Journal updated with March 5-11 catch up..., plus March 24-30 - including the EPIC HIKE! (pics to come later)

Print Of The Week Special (above) - click here

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03/01/23 They just issued a flood warning with 4+ inches of rain the next two days - we really need it, though hopefully it will be spread out and not just one deluge - it will be a GREAT weekend for WATERFALLS for sure!

FYI, do not buy my ARKANSAS WATERFALLS GUIDEBOOK from Amazon - they no longer stock this best-selling guidebook (we don't know why - they have all of our other books), and ALL of their listings are from unknown vendors and are WAY overpriced - never pay more than the RETAIL PRICE of $24.95. BEST to buy from your local bookstore, outdoor store, park visitor center, or gift shop. LOTS of dealers in the Buffalo River Area. If ordering online buy direct from our distributer - the University of Arkansas Press here.

03/01/23 Pizza night, a day early...

03/03/23 After five inches of rain overnight I headed out the door in search of waterfalls - what else did you expect!? I spent a good bit of time back down at Steele Creek mezmerized by the once-again second tallest waterfall in Arkansas (and mid-America - only flows during flooded conditions), Roark Bluff Falls, 186' tall. Even though I'd just photographed this same waterfall a couple of weeks ago, there I was, taking another 100 or so photos. I just can't help myself. I really like this photo of it.

Then after an hour and a half dash over to the Cove Creek area north of Clarksville, I spent a couple of hours down in the STEEP-WALLED canyon photographing five different waterfalls. I’d driven past them dozens of times but never bothered to go have a look. Everything was within a mile of the car, but for some reason it took me a long time to take a few pictures - much of my time was spent clawing through lots of thorny vines while making my way across those steep walls.

The waterfalls were running great, and I got the photos I needed. The only dismal part came when it was time for me to turn around and head back - I literally could see my car parked on the side of the highway - but it would take me nearly an hour to reach it! Some pretty slow slogging in my rubber boots - and one time I had to literally sit on my behind and slide down a muddy slope - something I had forgot about until I was inside the gas station in Clarksville and wondering what folks were giddling about behind me - it was my dirty behind of course!

I had planned a third waterfall stop in another county, but decided I was too late - I’d spent too much time at the last waterfall trying to get a good photo of this really neat lichen-covered sandstone boulder with the Never Ever Again Falls in the background. Turned out my tripod would not go low enough to the ground to get my camera where it needed to be, so I ended up building a mound of “something” to balance the camera on. This is one of those photos that may never see the light of day, but I sure did think it was an amazing rock and loved the waterfall behind it.

03/04/23 It began as a quiet and dull dawn, then a very quick burst of color charged into the valley. One by one other beams came and went, but the colored one only lasted a few seconds. It was tough to leave my seat on the couch to head off to work at the gallery today.

MARCH KETCHUP. Before the month gets totally away from me I wanted to ramble on about a couple of different weeks that I’ve skipped entirely.

First, March 5-11. It began about with a 4am wakeup call on the 5th, with wheels up 20 minutes later. We’d had some recent rainfall so waterfalls might be decent, but nothing but clear skies - not a favorite of mine but I needed to get out and explore a new area, so off I went.

2-3 hours later I parked along a forest road next to a creek that flowed out of an old stone culvert (built in the 1930’s by the CCCs). This was the drainage that the late friend and waterfall master, Terry Keefe was trying to tell me about the day before he died. He couldn’t remember many details, but I’d hoped this was the drainage he was talking about, and that I’d find some nice waterfalls.

The sun was already up as my pace quickened and I followed the creek downstream. Soon I came upon a cluster of the Heirloom Daffodils that I love so - though it was odd to find them growing down alongside the creek - no homesite near this spot, so I figured they must have washed down from one upstream.

The farther downstream I went the more of the flowers I found. And then a very NICE cascade - so nice in fact that I stopped and took a picture! It was a beautiful, wild and remote creek, though not too far from the highway. There was another cascade downstream, and then I was forced to climb up and out of the creekbed and continued on down alongside the creek through some pretty rough forest.

The creek dropped on down and almost out of sight as I hiked along on the level. And then I realized the creek had dropped out of sight - YEA, that’s what I was looking for! I scrambled on down to the top of a really nice waterfall that poured into an emerald pool. This one would be good enough even if there were no others. It was a bit of a struggle to climb down one side of the falls, but I managed without getting scraped or dropping any equipment. Bright sunshine right on the waterfall, but that was OK - it was a nice falls.

