These are pictures from our trip to Kentucky in 2010. We visited Mammoth Cave, Fort Knox and the Patton Museum, Louisville, Churchill Downs, Louisville Slugger, Heaven Hill Distilleries...
,
...Lexington area and Cumberland Falls.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Kentucky 2010
These are pictures from our trip to Kentucky in 2010. We visited Mammoth Cave, Fort Knox and the Patton Museum, Louisville, Churchill Downs, Louisville Slugger, Heaven Hill Distilleries...
,
...Lexington area and Cumberland Falls.
FCFAR 2007
This has always been one of our favorite races. Fall Creek Falls State Park, TN is one of the most scenic places east of the Mississippi. Our teammate from the Blue Ridge AR, Mark Bell was out third for this race. Zach’s brother Paul was volunteering since a support crew was no longer required. Zach and Paul were running the 12-mile trail run the next day.
The race started early Saturday morning. The maps were handed out at 5am with the race scheduled to start in a half hour. Unlike previous years, there was no plotting involved; we only had to copy the checkpoints off a master map.
The first thing we had to do was the paddle section on the lake. An interesting twist this year was that both checkpoints 1 & 3 were underwater. Fortunately for us the water wasn’t stirred up and murky, so we found the CPs with only a little difficulty. Many teams never found them. Once we returned to the start we had to portage the canoe about a quarter mile to CP4. From CP4 we ran back to the lake and swam a quarter mile across with most of our gear in dry bags. It was about two hours into the race when we finished the swim.
After changing our socks and retrieving our packs from the dry bags we were off on the trek section than turned into a 20 mile, eight and a half hour marathon. We had to follow a lakeshore trail to CP6. After about a mile we found many teams wondering about looking for the CP. They were not looking in the right place because the CP had been incorrectly marked on the map, but we knew where to find it and we did. Our passport clearly said, “Stay on the trail until you come to CP6”. After a short bushwhack and a trail run we were at CP7. We were informed by the volunteers there that the three teams in front of us had not found CP6, so we were technically in first place at that time. Since we had raced in previous years we knew a short cut to CP8 and took it. Then it was on to CP9. Before reaching CP9 we had to cross one of the many swinging bridges in the park. By then it was about 10am and the temperature was already in the 90s. From CP9 to 10 we were running on paved roads. An hour later at CP10 we took the very steep Cable Trail into the gorge to start the bouldering section. It’s called the Cable Trail because there is a cable running from top to bottom for assistance. That’s how steep it is!
In the gorge was the hottest part of the race since the noon sun was beating directly down on us. Because of the drought there was little water in the gorge; so the boulders and rocks were mostly dry. Two teams (much younger than us) passed us in the gorge by running on the boulders and rocks. We were much more cautious than that. Although the section was only three and a half miles long, it was very tedious hoping and stepping from rock to rock and took quite a toll on our feet. After two hours and 45 minutes we reached the swinging bridge and CP12 that was our stopping point and our exit out. It took over 30 minutes to climb the trail out and another hour to reach CP13. Cathy was being “towed” by a rope that was attached to Zach, the “tow man”. The bottoms of Mark and Cathy’s feet took a toll in the gorge. At CP13 it was back on the paved road for a few more miles to the TA for the bikes. After 20 miles and eight and a half hours and lots of blisters we reached the TA. We don’t normally get blisters but the wet shoes from the swim kept our socks wet even though we changed them several times. Wet feet are what usually cause blisters besides poorly fitting shoes.
We arrives at the TA about 430pm. The Race Director told us we were in 4th place overall and would be the last team allowed out on the bikes. Since it would not change the standings she gave us the option of riding directly to the rappel a distance of only two and a half miles. That was a ‘no brainer” especially since our feet were not in the best of condition and we might not have the opportunity to rappel if we completed the entire bike section.
After the short ride we headed for the rappel site. On the hike up to the rappel Cathy’s hip locked up and she was not able to continue. Zach was hoping that Cathy could make it and if need be he would help her. Cathy knew this meant being “towed or dragged” and opted not to push it. Mark and Zach continued the hike to the rappel. At the rappel Mark decided his feet were too torn-up to complete the trip out of the gorge which was a half mile of bouldering and a climb up the Cable Trail. Zach ended up doing the 300 foot rappel by himself and taking the hike out. It was a great rappel!!
Our official finish time was 14 hours after we started. We finished in fourth place overall and third place coed, our best finish ever in this race and our best overall finish in any adventure race in a long time.
After we returned to the cabin Zach spent a lot of time draining blisters in preparation for the 12-mile trail run the next day. When he went to sleep that night he wasn’t sure whether he would be able to run or not. In the morning he seemed to be ok. The run didn’t start until 9am and had about 50 participants. It was hot but the forest cover kept temperatures under control. Since Zach had raced all day Saturday and Paul spent the day volunteering, including carrying all the rappel equipment out; they were both kind of tired at the start. They went out at a 12 minute pace, which is good for trail running, in the hopes of maintaining that pace the entire distance. After five miles Paul was starting to suffer and told Zach to go ahead. Zach knew that he would finish ok as long as he didn’t get a cramp in his legs. He crossed the finish in two hours and 24 minutes, a 12 minute pace. He finished first in his age group. He also took home some poison ivy and lost both big toenails from the bouldering.
BRMAR 2009
Wow! Our 10th Blue Ridge Adventure Race! 10 years ago the Blue Ridge was our first AR. 10 years and 50 plus ARs, we are still at it. Besides adventure races, we do a six- race series at Callaway Gardens every year. The series includes a half marathon, duathlons, two triathlons, a 10k and a mountain bike race. We have been the series champions there for the past 10 years. We also do the Peachtree Road Race and other events during the year. This year will be Zach’s 31st Peachtree Road Race!
For Blue Ridge we again teamed up with Mark Bell, our teammate for the last three years. Mark’s wife Lorie, brother-in-law Casey and son Andrew were there to support us. We received our map and race instructions on Friday night. We’ve been racing in the Blue Ridge area for many years and know it fairly well; still the Race Director, Ron Zadroga was able to come up with some new challenges for this year’s course. We nick-named this race the “Cemetery AR” because many of the checkpoints (CPs) were located near old and abandoned cemeteries in the Lake Blue Ridge area. The race also had a 10 hour finish time. Any teams finishing after the 10 hours no matter how many CPs they obtained would not be official finishers. The course was also Rogaine style which means we could collect CP punches on our passport in any order we wanted.
