The Return To Fossil Creek

Ah, Fossil Creek...LEGEND!!! (Shout out to Alec). What started with two people committed to spending the day swimming and sunning at beautiful Fossil Creek blossomed into an 18 person mega expedition, replete with joy, danger and adventure. A hot hike down, and sunny day jumping into whirlpools, off waterfalls, swimming through underwater caves and climbing rocks ended with an awesome 4 mile hike out in a full on thunderstorm. The chance to show this unbelievable place to friends and acquaintances just gets me more excited to start leading adventure trips. The feeling I get when someone is just awestruck and inspired by nature dwarfs any time or money outlay to make it happen. When people are inspired in the outdoors, they are inspired to preserve and protect it, and I hope this is the way forward to a sustainable relationship with the earth. I received my AmeriCorps grant this last week and am looking into courses with NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) and WMI (Wilderness Medicine Institute) to better prepare myself to inspire people of all ages in the future. Days like this make me feel like I understand what life is all about. Thank you to everyone who came out, and may we have more eco-adventures in the future!

South Rim Trails 7/7-7/14

("Effengee" Campsite, new found nation based on two concepts...Freedom and Funny Accents)

This tour was almost a completely new crew. Hard workers and great attitudes, every one of them, made it very successful and low stress for me. This was the premium tour as we hit up all the classic after work activities, including our first trip down Hermit Trail and another successful condor sighting at Bright Angel Lodge. The museum collection was a hit again as Coleen gave us a wonderful tour filled with information especially about the projectile points, pottery and hand tools of the native american inhabitants. The work was dirting, leveling and compacting for the first 4 days, and then a combination of clearing rocks off the Greenway Trail and some odd jobs, including laying new asphalt at Maricopa point and loading mules with dirt on the South Kaibab near "Ooh Ahh" point. This hitch we created the sovereign nation of "Effengee" at our campsite, complete with national sport (broadcasting the dishwater), national creed ("Freedom to speak in any accent") and national bread (Marble Rye...or "Freedom Bread" colloquially).

(Sunset on the last night)

South Rim Trails 6/22-6/30

Another great hitch in the canyon.

We had mostly the same crew, but some new tasks. NPS rolled out the heavy machinery to level and compact the new trail…the steam roller, Whacker vibrating compactors, bobcats and tractors. All the work was about leveling the trail as much as possible to make the asphalting process easier and cheaper. After work we hit up Grandview Trail, Desert View Watchtower (aka Gift Shop), Tusayan Ruins, a pickup soccer game at the Rec Center, more world cup soccer (dammit USA) and a sunset from the fire tower on the west rim. Showers were plentiful and free at the Rec Center, food was good and the work was on, so it’s all good.

Telluride Bluegrass Festival

Spur of the moment some friends and I decided to hit up the tail end of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

(Nick and I took a hike to look down on the festivities, and scope out some potential high-lining spots)

We left Saturday afternoon and got in that night just in time to get some food and a Pinstripe at the Corner Haus. We peeped the scene and headed into a nice bar that had two live bands tearing it up. Bluegrass of course, I mean Bluegrass was coming out of the rafters and through the cracks in the street.

(Buddhist monks performed a chant on stage and then made this art using colored sand. At the end of the festival it was scattered into the river as a ritual)

Everybody was carrying banjos and fiddles all over town and setting up on street corners, in bars, and makeshift tents in the campgrounds to romp and stomp out some beautiful music. I think we saw the Henhouse Prowlers and Blackberry Bushes or something like that. Alls I know is that the fiddle player for Blackberry was a prodigy…his tone, timing and sound were perfect and seeing that stayed with all of us through the whole festival as the best people in the world got down on their instruments. Later that night we headed into tent city and jammed to a real mellow group in this set up tent, with heat lamps, decorations and a bunch of generous people. They played well past 4am and we headed to camp at the elementary school with visions of fiddles dancing in our heads. It was up and at ‘em a few hours later, with some food in us and the spirit of music we picked up our tickets for the last day of the show and staked out some ground at the stage.

(Jeff and Steph mac on some breakfast and get ready for a day of music)

The Carolina Chocolate Drops tore it up and had the whole crowd dancing. Mumford and Sons brought it, and then it was all a set up for the “Telluride House Band” which was an all-star mix of the best Bluegrass musicians. Bela Fleck on banjo, Edgar Meyers on bass, Jerry Douglas on slide, Sam Bush on Mandolin, and Stuart on fiddle. Good god, they made it rain bluegrass and just blew us away with their talent.

(the Telluride House Band...basically the dream team of bluegrass shut down the festival)

We hit the sack early to get ready for a drive home and the next hitch starting bright and early Tuesday morning.

(Nick's got that gleam in his eye that can only come from scouting 13,000 ft. high-line spots while bluegrass music drifts through the valley)

South Rim Trails 6/8-6/16

(The crew! Me, Jinu, Chantal, Eunsil, Matthias, Simon, Mariska, Suzanne...Ian's off wandering somewhere. Couldn't ask for a better group!)

My first hitch in the Grand Canyon as a crew leader was challenging and rewarding. I had a great, hard working crew that made my job a lot easier, so thanks goes to the office staff for taking care of me. The excitement and spontaneity of doing something for the first time can never be recreated, so I know this hitch will go down in my memory as something very special. We were working on south rim trails near the South Kaibab Trailhead. Our project is called the greenway and is an extension of the Rim Trail. By the time we arrived, NPS had run a gannon box over the surveyed route and we did a ton of McCleoding and picking to remove rocks and organic materials from the trail.

(A little bit of weather on an otherwise sunny hitch at 7000 ft.)

A constant stream of eager tourists was hiking through our work site every day…I just don’t get some of these people, walking through a construction site when they’re surrounded by the beauty of the canyon in every direction, so we took a couple days to put up a mile of orange safety fencing using t-posts and trees to keep them out. Bewildered and skittish, like a bunch of lost deer, they continued to go over, under and through the fence in their unending quest to hike next to loud, smelly construction equipment.

(Trying to keep the tourists out, connecting the two ends of our mile long fence)

Our campground was at the “F and G”, or mule training facility, which gives it a bad name. The site is beautiful, with a large crushed cinder camp area, fire pit and large ramada with picnic tables. Nobody else camps there except the CREC summer crew, so it’s a great escape. Work finished at 3:30pm each day, so we had lots of time to have fun after work.

(Sunset from Hopi Point on the West Rim)

We saw the West Rim sites, watched the sunset from Hopi and Yavapai point, caught ranger talks on Geology and Birds of the Canyon, hiked down the South Kaibab to “Ooh, Ahh” point, watched World Cup Soccer at the Rec Center, saw the Grand Canyon IMAX, and got a back stage tour of artifacts discovered in the canyon at the employee-only museum collection. Split twig figurines, intricately designed pottery and a 1,000 year old yucca sandal stole the show and definitely connected us with the canyon. We had some awesome times just playing soccer or Frisbee at camp and everyone kept their spirits high. First hitch in the bank and I’ve heard it only gets easier from here!