A quick post before I head back to the Grand Canyon tomorrow morning. I spent 4 days at Lake Mead doing Fencing. Our Zion fencing crew got moved to Lake mead so with their addition we had over 40 people working with us. This meant managing all these people was quite a task, but one that was very challenging and enjoyable for me. Between hail, wind, rain, super hot weather and flat tires and a disorganized project partner without a clue as to where the fence was going it was a very eventful 4 days which I will not get into details about right now as I have a crazy day getting ready for the canyon. I went climbing yesterday by Sedona and was learning how to trad climb and place and take out gear, so that was cool. But most exciting is I am coming to Davis for 7 days as soon as I get back from the canyon. So if you will be in town and are reading this then I will be hanging out with you because you are cool and reading this. However, if you are not reading this and not in Davis, then you are not cool and I make no promises about seeing you. (although it may still happen)
Adios
Monday, April 26, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Step 19: Zion Fencing
I'm back in Flagstaff now and enjoying my days off, although I wish I was in Davis for picnic day. Everyone who is racing good luck, and everyone who is not have an awesome time.
We left for Zion on Wednesday the 7th and made the drive up through some spectacular country, but of course the drive through Zion was the best. Sadly because we were doing fencing on the border we were not able to spend much time in the main part of the Park. Not, to say where we were wasn't amazing, but I just need to go back on my free time and explore the main area.
Our task was to put up a 4 wire fence on the southwest corner of the park to keep cattle from the neighboring BLM and private property land from entering the park and eating the vegetation. In Utah there is a free range cattle law which says it is the responsibility of people to fence cattle out, rather than the cattle owners to fence them in, which is why the park service contracted us.
On the first work day we spent a lot of time hauling out supplies and equipment to the work-site. Like spools of wire, t-posts, 2 Pionjars (80lb jackhammer, drill, chisel combo tool), fuel, and hand tools. Upon getting to the end of the completed fence I realized we were in for a hell of a task. We were going to have to build our fence through a number of sandstone washes and small ravines, over large wind carved boulders, and through old lava flows, as well as sandy river bottoms.
The terrain we were fencing through:
My supervisor, ATG, who is the company fencing expert was saying by the 3rd day that this was the hardest section of fence he had ever worked on. We had to drill almost every t-post hole into rock as even where there was soil to pound it in, it was rarely more than 1 foot deep which is far to shallow, meaning we first had to dig out the soil, the drill. However the difficulty of the terrain meant we were able to get very creative and use some unorthodox fencing techniques.
One such technique was this invention of ours to close the gap between the last t-post and the stone wall. We did this by drilling holes in the wall and stringing the wires into them.
The strength and stability of all fences is derived from the braces on the ends of the fence and as such is the most important part. The first few days I spent mastering proper H-brace construction.
(perfecting the H-Brace)
The second half of the week ATG would outline the goals for the day and give me half the crew and I was in charge of making sure everything got done.
For the most part the weather was clear skies and in the 60's. However, at the end of the project a system came in and as we were in the middle of nowhere we had no idea what was coming. I called Himmel who was kind enough to give me a weather report for our area. Had I not called him, we would have been drastically under-prepared for the rain/snow and cold temps that came the next day. The whole crew was very grateful for Himmel's assistance. The system that did come in made drilling very hazardous so we retreated to a cave for a few hours and made a fire and enjoyed the long break from the cold/wet/work.
One night I was sitting around the fire reading while the volunteers were off throwing the frisbee around and then they suddenly came running over to me and one English kid Nick was eager to show me something. He pulled his hand from behind his back and it was covered in cactus thorns/balls. Apparently he had attempted a diving catch and landed with his hand in a Cholla cactus. And if you don't know about cholla cactus it is the worst thing for your hand to get caught in as there are barbs on the end of the needles that make pulling out the needles very difficult and painful. Yet Nick was in wonderful spirits despite the predicament because he would have some cool pictures to go home with.
I found a video on youtube showing what nick went through numerous time as he had about 3 balls on his arm and hand.
By the end of our project we had finished putting posts in all the way to the corner, as well has putting up a bunch of wire. I leave next Wednesday for a 4 day project that has yet to be determined although the rumor is it will be down by Lake Mead. And I will follow that project up by going back to the Grand Canyon 2 days later. That's all for now, I may head up to the mountains during my days off to do some finally spring skiing before the snow melts.