I continued on downstream to see what I could find, and soon came to another waterfall, shorter, that dropped into a small canyon. I didn’t bother to take a formal photo of this one because just below I could see not one but TWO waterfalls pouring in one on top of another from a side canyon. Both together measured 71’ tall. Very nice.

There was a great water slide area downstream that went on for a couple hundred yards, and then the creek disappeared again - this time an even taller waterfall and another emerald pool, but I had to hike around a good bit to get to the creek below the falls, then back upstream into a really nice grotto to reach the base of the falls. Yes, this was THE one Terry had told me about, and it was a beauty! Not near as tall as Keefe Falls (81’), but the location with the pool made it quite special. I’ve labeled it as Terry’s Grotto.

Downstream there was another waterfall pouring in from a side drainage, that I decided to follow that drainage back UP the hill to see what I could find - didn’t look like there would be any more waterfalls on the main creek.

After a little bit of climbing I came upon a very nice double-decker waterfall that was well worth the climb - that would make FIVE new waterfalls in this drainage - way to go Terry!

March 7, 8, 9. Another early wake-up call to get the RV back into Fayetteville for some additional maintenance, then back home again to meet up with our Minnesota cousins at a cabin they’d rented near Compton. They had planned a big hike down into the bottom of the Grand Canyon in a couple of weeks and I thought a quick hike down into Hemmed-In-Hollow might be some good training for them.

Turns out the cabin they rented had a secret trail that led directly out to the top of a bluff and ANTENNA PINE, a famed location in the Ponca Wilderness that is also kind of part of the Camp Orr Boy Scout Camp. One cousin remained behind to cook up a storm for dinner while the rest of us hiked to the bluff - they aren’t used to this sort of stuff in flat Minnesota, but the are quickly adapting to some of the outdoor life in Arkansas (two cousins and their wives have purchased vacation homes in the Hot Springs Village area).

Early the next morning we fought through very thick fog and made a quick run down into Hemmed-In-Hollow. I’d done this hike many times, but not with other people (except once with our now Sheriff to take a photo of the big waterfall with him for scale reference - it’s in the waterfall guidebook).

SPRING was just beginning to awaken along the trail and it was a beautiful hike, including some nice views of the waterfall from the overlook. Soon we stood at the base of Mr. Big, 208’ of wind-blown power that was quite wonderful!

Then a quick hike back to the top of the trailhead - I figured if they did this hike four times in one day it would be about the same as the hike they wanted to do at Grand Canyon. But since this was just a training hike, we only did one trip down and back - that was enough to get an idea how steep and steady the big hike would be.

After lunch we drove over and hiked out to Hawksbill Crag - not for training, but just for FUN! It was dark and foggy once again when we got back to their cabin, and the head chef cooked up another feast that included Bison filets - a first for me. I don’t eat much red meat these days, but of course had to give this a try - and oh my, that was the BEST meat I’d ever tasted!

Next morning we did a final hike to Lost Valley. It was raining and I think some of our crew was hesitant, but once again the Buffalo River area put on quite a show - the creek, wildflowers, and waterfalls were just perfect!

March 10. With the good rainfall we’d had the day before I decided on another 4am wake-up call and drove back over to the new Terry Keefe waterfalls to see if I could get some better photos. Gosh darn it the SUN was up early too! But I had a great hike down to and around to photograph all five of the waterfalls again - each had a little more flow than before and I was a happy camper. And I figured out a good way to recommend folks access all of them from the forest road above.

I got back home just in time to pack up the RV with everything I needed for my slide programs in Mena the next day. I’d planned on another 4am wake-up and then a five-hour drive to Mena to start setting up for the show, but decided instead to just hit the road in the afternoon and drive part way. I ended up in the Wal Mart parking lot in Dardenelle for the night.

March 11. I got to sleep in this morning for a little while, then arrived in Mena to start setting up the show at 11am. We had a nice crowd and I showed two different slide shows (ARKANSAS NIGHTSCAPES and A RARE QUALITY OF LIGHT). This was to be my very last show, maybe for good, at least doing slide programs of picture books (never say never...).

03/20/23 It was a 4am wake-up call for me and soon I was standing in the back yard in my bathrobe and slippers. (I had been unusually prepared for this and set up my tripod, camera, and special star lens the night before - in the garage and ready for me to just grab and head out the door.) First time I’d gazed up at the stars with a purpose since we were in Nova Scotia late last summer. My star photos turned out TERRIBLE then, and it was time I took a good one.