During the pre-race dinner on Friday we plotted 18 CPs on our map. That is a skill that requires a UTM plotter and accuracy. We always double check every plot; otherwise we could be looking for a CP in the wrong place. They are hard enough to find as it is. The other four CPs were provided to us 15 minutes before the start of the race on Saturday morning. Our primary strategy was to paddle more than bike, but we couldn’t be certain of that until we received the last four CPs on Saturday morning. We were also required to preposition our bikes Friday night at Tilley Church near Persimmon Hill and Tilley Bend as in Toccoa River bend on Old Dial Road. This is a fancy way to say on a dirt road.
Saturday morning, 15 minutes before the start of the race we received the coordinates for our first four CPs. For the first three we had the choice of CPs A, B and C or D, E and F. ABC were in the Free Knob area and closer. Don’t know if or why any teams would have picked DEF. We had a pretty good climb up to A and a steep down hill to B. That section took us about an hour and a half on foot.
That took us to our bikes which were at WP1 (a waypoint doesn’t require a passport punch) and decision time; how much to bike, how much to paddle. Friday night we had decided on paddling and stayed with that decision. Many teams made the same choice we did and many teams decided to primarily bike, which was probably the wrong strategy. From WP 1 we biked a short distance to CP1 and then CP3. From there we decided to go by foot to CP4 and skip CPs 5 & 6 because they required big climbs and we were more concerned about the 10-hour finish then punching every CP. This is where things went awry. CP 3 to 4 was due west about 4/10th of a mile. The vegetation was very thick and progress was slow and it seemed farther than we actually traveled. After 25 minutes, thinking we might have missed the CP we want back to CP 3 and started again. Again we did not find the CP. After looking an hour, we decided not to waste any more time looking. If we had we gone another 250 meters we would have found it.
We rode to WP2 and arrived there by noon which was our original goal time to be there; however, we were one CP short of our goal. We were not very happy about that, but we eventually got over it. At WP2 we dropped off our bikes and picked up the canoe and portaged about a half mile down an awful trail to the lake to CP 2. Since we were going down hill it wasn’t all that bad. We had the option of putting a bike in the canoe, but didn’t want to deal with the three of us and a bike in the canoe. We probably could have obtained one additional CP had we brought the bike with us.
We basically paddled the entire length of Lake Blue Ridge, 10 miles or more. We had planned 4 hours to get the WP4 but during the paddle decided we need to be at WP3 by 3:30pm instead of 4pm, a very good decision. It was a short paddle to CP7 then a longer paddle to CP 8. CP 8 was the most difficult CP placement in the middle of a bunch of fallen down trees but Zach and Mark found it rather quickly while Cathy stayed with the canoe. This lifted our spirits after the CP4 fiasco. We thought about portaging to CP 9, but decided against it and made the 2-mile paddle instead. We quickly obtained that CP, but the clock was ticking.
We had another long paddle to CP 10 and then portaged up a nasty trail to a nice dirt road. It was about a mile portage down the dirt road to CP 11, but we cut off 3 miles of paddling. By the time we reached CP 11 we were definitely running short on time and decided to skip CPs 12, 13 and 14. We went straight to CP 15 and then arrived at WP4 at 3:25pm. We refilled our fluids, ate some food and picked up our helmets, or so two of us thought, for the next paddle section. As we paddled away Andrew came running down the beach with Cathy’s helmet which was required on the river portion of the paddle. We still had a 2-mile paddle to the dam, but did have all three required helmets.
When we arrived at the dam we had to portage up one side, that was a killer, and down the other side. We had another 3-mile paddle down the river to the take out. This paddle took about an hour. It was longer than we anticipated because the river was shallow and we kept getting stuck on rocks. At 5 pm we arrived at the take out and still had a half mile portage and a 5-mile bike to the finish. We put our wheels on the canoe quickly and going as fast as we could arrived at the bikes at 5:25pm. We were really concerned about finishing by 6 pm at this point and flew in and out of the transition and took off down the road on our bikes. The only problem was we had to ride a half mile on railroad tracks. That doesn’t work very well even on a mountain bike and really slowed us down. At the bridge over the river Mark punched CP 19 and then it was only a short distance to a paved road. It was a flat out sprint from there to the finish. However, there was a lot of uphill; so progress was a little slower than we anticipated. A hundred yards form the finish line we had to drop our bikes and run to the finish line; which we did.
We finished at 9 hours 50 minutes and 39 seconds with over eight minutes to spare. We came in 40th out of 74 teams, 7th in our division. We were among only 42 teams that finished in the required 10 hours and received the distinction of official finisher. Not too bad for a team with a combined age
of 165 years.
For Blue Ridge we again teamed up with Mark Bell, our teammate for the last three years. Mark’s wife Lorie, brother-in-law Casey and son Andrew were there to support us. We received our map and race instructions on Friday night. We’ve been racing in the Blue Ridge area for many years and know it fairly well; still the Race Director, Ron Zadroga was able to come up with some new challenges for this year’s course. We nick-named this race the “Cemetery AR” because many of the checkpoints (CPs) were located near old and abandoned cemeteries in the Lake Blue Ridge area. The race also had a 10 hour finish time. Any teams finishing after the 10 hours no matter how many CPs they obtained would not be official finishers. The course was also Rogaine style which means we could collect CP punches on our passport in any order we wanted.
During the pre-race dinner on Friday we plotted 18 CPs on our map. That is a skill that requires a UTM plotter and accuracy. We always double check every plot; otherwise we could be looking for a CP in the wrong place. They are hard enough to find as it is. The other four CPs were provided to us 15 minutes before the start of the race on Saturday morning. Our primary strategy was to paddle more than bike, but we couldn’t be certain of that until we received the last four CPs on Saturday morning. We were also required to preposition our bikes Friday night at Tilley Church near Persimmon Hill and Tilley Bend as in Toccoa River bend on Old Dial Road. This is a fancy way to say on a dirt road.
Saturday morning, 15 minutes before the start of the race we received the coordinates for our first four CPs. For the first three we had the choice of CPs A, B and C or D, E and F. ABC were in the Free Knob area and closer. Don’t know if or why any teams would have picked DEF. We had a pretty good climb up to A and a steep down hill to B. That section took us about an hour and a half on foot.