Check out all the pictures from this trip
We left for Zion on Wednesday the 7th and made the drive up through some spectacular country, but of course the drive through Zion was the best. Sadly because we were doing fencing on the border we were not able to spend much time in the main part of the Park. Not, to say where we were wasn't amazing, but I just need to go back on my free time and explore the main area.
Our task was to put up a 4 wire fence on the southwest corner of the park to keep cattle from the neighboring BLM and private property land from entering the park and eating the vegetation. In Utah there is a free range cattle law which says it is the responsibility of people to fence cattle out, rather than the cattle owners to fence them in, which is why the park service contracted us.
On the first work day we spent a lot of time hauling out supplies and equipment to the work-site. Like spools of wire, t-posts, 2 Pionjars (80lb jackhammer, drill, chisel combo tool), fuel, and hand tools. Upon getting to the end of the completed fence I realized we were in for a hell of a task. We were going to have to build our fence through a number of sandstone washes and small ravines, over large wind carved boulders, and through old lava flows, as well as sandy river bottoms.
The terrain we were fencing through:
My supervisor, ATG, who is the company fencing expert was saying by the 3rd day that this was the hardest section of fence he had ever worked on. We had to drill almost every t-post hole into rock as even where there was soil to pound it in, it was rarely more than 1 foot deep which is far to shallow, meaning we first had to dig out the soil, the drill. However the difficulty of the terrain meant we were able to get very creative and use some unorthodox fencing techniques.
One such technique was this invention of ours to close the gap between the last t-post and the stone wall. We did this by drilling holes in the wall and stringing the wires into them.
 |
| From Zion Fencing April 7-14 |
The strength and stability of all fences is derived from the braces on the ends of the fence and as such is the most important part. The first few days I spent mastering proper H-brace construction.
(perfecting the H-Brace)
 |
| From Zion Fencing April 7-14 |
The second half of the week ATG would outline the goals for the day and give me half the crew and I was in charge of making sure everything got done.
For the most part the weather was clear skies and in the 60's. However, at the end of the project a system came in and as we were in the middle of nowhere we had no idea what was coming. I called Himmel who was kind enough to give me a weather report for our area. Had I not called him, we would have been drastically under-prepared for the rain/snow and cold temps that came the next day. The whole crew was very grateful for Himmel's assistance. The system that did come in made drilling very hazardous so we retreated to a cave for a few hours and made a fire and enjoyed the long break from the cold/wet/work.
One night I was sitting around the fire reading while the volunteers were off throwing the frisbee around and then they suddenly came running over to me and one English kid Nick was eager to show me something. He pulled his hand from behind his back and it was covered in cactus thorns/balls. Apparently he had attempted a diving catch and landed with his hand in a Cholla cactus. And if you don't know about cholla cactus it is the worst thing for your hand to get caught in as there are barbs on the end of the needles that make pulling out the needles very difficult and painful. Yet Nick was in wonderful spirits despite the predicament because he would have some cool pictures to go home with.
I found a video on youtube showing what nick went through numerous time as he had about 3 balls on his arm and hand.
By the end of our project we had finished putting posts in all the way to the corner, as well has putting up a bunch of wire. I leave next Wednesday for a 4 day project that has yet to be determined although the rumor is it will be down by Lake Mead. And I will follow that project up by going back to the Grand Canyon 2 days later. That's all for now, I may head up to the mountains during my days off to do some finally spring skiing before the snow melts.
Check out all the pictures from this trip
Monday, April 5, 2010
Step 18: Catching Up and Changes on the Horizon
Well I am now officially over halfway through my internship and it has been awesome.
Since my last blog post it has been non-stop. I went back to the canyon for 9 more days of work followed by flying the next day to southern California where I met up with Becky and road tripped up the coast visiting family until we arrived in Davis. Davis of course was awesome to see old friends and play some Frisbee Golf. Although a terrible tragedy was the lack of Colorado Enchiladas at Dos. After a far too short 24hour Davis visit it was back to Flagstaff and work the following day where we worked at Montezuma Castle National Monument for 4 days installing a drip irrigation system on a 30acre riparian habitat restoration project. Besides our project partner underestimating what ass –kicking workers we were and running out of work after 2.5 days it was a blast. It was cool learning new skills and quite relaxing doing car camping rather than backcountry work. The lack of work allowed us to sightsee and it was quite cool to see the old ruins and cliff dwellings of the Sinagua Indians. Pretty remarkable stuff.