The Milky Way had risen into a perfectly clear night sky a couple hours before and was charging across that sky, twinkling and smiling all the way. It was kind of windy, especially with the temps way below freezing and me not having any long handles on under my bathrobe when that wind gusted! I was able to manage a few photos that included my lovely bride’s maple tree (you see it frequently in the daily cam photos - it stands right outside and below her studio above the garage).

Interesting, but somehow there seemed to be a LOT more lights all over the distant landscape, and especially a large “light dome” directly to the south of us - that distant glow was either from the greater Nail-Swain Metroplex, or more likely the Russellville area (which I hear is expanding at a rapid pace).

I only lasted about 30 minutes taking pictures before my hands had turned white (I couldn’t see them, but could FEEL them - or rather could not feel them). So I packed up and headed back into the warmth of the fireplace and sat down with a warm cup of Iceland java and a cold smoothie. The dark night sky I’d been photographing quickly began to glow with the onset of dawn, and the new day had begun.

It was 22 years ago that Pam’s mom dropped her off at my Cloudland Cabin out in the middle of the wilderness, then drove away back to Missouri. Pam had a skiing accident in Colorado several weeks before that had left her back in a miserable place (three bulging disks). She been told to remain flat in bed and do nothing for a month. While having a girlfriend ordered to bed sounds like a good thing for a boyfriend, she was in tremendous pain - especially since her bed rest was not doing her any good.

Anyway, we had decided to get hitched on the first day of spring (so I would not forget our anniversary easily), so off we went to elope to Lake Leatherwood, Eureka Springs - and the rest is history!

HAPPY #22 BUNKIE! I remain pleased and shocked each and every day that she’s still with me!

OK, back to today. As daylight began to creep into the landscape we both realized the rich colors along the horizon were kind of blurred, but couldn’t figure it out at first - I’d just been outside taking pictures of a perfectly clear night sky. Then we got a whiff - smoke. They’d set literally tens of thousands of acres of forest ablaze around the state yesterday and the smoke clouds had finally reached us. Springtime in Arkansas gets ruined more days than not due to the firebugs. (It’s a proven fact that Arkansas does NOT need large-scale controlled burns, but Congress forces them upon us for political reasons - all at tax payer expense - in more ways than one.) But I digress.

Good thing I had a supply of face masks handy - it was my morning to put on a daypack and put in a quick five mile hike - down the county road to the creek crossing 1,000 vertical feet below. The mask not only helped filter out the smoke, but it also helped cut the wind chill on my face - think I’ll continue to pack a mask or two with me.

As I got near the bottom of the hike I saw a weird road sign on this little-used and remote county road - FLAGGER AHEAD. What! Then I realized what it was - the power company was clearing out the right of way and a bulldozer was churning up the soil - creating some delicious aromas of cedar and sassafras. There was a pickup on the side of the road in case any passing cars needed to be warned if the dozer was getting too close to the road. I hiked on by and waved.

When I hit the bottom and turned around for the 2.5-mile hike back UP home, I loosened my boot laces, tightened my waist belt on the pack, leaned into the hill, and charged full speed up the steep hill. There’s gotta be something wrong with me - I ENJOYED every step UP! And in fact my uphill pace was quicker than my downhill pace.

Later we dined on our favorite takeout dishes from the Ozark Cafe (grilled chicken sandwich for my bride and a loaded Chicken Quesadilla for me). Then we really got fancy and broke up a box of Peanut Butter Fudge cookies from Dollar General for dessert (not NEARLY as good as anything from Kathy K. or Momma Judy F.).

The first day of spring is always a great day for me!

03/22/23 Another quick hike DOWN the steep hill yesterday morning - along with some great rainfall on the way back up. This has become my standard morning warm-up - about 5.25 miles total and 1,000’ elevation loss then gain. As I’ve always known, I much prefer to hike UP, especially if it’s steep, and this route is. Am I weird? (bad knees) For some crazy reason my steep uphill pace is about the same as my downhill pace, sometimes a little bit faster (just under 3mph).

After much debate and a giant reduced SALE price, I decided to try a pair of “trail running” shoes for hiking (total weight about a pound and a half for the pair) instead of my standard but lightweight leather hiking boots (total weight about three pounds for the pair). I love the design of the running shoes - mostly because there’s room for TOES! Most normal boots and shoes just don’t have space for toes - I have no idea why, and especially why we keep buying shoes without proper room for toes!