That took us to our bikes which were at WP1 (a waypoint doesn’t require a passport punch) and decision time; how much to bike, how much to paddle. Friday night we had decided on paddling and stayed with that decision. Many teams made the same choice we did and many teams decided to primarily bike, which was probably the wrong strategy. From WP 1 we biked a short distance to CP1 and then CP3. From there we decided to go by foot to CP4 and skip CPs 5 & 6 because they required big climbs and we were more concerned about the 10-hour finish then punching every CP. This is where things went awry. CP 3 to 4 was due west about 4/10th of a mile. The vegetation was very thick and progress was slow and it seemed farther than we actually traveled. After 25 minutes, thinking we might have missed the CP we want back to CP 3 and started again. Again we did not find the CP. After looking an hour, we decided not to waste any more time looking. If we had we gone another 250 meters we would have found it.
We rode to WP2 and arrived there by noon which was our original goal time to be there; however, we were one CP short of our goal. We were not very happy about that, but we eventually got over it. At WP2 we dropped off our bikes and picked up the canoe and portaged about a half mile down an awful trail to the lake to CP 2. Since we were going down hill it wasn’t all that bad. We had the option of putting a bike in the canoe, but didn’t want to deal with the three of us and a bike in the canoe. We probably could have obtained one additional CP had we brought the bike with us.
We basically paddled the entire length of Lake Blue Ridge, 10 miles or more. We had planned 4 hours to get the WP4 but during the paddle decided we need to be at WP3 by 3:30pm instead of 4pm, a very good decision. It was a short paddle to CP7 then a longer paddle to CP 8. CP 8 was the most difficult CP placement in the middle of a bunch of fallen down trees but Zach and Mark found it rather quickly while Cathy stayed with the canoe. This lifted our spirits after the CP4 fiasco. We thought about portaging to CP 9, but decided against it and made the 2-mile paddle instead. We quickly obtained that CP, but the clock was ticking.
We had another long paddle to CP 10 and then portaged up a nasty trail to a nice dirt road. It was about a mile portage down the dirt road to CP 11, but we cut off 3 miles of paddling. By the time we reached CP 11 we were definitely running short on time and decided to skip CPs 12, 13 and 14. We went straight to CP 15 and then arrived at WP4 at 3:25pm. We refilled our fluids, ate some food and picked up our helmets, or so two of us thought, for the next paddle section. As we paddled away Andrew came running down the beach with Cathy’s helmet which was required on the river portion of the paddle. We still had a 2-mile paddle to the dam, but did have all three required helmets.
When we arrived at the dam we had to portage up one side, that was a killer, and down the other side. We had another 3-mile paddle down the river to the take out. This paddle took about an hour. It was longer than we anticipated because the river was shallow and we kept getting stuck on rocks. At 5 pm we arrived at the take out and still had a half mile portage and a 5-mile bike to the finish. We put our wheels on the canoe quickly and going as fast as we could arrived at the bikes at 5:25pm. We were really concerned about finishing by 6 pm at this point and flew in and out of the transition and took off down the road on our bikes. The only problem was we had to ride a half mile on railroad tracks. That doesn’t work very well even on a mountain bike and really slowed us down. At the bridge over the river Mark punched CP 19 and then it was only a short distance to a paved road. It was a flat out sprint from there to the finish. However, there was a lot of uphill; so progress was a little slower than we anticipated. A hundred yards form the finish line we had to drop our bikes and run to the finish line; which we did.
We finished at 9 hours 50 minutes and 39 seconds with over eight minutes to spare. We came in 40th out of 74 teams, 7th in our division. We were among only 42 teams that finished in the required 10 hours and received the distinction of official finisher. Not too bad for a team with a combined age
of 165 years.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Arizona 2009
We flew out of Atlanta to Phoenix early morning Wednesday, July 15. To save $300 on a 10-day car rental we took a shuttle to an off-airport location to pick up a car. From there we drove toward the Grand Canyon on Interstate 17. We planned to arrive at the Canyon mid-afternoon so we could check-out the area before our rim-to-rim-to-rim hike. A rental truck and Mother Nature had other plans for us. The trucks brakes overheated and it pulled off the highway. When it pulled off the highway it started a grass fire. The grass fire spread rapidly along the Interstate and the police closed the highway in both directions. We were about a third of a mile from the road closure with no place to go with a grass fire burning. Cars backed up behind us for miles. Fire trucks came but there were no hydrants to connect their lines. The fire kept spreading. The temperature was about 110 degrees and everyone was baking in the sun and heat waiting for the road to open. Helicopters with buckets then started dumping water to control the fire. After several hours of waiting the police reopened the interstate. The fire was still burning but was off the road enough for us to drive safely through.
We arrived at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon at about 9pm. We only had time to check into the Maswik Lodge and get our gear ready before going to sleep. We woke at 2am, on Zach’s birthday, to get started on the hike. We walked from the Lodge to the trailhead of the Bright Angel Trail and started our hike at 3am. We had originally planned to hike down the South Kaibab, because it’s two miles shorter. We changed to the Bright Angel because the shuttles didn’t start running until 4:15am and it was a four mile hike to the South Kaibib trailhead.
We had prepared our backpacks with all the food and gear we’d need for the two days. There were several points along the trail to obtain water. We wore our headlamps but proceeded cautiously down the trail until sunrise. The Bright Angel Trail starts at 6860 feet of elevation and ends at the Colorado River at about 2480 feet elevation. The trail ends at the Phantom Ranch/Bright Angel Campground 9.6 miles from the start with about a 4500 foot drop in elevation. Once the sun was up the trip to the Ranch went quickly except for the tree on the trail and the sand. Shortly after Indian Gardens Campground the trail was blocked by a large tree that had fallen on the trail. We had to carefully work our way through the branches before proceeding. This required us to get much closer to the edge than we wanted. Once we made the turn along the Colorado Rive to travel the two miles to the Phantom Ranch the trail became very sandy and was like walking on the beach.
There are two bridges that cross the river. One is basically for the mules. The other they will not use. People use both. After crossing over the bridge we arrived at the Phantom Ranch about 8am. The “easy” part was over. It was also over 100 degrees in the sun.
