Shakori Hills Grassroots

We were thrilled by our decision to attend Shakori Hill Grassroots Festival for the first time this year.
Black Betty and I are pretty dedicated Suwannee Spring Festivarians so haven't made it out to Shakori Hills before now. This year we decided to go for the day on Saturday.  We drove out in the morning (4 1/2 hours), saw a bunch of shows, and grabbed a motel for the night.

It definitely was worth the effort to go, even for just the day. We had a blast, loved the Festival, and were thrilled by all the music. We will be back.

The groups we saw were: The Apple Chill Cloggers, Lizzy Ross Band, The Horse Flies, Donna The Buffalo, The Brothers Comatose, and Solas.

Shakori Hills The Brothers Comatose

We were lucky enough to catch The Brothers Comatose at Shakori Hills on 4/20/2013. It was our first look at this San Francisco grass band. We loved 'em and hope to see lots more of them. I did see that they were playing Bristol this Fall, so there is even more reason to make it to Rhythm and Roots in September.

The Duhks!

On Saturday night, (4/6/2013) Black Betty and I joined friends, Mike, Aimee, and Cassidy on a little ride to Pisgah Brewing Company in Black Mountain to see the original Duhks.

I think it may have been 3 or 4 years since I last saw them. It was a true joy to share the evening with them.
They were rocking, the crowd was loving it, we had a blissful night of love and music....and nothing but love and music!

Silver Comet and Chief Ladiga Trail Trip.

My brother, Matt, drove up from his home in Florida and met me at The Rock Campground near Rockmart, Georgia for this one. The friendly folks at the campground informed us that we had heavy rain on the way and told us where we could pitch our tents on higher ground.  We also had the use of a large gazebo to stay dry. After getting set up and squared away, we rode our bikes down the Silver Comet to Rockmart and ate a giant and delicious pizza with meatballs, mushrooms, and tomatoes at Frankie's Italian Restaurant.

Camp

Matt at Frankie's

4/28 Smyrna to The Rock CG - 35.4 miles

Heavy rain came during the night. Our plan today was to shuttle to the start of The Silver Comet Trail in Smyrna, GA and ride back to the campground. As big "gluttons for punishment" as we may be, we didn't actually want to begin the ride in the rain, so we waited it out in Highland Station Shopping Center where we would leave the car parked. There is a 1 mile long connector trail here that takes you directly to the start of the trail at Mavell Road. And better yet, it's downhill!

Finally at 2 pm, it let up and we were ready to ride. We quickly rolled down the hill to the start of the Silver Comet. Shortly after hitting the trail, Matt discovered that he left his helmet in the car. I offered to wait while he went back for it, but alas, he declined.

Within 30 minutes, the rain started again. It increased with intensity as we rode west. The advantage of riding in such lousy conditions (if there was any at all) was this part of the trail would have been crowded with folks on a nice Sunday afternoon and, instead, was virtually empty. We saw one fellow pushing his bike and possibly one other rider. That was about it. Most people have better sense than to be out in bad weather. The disadvantage of riding through this section of trail during a monsoon was we could not appreciate riding over the 750 foot long Pumpkinvine Creek Trestle (mile 23) and through the Paulding Wildlife Management Area. This is some of the nicest section of trail on the Silver Comet, but we couldn't see it for the monsoon.

Matt in Brushy Mountain Tunnel

Hometown

We stopped in the 800 foot long, three story high Brushy Mountain Tunnel (mile 30) to take a break and stretch our legs. The rain was thundering down the face of the tunnel as it was pouring off the mountain. The noise was truly ominous. It sounded as if a train was rumbling through the tunnel.  As we got closer to camp, lightning strikes crashed close by. A 100 foot tall oak tree completely blocked the trail near Coot's Lake (mile 33.5). We had to lift our bikes over the three or four large sections of main trunk.

In spite of the hurdles, dangers, and obstacles, we managed to return to camp in one piece.  We wasted no time getting nice hot showers to thaw our frigid hands and feet and changing into dry clothes. After shuttling the cars, we found a nice Mexican restaurant for dinner.


4/29 The Rock CG to Alabama State Line - 28.10 miles

We were able to dry out today. We lounged around camp in a lazy man's vacation mode, drinking coffee and eating bagels. We shuttled a car to the Alabama state line at Esom Hill and then drove back to the campground to start riding our bikes west.

