Grand Canyon Hike Day 1

Michelle and I have made it back safe and sore from our hike into and then out of the Grand Canyon. I decided to break down the blogging of the trip into each of the three days so you (the readers) will have more pictures and a reason to check out our blog more. (We also have some other posts we need to catch up on, but we can only do so much!)

The night before we stayed at the EconoLodge in Williams with points I had earned from my work travel. Unfortunately the bed was very uncomfortable, the next morning the shower was pretty weak. Because of the bad bed we decided to "sleep" in a little bit and didn't get the amount of rest we needed or as early a start as we wanted.

Here is a couple picture of the contents of our packs. Mine ended up being about 40 lbs and Michelle's was about 30 lbs. About 10 of those pounds was water.

We arrived at the trail head around 10:30 am. It was around 40 degrees at the rim. Here we are excited to get started.

About a mile into the hike you come to the Ooh Aah point. This is when you pass a wall of rock and get the whole canyon out in front of you for the first time. The South Kaibab trail is a ridge trail, and it offers beautiful vistas along its whole length. The picture below is a composite of 11 pictures I took and then stitched together. I do have to say as impressed with how this picture (and the other like it below) it still pales to actually being there.

If you zoom in you can see the trail we will hike below O'Neil Butte in the center. (Click on photo to zoom in.)

Michelle and I with the canyon behind. (Good caption huh!)

Here is another composite photo further down the trail. Now we are level with O'Neil Butte.

Here I am at Skeleton Point. At this point we have just passed O'Neil Butte and are about to descend about a hundred switchbacks

This is at Tipoff Point. It is after all the switchbacks and the picture below is looking back from where we have come from.

Here is a composite shot at Tipoff Point

It was at this point in the Hike that Michelle ran out of water. I still had some in my camel pack so we shared, but the last two miles down all the switchbacks into the inner gorge were extra hard on Michelle. At this point I said a little prayer asking for help for Michelle. About 3/4 of a mile out of the campsite a nice man gave Michelle some water and offered his 18 year old son to carry her pack. We were both very grateful for the help and the answer to our prayer. With this help we made it to Bright Angel Campground and quickly setup camp before it got too dark.

Grand Canyon here we come!

Just a quick update so that no one thinks we are dead :) We actually have a few things that we want to blog about, we just need to actually DO it.

Jeff had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday and has the all clear from the doctor to hike this weekend and to start playing soccer. I think he floated out of the doctors office :) The doc thinks that the gap between the two bones was too large for a bony growth to close it, he is fairly sure that it is a fibrous joint. He says that is fine as long as it doesn't hurt. So far so good on that front! He told Jeff that he can have his knob filed down if it bothers him--it is pretty huge--so that may happen sometime in the future.

For those of you who may not have heard, Jeff and I are hiking the Grand Canyon this weekend. Jeff was going to go with a friend, but something came up and he couldn't go. Jeff asked tons of guys to try to find a replacement, but it was short notice so he couldn't find a replacement. In an effort to be a good wife I volunteered so that the trip wouldn't have to be canceled. I am pretty nervous since I have never backpacked in my life, plus I have the world's worst knees. However, I think it should be fun, and what a way to bring in my thirtieth year! I am taking lots of precautions to guard my knees against hurt, so barring a major accident I should be good. Jeff bought me an awesome (and expensive!) pack, so that's fancy :) (don't mind the piles of dirty laundry behind me!)It fits me much better than the cheaper ones, so I should be as comfy as one can be carrying their life on their back! I am really hoping that the trip goes well because I actually want to do a different hike into the Canyon--I am dying to see Havasu falls in person! Isn't it beautiful!


Anyway, Jeff is SUPER excited for the hike, and once I get over my nerves I think I will be too! We are leaving Saturday to stay the night in Williams, AZ and then we will drive the last hour Sunday morning. We are hiking down the South Kaibab trail, and camping by the Colorado in Bright Angel campground. We are taking two days to hike out (we are hiking out on the Bright Angel trail), staying the second night at Indian gardens campground. If you need to be on the text list for knowing that we made it out alive, then send me a text and I will be sure to let you know! (Or you can leave a comment with your number in it before noon tomorrow....or e-mail me by noon...or facebook me!) My sister Ashley has great confidence in us, she has already laid claim to some of my stuff :) So, I guess I should get off the computer and finish packing my cloths...not that I am taking much! We love you all!