The North Kaibab Trail is about 4.5 miles longer than the Bright Angel Trail and has more than a 5700 foot climb to the top at 8241 feet, about1400 feet higher than the South Rim. Most rim-to-rim hikers go north to south because it is easier. After Phantom Ranch we hiked a gradual climb up the trail for over seven miles in 110 degree sun with little shade along the way. Bright Angel Creek was agonizingly close but mostly unreachable due to the cliffs. We stopped to cool off whenever possible. After three, what we thought were, brutal hours we reached Cottonwood Campground. Zach was totally out of fluids by the time we arrived. It was time for a liquid refill and some food and rest. Cathy wanted to take a break in the creek at Cottonwood and on hindsight that would have been best.
The next section was Cottonwood Campground to Roaring Springs, a distance on only a little more than 2 miles but it was a 1500 foot climb in the direct sun and 110 plus degrees. On this section Cathy was starting to suffer heat exhaustion. At the trail junction to continue up or go down to Roaring Springs, we started up the trail then decided it would be best to hike the half mile down to Roaring Springs and rest and cool down. That was a good decision. It saved Cathy from becoming one of the 260 people rescued from the canyon each year. We rested and cooled downed for almost an hour. After Cathy felt better we headed up for the last five miles and 3000 feet of climbing.
Our first goal was Supai Tunnel three miles away. The climb up was extremely difficult yet spectacular with switchbacks with sheer drops of over 1000 feet. Makes you want to stay closed to the inside of the trail and not look out. It took us about three hours to hike those three miles. We were ready to finish but still had the last leg and the hike to the North Rim lodge where we were staying that night. At Supai Tunnel we starting talking to a woman named Julie from Golden Colorado who had hiked to the tunnel with her family. We mentioned that when we reached the top we still had to hike an hour to the Lodge. She volunteered to drive us. When we got to the top, Julie was not there. Cathy knew that Zach was thinking, we lost our ride, Cathy was too slow; however, our angel reappeared! Her family got to the top faster than us, nonetheless, she met us when we finished and she had a COLD CORONA with a lime too boot for us a well; a real angel. True Colorado fospitality!
At the lodge we had a beer, dinner and checked into our room and discussed if it was a good idea to do the return trip through the Canyon. Common sense prevailed; we didn’t want Cathy’s heat exhaustion to worsen. We took the van back to the south rim, a 250 mile, five hour trip. We accomplished the goal of hiking from the South to the north Rim on Zach’s birthday, actually his goal. We could have done the return hike in cooler times, but not with that heat. The rest of Friday and Saturday we spent visiting around the south rim and doing a few short hikes.
Saturday we were supposed to pick-up Julie, Zach’s sister and her husband Doug at the Phoenix airport. It was their Wyndham time share in Sedona we were staying at for the next week. Julie called and said Doug had a kidney stone and they probably wouldn’t be coming. That changed our plans; not for the Wyndham but for sharing the week with them. We had been on a number of adventures with them in the past and always had a great time together.
On the way back from the Grand Canyon to Sedona we went up San Francisco Peaks just north of Flagstaff. The San Francisco Peaks are about 12000 feet in elevation and are the ski Mecca for Flagstaff. We took the Skyride at the Snowbowl, the ski lift, to the top. It’s a half hour ride. On the way up a thunderstorm developed and made the ride up more interesting. We didn’t stay at the top very long since it was still storming in the area. By the time we reached the bottom of the Skyride the storms were pretty much gone.
The Snowbowl is also the home of one of the highest disc golf courses in the US and the course with the most elevation change. Even though our legs were tired we, translated Zach, couldn’t pass up playing on such a unique course. Cathy went along for the hike. The course was on the ski slopes and the holes were pretty long. Number 9, a par 5 was 867 feet and hole Number 8 was so steep it was a par 4 at 306 feet. Zach had a great birdie shot on #15 from over 100 feet and played the course below par. After that we drove to Sedona and checked into the Wyndham. Nice place!
On Sunday we drove south with our first stop at Dead Horse Ranch State Park and the Verde River Greenway. The Verde River and Oak Creek River which runs through Sedona are the only two rivers in this part of Arizona that have year round water. The names sounded intriguing but there’s not much there. We also looked at a ride on the Verde River Railroad but didn’t want to ride four hours on bench seats. After that we decided to turn the day into a wine tour of North Central Arizona wineries, that’s right Arizona wineries. Most are in the Tucson area but there are four near Sedona. We stopped at all four and were surprising pleased with the quality of the wine. The wineries were; Javelina Leap, Oak Creek, Page Springs Cellars and Alcantara. Our last stop of the day was Fort Verde, an Indian war fort we some original structures still standing.
Monday we thought we were going for a hike to the base of Cathedral Rock near Sedona. We had our hiking poles with us but they soon ended up in Zach’s backpack. The hike turned into a free climb up to the rock and down. We had to use our hands a lot due to the steepness of the climb. We then went for a hike at Red Rock State Park and returned to the Wyndham. That day we discovered it’s monsoon season in Arizona. It rains most every afternoon somewhere in the area.
Tuesday we figured out we needed to go to the pool at the Wyndham in the morning before the clouds. After that we went to the Riordan Mansion in Flagstaff, a 13000 square foot home designed by the same architect as the El Tovar Hotel in the Grande Canyon, Charles Whittlesey. The house, built in 1904 with all the latest modern features of that day, is in the Arts and Crafts style architecture. After that we went to Meteor Crater about 30 miles east of Flagstaff. It is the best preserved meteorite impact site in the world. The Crater is about a mile wide and 550 feet deep. It is estimated the meteorite was about 150 feet in diameter at the time of impact.
On Wednesday we hiked Doe Mountain and Fay Canyon Trails. Thursday bought us to Jerome the old mining town turned Arizona artist’s shopping Mecca. The best shop there was the kaleidoscope store. We then went to Prescott and toured the territorial governor’s mansion built in the 1840s and Whiskey Row across from the courthouse. Whiskey Row was part of the old time Prescott saloon area and some original saloons are still in operation like the Palace Saloon. We also threw a few bucks away a local casino Called Bucky’s.