The ride through Rockmart was nice, with a few hills alongside US 278. The trail turned flat again as we regained the railroad grade and followed the train tracks until we spotted the giant clay hill at the "supermax" Polk Co. Landfill. Here, at mile 46 things got hilly, like granny-gear-steep-hilly. The good thing about climbing is that you know that you eventually get to go downhill! We had fun screaming through the rollers for a few miles.

We stopped at the cool, old train depot at the Cedartown Welcome Center (mile 52) and filled up on water and took a break. We noticed that riding through both Rockmart and Cedartown, everyone seemed very courteous towards us as cyclists and stopped at road intersections and waved us through. We appreciated the hospitality.

Continuing west from town, the area once again became less populated and more rural. We saw turkeys, guineas, and squirrels. We had several dogs bark at us but never saw one on the trail. We finished the day at the end of the Silver Comet (mile 61.5) and the start of the Chief Ladiga at the State Line Gateway Park.

Matt mentioned a desire for catfish for supper so we made ourselves at home at Sidekicks Restaurant in Rockmart that evening. and ate a big plate of fried goodness. Back at camp, we gathered wet wood, made a pretty decent camp fire, and listened to the Braves on the radio before going to bed. Good stuff!

Gazebo at The Rock campground

The Silver Comet.

A Cedartown welcome

Cool bike tool and pump at the Cedartown Depot

Cedartown Depot

4/30 The Chief Ladiga Trail - 33.75 miles

We actually wanted to get a little earlier start on the trail today, but I neglected to have any real directions to the Chief Ladiga Trail trail head at Mike Tucker Memorial Park in Anniston. Needless to say, there were a few delays in finding the place and dropping off a car. Eventually, we made the shuttle and were back at the state line and ready to ride. 

The good thing about riding the Chief Ladiga Trail east to west is that it is generally downhill. If you ride west to east, you have the prevailing wind to your back, so maybe you can feel smug about that, too. Either way, it's paved and fairly smooth all the way. 

We were interested in checking out the Chief Ladiga Campground at mile 7, but when we got there it seemed to be closed. We stopped and talked to a couple from Jacksonville, AL who were out for a 50 mile ride. In the friendly little town of Piedmont, we stopped at the Eubanks Welcome Center (mile 13.6) and met Les, a 75 year old trail rider and volunteer. We chatted on the porch for a while and got good advice on a lunch spot in town. That turned out to be the Solid Rock Cafe where I had a delicious French dip sandwich.

Ten more miles down the road, we came to the quaint little college town of Jacksonville (mile 25). We stopped at the train depot to get water and talked to a  girl who was walking on the trail. She worked at a motel in Anniston and said that they routinely lodged cyclists. We saw numerous cyclists, joggers, and walkers on the entire length of the trail, and more so in Jacksonville. It seemed to be getting put to good use by the populace. Again in Alabama, like in Georgia, the drivers were very courteous to us in the small towns at road crossings. Traffic was never a problem.

We finished the ride at the southern terminus of the Chief Ladiga Trail at Michael Tucker Memorial Park (mile 32.5). 

Post ride, we managed to find a good little BBQ joint to stuff ourselves in. This was Bar-L-Bar-B-Que in Rockmart. They literally give us enough pork each for about 4 people. I did manage to persevere and eat it all, though. Oink!

Then we were back to camp for more Braves baseball on the radio and a nice campfire. All in all, it was an enjoyable visit with my brother and a relaxing little bike ride.  I'm ready to do it again.
 

Gateway park looking west

Gateway park looking east

Eubanks House Welcome Center in Piedmont

A good place to eat in Piedmont

A granddaddy snapping turtle

Matt and Hometown at the ride's end

From the website:

The Silver Comet Trail is located 13 miles northwest of Atlanta, Georgia. It's free of charge, and travels west through Cobb, Paulding, and Polk counties. This quiet, non-motorized, paved trail is for walkers, hikers, bicyclists, rollerbladers, horses, dog walkers, and is wheelchair accessible.

The Silver Comet Trail is 61.5 miles long, and starts at the Mavell Road Trailhead in Smyrna, Georgia. It ends at the Georgia/Alabama state line, near Cedartown and The Esom Hill Trailhead.

At the Georgia/Alabama state line, the Silver Comet connects to the 33-mile long Chief Ladiga Trail. Plans are underway to extend the Chief Ladiga an additional 7 miles. Both the Silver Comet Trail and Chief Ladiga are fully paved rail-trails built on abandoned railroad lines. The combined Silver Comet and Chief Ladiga trail length is estimated to be 94.5 paved miles from Smyrna, Georgia to Anniston, Alabama.