not enjoying the sun
our new friend. Followed him up the trail for 15 minutes
driving up highway 1
my crew discussing the schematics of our irrigation project
However it has been the last 48 hours that has been most exciting. Upon getting back we found out we would have 10 days off before going back to the canyon on the 11th. So the trip planning began as well as the return to the bars. Last night was a karaoke contest at the Green Room($200 for winner) and we have some damn fine karaoke singers in our group(not me). Sadly none of my co-workers won. Luckily there was a raffle for $100 tab at the bar. We didn’t have the winning ticket for the raffle either though. But, in the inebriated confusion at 2am my co-worker Alison ran up to claim she had the winning ticket even though she was 1 number off. No one came forward with the right ticket so the drunk organizers gave Alison the $100 tab so the exhausting night would finally be over. So now we have a $100 tab at the Green Room. Yes this is the place with 25cent drinks on Wednesday. Some quick math with a calculator tells me this is around 400 drinks….wow.
Today I had a meeting with my boss to discuss job prospects with ACE after the conclusion of my internship in June. After 10 minutes my boss offers me a job starting this Wednesday as an Assistant Crew Leader for our fencing project at Zion National Park. We have a badass fencer as the supervisor who used to work for the Park Service before coming to ACE as our lead fencer. I am supposed to learn from him and become an equally badass Fencer so I can lead my own crews. As I have zero fencing skills at the moment I am terribly excited to learn from him and of all places in Zion! So yeah, I am not going back to Grand Canyon for a while. Between now and June I will be splitting my hours between being an Assistant Crew Leader and my internship. I am still not sure how this will work but it will be an interesting learning experience. And if I show myself to be an adept assistant crew leader I will be due for a promotion to a salaried Field Supervisor come July. So yeah, I may be putting off my aspirations to be a backcountry ranger for a little while yet and follow this road a bit longer.
In other news I have been doing a bit more running and by a bit more I mean a 60 min run once or twice a week. I went for an amazing run on my last day in the Grand Canyon, and now that the snow is melting rapidly in Flagstaff the trails are clearing and the running here is incredible. I feel like I am living at the trailhead to the Emigrant Trail in Truckee, but with even more trails. It’s crazy. That’s all I have to say for now. Stay tuned for many pictures and stories of Zion when I return.
run in the canyon
More pictures:
Grand Canyon
Montezuma Castle
Since my last blog post it has been non-stop. I went back to the canyon for 9 more days of work followed by flying the next day to southern California where I met up with Becky and road tripped up the coast visiting family until we arrived in Davis. Davis of course was awesome to see old friends and play some Frisbee Golf. Although a terrible tragedy was the lack of Colorado Enchiladas at Dos. After a far too short 24hour Davis visit it was back to Flagstaff and work the following day where we worked at Montezuma Castle National Monument for 4 days installing a drip irrigation system on a 30acre riparian habitat restoration project. Besides our project partner underestimating what ass –kicking workers we were and running out of work after 2.5 days it was a blast. It was cool learning new skills and quite relaxing doing car camping rather than backcountry work. The lack of work allowed us to sightsee and it was quite cool to see the old ruins and cliff dwellings of the Sinagua Indians. Pretty remarkable stuff.
not enjoying the sun
our new friend. Followed him up the trail for 15 minutes
driving up highway 1
my crew discussing the schematics of our irrigation project
However it has been the last 48 hours that has been most exciting. Upon getting back we found out we would have 10 days off before going back to the canyon on the 11th. So the trip planning began as well as the return to the bars. Last night was a karaoke contest at the Green Room($200 for winner) and we have some damn fine karaoke singers in our group(not me). Sadly none of my co-workers won. Luckily there was a raffle for $100 tab at the bar. We didn’t have the winning ticket for the raffle either though. But, in the inebriated confusion at 2am my co-worker Alison ran up to claim she had the winning ticket even though she was 1 number off. No one came forward with the right ticket so the drunk organizers gave Alison the $100 tab so the exhausting night would finally be over. So now we have a $100 tab at the Green Room. Yes this is the place with 25cent drinks on Wednesday. Some quick math with a calculator tells me this is around 400 drinks….wow.