We took a jeep safari on Friday. It was called the Mogollon Rim Run Extreme and it was extreme. It was a 50-mile loop that was supposed to last three hours but ended up about three hours and forty minutes. It was a lot a fun and we saw some great sights. The company was Arizona Jeep Tours and our driver’s name was Gene. He took us on some rugged and steep trails. The trail back to Sedona was breathtaking in its beauty.
Saturday was head home day. We were on the “redeye”, so we had the whole day to do stuff. We went to a place called Out of Africa where we could get up-close with African animals. While there we experienced our first Arizona monsoon (thunderstorm). I t was a big one and by the time it was over everyone but the two of us had left the park. As we were walking around one of the lions started roaring and Cathy’s eyes became as big as saucers. The lion was actually a couple hundred yards away and fenced in but to her it sounded right behind us. After we left there we went to a casino and threw away some of our money on slots and blackjack.
Thus we ended our Arizona adventure. We already have a list of other places to see and things to do there; like, Monument Valley, Havasu Falls, Antelope Canyon and Canyon de Chelly and we want to climb Mount Humphries the tallest peak in Arizona.
We arrived at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon at about 9pm. We only had time to check into the Maswik Lodge and get our gear ready before going to sleep. We woke at 2am, on Zach’s birthday, to get started on the hike. We walked from the Lodge to the trailhead of the Bright Angel Trail and started our hike at 3am. We had originally planned to hike down the South Kaibab, because it’s two miles shorter. We changed to the Bright Angel because the shuttles didn’t start running until 4:15am and it was a four mile hike to the South Kaibib trailhead.
We had prepared our backpacks with all the food and gear we’d need for the two days. There were several points along the trail to obtain water. We wore our headlamps but proceeded cautiously down the trail until sunrise. The Bright Angel Trail starts at 6860 feet of elevation and ends at the Colorado River at about 2480 feet elevation. The trail ends at the Phantom Ranch/Bright Angel Campground 9.6 miles from the start with about a 4500 foot drop in elevation. Once the sun was up the trip to the Ranch went quickly except for the tree on the trail and the sand. Shortly after Indian Gardens Campground the trail was blocked by a large tree that had fallen on the trail. We had to carefully work our way through the branches before proceeding. This required us to get much closer to the edge than we wanted. Once we made the turn along the Colorado Rive to travel the two miles to the Phantom Ranch the trail became very sandy and was like walking on the beach.
The North Kaibab Trail is about 4.5 miles longer than the Bright Angel Trail and has more than a 5700 foot climb to the top at 8241 feet, about1400 feet higher than the South Rim. Most rim-to-rim hikers go north to south because it is easier. After Phantom Ranch we hiked a gradual climb up the trail for over seven miles in 110 degree sun with little shade along the way. Bright Angel Creek was agonizingly close but mostly unreachable due to the cliffs. We stopped to cool off whenever possible. After three, what we thought were, brutal hours we reached Cottonwood Campground. Zach was totally out of fluids by the time we arrived. It was time for a liquid refill and some food and rest. Cathy wanted to take a break in the creek at Cottonwood and on hindsight that would have been best.
The next section was Cottonwood Campground to Roaring Springs, a distance on only a little more than 2 miles but it was a 1500 foot climb in the direct sun and 110 plus degrees. On this section Cathy was starting to suffer heat exhaustion. At the trail junction to continue up or go down to Roaring Springs, we started up the trail then decided it would be best to hike the half mile down to Roaring Springs and rest and cool down. That was a good decision. It saved Cathy from becoming one of the 260 people rescued from the canyon each year. We rested and cooled downed for almost an hour. After Cathy felt better we headed up for the last five miles and 3000 feet of climbing.
Our first goal was Supai Tunnel three miles away. The climb up was extremely difficult yet spectacular with switchbacks with sheer drops of over 1000 feet. Makes you want to stay closed to the inside of the trail and not look out. It took us about three hours to hike those three miles. We were ready to finish but still had the last leg and the hike to the North Rim lodge where we were staying that night. At Supai Tunnel we starting talking to a woman named Julie from Golden Colorado who had hiked to the tunnel with her family. We mentioned that when we reached the top we still had to hike an hour to the Lodge. She volunteered to drive us. When we got to the top, Julie was not there. Cathy knew that Zach was thinking, we lost our ride, Cathy was too slow; however, our angel reappeared! Her family got to the top faster than us, nonetheless, she met us when we finished and she had a COLD CORONA with a lime too boot for us a well; a real angel. True Colorado fospitality!
At the lodge we had a beer, dinner and checked into our room and discussed if it was a good idea to do the return trip through the Canyon. Common sense prevailed; we didn’t want Cathy’s heat exhaustion to worsen. We took the van back to the south rim, a 250 mile, five hour trip. We accomplished the goal of hiking from the South to the north Rim on Zach’s birthday, actually his goal. We could have done the return hike in cooler times, but not with that heat. The rest of Friday and Saturday we spent visiting around the south rim and doing a few short hikes.
Saturday we were supposed to pick-up Julie, Zach’s sister and her husband Doug at the Phoenix airport. It was their Wyndham time share in Sedona we were staying at for the next week. Julie called and said Doug had a kidney stone and they probably wouldn’t be coming. That changed our plans; not for the Wyndham but for sharing the week with them. We had been on a number of adventures with them in the past and always had a great time together.
On the way back from the Grand Canyon to Sedona we went up San Francisco Peaks just north of Flagstaff. The San Francisco Peaks are about 12000 feet in elevation and are the ski Mecca for Flagstaff. We took the Skyride at the Snowbowl, the ski lift, to the top. It’s a half hour ride. On the way up a thunderstorm developed and made the ride up more interesting. We didn’t stay at the top very long since it was still storming in the area. By the time we reached the bottom of the Skyride the storms were pretty much gone.
The Snowbowl is also the home of one of the highest disc golf courses in the US and the course with the most elevation change. Even though our legs were tired we, translated Zach, couldn’t pass up playing on such a unique course. Cathy went along for the hike. The course was on the ski slopes and the holes were pretty long. Number 9, a par 5 was 867 feet and hole Number 8 was so steep it was a par 4 at 306 feet. Zach had a great birdie shot on #15 from over 100 feet and played the course below par. After that we drove to Sedona and checked into the Wyndham. Nice place!
