kettlebell overhead with elbow straight, next to your ear. Or, you could hold the weight in a "goblet" position next to your chest.  Take a large step forward, that knee should not go ahead of your foot.  Opposite knee taps the ground.  Squeeze glute on stance leg to raise to lunge with opposite leg.

Snow Canyon from Bottom to Top and Then Some:  Berm Trail to Joan's Bones (12 miles RT,  ~1600' net gain)
Berm Trail → Padre' Canyon Trail → Red Sands Trail → West Rim Trail → Lava Flow Trail → Whiterocks Trail →Joan's Bones → car at Whiterocks Trailhead.   
Living near Utah's Snow Canyon State Park sure has its advantages.  Each time I hike in this Navajo Sandstone paradise, I love it more.  We started near where we live, caught the berm trail and walked to the Whiterocks Trail on the north side of the park, then walked east to almost the top of Joan's Bones.  This route features gorgeous pools in cross bedded sandstone, soaring orange and red towers, petrified sand dunes, and pristine white sandstone slickrock strewn with black basalt boulders. 
Joan's Bones hike is on AllTrails (misspelled as "Jones Bones").

Ivins and Santa Clara, Utah:  Suicidal Tendencies Trail and the "Badlands."
The "badlands" is my nickname for the landscape west of Land Hill in Ivins, and east of the Beaver Dam Mountains because it reminds me of South Dakota's badlands.   A spectacular view of this formidable-looking red and white striped land cracked by crooked canyons and washes and plateaus with well-established biological soils can be savored from the top of Land Hill.  We hiked Wittwer Canyon, a major tributary that washes into Santa Clara River. 
Fred and I put together a 10-mile hike that linked the petroglyph trails on Land Hill to cross the Santa Clara River, to wander through the "badlands" to find a way to link to the Barrel Roll Trail in the Cove Wash Trails.
​In just one hike, Fred and I saw all the "cool stuff on this trail," (see photos below) and then some.  A conglomerate boulder hanging on the steep wall under Land Hill looks like it has embedded dinosaur tracks.  I called the local paleontologist; stay tuned!​

We're fortunate to have Colorado Plateau hiking to the east of us and Mojave Desert hiking to the west.  One day we hiked the 11-mile Suicidal Tendencies, a popular mountain bike trail with scary drop-offs.  The more we hike this part of Utah, the more we find to explore.  Not only are the views magnificent - black lava flows blend with red and orange cliffs, signs of past cultures and geological events adds a lot character to this part of southern Utah. My next post (rim to rim training, part 2) will highlight another Zion hike and Red Mountain Traverse.