Grand Canyon Thang 2008

“The weekends just cannot compare can they?
That funny feeling you get when you smell car exhaust again, or get in a car and drive (holy #&%!$, I'm going more than 5mph!).
Jim is a fantastic trip planner.”

“San, post a TR on www.lattaoutdoors.com”

“LMAO! You nailed it Sass! I hadn't driven a car for 10 days! It was the weirdest sensation.”

“glad you made it back safe mg... i knew you were getting in late and had to settle with the family but i was getting worried by the silence (hence my email)... do a week of top-end backpacking in dangerous, rough terrain and then die tripping on your shoelace getting out of your car as you arrive home... that would be my luck anyway.

i can't wait to see your photos.

as far as a tr is concerned... that's one heck of an undertaking! this was a really big trip and the TR would be massive. i'll think about it while it's still fresh in my mind. i have to get the "pinewood derby" behind me (huge planning to get this done) and then I can think about a tr. in the mean time pros and mg don't hesitate to write and post one. i hope you aren't waiting on me. you would prolly do a better job.”

“btw... kat just helped me pull a 1/4" cactus spine out of my lower left leg. nice, huh? it had broken off clean at the skin. she was like, "that is the grossest thing ever"... which is saying a lot.”

“dang, you guys are making me green with envy. What amazing pics. Someday i'll make it there. Glad you all had a good time.”

“LMFAO!!!! I just found another one in the back of my right knee this morning! I'm sure there are more in there that are broken off at or below the surface but I can't see them. We'll see what happens with those...

All's well here. I'll get my pics loaded in another day or two. There's 150 of them! They are great though. I have an absolutely spectactular one of Prosecutor's sillhouette sitting on a clif while the sun was lighting up the mesas in the background. My bighorn pics came out pretty poor though. I think I had the camera on the wrong setting.
A TR would be really long even if we just hit the high points. I'll give it some thought, but if someone beats me to it, that's cool too.”

“Who is Meangreen?”

“So glad I could play a little part in making your trip easier.

It was great to meet you too MG! I'm not so sure I want to bust any balls I may have everyday on a trip! ;-D~

Jeez maybe you guys should have worn hip waders to hike! Can't wait till the trip report.”

“LOL prosecutor, didn't y'all just hike together???

What in the hell is up with EarthNsky posting the lattaoutdoors link all the dang time!??? Do you all iggy that person?

Awesome pix y'all!! We spent the week a couple hundred miles E of you, on the Navajo Rez. Did some dayhikes in to some Ruins, into Monument Valley, and a short one down into Canyon di Chelly, to the White House Ruins.

But a whole weeklong hike shore would'a done the trick!”

“I think that's the one that went my the name Captain Jack Sparrow , hey what happened to Baume 66”

“baume cancelled at the last minute because of an urgent personal matter. he was missed...”

“You guys have heard from Baume?”

“OldDog, I hiked with a Captain Jack Sparrow, a Johnny Depp look alike who acted like a lovable quirky pirate. I didn't hike with anyone who was either mean or green. Trail names are given, not taken.”

“come to think about it , the Captain Jack has got a nice ring about it
How about it Mean guy ,and how did you get that name (Meangreen)

ps. prosecutor you must have missed him down at the Deam Mob Fest last year”

“yes, i talked to baume about two weeks ago.”

“how long does it take elise to respond to e-mails?”

“about the same length of time it takes matt to respond to emails”

“still no response. That's kinda pissing me off. I may just go write a TR on midwesthiker and say to hell with this site all together.”

“still no response to what? i usually get a response from elise fairly quickly”

“She hasn't replied to an e-mail I sent her yesterday morning, and I even posted on the Hey Elise thread to bring her attention to the fact that I sent her something. Joe is helping me on MWH though, so if you want to read my TR for this you should go over there in a couple hours. It'll take quite some time to write. It was a 7 day trip after all.”

“you should read my tr from 2006 gc. it took a long time to write, too

im looking forward to writing the colorado tr, also”

“I may do that after writing mine. What's the title?”

“something about cactus magnet and beefcake”

“BEEFCAKE”

“If anyone is interested I posed a really long trip report here: http://www.midwesthiker.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=954”

“Outstanding TR!”

“Thanks my friend.”

“I read it over there...wonderful! just wonderful!”

“Thanks for the link, I will get to it later tonite. I like the name, reminds me of an old cadence

Hey Hey captain Jack
Meet me down by the railroad track
with my rifle in my hand
I'm gonna be a killin man
the best I can.....”

“Thanks guys. Be sure to check out Prosecutors pics too. They're really good.”

“WOW! Great trip report! Great trip! It was my pleasure to do the shuttle. And it was great meeting you!

Now about the mud....

All the pics are great! Thanks for sharing!”

“HA! LMFAO!
Yogi and I got a real good laugh out of seeing that thing when we topped out!”

“i kicked a LOT of mud off the mud flaps”

“I admit nothing! I refuse to speak until I can consult with my counsel.”

“LOL! Way to be. ;)”

“Shhh. Don't say nothing about the mud and scratches on the sides. It was a rental vehicle. It never happened. The photo was photoshopped. The road was paved. We beamed in there. We didn't take the rental car to the trail head. Hey, I don't even know what you are talking about. What trip?


Captain Jack, good trip report in the link.



By the way, two of the backpackers we passed on the Boucher Trail on the way up filed their own trip report which ended up mentioning our encounter with them in post 9& 10:
http://www.backpacker.com/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=852107219;t=9991101328”

“Well, I'll be dam. Yogi and I said HI to those two guys too!”

“Great TR Meangreen, sounds like on heckuva trip especially for your first long one. You realize that they may be down hill from here right? Good stuff man.”

“well i'll be... no matter where you go, there you are.”

“Yogisan and I were talking about me planning the next one, and I said "damn, I don't know how to take this to the next level" and he quickly blurted out "Don't!". LOL! I think I'd have to plan a totally off-trail rim-to-rim-to-rim in January or something insane on that level! LOL!”

“i have a book full of pre-planned 150 mile loop hikes (these are hard to do in the canyon which has a linear trail system)... anyone?

:)”

“15 miles per day for 10 days? Where do I sign up?

Hey, I thought we weren't going to try and top the last one for complicatedness and difficulty? LOL!
You know I'm in!”

“there is a 12 day nankoweap creek / bright angel creek loop that reads to be an outstanding hike.”

“Sorry, I just saw this.
Is it as remote as the last one?
I really liked the fact that we went for days with out seeing another person, or for that matter even a sign of human existence other than the actual trail.”

“i would think so. the camping zones are all primative except for one or two near the end.”

“Is this the nankoweep trip you mentioned?”

“well the nankoweap trip is a trip page i worked out for a week trip to the granaries off the colorado.

the other is a 12 day trip taking nankoweap creek / bright angel creek in a loop... a heck of a trip.”

“I can only swing one of these types of trips per year my friend. LOL! You have to stop, or my kids and I will be living out of a box! LOL!”

“not this year... NEXT YEAR”