On Sunday we drove south with our first stop at Dead Horse Ranch State Park and the Verde River Greenway. The Verde River and Oak Creek River which runs through Sedona are the only two rivers in this part of Arizona that have year round water. The names sounded intriguing but there’s not much there. We also looked at a ride on the Verde River Railroad but didn’t want to ride four hours on bench seats. After that we decided to turn the day into a wine tour of North Central Arizona wineries, that’s right Arizona wineries. Most are in the Tucson area but there are four near Sedona. We stopped at all four and were surprising pleased with the quality of the wine. The wineries were; Javelina Leap, Oak Creek, Page Springs Cellars and Alcantara. Our last stop of the day was Fort Verde, an Indian war fort we some original structures still standing.
Monday we thought we were going for a hike to the base of Cathedral Rock near Sedona. We had our hiking poles with us but they soon ended up in Zach’s backpack. The hike turned into a free climb up to the rock and down. We had to use our hands a lot due to the steepness of the climb. We then went for a hike at Red Rock State Park and returned to the Wyndham. That day we discovered it’s monsoon season in Arizona. It rains most every afternoon somewhere in the area.
Tuesday we figured out we needed to go to the pool at the Wyndham in the morning before the clouds. After that we went to the Riordan Mansion in Flagstaff, a 13000 square foot home designed by the same architect as the El Tovar Hotel in the Grande Canyon, Charles Whittlesey. The house, built in 1904 with all the latest modern features of that day, is in the Arts and Crafts style architecture. After that we went to Meteor Crater about 30 miles east of Flagstaff. It is the best preserved meteorite impact site in the world. The Crater is about a mile wide and 550 feet deep. It is estimated the meteorite was about 150 feet in diameter at the time of impact.
On Wednesday we hiked Doe Mountain and Fay Canyon Trails. Thursday bought us to Jerome the old mining town turned Arizona artist’s shopping Mecca. The best shop there was the kaleidoscope store. We then went to Prescott and toured the territorial governor’s mansion built in the 1840s and Whiskey Row across from the courthouse. Whiskey Row was part of the old time Prescott saloon area and some original saloons are still in operation like the Palace Saloon. We also threw a few bucks away a local casino Called Bucky’s.
We took a jeep safari on Friday. It was called the Mogollon Rim Run Extreme and it was extreme. It was a 50-mile loop that was supposed to last three hours but ended up about three hours and forty minutes. It was a lot a fun and we saw some great sights. The company was Arizona Jeep Tours and our driver’s name was Gene. He took us on some rugged and steep trails. The trail back to Sedona was breathtaking in its beauty.
Saturday was head home day. We were on the “redeye”, so we had the whole day to do stuff. We went to a place called Out of Africa where we could get up-close with African animals. While there we experienced our first Arizona monsoon (thunderstorm). I t was a big one and by the time it was over everyone but the two of us had left the park. As we were walking around one of the lions started roaring and Cathy’s eyes became as big as saucers. The lion was actually a couple hundred yards away and fenced in but to her it sounded right behind us. After we left there we went to a casino and threw away some of our money on slots and blackjack.
Thus we ended our Arizona adventure. We already have a list of other places to see and things to do there; like, Monument Valley, Havasu Falls, Antelope Canyon and Canyon de Chelly and we want to climb Mount Humphries the tallest peak in Arizona.
BRMAR 2010
Hard to believe we have been competing in this race for over 10 years. We are by far much older than any other AR team. We had a beautiful day for our 11th Blue Ridge. Our teammate for the 5th year was Mark Bell. His family was our support crew. For the first time, the race course was moved to a new area north of Blue Ridge. In fact we traveled through three states in this race, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee and each of us started the race from a different state.
The race started at 8am and we had to finish by 630pm, 10 and 1/2 hours total time. At the start Mark biked 6.6 miles from NC, Cathy started the 3.6 run in McKaysville, TN and Zach started the 3.4 mile paddle on the Toccoa River in GA. We all ended up CP1 at Horseshoe Bend Park. Despite our thoughts to the contrary, we arrived at CP1, the first transition, about the same time.
From there we had an 8 mile paddle on the Toccoa River. In our haste to start paddling we forgot to pick-up our passport, something we had never done in all our years of racing. About a mile down the River Mark asked who had the passport. No one did. We pulled over on the side of the River and Cathy climbed up the side of a steep muddy bank and ran back to get it. We lost about a half hour and we in dead last place of 80 plus teams. We paddle through some white water to CP2. On the way to CP3 we had been warned about a four-foot weir (man-made waterfall) so we were on the left side of the river to portage around it. We couldn’t see the weir but could hear it roaring and pulled off in time to portage around and not go over. Many teams didn’t know about the weir and went over and spilled out.
We paddled toward CP3 thinking it farther down river than it actually was. Luckily we saw another team on the bank of the river and pulled over to check it out. Sure enough it was CP3. On our way to the canoe take-out we passed many teams still looking for CP3. We were back in the race and on our schedule of noon at the transition to the bikes.
Since we do not have a lot of speed on the bike leg our strategy was to skip five CPs and go directly to the trekking section. After two hours of mostly uphill riding we arrived at the trekking section at 2pm. We had figured two hours on this trekking section before we had to leave on the bikes for the last leg. It was a steep climb to CP12 and even steeper climb to the top of the mountain and CP15. From there we headed to the bonus CP which would take an hour off our total time. We trekked down the mountain right to it. Time was running short so we decided to go straight down the mountain and follow the creek to the trail and then take the trail back to the bikes. Not the best choice. The trek down was very steep, covered with briars and thick rhododendron. It took longer to get back to the bikes than we anticipated.
We were back at the CP and our bikes at 430pm. At that point we had two hours to get to the finish line. As we took off Cathy realized she had a flat tire. Never in our 12 years of racing had that happened. That set us back about 10 minutes. From there it was a three-mile ride on a very muddy trail and then we had about 10 miles on paved road to the finish. By this time our legs were pretty spent and we skipped CP18 and took an alternate route to the finish.
We weren’t quite sure which road to take but we consulted with another team and went down Holly St in McKaysville. The road took us to a trail. At the end of the trail we were on a cliff overlooking the River and finish line which was on the on the other side of the River. We had 14 minutes until time ran out on us and no direct route to the River crossing. We went straight down the cliff like wild men with briars slicing our legs in many places. We arrived at the river with six minutes remaining. Mark was first to start crossing, Zach second and Cathy was last. The river current was pushing hard and Cathy was having trouble making any headway. The clock kept ticking. We could hear people on the other side of the river encouraging us and counting down the time. Cathy was making no headway and Zach went back grabbed her bike and they got across, struggled out of the river and ran to the fin ish line.