Speaking of toes, some may remember way back from my big hike up to the top of Colorado in early August - I had first reported that it looked like I might lose as many as FIVE toenails due to me not using my boots properly (had them way too loose for the downhill - but again, not enough room for toes, duh). Here’s an update. I lost the first toenail several weeks later as we began our stay in Canada in September. Second toenail lost in October. Third toenail came off in November. And finally the fifth toenail disappeared in December. As someone else who lost many toenails once noted - at least I don’t have to spend nearly as much time trimming them now! I’ve seen where it generally takes a full year to regrow a full adult toenail...

Anyway, my first hike with the trail runners was good, and since I got them all mucked up anyway during the first hike, I’ll be keeping them. And my toes seemed to be good - yea!

Yesterday evening a thick fog moved in and the forest all around turned to magic. Still kinda chilly, but the air was so nice and sweet and fresh to breathe in deep. Seems like the flowering trees have been put on hold a bit due to the cold temps this past week, but I bet they come charging back.

This morning went back to my old leather hiking boots for the trip down to the bottom of the hill and back up. Just when I was getting used to the lightweight trail runners, who would have guessed that my old boots actually felt better again - and in fact I went faster per mile with them than with the lighter weight trail runners. How can that be?

One note - today was the first day in a while that I worked up a really good sweat while hiking - I was really pushing it hard back uphill - taking even longer strides than normal while maintaining my pace - but I think the biggest factor was warmer temps and higher humidity.

FYI, I won’t have the gallery open this Saturday. Not sure about next Saturday. So far this year we’ve averaged about 3.5 people per Saturday. Three days no one showed up. I don’t advertise much...

03/24/23 After a day spent organizing and packing the RV, I headed out early this morning for the Grand Canyon. You may have guessed by now that I decided to join my Minnesota cousins for their epic long and steep dayhike that is going to happen next week - 17 miles of hiking starting at the South Rim DOWN almost a mile into the earth, across the mighty Colorado River, then downstream to another crossing of the river, then hike back UP another trail 4,400’ to end back on the South Rim.

It’s a really tough hike for an average hiker, pretty tough for a hiker in good condition that has trained for this hike. Brutal for anyone else. I’ve kept myself in pretty good shape these past few years but have only done three or four training hikes for this one (all five miles or less) - I’m a little concerned, especially for my KNEES and ankles. As noted before, I MUCH prefer hiking UPHILL than downhill due to my bad knees, but there’s no way to hike the Canyon in and out and only go uphill, so haha, we’ll see what happens, maybe... (FYI, there’s NO way to bail out mid hike - once you go down into the earth you gotta hike back UP and out somehow - there’s no uber servie.

For some strange reason there was hardly any winds as I drove across the Oklahoma Panhandle, aka the Dust Bowl. Usually this is a terrible drive, but it was OK today. I pulled into my usual overnight parking spot in a National Grassland near the New Mexico border for a few hours of slumber and all was well. There were a few storms that lit up the evening sky with really nice thunderheads.

Since the temp would be dropping well below freezing for at least the next several days, before I went to bed I winterized the RV, which is basically just a three-step process. Drain the water in all the tanks and water lines. Add several gallons of RV anti-freeze to the fresh water tank. Run antifreeze through all the water lines and out the faucets with a quart or two into the holding tanks. That’s it, I was winterized. So no more running water, and flush the toilet as usual (which will use antifreeze instead of water).

03/25/23, 25 degrees. I was up and outside taking pictures of the Milky Way over the grasslands by about 4am (temp down to 25 so I was glad to have winterized), then fired up the rig and continued to head west - this time with high winds that seemed to come from all directions. It was all OK though until I hit I-40 - one of my least favorite highways to drive - due to excessive numbers of big trucks and just terrible road conditions.

And oh brother did I-40 live up to all this - it was a rough and dismal trip across New Mexico and into Arizona, but by the end of the day I was through Flagstaff and turned off the dreaded highway headed north towards the Canyon - in a driving snowstorm! Give me the snowstorm any day. It was late when I pulled into the campground at Grand Canyon National Park (about two feet of packed snow on the ground everywhere but the roads had been plowed), where my lovely bride had reserved a campsite for the next five nights - cost only $9 per night with my geezer access pass. After nearly 24 hours of driving, I would sleep well...

03/26/23, 13 degrees outside, 17 degrees inside. Our RV has a really nice heated floor system, but for it to run and circulate the special heated fluid it has a little diesel engine underneath the outside floor - and it’s kinda noisy sometimes. There was a tent in the campsite right next to me and since I didn’t want to bother the campers during the night with the diesel engine I decided not to turn it on and just slept in my down sleeping bag (rated for -20). I was toasty warm all night but that aluminum cabin I was driving/sleeping in was kinda chilly!

