Grand Canyon and Tuscon!

A quick post before I go to a meeting, then back to the Canyon tomorrow morning for 8 days. The last hitch (Feb 2nd to 10th) was great. Coming off one day's rest after San Diego we soldiered out for another 8 days of cyclic trail maintenance and tread upgrading with the National Parks Service. Building up from almost 16 days straight working hard and living outside, I had a nice little groove going on, but my body was definitely tired. I split time between working up the S. Kaibab trail from Phantom Ranch on cyclic maintenance and making the 4 mile trek up to Skeleton point (over halfway out of the canyon) to gather rocks and crush them to improve the tread going down into the red and whites.

(the rock crusher and 8 tons of rocks that we hauled in)

We collected 2-3 tons of rock from the surrounding terrain and brought it to the gasoline powered rock crusher to make a bunch of beautiful limestone crushed for the trail. I used my time after work to go on some great hikes, including an hour long sprint up Clear Creek trail, and a nice 2 hr walk up the North Kaibab on Super Bowl Sunday. Believe it or not, they piped the Super Bowl Game into the canyon using an internet connection and held a nice party in the Phantom Ranch Bunkhouse. As much as I love watching football, I couldn't stand the thought of seeing a television commercial after so many days out in nature, so I opted for the hike followed by Swiss Miss and adventure whimsy over a nice topo map of the Grand Canyon. Luckily, I had a few coworkers that wanted to do the same, and we had a good time. Some nice wildlife experiences this hitch included a close up encounter with a bighorn who was chilling on the side of the trail, and a fly-by from a Condor during lunch at Skeleton point (9 ft. wing span!).

(wildlife sighting on the walk up to skeleton point)

Post work was time for refreshing dips in Bright Angel creek, a fad that caught on with a few brave souls and made camp smell a little better. All that heavy lifting, hiking and clean living had me feeling beat-up but pure. Our hike out went great, as I chatted away with Alison for 4 hours straight up to the top.

(a dip in Bright Angel Creek)

After the requisite trip to the Green Room (25 cent drinks on Wednesday night) and a recovery day in Flag, Jeff and I headed off for a trip to Tuscon, AZ. Some of his family friends gave us a home base while we took advantage of our 6 days off. Highlights included hiking to the top of Wasson Peak in Saguaro NP, camping in Coronado National Forest (beautiful spot!) and making lots of friends with our positive vibes in the city. Fire dancers, friendly bartenders and a great live performance from "Clam Tostada" at Sky Bar on 4th street got us started off right and we never looked back. Fueled by delicious mexican food and the complementary natures of our minds (I made plans for daytime, Jeff took care of the evening hours), I'd say we had about as much fun in Tuscon as two people can have in 4 days.

I need to sign off now to attend a meeting. I'll be out of touch through Feb. 24th in the canyon, and then I will be attending a two day orientation training in Prescott, AZ. Never a dull moment!

A Full Moon Over Ramona

For the last 7 days, we got off work just as the moon rose over the mountains of Ramona, CA.


We were coming back from days of brushing; removing plants and shrubs from the trail corridor on a new national forest service trail. The whole area east of Ramona burned 5 years ago, and as we dug out agave, yucca and sage, we found burned root-balls from the previous generation of flora. The area has filled in with a variety of chest-high desert scrub and a passerby wouldn’t guess at the recent fire; the scars that are really visible are the fall-line trails that hikers and bikers cut as they continued to use the fragile land. As suburbia fades into federal land, 5000 foot peaks hide creeks and waterfalls that are running at record levels after the recent rainstorms. Residents head out from their palm-treed estates every day with dogs, bikes and friends to explore the space, and they all gravitate to the same community trails. There are a lot of problems with fall-line trails (straight down the mountain); they’re steep, slippery, dangerous, tiring, not fun to walk on, but most importantly they become drainages during rain storms and erode like crazy. The compacted soil supports no vegetation, and canyons as deep as my waist run right down the center of these paths. So, the national forest service designed and staked out a new trail that our crews will devote 17,000 man hours to build over the next year.

(Cedar Creek Falls, where our trail leads to)

We had two days of training with our program director right off the bat and had a chance to cut new tread while learning about the principles of good trail-building. Our trail is out-sloped at a 5% grade and never descends at more than half the gradient of the cross-slope. This keeps the water flowing across the trail, not down it, and is an important part of building a sustainable trail. Our lessons were laid out in the work of the previous crew, which had built 150 ft of new trail right before the rainstorms hit San Diego. The parts that were built correctly survived unscathed, while the tiniest error was highlighted by the formation of a mini-canyon. We did some survey work using a clinometer (to read grades) and practiced staking out our own trails in groups which we then critiqued. After training, one member of our crew headed to Phoenix to try and win a grant for solar panels on our main office, and the rest of us laid into the task of clearing two miles of trail corridor.