We finished at 5:28:28 with a full 92 seconds sparing. We finished 37th overall out of 82 teams and 5th in Masters Division. We were one of less than 10 teams to find the bonus CP. Not bad for a team with an average age of 56.
The race started at 8am and we had to finish by 630pm, 10 and 1/2 hours total time. At the start Mark biked 6.6 miles from NC, Cathy started the 3.6 run in McKaysville, TN and Zach started the 3.4 mile paddle on the Toccoa River in GA. We all ended up CP1 at Horseshoe Bend Park. Despite our thoughts to the contrary, we arrived at CP1, the first transition, about the same time.
From there we had an 8 mile paddle on the Toccoa River. In our haste to start paddling we forgot to pick-up our passport, something we had never done in all our years of racing. About a mile down the River Mark asked who had the passport. No one did. We pulled over on the side of the River and Cathy climbed up the side of a steep muddy bank and ran back to get it. We lost about a half hour and we in dead last place of 80 plus teams. We paddle through some white water to CP2. On the way to CP3 we had been warned about a four-foot weir (man-made waterfall) so we were on the left side of the river to portage around it. We couldn’t see the weir but could hear it roaring and pulled off in time to portage around and not go over. Many teams didn’t know about the weir and went over and spilled out.
We paddled toward CP3 thinking it farther down river than it actually was. Luckily we saw another team on the bank of the river and pulled over to check it out. Sure enough it was CP3. On our way to the canoe take-out we passed many teams still looking for CP3. We were back in the race and on our schedule of noon at the transition to the bikes.
Since we do not have a lot of speed on the bike leg our strategy was to skip five CPs and go directly to the trekking section. After two hours of mostly uphill riding we arrived at the trekking section at 2pm. We had figured two hours on this trekking section before we had to leave on the bikes for the last leg. It was a steep climb to CP12 and even steeper climb to the top of the mountain and CP15. From there we headed to the bonus CP which would take an hour off our total time. We trekked down the mountain right to it. Time was running short so we decided to go straight down the mountain and follow the creek to the trail and then take the trail back to the bikes. Not the best choice. The trek down was very steep, covered with briars and thick rhododendron. It took longer to get back to the bikes than we anticipated.
We were back at the CP and our bikes at 430pm. At that point we had two hours to get to the finish line. As we took off Cathy realized she had a flat tire. Never in our 12 years of racing had that happened. That set us back about 10 minutes. From there it was a three-mile ride on a very muddy trail and then we had about 10 miles on paved road to the finish. By this time our legs were pretty spent and we skipped CP18 and took an alternate route to the finish.
We weren’t quite sure which road to take but we consulted with another team and went down Holly St in McKaysville. The road took us to a trail. At the end of the trail we were on a cliff overlooking the River and finish line which was on the on the other side of the River. We had 14 minutes until time ran out on us and no direct route to the River crossing. We went straight down the cliff like wild men with briars slicing our legs in many places. We arrived at the river with six minutes remaining. Mark was first to start crossing, Zach second and Cathy was last. The river current was pushing hard and Cathy was having trouble making any headway. The clock kept ticking. We could hear people on the other side of the river encouraging us and counting down the time. Cathy was making no headway and Zach went back grabbed her bike and they got across, struggled out of the river and ran to the fin ish line.
We finished at 5:28:28 with a full 92 seconds sparing. We finished 37th overall out of 82 teams and 5th in Masters Division. We were one of less than 10 teams to find the bonus CP. Not bad for a team with an average age of 56.
Monday, February 7, 2011
SRACAR 2010
The Savannah River/Augusta Canal Adventure Race was our last AR for 2010. We still have other non-AR races in which we will be competing this year including a back-to-back 10K and mountain bike races at Callaway Gardens next month. This is a race we always enjoy and look forward to doing each year. We competed in this race as a 2-person coed team and we raced with our sometimes teammates Mark and Jeremy. They were teamed up in the 2-person male category.
Like the two previous races here, the race started at 7am at the Savannah Rapids Pavilion in Augusta and had a 3pm finish deadline without penalty. The penalty was one CP for each 15 minutes late. The objective of the race was to acquire the most CPs by the cutoff; so there was no penalty for CPs missed or skipped. New for this year was the option of acquiring the CPs using boat, bike or run. We quickly say the advantage of taking our bikes with us on the paddle. There were also two negatives; less room and less stability through the rapids. These did not outweigh the advantage of riding the last eight miles to the finish as opposed to running those miles. Most teams did not choose the option to bring their bikes and the 3-person teams didn’t have the room.
We started with a two-mile trail run at the end of which we picked-up our passports. Then we took our bikes to the canal. From there we ran to the canoes and portaged them to the canal, loaded the bikes and headed down the canal.
We had an eight mile paddle section ahead of us including two portages. Our strategy was to paddle down the canal to the narrowest point and portage over the island to the river, cross the river and collect all the CPs on the South Carolina side of the river. We had to work our way through a number of rapids as we worked our way to the SC side. Our first stop was to punch CPs 5, 6, 7 and 8. This required exiting the canoes and trekking to the CP’s. We lost some time looking for CP 5 but were able to locate all four and head back to the canoes.
Back in the canoes we had to paddle through the worst set of rapids in the race. Cathy was not very happy about that, but she worked hard and we made it through. After the race we learned that other teams including their bikes had spilled here.
Our next CP was 10. It was supposed to be on the river bank, but was not there. Unlike some other teams we did not waste any time looking for it. At the end of the race we learned that no teams found the CP because it had been taken. Next we had to pull to the bank of the river and climb a steep hill to find CP 11. The next CP after that was the rappel/zip line stop. We only had to complete one and choose the rappel since it was faster.
After the rappel we had one more CP on the SC side and then paddle up river to a creek and added another CP were the river and creek joined. Front her we paddled to the end of the creek and had to portage the canoes and bikes back to the canal.
From there it was a 25-minute paddle to the take out on Lake Olmstead. We quickly unloaded our bikes and transitioned to the last section of the race. It was 140pm when we headed back toward the finish. We still had a number of CPs to collect and finish by 3pm. We passed up two CPs due to time constraints and punched the remaining points from short treks and climbs. Also, on the way back we passed many teams that were travelling on foot.