I’ve only been to the Canyon three times in my life - all of them during the heat and crowds of summertime, and I never spent more than an hour or two at the Rim of the Canyon, then moved on. I’d never taken any real photos of the Canyon, one of the many shortcomings of my outdoor nature photography career. While that was not the point of this trip, I was hoping to be able to take a few serious photos while here to justify expense and wear and tear on myself and our RV. In fact I’d left home two days early in hopes that several winter storms this week would leave at least the upper Canyon with visible snow, which is an added bonus for Grand Canyon photos (they had received about a foot of new snow during the week with maybe more on the way).

At first the South Rim with all its complexes, parking areas, and roads were quite confusing to me. I normally use the road system to get around to particular trailheads and other places, but in Grand Canyon (and increasingly other crowded national parks as well), they really don’t want you driving around too much - find a parking spot in one of their big parking areas and take free shuttle buses to and fro. Some of the buses run every 10-15 minutes. Don’t think I’d ever been on a national park shuttle bus before but no doubt it’s where we are at these days and almost certainly will be the only mode of travel in the future.

But I was up early and made my way to a spot at the far end of the main South Rim activity and son of a gun, I found a perfect parking spot! It was literally right next to the Rim Trail (I could step out of the RV onto the trail in fact), and also I had a terrific view down into the Canyon right from the front seat! How did I do that in the dark on my first day I have no idea -- but ya know, even a blind hog will find an acorn once in a while.

Clearly there was snow on the ground that I’d hoped for. but I really didn’t have a game plan for where to go to attempt to get a classic Grand Canyon in the winter photo. So I loaded up my camera pack, tripod, and hand warmers, and off I went.

It was 45 minutes before sunrise so I was able to see to hike around the Rim Trail, where I found an interesting scene or two and took a few photos. But it wasn’t until the sun appeared and started to light up some of the canyon walls out before me that things really got interesting - and very exciting for a nature photographer! I might add that there were no barriers along the Rim Trail, which at time literally ran with a few feet (or closer) to the edge of the canyon - and by edge I mean literally that - drop-offs of 100’s of feet or more sometimes, straight down. I had no less than four pairs of “traction” devices with me (yack tracks or mini spikes that you strap onto the bottoms of your boots that dig into ice and snow) and made sure I was wearing a pair at all times - even melted patches of the trail were VERY slick since that melted snow easily refreezes during the night.

Needless to say it was SPECTACULAR at the snowy edge of the Grand Canyon with brilliant sunshine lighting up those mile-deep stone walls. I took a few photos...

It was a mile hike from the RV over to the South Kaibab Trail where we would begin the epic hike in a few days, and soon I was standing there at the very top of the trail with jaw firmly propped open in dismay. HOLY MOLY JOHN DENVER the trail was SO STEEP and TOTALLY ICE COVERED!!! We’d been seeing photos of this online so was a little bit prepared, but I gotta tall ya, it was way worse in person, oh my.

I spent a while kind of lingering around the start of the trail and watched a few brave souls go down - and a few really stupid souls go down, and then literally fall on their behinds and nearly slide over the edge. All of this was a dose of reality since the top of the trail was just the beginning of a reported first mile of trail all frozen like this below, and another mile and a half at the other end of the long hike just like it.

I returned to the RV to have breakfast (when you get up at 4am it’s possible to go work for a few hours before breakfast) and tried to warm up my frozen smoothie that was my standard breakfast - I couldn’t get the microwave to work so I got kind of chilled with my belly full of slush, haha. As luck would have it a bad tooth of mine was acting up and I was unable to consume any warm beverage (like coffee, which I had to add ice to before I could drink), so I sat in the RV with my down coat on and watching as traffic on the trail beside me started to get busy.

Sometimes the best way to deal with fear is head-on, so in a while I hiked on back to the beginning of the trail, got out my brand new trekking poles I was told were mandatory, and took my first step onto the icy, steep trail. Gulp! Well the yak tracks bit in and held on and I was able to carefully make my way right on DOWN the switchbacks, though each new step was taken with a deep breath, sometimes a gasp of relief.

Turns out the steep, icy, switchbacked trail was not bad, not bad at all, and soon I’d made it to the end of the ice - really only about 1/3 down - and then it was completely dry trail, oh my!

I continued on down into the Canyon following the trail a mile or so beyond Oh Ah point (which was kind of disappointing), across Cedar Ridge, to the base of O’Neill Butte. Pretty nice views all around. OK, that was a good starting section to hike - somewhat painful going down such steep trail, but my knees were still working, so I turned around and hiked back out. And I discovered that I actually looked forward to the icy switchbacks, and had no trouble hiking right on up and out to the top.