The work was straightforward and tiring. We spent 10 hour work days swinging pick-mattocks, pulaskis and shovels at everything in our way and then shuttling the debris down-slope to tuck it into the landscape. At times I felt like the destroyer, razing the landscape while small woodland creatures took flight from my blade. A baby bunny huddled shaking in one of my brush piles for 10 minutes, too scared to move, and I barely spared a thumb sized rodent as I twisted out of a swing half way. I turned up a scorpion and another crew member discovered a small diamondback rattler as he reached to pull up a bush. We were all on lookout for the highly toxic Jerusalem cricket, which took a nip out of my coworker’s wrist. Amidst the carnage, the positive effects of the new trail stood out. Once our trail is finished, the fall-line trails will be re-vegetated and the whole area will be healthier, more beautiful and more sustainable.

Surprisingly, (to me, though probably not to anybody who has attended a home-owner’s meeting) there is some contention in the neighborhood over the new trail. There has been local press about the project, and feelings run the gamut from supportive, to indifferent, to opposed. Since our campsite was located on the side of a road by the trailhead, less than 50 yards from the nearest homes and property lines, anybody who wanted to come visit us could and did. On our second night, an angry, drunk old man, who we named Mordecai, drove his truck into our campsite and insisted that we leave. “Y’all don’t have a f***ing permit! Y’all are f***ing liars!” Our supervisor went to handle it while we all enjoyed the entertainment from the comfort of our tents. He threatened to call the cops on us (which he did), so our supervisor called the cops on him (it was the same cop) and relayed the man’s license plate number. Not to be outdone, Mordecai recited our license plate number out loud to no one in particular (“now I got your f***ing license plate!”), and unleashed his anger on a helpless MSR dromedary, kicking it into a ditch and then hurling it against the side of our trailer. Realizing that his bluff had been called and the cops were on their way, Mordecai jumped into his truck and ran over another dromedary as he high-tailed it out of there. Our super talked with the cop, who ran the plate, and the next day a forest service rep was over at Mordecai’s place to confirm our good word. Friday night at 4am, some friendly So-Cal stoners rolled in and tried to pry open our gear trailer “to see if anybody was inside”, totally oblivious to the fact that they were surrounded by 20 tents filled with sleeping trail-workers. Our supervisor scared the shit out of them by materializing out of the dark yelling “What the f*** are you doing?!?” and then amiably moved them on their way. Most people who came through our camp were just walking their dogs or getting on the trailhead, and everybody we met on the trail was friendly. We brushed 7900 ft of trail in three days, which now awaits a bulldozer to cut the tread and backslope and crews to put in switchbacks and armored drainages.

Right as the work days wound down were some of the best times. The sun cooled and threw pink light on the granite peaks as the moon rose orange behind us. Muscles relaxed and sweat cooled on the walk back to camp, and tools rocked lazily in our arms. The roar of the propane stove meant food was on the way, and food chests were raided by people too hungry to wait. Knives click-clicked on cutting boards while onions hissed, and people relaxed like only hard-working people can. Then, it was the sloshing of soapy water on dishes and the frenetic tak-a-tak stirring of hot cocoa in big plastic cups. Red embers shone from the fringes of camp as someone smoked the day’s last cigarette, and people laughed too loud as they careened through their swiss-miss sugar rush. Finally, everybody drifted off to their tents to sleep amidst the chorus of zippers, snoring and padded feet, under the light of the full moon. (pictures coming later...I'm off to the Grand Canyon for 8 days tomorrow)

Flagstaff Blizzard!...Life inside a Snow Ball

Well, the storm delivered. I would say there were 3-4 feet of snow total, possibly more. It snowed continuously from Wednesday night through Saturday morning and succeeded in driving me and my 6 roommates crazy. The library closed along with a fair number of other businesses; I even heard that a bookstore collapsed under the weight of the snow. We had no option but to watch countless episodes of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and soldier our way to vacant bars to stretch our stipends on weekday drink specials. Poor and idle, I survived the storm on a 5 lb bag of Idaho Spuds that I bought from Safeway for $1.29, fried in butter and covered in salsa. Other than oatmeal, it’s pretty much all I ate. Our rigorous and healthy canyon lifestyles were blown to pieces as we wallowed in our own filth and drank the nights away in despair at our captivity. As we anxiously awaited our return to action, the storm kept pushing back our project date, from Wednesday, to Sunday, to Monday, extending our epoch of sloth and indolence to 12 days. The sun remained hidden behind a swath of clouds for days on end and the streets were overrun by pedestrians and hapless vehicles. Alternate freezing rain and snow, accompanied by reported gusts of 60 mph buried Flagstaff in a tempest of biblical proportions! I blame this guy.