We crossed the finish line at 2:53pm. We finished first in 2-person coed division with 14 of the 17 check points. Pretty good considering most of the other teams in the division were half our age and none of them finished by 3pm. Mark and Jeremy finished third in their 2-person male category.
Like the two previous races here, the race started at 7am at the Savannah Rapids Pavilion in Augusta and had a 3pm finish deadline without penalty. The penalty was one CP for each 15 minutes late. The objective of the race was to acquire the most CPs by the cutoff; so there was no penalty for CPs missed or skipped. New for this year was the option of acquiring the CPs using boat, bike or run. We quickly say the advantage of taking our bikes with us on the paddle. There were also two negatives; less room and less stability through the rapids. These did not outweigh the advantage of riding the last eight miles to the finish as opposed to running those miles. Most teams did not choose the option to bring their bikes and the 3-person teams didn’t have the room.
We started with a two-mile trail run at the end of which we picked-up our passports. Then we took our bikes to the canal. From there we ran to the canoes and portaged them to the canal, loaded the bikes and headed down the canal.
We had an eight mile paddle section ahead of us including two portages. Our strategy was to paddle down the canal to the narrowest point and portage over the island to the river, cross the river and collect all the CPs on the South Carolina side of the river. We had to work our way through a number of rapids as we worked our way to the SC side. Our first stop was to punch CPs 5, 6, 7 and 8. This required exiting the canoes and trekking to the CP’s. We lost some time looking for CP 5 but were able to locate all four and head back to the canoes.
Back in the canoes we had to paddle through the worst set of rapids in the race. Cathy was not very happy about that, but she worked hard and we made it through. After the race we learned that other teams including their bikes had spilled here.
Our next CP was 10. It was supposed to be on the river bank, but was not there. Unlike some other teams we did not waste any time looking for it. At the end of the race we learned that no teams found the CP because it had been taken. Next we had to pull to the bank of the river and climb a steep hill to find CP 11. The next CP after that was the rappel/zip line stop. We only had to complete one and choose the rappel since it was faster.
After the rappel we had one more CP on the SC side and then paddle up river to a creek and added another CP were the river and creek joined. Front her we paddled to the end of the creek and had to portage the canoes and bikes back to the canal.
From there it was a 25-minute paddle to the take out on Lake Olmstead. We quickly unloaded our bikes and transitioned to the last section of the race. It was 140pm when we headed back toward the finish. We still had a number of CPs to collect and finish by 3pm. We passed up two CPs due to time constraints and punched the remaining points from short treks and climbs. Also, on the way back we passed many teams that were travelling on foot.
We crossed the finish line at 2:53pm. We finished first in 2-person coed division with 14 of the 17 check points. Pretty good considering most of the other teams in the division were half our age and none of them finished by 3pm. Mark and Jeremy finished third in their 2-person male category.
Seattle, Victoria, Vancouver 2010
We flew in late and stayed in Bremerton. On our first day we rode the ferry to Seattle and walked around the city. Seattle has beautiful cascading flower baskets all along the streets. We started in Pioneer Square where we discovered the hidden Waterfall Garden Park and the Klondike Gold Rush National Park, a national park unlike any other we had seen. The entire park was in a building on a street corner in Pioneer Square. From there we went to Pike’s Place Market where we were dazzled by the incredible flowers for sale and the flowers throughout the streets. We also enjoyed a great bowl of clam chowder. We then walked to the Space Needle and enjoyed the view from the top with a beer. After visiting the International Fountain we walked to the Hemp (as in marijuana) Festival. That was very interesting (especially since they were selling “special brownies”) but way too crowded for us. We had dinner at Pike Place Brewery and returned to the hotel via the ferry to Bremerton.
On day two we made the long drive to Paradise at Mt Rainier. On the way to the mountain we walked the Grove of the Patriots and Stevens Canyon trails. On the mountain we hiked the Skyline trail to about 8000 feet which was high enough to be on the glaciers and not a cloud in the sky.
The next day we took the ferry with our rental car from Port Angeles to Victoria another city with flowers everywhere. Our first stop was The Butchart Gardens. The Sunken Garden at Butchart Gardens is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. The rest of the gardens are also pretty spectacular. After checking into our Marriott we walked through downtown Victoria and the Inner Harbor area. We enjoyed dinner at Milestones on the Inner Harbor.
On day four we went to the Beacon Hill Park which would have been impressive had we not been to The Butchart Gardens. We also visit the Parliament building, the Empress Hotel and Craigdarrough Castle. On the walk back from the castle we discovered a great restaurant called the Blue Fox where we enjoyed a late lunch. After that we took a tour boat around the harbor with a stop at the Fisherman’s Wharf and its floating houses.
The next morning we were up early to catch the ferry to Vancouver. That day we went to Stanley Park and went on the horse-drawn tour around the park. From there we went to Granville Island and dinner at the Dockside Brewing Company. Day two in Vancouver we went to Capilano Suspension Bridge. We were also going to Grouse Mountain but it was clouded in and started to rain so we went north instead. We spent the rest of the Day at Horseshoe Bay. We had lunch at the Boathouse. We went to Whylecliff Park, another little known treasure. We almost walked on three seals sunning on the rocks. They blended into the rocks so well we didn’t notice them at first. We ended the day taking the ferry to Bowen Island.
On our last day in Vancouver there wasn’t a cloud in the sky; a perfect day for Grouse Mountain. We did the Grouse Grind, a 1500 foot climb straight up the mountain. Cathy thought the climb would never end and it seemed like it took forever to get to the halfway point. The climb up is so severe that people are not allowed to climb down. Unlike most people, we didn’t stop at the top of the “Grind”; we went to the top of the mountain at 4100 feet. At the top of the mountain we enjoyed the Lumberjack and Birds of Prey shows and took the tram down.
The next morning we drove back to Seattle. We went to Snoqualmie Falls and Woodinville which has over 70 wineries. It’s actually the 2nd largest concentration of wineries in the US after Napa Valley. We only went to three; all good. We had dinner at the Purple Cafe and Wine Bar.
We had a day of flying home due to the time change. It was a very enjoyable trip.
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