Today I had a meeting with my boss to discuss job prospects with ACE after the conclusion of my internship in June. After 10 minutes my boss offers me a job starting this Wednesday as an Assistant Crew Leader for our fencing project at Zion National Park. We have a badass fencer as the supervisor who used to work for the Park Service before coming to ACE as our lead fencer. I am supposed to learn from him and become an equally badass Fencer so I can lead my own crews. As I have zero fencing skills at the moment I am terribly excited to learn from him and of all places in Zion! So yeah, I am not going back to Grand Canyon for a while. Between now and June I will be splitting my hours between being an Assistant Crew Leader and my internship. I am still not sure how this will work but it will be an interesting learning experience. And if I show myself to be an adept assistant crew leader I will be due for a promotion to a salaried Field Supervisor come July. So yeah, I may be putting off my aspirations to be a backcountry ranger for a little while yet and follow this road a bit longer.
In other news I have been doing a bit more running and by a bit more I mean a 60 min run once or twice a week. I went for an amazing run on my last day in the Grand Canyon, and now that the snow is melting rapidly in Flagstaff the trails are clearing and the running here is incredible. I feel like I am living at the trailhead to the Emigrant Trail in Truckee, but with even more trails. It’s crazy. That’s all I have to say for now. Stay tuned for many pictures and stories of Zion when I return.
run in the canyon
More pictures:
Grand Canyon
Montezuma Castle
Monday, March 15, 2010
Step 17: Off to Joshua Tree
We got back from the Canyon on Wednesday. Did laundry, ate, and went out on the town for 25 cent drinks and to a place called the wine loft to listen to bluegrass music and dance. Thursday I got my climbing stuff ready and went with my co-worker Sabine, her husband Tyler(works with a competing conservation corp doing trail work as well), and a couple of Tyler's co-workers to Joshua for 3 nights and 4 days.
After getting a guide book and doing all our food shopping which took much longer than planned we hit the road around 5:45. We drove through the night and arrived at Indian Cove campground just after midnight. After a quick bite we went to bed under the stars.
Woke up at 630am. Made friends with out neighbors who invited me for coffee and discussed climbing. Then we realized that pretty much the whole campground was booked for the weekend. So from 7:30 to 12:30 we went around the whole park before finally coming back to Indian Cover where two campsites opened up for us. After we finally got our stuff in our campsites we went up Rattlesnake Canyon to a climbing area called Dodge City. It was a 20 minute approach crossing streams and boulder hoping to get to the area. Tyler led a 5.8 to start with to get a top rope set up, and his co-worker Chris rappelled down and set up another rope. We spent all afternoon climbing the routes in that area. However, we got greedy and tried to climb one more route and take a shortcut back to our car. The route took longer than planned and by the time we were packed and ready to take out shortcut it was dark and we had two headlamps for the 5 of us. So we were forced to retrace our steps and what should have been a 20 minute jaunt to our car in the day took and hour to navigate safely at night. About 5 minutes before we got back we saw a search light on the hills looking for us as the place is closed down at sunset. I hurried back and sweet-talked the ranger out of giving us a ticket.
After getting back to camp Becky arrived minutes later after from driving from Ventura. What should have taken her 3-4 hours took 7 unfortunately. We fixed a delicious stir fry dinner, drank some beer and headed to bed to rest for another day of climbing.
We woke early the next morning, made a tasty omelet with veggies, potatoes, cheese and bacon as well as some coffee. Made our lunch and headed for central Joshua tree for another climbing adventure. It took longer than planned to find where we wanted to climb. But at long last we arrived at the Real Hidden Valley and hiked to a place called the Thin Wall where we would spend the rest of the day climbing all the different routes. Most of the day we climbed 5.8-5.9's with a mixture of crack and face climbing. At the end of the day we set up a top rope on a route called Childs play which is a 5.10d. At the time we thought it was a 5.10a though.
After an excellent day of climbing we made it back to camp just after dark. Set up a campfire and made a delicious pasta for dinner. We enjoyed music and beer and relaxed the night away.
The next day we cooked up what was left of our food including chocolate chip banana pancakes, and more eggs and hit the road exploring the rest of Joshua tree including a cool Cholla Cactus garden.