I spent the rest of the day locked inside the RV people and wildlife watching - it got really crowded on both the road I was parked on and the Rim Trail next to me - both with people and elk - lots of elk, which of course brought traffic to a halt - sometimes literally cars would stop in the middle of their lane and the driver would get out and walk across the road to take a photo of an elk with the Grand Canyon as a backdrop. How funny!

It appeared that my little section of the Rim Trail was a good spot for sunset so when the light started to get good I emerged and took off chasing the light, and I think got a few good photos - most of the time trying to include a bit of snow. It had been a good day at the Grand Canyon - I did not freeze to death and I didn’t die on the icy trail, nor get run over by tourists or elk, nor did I get too close to the EDGE of the Canyon while trying to get just a little bit closer for the perfect photo and slide off.

Snowy photo of the Grand Canyon - CHECK! Survive a trip down the icy switchbacks - CHECK! Next on the list was a photo of the Milky Way.

03/27/23, 15 degrees outside, 64 degrees INSIDE! (sorry neighbor campers - I turned on the floor HEAT OVERNIGHT). I knew the best views of the Milky Way were from the NORTH RIM, which is always closed in the winter until mid-May. I was in the middle of a giant Dark Sky Park with clear skies, cold temps, low humidity, and brilliant sky full of stars above. My only problem was going to be finding a spot along the South Rim that I could frame the “Glactic Center” of the Milky Way with part of the actual Grand Canyon. I found a spot that might work, but didn’t know for sure until I had arrived there - after a mile hike in the chilly darkness of the Grand Canyon at 4am to get there in time.

BUT FIRST, I during my hike to the spot I came upon a group of six NPS employees that were suiting up for a “hike on our day off” into the bottom and up part of the other side of the Canyon. The four girls were going even farther and would spend a couple nights down there. I would see their headlamps for the next couple of hours as they made their way down to the bottom. Friendly folks that LOVED their jobs!

OK, so I got to the edge of the Rim and found a good spot with the Milky Way in view and a little bit of the Canyon walls in the frame also. One problem was there were lights at the nearby trailhead - these things will RUIN any chance of getting a Milky Way photo. BUT, son of a gun, in true “Dark Park Sky” fashion, those lights were very dim and warm colored - and it turned out lit up the canyon wall with just enough light to be a perfect match with the brightness of the Milky Way - how did that happen!? Turns out the Grand Canyon is a model for a Dark Sky Park, and this was much appreciated by me!

I only had until about 4:45 to get my photo before the stars started to fade, and I made quick work of that - there was really only one composition, and I shot it over and over again to be sure I got a good one. Then I sat down in the snow and spent a few minutes to just look at my surroundings - OH MY...

I spent the rest of the day loafing around, hiking a little bit, and going through all of my gear for the big hike, now two days away. Then I moved to a different campsite - one with no other campers nearby so I could run the floor hear all I wanted.

03/28/23, 17 degrees outside, inside was warm. My alarm was set to go off at 2:30 but I was already up by then sipping a cup of chilly coffee. I decided to return an hour sooner to the only Milky Way spot I could find to capture the stars a little closer to the horizon, and soon I was in my favorite parking spot (LOTS of open spaces at 3 in the morning, haha), and had made the mile-long hike and set up my tripod. Unfortunately there were some clouds along the horizon, but also a HOWLING wind - 40mph or more. Yes, it WAS COLD, but of more concern to me was keeping my camera and tripod COMPLETELY still during the 15-second exposure it took to capture the stars.

At one point I removed the camera from the tripod and moved a few feet away to focus on a distant light, and that’s when the wind grabbed my tripod and tossed it into the show about 30 feet away. OOPS! Not over the edge thankfully. Spent the rest of my time holding down the tripod with all my weight. Not sure I got any good photos before I left, but at least I was out there at 3am giving it my best!

I spent part of the day at the other end of our hike - the Bright Angel Trail - which was packed with people - many of them slipping and sliding on what would turn out to be more than a MILE of snow and ice-packed trail at the end of our big hike. Oh, and I also stopped by the “Backcountry Information” office to speak with a ranger face-to-face to ask about the water situation - in particular how high the creek crossings would be with all the snow melt going on. I was told not once, but TWICE that there were NO CREEK CROSSINGS on the Bright Angel Trail. Hum, this might come back to haunt me...

OK, time was up - tomorrow morning I could meet my cousins before dawn and our hike would begin - wish me luck!