Bright spots included building a snow fort and having a snow pant dance party outside our apartment, walking in the winter wonderland and when the sun came out, the storm was over and we got on with our damn lives.

10 Year Storm

Will all of our hard work in the Canyon be wiped away by an epic 10 year storm? Probably. Four storm systems are converging on the west coast and are set to arrive in Flagstaff tomorrow morning. Our crew pretty much all lives together in a four bedroom house without TV or Internet, so none of us really know what is going on, but if said storm is as ferocious as we're guessing it could be, we will all be flung back into a rough approximation of the prohibition era. You see, in addition to having no modern entertainment, we are also under a no alcohol policy in the house. I don't know how everyone intends to survive this coming hardship, but I imagine there will be some valiant expeditions made into the white void. Rumor has it that the other field crews have been called back early, and we probably won't be able to travel back to the Grand Canyon as intended. Maybe we'll be employed to dig Flagstaff out of the 3-7 feet of snow that are projected? So far there's no sign that this storm even exists, so I'm just hoping it doesn't disappoint after all the hype.

In other news, I spent the last two bluebird days adventuring with the ODC (OutDoor Club) on its maiden trip. We drove 20 minutes to Oak Creek Canyon yesterday and scrambled over the side to some very accessible rock faces. Our fearless leaders set up two top ropes on a 5.7 and 5.9 route, and we spent a couple hours climbing. Two belayed while two climbed and the other enjoyed south facing views of the canyon, complete with soaring red tail hawks and even a bald eagle. Jeff was about three quarters of the way up "little bear" when the bald eagle came by and got the best view of all of us, hanging in his harness. John pioneered "mama bear" and then talked me and Mari up to the top. The crux was a crack with no hand holds. We had to find any narrow spot, shove in a flat hand and then make a fist to wedge it in place. It took me probably 15 minutes to smear and wedge my way up to the easier climbing above and tackle the roof to get to the top. Once the adrenaline of the climb wore off I started to feel the "Gobies" (cuts and scrapes) all over my hands. We drove to some free camping in Coconino National Forest and spent a beautiful clear night sitting around the campfire and sleeping in the ~30 degree nighttime lows at 4000 feet. We had a few hiccups in the execution of day two (today) and lost our climbing enthusiasm after scrambling along some hairy terrain on the approach, but the ODC is in full effect and already planning a snowshoeing expedition. Thanks to Sam and John for guiding. Now we just need the perfect storm to bring it so we can slog through some waist deep snow next week!

8 days in the Grand Canyon...more pictures

Special thanks to Patrick for being diligent about taking pictures while the rest of us saved weight in our daypacks! These are some of my favorites from the tour.

A cloudy first day of work on the red and whites...

Ripping out check steps on the red and whites...

Local flora...

Our group campsite in Bright Angel campground...

Sam and I harvesting rocks on scree slopes...

Taking a break on Mormon flats with the NPS guys and the rock-crusher...

Pretty flora on Mormon Flats (discovered while collecting rocks for South Kaibab)...

Patrick, our photographer...

Looking back down the Bright Angel Trail on the hike out...

8 days in the Grand Canyon

Just got back yesterday from 8 days living at Phantom Ranch and doing trail work on the South Kaibab. We mainly worked on "Rip-Rapping" a section of South Kaibab at the base of the "Red and Whites" (switchbacks through limestone) with the National Parks Service and doing cyclic maintenance from Black Bridge up (digging out water bars, removing rocks, digging out the ditches and putting dirt on the trail). Most of my days started and ended with a 3 mile hike to and from the work site. That combined with carrying rocks up scree slopes for the rip-rappers whipped me into shape pretty fast.


Life fell into a really nice routine...