Enough words here are some pictures, but check out the album for all of them.
getting ready to climb on Friday in Rattlesnake Canyon
Tyler leading the first route
Chris setting up another rope
climbing a fun crimpy 5.10a
Dodge City climbing area
http://picasaweb.google.com/pvparsel/JoshuaTreeClimbingTrip311314#5448947846834791778
a saturday crack climb
Becky getting her feet wet
making her way up
Tyler and Chris racing to the top
getting ready for the crux on the days hardest route
dancing around the campfire
our tour guide at the cactus garden
After getting a guide book and doing all our food shopping which took much longer than planned we hit the road around 5:45. We drove through the night and arrived at Indian Cove campground just after midnight. After a quick bite we went to bed under the stars.
Woke up at 630am. Made friends with out neighbors who invited me for coffee and discussed climbing. Then we realized that pretty much the whole campground was booked for the weekend. So from 7:30 to 12:30 we went around the whole park before finally coming back to Indian Cover where two campsites opened up for us. After we finally got our stuff in our campsites we went up Rattlesnake Canyon to a climbing area called Dodge City. It was a 20 minute approach crossing streams and boulder hoping to get to the area. Tyler led a 5.8 to start with to get a top rope set up, and his co-worker Chris rappelled down and set up another rope. We spent all afternoon climbing the routes in that area. However, we got greedy and tried to climb one more route and take a shortcut back to our car. The route took longer than planned and by the time we were packed and ready to take out shortcut it was dark and we had two headlamps for the 5 of us. So we were forced to retrace our steps and what should have been a 20 minute jaunt to our car in the day took and hour to navigate safely at night. About 5 minutes before we got back we saw a search light on the hills looking for us as the place is closed down at sunset. I hurried back and sweet-talked the ranger out of giving us a ticket.
After getting back to camp Becky arrived minutes later after from driving from Ventura. What should have taken her 3-4 hours took 7 unfortunately. We fixed a delicious stir fry dinner, drank some beer and headed to bed to rest for another day of climbing.
We woke early the next morning, made a tasty omelet with veggies, potatoes, cheese and bacon as well as some coffee. Made our lunch and headed for central Joshua tree for another climbing adventure. It took longer than planned to find where we wanted to climb. But at long last we arrived at the Real Hidden Valley and hiked to a place called the Thin Wall where we would spend the rest of the day climbing all the different routes. Most of the day we climbed 5.8-5.9's with a mixture of crack and face climbing. At the end of the day we set up a top rope on a route called Childs play which is a 5.10d. At the time we thought it was a 5.10a though.
After an excellent day of climbing we made it back to camp just after dark. Set up a campfire and made a delicious pasta for dinner. We enjoyed music and beer and relaxed the night away.
The next day we cooked up what was left of our food including chocolate chip banana pancakes, and more eggs and hit the road exploring the rest of Joshua tree including a cool Cholla Cactus garden.
Enough words here are some pictures, but check out the album for all of them.
 |
| From Joshua Tree Climbing Trip 3/11-3/14 |
getting ready to climb on Friday in Rattlesnake Canyon
Tyler leading the first route
Chris setting up another rope
climbing a fun crimpy 5.10a
Dodge City climbing area
http://picasaweb.google.com/pvparsel/JoshuaTreeClimbingTrip311314#5448947846834791778
a saturday crack climb
Becky getting her feet wet
making her way up
Tyler and Chris racing to the top
getting ready for the crux on the days hardest route
dancing around the campfire
our tour guide at the cactus garden
Step 16: Moving On Up In The Canyon
My latest project to the canyon involved a change of camp location. However this was unknown to all of us including our supervisor until we were already halfway down to the bottom of the canyon. Since it is getting warmer the tourist season is really kicking in and all the campsites at the bottom were full leaving no room for us. We were able to spend the first night down there, but the next morning we had to pack up camp again and load the mules and move camp 2.5 miles and 1800ft higher up the canyon to a place called Tipoff. While we didn't have the luxury of running water(all water is now packed in via mule, so we must conserve), or flush toilets like down at Phantom Ranch we had other luxuries which far outweighed running water of nice toilets. The park service trail crew had camped here at the end of 2009 and left most of their supplies there which we were then able to take advantage of. This included a $6000 everest basecamp tent, a gas BBQ grill, and a stove that boiled water crazy fast that they called the Master Blaster and sounded like a rocket each time you fired it up. The best thing of all was the seclusion and lack of tourists around. Here is a picture of our camp: and check out all the pictures at this link
as you can see from the picture the camp is quite exposed. The wind rips through this part of the canyon and was often 30-50mph. After our first day of work we came back and one tent had the rain fly ripped off and another was about to sail away but had one stake left holding it down.