03/29/23 When my cousin called me a year ago and asked what I thought about he and his wife doing the Rim-To-Rim Grand Canyon hike for their wedding anniversary, I did some quick looking around and told him that it was probably not a good idea. Both of them would be 60, neither much of an avid hiker, especially doing more difficult hikes. When it came up again during a family get together back in January, I simply added that I might be interested. When they later told me they would be doing the Rim-To-River-To-Rim hike on March 29th, I said COUNT ME IN!

And so I got up at about 3am today - couldn’t sleep - repacked my special daypack a couple of times, had a warm breakfast smoothie (I finally got the microwave to work), and drove over to the main parking lot at the South Rim and waited for four of my cousins to arrive from their rental home in Flagstaff. As I waited I stepped outside and realized the Milky Way was right there, and the parking lot lights were so dim, that I might as well take a picture - who would have thought - the Milky Way from the parking lot of one of the busiest National Parks in the world! And me at my age getting ready to suit up for one of the most difficult single-day activities I’ve ever done.

We rode the shuttle to the trailhead - it was a balmy 30 degrees or so - installed our “traction” cleats and headlamps - and headed on down the steep, icy trail in the dim light before sunrise. Three of my cousins (from Minnesota) had never been to the Grand Canyon before, so their first glimpse of it would be from below the rim on our hike as it got lighter. (two of them, Annette and Peter, had just recently gotten into hiking and did several longer dayhikes in Arkansas to train, while the third, Kathy, was a performance running athlete and had just competed in the Little Rock Marathon several weeks ago - and regularly does 20-mile training runs for fun) The fourth cousin on the trip, Jimmy, now living in Phoenix (much younger than any of us, originally from Minnesota - he’s a special agent for the FBI), had done the even-more difficult Rim-To-Rim Trail ELEVEN times and was pretty much a mountain goat and fit as a fiddle - and could easily have left us in the dust (as could Kathy).

Even though I’d done this first steep and icy part of the trail twice in recent days, it was still a major pucker factor for me since my very first step failed to dig in and I slipped and nearly slid over the edge! But things got much better after that, and within literally just a few minutes all were past the ice and happily bouncing along the trail heading down into the deepest hole on the planet.

The first half of the hike was pretty much all downhill, but for those of us with bad knees it was the worst part - especially knowing that just a single misstep could mean a very costly evacuation - there is no easy way out of the canyon. And, of course, there were a few places where one misstep could send you right over the edge to certain death. But oh my goodness the sunrise was kinda worth it ey! While there were predicted high winds 40mph+ in the afternoon, for the first mile or two we got hit in the face with them early - I had to stop and put on sunglasses and a face mask due to the 40mph dust storm the high winds created. But mostly it was all of us bumping along just fine.

One highlight going down was three big horn sheep that we came upon - first they were below us, then they were above us, then they came down from their high perch and literally crossed the trail within arm’s reach BETWEEN us! (someone has video of this) Later we had to flatten ourselves against the canyon wall for a passing pack mule train. Finally - after hiking down through what I thought to be one of the most beautiful and unadvertised parts of the entire hike (the last mile before the river), we went through a tunnel that ended at the Black Bridge, our first crossing of the Colorado River (which was muddy from recent heavy rains and snowmelt). One note - the temperature at the Rim and 4,800’ lower on the river is frequently 40-50 degrees apart - in our case quite pleasant today.

We filled water bottles, changed socks, and had a snack* while next to the river, then crossed over on the Black Bridge to continue the hike downstream - which was an epic jaunt in itself being right above the river on a narrow trail against steep vertical walls of granite and sandstone.

*I didn’t bring any food for this hike, only water and some special “magic” power that cousin Kathy (the marathon runner) had told me about last year. I used it when I climbed Mt. Elbert in Colorado back in August and it worked great, so I was counting on it for this trip too. Advertised that you don’t need ANY other food or liquid, only two scoops of the magic power with 20 ounces of water per hour of strenuous physical activity. I’ve read so many folks worrying about what food to bring on this hike and when to consume it all, and how much water, etc., but really this magic powder really makes it all so simple. I had 12 packets of powder with me - the “average” hike time for this trip is about 12 hours (OK so I threw in an extra so really had 13, just in case). Actually I just was trying to make it out at all, haha. So all I had was water and powder, but at some point someone forced me into taking on a small bag of fresh cookies (4) that Jimmies mom had just baked. Finding myself at the bottom of the canyon with nothing but UP to go, I certainly did not want to carry the extra weight of the added cookies, so I did what any level-headed outdoorsman would do - I ate all the cookies on the spot!

