The day before...

Post date: Apr 2, 2011 4:12:25 PM

This year’s backpacking trip was conceived early on as a big one. In 2009 as Drew, Ray, Shawn, and I were wrapping up our trip to Glacier, we discussed that the goal for 2010, when we were all turning 40, would be to get all six participants together and aim for something expansive. The Grand Canyon won in a landslide during the voting process and a Fall trip date was chosen to avoid high summer heat and provide ample time for planning. The goal for 100% participation was a quick failure as it was clear that Brian would not be around but the remaining five (the four above plus Troy) all expressed a commitment to the canyon. The permit application process was annoying and potentially expensive ($100 per application). Three of us (Shawn, Drew, and myself) planned to submit applications which needed to be faxed to the backcountry office four months prior to the departure month (October for us so we were ready on June 1). We realized later that it was a true first-come, first-served method and we should have stopped as soon as one of us got through, but we were ignorant to that fact at the time. The fax line was busy most of the morning and emails were sent back and forth about the inability to connect. Shawn got through first and Drew faxed his in later that day. I was never able to send mine. We were lucky, though, that I never got through and Drew actually was denied due to limits on the number of permits passed out. Shawn successfully got our first choice hike (and we saved about $200 by not getting our other permits). As the date approached, we were shocked and disappointed to learn that Troy was not able to come due to an unexpected mandate from work. So our group was trimmed to four and a repeat of the group from Glacier. This marked the first time that we had the same combination of people on a second trip in the six years we have been doing this.

We all flew into Phoenix on a Friday morning and within a few hours of each other. We survived the longest rental car line at Enterprise I’ve ever seen (as well as a very jovial Julie who showed us the car) and drove into Phoenix to pick up last supplies before heading north to the Grand Canyon. As we stood in line, Shawn confessed that he had a suspended license though since he had reserved the car, he needed to be the designated driver. But to avoid possible troubles Drew ended up driving for the entire trip. With the information on the website and Ray’s phone, we attempted to go with full technology for driving navigation and keeping tracks of expenses. Stops included Whole Foods, REI, and Frye’s to pick up liquor. We decided to have one night of non-freeze dried dinners this trip which increased the weight a bit but also eliminated a substantial amount of trash. We also opted for tequila and purchased two bottles: Cabo Wabo and Don Julio. We hit the road north to the sounds of the Grand Canyon mix and our album selections for this year. Albums included Mule Variations by Tom Waits (Ray), the Joshua Tree by U2 (Shawn), Guero by Beck (Drew), and Bossanova by the Pixies (Jim). The Joshua Tree seemed to be the big winner for this year. We drove several hours up to Sedona where we planned to stop for dinner. We were there a bit early and had plans to eat at the Elote Café. So we drove downtown to get a drink and walk around before dinner. We initially tried to eat at a place called Oaxaca and asked about the possibility of eating with a view.

Jim: Can we eat upstairs?

Hostess: Noooo. (with a subtext of “No, not for you.”)

We left and chose instead to get very large margaritas at the Cowboy Club (where they have a six drink maximum! Ridiculous!) and cactus fries. We drove back to Elote and found there was a 90 minute wait! So we returned to Oaxaca and has decent but overall mediocre Mexican. The stacked blue corn enchiladas were the hit. We left Sedona in the dark and hit a lot of rain through a pass heading into Flagstaff (which gave us flashbacks of driving into Glacier the previous year). We stopped several times on a quest for decent beef jerky and finally arrived in the canyon village around 9:00. We set up Shawn’s tarp (our only shelter) in Mather campground and sat on a wet picnic table for some cards and beer. We were yelled at once after some boisterous hands (“Quiet after 10!”) and were subjected to racist neighbors as we were trying to get to sleep. It rained and got very cold that night, easily hitting the 30’s.