The Master Blaster in action
While we camped here the park service trail crew was still down at the bottom and because of liability we cannot work without one of them around to supervise. This meant we had to wait each morning for them to hike an hour up to our camp giving us an extra hour to sleep and also at the end of the day we got off an hour early allowing us time to explore the surrounding areas. As long as the weather wasn't terrible, which it often was during the 9 days we took advantage of all the extra time. Including going for a 60 min run, hiking up to a natural arch overlooking our camp, exploring side canyons, and taking an old miners trail up to our worksite. There was also a California Condor nest just above our camp so we were treated to daily sightings of them circling way overhead. Additionally camping higher up in the canyon afforded us new spectacular sunsets and sunrises each day and because we were not constricted by narrow canyon walls sleeping under the stars was spectacular.
another nice sunrise
hike to work via old miners route. We climbed up the hillside on the right then traversed left once we got to the base of the wall to the gully and came out in the notch
Mule carcass on the miners route. when they die they just roll them over the edge.
Our crew eating lunch in a cave during a rainstorm.
Natural arch above our camp.
on top of the arch
view of our camp from the arch. It's in the bottom left corner.
rainbow on the way down to camp
Our work this time consisted of doing more rip-rap stone construction as well as trail maintenance on the worst section of trail. A couple of days we had to stop early because of hazardous weather, including the last day when a snow storm forced us to stop at noon.
start of the snow storm which canceled our last day of work.
We will be going back tomorrow for another 9 day hitch and after that project we will be changing gears to a new location. While the details of this are unknown rumors are flying around that we will be going to work on the Pacific Crest Trail in southern California, east of Bakersfield.
 |
| From Grand Canyon March 2-10 |
The Master Blaster in action
While we camped here the park service trail crew was still down at the bottom and because of liability we cannot work without one of them around to supervise. This meant we had to wait each morning for them to hike an hour up to our camp giving us an extra hour to sleep and also at the end of the day we got off an hour early allowing us time to explore the surrounding areas. As long as the weather wasn't terrible, which it often was during the 9 days we took advantage of all the extra time. Including going for a 60 min run, hiking up to a natural arch overlooking our camp, exploring side canyons, and taking an old miners trail up to our worksite. There was also a California Condor nest just above our camp so we were treated to daily sightings of them circling way overhead. Additionally camping higher up in the canyon afforded us new spectacular sunsets and sunrises each day and because we were not constricted by narrow canyon walls sleeping under the stars was spectacular.
another nice sunrise
hike to work via old miners route. We climbed up the hillside on the right then traversed left once we got to the base of the wall to the gully and came out in the notch
Mule carcass on the miners route. when they die they just roll them over the edge.
Our crew eating lunch in a cave during a rainstorm.
Natural arch above our camp.
on top of the arch
view of our camp from the arch. It's in the bottom left corner.
rainbow on the way down to camp
Our work this time consisted of doing more rip-rap stone construction as well as trail maintenance on the worst section of trail. A couple of days we had to stop early because of hazardous weather, including the last day when a snow storm forced us to stop at noon.
start of the snow storm which canceled our last day of work.
We will be going back tomorrow for another 9 day hitch and after that project we will be changing gears to a new location. While the details of this are unknown rumors are flying around that we will be going to work on the Pacific Crest Trail in southern California, east of Bakersfield.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Step 15: Walnut Canyon Ski Trip
I've had an enjoyable 5 days off and will be going back to the canyon tomorrow for 9 days. Upon my return from that I will be heading to Joshua Tree for a climbing trip. So this may be my last post for a while.
On the 27th I decided to head out in the woods behind my place and explore the area on skis. My destination was Walnut Canyon. Its a prominent 400ft deep canyon about 6 miles south of us. I left around 11am. Here is me leaving:
After 2.5 hours of going in a general south-east direction I made it to Fisher Point at the edge/mouth of the canyon. Here is a view from the point up the canyon and out away from it.
Once on the edge I looked over and saw it would be pretty tight to explore the bottom of the canyon. So I strapped my skis to my pack and scrambled down the 400ft or so to the bottom. Here I am looking back up about 1/2 way down.
Upon getting to the bottom and starting to explore I had no idea what I would find. But I was quite pleased with the results. Many cool rock formations, caves, and animals.
