The last weekend, we hiked the south rim of the grand canyon! This was in the plan for months. Four ladies from the hiking group had been doing the planning with lots of meetings, zoom calls, excel spreadsheets, training hikes, etc.. while the four men watched in silence for the most part.
There was a reunion of my undergrad classmates that was moved to this weekend. They were all meeting in Istanbul for three days. My heart was in two places the day before traveling as there were posts from classmates sharing their experience in Turkey. A commitment is a commitment.. this weekend was already taken.. so I had to sit Instanbul out..
A month ago, another brave soul decided to join in as well. He knew most of the folks in this group and was naive enough to put up with the craziness that is our hiking group.
Did I mention T-shirts were already purchased to celebrate post hike. The ladies had that kind of confidence that everyone will finish. I was not so sure at the start.
We all took Friday off from work and flew to Phoenix early in the morning. I was still sleeping in the car to the airport, at the airport and through the flight. This was because of making tea and sandwiches at 3:45 AM after going to bed at close to midnight.
We spent 90 minutes to get our rental van and car. It was decided that the guys will be in the van and the ladies will drive the car. We stopped for lunch at a vegan mexican food place. It was good food and great service!
Then came the drive to Yavapai lodge via Sedona and Flagstaff. We stopped in Sedona at a few vista points to take photos..
took these shots from a puddle of hopefully rain water (given it was next to a porta potty.. one never knows!)
the soil was all red and the reflection had the red tint to it.. so made a black and white version..
Then we stopped at Flagstaff to get water and other food items for the hike.
For some reason, the ladies used Apple maps and were sent on route 64. The men used Google maps and were sent on route 180. We got a call from the ladies to stop at some exit number for gas that did not make any sense. Then we figured out what had happened. Then things took a turn for the worse. It started snowing heavily. There was no talk of snow in the forecast!
these are color photos..
taken through the van's rear window..
We decided to go to the lodge anyways no matter what. The ladies were making a steady pace. We got stuck in thick snow and almost skidded off the freeway at one point. Got to hear myself scream in fear on this trip. Was in the last seat in the back and all the backpacks came flying at me when the van went out of control. Luckily our driver, who was being given 20 conflicting directions on what to and what not to do managed to just take his hands and feet off everything and the van skid to a halt.
That is when our brave joiner who had experience driving in Pittsburgh snow took the wheel and drove at 10 miph for a good 30 minutes and eventually we got to a lower altitude and made good time to catch up with the ladies at the park entrance. We were an hour late but were happy to be alive!
When we parked at the lodge was just happy to see Sangeetha. She hates driving in rain. Somehow she managed to drive in that weather.
Given the snow the whole hike was a toss up. We sat together to drink tea and have dinner together in the room. The plan was to get ready in the morning at 5AM and take a shuttle to the trailhead and take it from there, as long as it was not going to be snowing in the morning.
The next morning, there was no new snow and the hike was on..
This is the preamble post.. the hiking post follows..