NCAA Tournament Group

Please fill out an NCAA Tournament bracket and join my group on ESPN. Just click on the following link create a bracket and join my group: Jeff's Friends. Password is: Henry.

http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/group?groupID=84845&entryID=2135953

San Diego

Michelle and I went to San Diego over Presidents Day Weekend. We had a great time and were lucky that he rain stayed away until Monday when we drove home. We stayed at a hotel near the airport on the harbor. The night picture below is from our hotel room. We went to the old light house on Point Loma and spent the day in Balboa Park. Every Sunday they have an organ concert on the worlds largest outdoor organ. We also enjoyed the Museum of Photographic Arts. There really is a lot to do there and we will most definitely be going back some time.

Jeff, the one and a half armed man :)

Jeff has been doing really well in the arm recovery department. He has not worn the sling in a couple of weeks now. He is driving his car now for a few days (yay for me!). Jeff had an appointment a couple of days ago--the x-ray didn't show signs of any bone regrowth but the doctor told us not to worry about that yet. Jeff is going back in April to have another x-ray taken, at which time we might worry if there isn't any regrowth shown :) He has a tentative yes for his trip to hike the grand canyon, so all is right with the world!

Jeff has been working like a crazy man lately! There are lots of days I don't see him from 7 in the morning until 8 or 9 at night. They are gearing up to head to California for the pre-launch stuff. He was scheduled to be out in the field for all of march, but things have moved a little, so it looks like he won't be leaving until after his birthday. Hurray for small things :)

We have the best ward, I know that many of you have good wards too, but ours is the best. We had a lot of help on Saturday from men in the ward, and two sisters, who helped us get some of the trees out/cleaned up on the vacant lots that surround our house. The olive tree that was looking a little crazy is beautiful now! We filled up the trailer that someone lent us, and there are still piles of branches around. I think that we are going to get a chipper this Saturday to get rid of them. I totally appreciate the help because I am scared of chain saws--can you just see me out there trying to cut branches down with my eyes shut? Ha! Jeff appreciates the help because while he is gaining strength back, there is no way he can support a chain saw with that arm. Anyway, we sure are grateful that we have a ward so willing to help, the best part is, they just volunteered. Bless 'em!

Go Project Pink!

A good friend of mine, Jenny, has put together an event that I am super excited for! The event is called Projet Pink--it is an effort to remind women and girls that they are wonderful no matter how old they are, what shape they are, what color they are, or anything else under the sun! If you live in the area and can come, you should! Let me know and we can meet there...or we can come here and we can drive together! I know that this is a really important concept for girls to understand. It is going to be so good! Anyway, I hope that if you can't make it, you can give yourself (girls) a little extra love that day, give your little girls a little extra love, and to you hubbys out there give those special girls a little extra lovin' ! Thanks!

Holy Hannah!!!

Well, pretty much I am stunned by some of the things that are going on in our country and my state. I am still trying to figure out who gave the government a trillion (!!!) dollars. I know that there are people out there who think this is a good idea, but to be honest, I'm not one of them. I can't help thinking we are getting in way over our heads, and thank goodness I don't have any kids that will be paying off the trillion (!!!) dollar debt we are leaving behind. Yesterday President Crow (the president of ASU) announced that 40 programs will be cut from the university and that the two satellite campuses will be whittled down to practically nothing. Along with all of these cuts, enrollment will be capped. In some ways, the cap may not be a problem considering some of the programs being cut. One of them happens to be my own--speech and hearing science. I don't know what that means for the people currently in the program, but I know that it means I won't be getting another degree from ASU. This totally blows my mind because I know that several of the professors just got HUGE research grants. I am disgusted by all of this, mostly because it really gives me no choice but to wait until we move to a state that does have my program before going back to school. I admit, I am too grumpy to talk about this rationally, so I will end with this:

This economy sucks and so do our "solutions."