The coolest thing was a cave I found. It had a large entrance room followed by a narrow 20ft corridor and opened up into a huge cavern. In the center was a large ice formation formed by water dripping from the roof. Check it out:
I spent about 2 hours exploring the canyon before it narrowed too much and became overgrown and had to turn back because the sun was setting.
Overall the trip was awesome and I wish I had more time to explore it. There looks to be a lot of climbing possibilities as well as side canyons to explore so I am sure I will go back and camp a few days there in the months to come.
On the 27th I decided to head out in the woods behind my place and explore the area on skis. My destination was Walnut Canyon. Its a prominent 400ft deep canyon about 6 miles south of us. I left around 11am. Here is me leaving:
After 2.5 hours of going in a general south-east direction I made it to Fisher Point at the edge/mouth of the canyon. Here is a view from the point up the canyon and out away from it.
Once on the edge I looked over and saw it would be pretty tight to explore the bottom of the canyon. So I strapped my skis to my pack and scrambled down the 400ft or so to the bottom. Here I am looking back up about 1/2 way down.
Upon getting to the bottom and starting to explore I had no idea what I would find. But I was quite pleased with the results. Many cool rock formations, caves, and animals.
The coolest thing was a cave I found. It had a large entrance room followed by a narrow 20ft corridor and opened up into a huge cavern. In the center was a large ice formation formed by water dripping from the roof. Check it out:
I spent about 2 hours exploring the canyon before it narrowed too much and became overgrown and had to turn back because the sun was setting.
Overall the trip was awesome and I wish I had more time to explore it. There looks to be a lot of climbing possibilities as well as side canyons to explore so I am sure I will go back and camp a few days there in the months to come.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Step 14: Sun, Rain, Vomit, Needles and Sleep
The good times keep on rolling....but not without the bad.
7am departure once more on Wednesday February 17th. Although not without some slight changes. A fencing project which left on Monday for Lake Mead took our normal van, which left us with a Toyota Tundra which towed the trailer with our gear and carried 6 people as well as a 1995 Mercury Grand Marquis (the Boat) which also carried 6 people. Upon departure, our supervisor for some reason picked me to drive The Boat to the canyon. While everyone else was jealous and surely wondering what I had done to earn the honor of driving this luxurious vehicle, I knew it must have been because ACE heard how good I was at driving vans and rental vehicles to and from meets. In addition I assumed that I was probably the most experienced driver for someone having never owned a car out of the group so why should they not have picked me?
After handing me the keys they then inform me it has some issues. Like, it needs to warm up a lot to to lift up and engage the air suspension. Well hell if I know what "a lot" means when it is 15 degrees outside and how do I know when the rear end has lifted enough? So I used my best judgment and after 10 minutes I told my crew of foreigners to hop in so we could take off. I start backing out of the driveway and don't realize there is a big curb and fly off it bottoming out the air suspension, which does not lift up again. Uh oh. The car is still running so off we go to meet up with the tundra which is picking up supplies.
We arrive at the supply house and I inform my supervisor of the suspension issues. She is concerned, but with little other options she asks if I think I can get us to Grand Canyon. I tell her with me behind the wheel there is no doubt in my mind we shall be fine. So off we go for another Grand adventure in the Canyon.
On the way I get a chance to familiarize myself with our new crew members whom are volunteers from other countries. We have from Sweden, Tobias and Love (pronounced Loova). From Germany there is Moritz and from Scotland Michael. All 4 were handpicked from the 50 current volunteers as the most hardened and capable of handling the rigors of Grand Canyon work. And they looked it. All are well built European mountain men eager to move some big stones, such as atlas stones from the worlds strongest man competition. For example we get to camp and on the 1st work day when asked who wants to hike up 4 miles to the rock crusher Tobias answers in his thick and rough Swedish accent, "i vill crush stones." When we explain it is a machine that did it he was very disappointed that he would not be crushing the stones with his bare hands. But alas, all enjoyed the work tremendously and I have not seen harder working people than Swedes. Moritz and Michael worked hard, but their ceaseless joking often interfered. On day 2 Moritz learned the American phrase "to cock-block." While he struggled at first to use it correctly, he finally seemed to get the idea while it was raining on day 4 making work difficult when he exclaimed, "the rain is cock-blocking my work!" We were all very proud of him. We played cards endlessly at night after work. They loved crazy 8's, and bullshit and especially Egyptian Rat Screw which I taught them.