6am: Wake up, Eat breakfast, prep daypack
7am: 30 minute group stretch on the volleyball court behind the Ranger bunks with NPS and CREC.
7:30-9am: Solo hike out of the inner gorge to the job site.
9-3:00pm: Look for good rocks within a 60 yard radius of the work site and haul them to the NPS guys.
3:00-4:30pm: Hike back to camp with a friend (talk about large rocks that we moved, dinner, how much more painful it is to hike downhill).
4:30-5:30pm: Drop a deuce, spit bath, fill water, change into camp clothes
6-6:30pm: Dinner! (Everyone cooks twice in a group of three, I did frittata and thanksgiving)
8pm (at the latest): Conk out...yes, I was sleeping 10 or 11 hours every night.


My tent came withough poles or stakes, so I ended up using it as a ground sheet and taking residence in a nice covered patio structure (linked picture is our campsite, but not our group). There was a ringtail that would come down every night and steal the food that I left in my daypack, along with a skunk that would trundle around and make itself at home on the ledge right above my face. On the last night I confronted both of them, stealing a ziploc bag full of raisin bran from the ringtail and throwing my moccasin at the skunk, but somehow I don't think my tough love is going to stop them from raiding campsites in the future.


The Grand Canyon is a powerful place, and some of my favorite moments were when I had a chance to just be quiet and reflect on what was around me. Hiking out of the inner gorge at daybreak, eating lunch on a switchback above the Tonto Platform, icing my feet in the Colorado River at the end of a hard day.


Some other notable things that happened:

-On our hike into the gorge on day 1 a woman from another group fell and broke her ankle on the trail about 2 minutes ahead of us. We were the first ones on the scene and two members of our group led the first response. After diagnosing the injury and taking details, Patrick (one of my coworkers and a 10k runner for UC Davis '09) and I were sent back up the trail to contact rangers with the emergency phone at "tip-off". Luckily we ran into the NPS group that was coming down to lead the trail work and they took over the rescue operation from that point, drawing on members of our crew. I headed down the trail with 7 members of our crew to set up camp while 4 people stayed behind to perform a litter carry. They carried the lady about .5 miles down switchbacks in the inner gorge to a flat area where the helicopter (see picture) could lift her out to a waiting ambulance on the rim. She had an amazing positive attitude throughout the whole rescue and was very grateful for our and NPS's help.


-Bighorn sheep sightings, 5 females ran across the trail in front of us on day 4 (Jan 9th) and we walked within 20 yards of a big male on the "red and whites" on day 5.

-On day 5 I went for a swim in the Colorado river and then stood in the river for 15 minutes icing my legs. By the time I got out my teeth were chattering uncontrollaby and it took a good hour to get my body temperature up again. Ultimately, no damage done and my legs felt great the next day.

-On the last night we had a dance party (complete with disco ball) and headlamp volleyball tournament with the NPS crew at their bunk house. Our cyclic crew met a hiker that day who said they had heard about the party and was hiking in with a backpack full of rum and tobacco. I don't think that person showed up, nor were they bringing the supplies for us, but it was nice to know that our revelry wasn't going unnoticed. Our crews aren't allowed to drink alcohol at any point on project, so we danced sober and got excited for partying back in Flagstaff. We lost the volleyball game 18-21 but it was great to hang out with that fun NPS crew after a week working side by side.


No word yet on where I'll be working next week, but there's probably a crew going back to the Grand Canyon and another going to the Cleveland National Forest in San Diego. For the next 6 days I'll just be relaxing around Flagstaff.

Wireless works

Thank goodness for public libraries, probably my favorite public resource and it almost makes all the government cheese worth it. Without wireless in the apartment, it's about a 20-30 minute walk to get hooked up, but I'm glad to be online for free. For the last few days I've spent most of my time talking with my new coworkers and walking the streets of Flagstaff. The city's not very big and I feel like I've got the gist of it after a few days as we've already started to establish our hang out spots (Mia's, Macy's Coffee Shop and the Beaver Street Brewery). My coworkers have very interesting backgrounds and I'm enjoying getting to know them. So far we have Me, Casey, Patrick, Jeff, Alison, Heather and Keith in the house with Mari on the way, Sabine living in her own place and Andrew arriving in a couple of months. Backgrounds range from Peace Corps, Construction, Trail Crew, Hawaii Naturalist, Habitat Restoration, Biology Field Work, UC Davis cross country etc. Our director laid out the entire history of the company today, which is pretty intertwined with his life story as he started it after a lot of soul searching and odd jobs. On Wednesday we'll be heading into the Grand Canyon for 8 days of camping and training. Battery's about to go, I'll be back.