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!