The Work
So yeah, the trip was a huge success in the fact that we learned a lot in the way of dry stone work (although with the rain it was often very wet and muddy stone work). We got a lot done crushing stones and laying crush along certain sections of trail, building rip-rap cobbled ramps on the steep switchbacks, and building retaining liners out of huge stones. Each day, one of the interns would take a turn being taught how to create rip-rap. This was fascinating, but extremely time consuming, physically demanding work and certainly tested your patience. On the first work day I did not learn the rip-rap, but rather spent all day rolling the huge stones we would be using for liner rocks down the hillside. I'm not sure if there is a job in the world that is more fun than rolling boulders down the side of Grand Canyon. On the final 2 work days that I was not learning rip-rap or rolling boulders down the canyon-side I was installing liner rocks which was also very enjoyable, but frustrating in the mud and rain. For the mathematically inclined you may notice I have now listed all the days I worked, but they only add up to 4, while there should be 6 on an 8 day hitch. While the most reasonable explanation for this is laziness, it is not the case...
Not for the faint of heart
On Sunday, the 4th work day, all started normally. Ate a tasty oatmeal, raisin, granola mixture for breakfast. Got my stretch on. Had a nice morning hike to the work-site which was being deluged with rain/sleet and began installing liner rocks. However, about this time I started work I noticed something was not right inside me. My stomach was churning and I felt weak, and we all know I never feel weak. Yet I continued to work until our first break. I had zero appetite or thirst for water. Not good. Then just at the end of break it hits me and I scramble quickly up the hillside to a sheltered spot before being tormented with diarrhea. Being determined to finish out my section of liner I focus on getting to lunch which I do successfully, but get very little work accomplished. I finally go to my supervisor and explain the situation. We discuss, and finally agree that I shall go back to camp and rest the remainder of the day so I shall be good to go the next day. By the time I get back to camp it is nearly 2. I have had little food or water since breakfast and have had 3 bouts of diarrhea. I try and stomach a slice of bread and water, but 10 minutes later I am vomiting. The vomit/diarrhea 1-2 punch continues to knock me down until 5:00pm when they return from work. Expecting to find me all better my supervisor is not pleased to see me bedridden as I am. She tries to get me to have gatorade against my pleas that it will make me vomit. I concede to have some, and then she concedes that I was right when I vomit 5 minutes later. At this juncture she goes to the ranger station and they tell her to bring me right away. So she does, and I go. The backcountry ranger on duty I find out is extremely experienced and a trained paramedic so at least I feel I am in good hands. After explaining my symptoms throughout the day they take my vitals and it is discovered I have a body temperature of 93.2 degrees. Not what any of us wanted to hear. The ranger then informs me that she is going to give me an IV. She goes about getting this ready with her assistant at which point I tell her I am somewhat extremely terrified of needles. She assures me not to worry and there is no one better than her. She looks at my veins and exclaims how wonderfully big they are and how easy it this will be. She begins and I look away. Quickly I realize something is amiss as something I assumed should have taken very little time with my "wonderful big veins" is taking a bit too long. I look down and see she is having issues sticking it because my "wonderfully big veins" have wonderfully thick walls and there is a wonderfully powerful valve that she is stuck on. I start to pass out at this and upon coming back to my senses realize I have begun vomiting and the assistant has been forced to run and get me a bucket. Luckily the drama is finally over. They shoot me up with IV fluid and nausea and diarrhea drugs and they put me to sleep.
The next morning feeling better, but completely exhausted, my temperature is back up to 97 degrees, and I am able to stomach some food and water. Over the next 2 days I just slept and prepared to be ready to hike out Wednesday. Based off the fact that 3 other of my crew members came down with similar but not as severe of symptoms following my illness the ranger surmised it was a contagious viral infection that I got. Although how and where I picked it up will never be known.
I am now back in Flagstaff feeling almost 100% again and ready to enjoy my days off before going back to the canyon next Tuesday for hopefully a more healthy adventure.
Pictures. Here are a couple but check out the whole album for more. You will notice a series of pictures from a storm. Probably the most incredible weather yet. Simply spectacular. Little waterfalls popping up everywhere and you will see one large one that appeared across the canyon.
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| From Grand Canyon #3 February 17-24 |
Buddha Temple surrounded by clouds.
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| From Grand Canyon #3 February 17-24 |
I did the lower 3 quarters of the outside wall.
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