OK, when we made it to the very bottom of our hike and it was literally ALL UPHILL from that point on (we’d done about 9 miles with about 7 to go), I was feeling kinda good and decided it was time to lean into the hill and take off. I heard Kathy say “I’m with you” and off we went in a cloud of dust, Jimmy the mountain goat too.

Oh my this next few miles were just delightful! The trail followed a small creek and spring was springing all the way with lush small trees and brush - not much of a view to bother us, just leaning into the hill and moving feet - it felt GREAT! The longer I hiked uphill the more energy I had (thinking back on this now I wonder if it might have been the cookies!?). Soon I had left the creek (that we had crossed FIVE times) and started up what’s known as the Devil’s Corkscrew - a long set of switchbacks out in the open heat of the day. The steeper it got the more I leaned into it and just kept going.

I hiked alone like this for a while, eventually climbing up to another canyon with a larger creek (that we would eventually cross many more times - do you remember the ranger telling me the day before that the trail did NOT cross any creeks, hum?). This part of the trail was really lush and included some GIANT cottonwood trees, a small campground, and our very last water source, where I stopped to refill water bottles - this would be the last water available until the end of the hike (two other water sources above were shut off), which was another 4.5 miles and a 3,000’ vertical climb.

We all gathered at a picnic table beneath one of the giant cottonwood trees one last time, then I shoved off for the final push to the top. Soon I was reminded that cookie power only lasts so long, so I gulped another refill of magic powder fuel and let off the gas just a little bit. Seemed like I drank a lot more of the powder fuel on this last leg than before, and while it seemed like I was near the edge of what I should be doing, I was still able to lean into the hill and keep going.

Before long the long, steep switchbacks kind of sent me into autopilot - not really too difficult, yet I had to keep pushing for fear of stopping and letting my muscles cramp up. “The last three miles are the worst” everyone said - yup, they were correct. The last mile and a half of the trail was covered with first an inch or two of slush, then it got deeper and was time for my mini-spike traction thingys. Eventually the trail became packed snow, at times up to four feet thick packed snow.

And for the first time there were a LOT of people on the trail - mostly going down, and many without any sort of traction. One guy had on cowboy boots and was kind of dragging his girlfriend/wife along behind him - both were slipping an d sliding and I didn’t want to stick around to see what happened. I honestly don’t know how some of them made it out alive.

No false summits on this trail, but there certainly were four or five false switchbacks! Until finally the last of three tunnels along the trail came into view, then one last switchback. There was a web cam at this corner and I phone my lovely bride back home to make sure she could see that I was still alive and kicking (I had to wait a few minutes for the web cam to refresh). And then that last couple hundred yards to the top and I was done - YIPPIE COYOTE I made it without having to call 911!

My total time was about ten hours, with about 8.5 of actual moving time. I figured if only hiking alone and without taking pics and stopping for others I probably could have done it in seven hours. Comparing notes later I realized that Jimmy probably could have done it in five or six, Kathy easily could have run it in three or four - both of them running/hiking circles around me. But HEY, I’m the geezer of the group and deserve a little extra time to crawl my way to the top!

OK, while this hike was never on my bucket list, I must say that the total experience turned out to be one of the very best hikes I’ve ever done, and probably the most difficult dayhike of all for me. I really appreciated being included in this terrific group of folks that I’m proud to call cousins of mine!

03/30/23 Zero ill effects from the long hike, which kind of surprised me - it must have been the magic powder fuel, and of course the cookies. Normally after a hike like that I’d have cramps and hardly be able to hike the next day. As it turned out, my lovely bride had me wait and spend another day at Grand Canyon since my entire two-day route back home was under severe wind and storm warnings. That was a really good thing - one of those days was when the tornados hit the Central Arkansas area.

We got a little bit of snow overnight at the South Rim and it is quite beautiful today!

The extra day was lucky for me - too cloudy for any more Milky Way shooting, but I did get to spend an amazing couple of hours along the Rim Trail looking into the Canyon as one snow squall after another swept through just before sunset. At first I just wanted to do one short hike to complete my visit, but when I got to the rim and saw what an incredible weather and light display was going on I literally ran back to the RV and grabbed my camera gear. I’m hoping a couple of those photos will be keepers!

 

03/31-04/01/23 Took me two long days to get home driving across the dustbowl in the Oklahoma panhandle - but the strong winds were at my back and my gas mileage was great in our big van! So nice to be back home again after an epic journey to the Grand Canyon...

A few pics will be added later...