Dutch Oven Venison Meatloaf

I am a hiker not a hunter but I do love the taste of game meat, so whenever folks offer it to me I am more than happy to take it off their hands. Recently I found myself in possession of 3 pounds of ground venison and I decided that a dutch oven meatloaf would be mighty tasty.

Mix together thoroughly:
3lbs. ground venison
1 lb. ground pork sausage
1 cup bread crumbs
1 cup ketchup
2 eggs
1 pkg. Lipton onion soup mix

Form into a loaf.
Use the basket weaving skills that you acquired in college and neatly cover the top of the loaf with any thick sliced bacon that you would like.

Bake in a 12 inch medium heat Dutch oven for 1 hour or until meat reaches 160 degrees internal temperature.

Notes:
I used 20 charcoals on top and 10 on bottom. 
The sausage was added since the venison was so lean, the added fat was perfect.
About halfway through the cooking, I carefully removed the lid from the D.O. and drained the fat.
I mixed my loaf ahead of time and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours.
Let it stand for a few minutes after baking and before slicing and carving.
I use a digital remote thermometer, I love it.
I would have taken it off at 150 degrees, but went to 160 because of the pork.
This meatloaf was moist and delicious, everyone loved it. 

In the pot.

A thing of beauty!

Suwannee Springfest 2013

Springfest 2013 notes:

It was a wet and cold Springfest at times this year, but we still had a fun time and saw lots of killer music.
Gnometown was out in full force with Nate, Phil, Cody, Jessie, and Lucas joining us in camp.

 The 2013 Springfest lineup stayed true to its roots and we couldn't have asked for a better weekend of music. Just maybe, better weather. Hey, it happens. At least our little popup stayed dry. I bet that was the exception and not the rule, I saw lots of wet tents out there! It's about the live music for us, and we were not disappointed.

Black Betty and I did bow out of a couple of shows due to the excessive thunderstorm activity on Saturday night, so we missed a few of our favorites, but what we did see was right on.

I got lucky this year and won the Tie Dye hanging in the LOMAF raffle. Nice!

I cooked up a big dutch oven full of my infamous Pineapple Express for our Gnometown dinner on Friday evening. Somehow, we missed out on our regular nightly servings of Sweet Revenge apple crisp and ice cream.

The river was flooded and the beach was closed, so we did not get a swim in this year. It was pretty cool over the weekend though, with night time lows dipping down into the high 30's to low 40's so the water may have been pretty cool yet. I did however, get a nice bike ride in on Friday with Nate and Phil and we explored the old highway and closed bridge area across the road from the park.

Due to the storming on Saturday afternoon and evening, Black Betty and I ventured into Live Oak for supper and found some delicious fried oysters at the Dixie Diner. It was our first visit.

As always, the Sunday Donna The Buffalo Jam was as hot as it gets and I was in jam heaven with the return of Peter Rowan to Suwannee Springfest after his conspicuous absence last year. Peter seemed to be everywhere! He was having a fantastic time playing with many of the bands that were there. I know we were having a great time listening to him.

I was lucky enough to capture some special moments on video and I still smile every time I watch Peter and DtB buring it up on "Burningman".

Some of  the bands/artists we were fortunate enough to see: 

Applebutter Express   Tornado Rider   Scythian   

Hackensaw Boys   Dangermuffin   Dread Clampitt

Elephant Revival   Leftover Salmon   Keller & The Keels   

The Travelin' McCourys   Mamajowali   Grandpa's Cough Medicine   

Larry Keel & Natural Bridge   Jim Lauderdale   Peter Rowan   

Darol Anger    Bobby MIller   Jerry Douglas   Donna The Buffalo

Phil "Free Mexican AirForce"

Lucas

Cody

Hometown and Black Betty

Jessie

Nimble Nate

Wayne

With Sam and Mary and girls.

Gnometown

Amphitheater stage.

 Raffle win!

Gnometown Camp.

Bobby Miller with Jeb Purveyor.

Hackensaw Boys.

Salmon! Vince Herman.

Sythian

Jim Lauderdale.

Peter Rowan with the McCourys.

Moon from the Porch Stage area.

Larry Keel and Keller Williams.

 

Lucas and friends playing in the meadow on Saturday.

And really, can it get any better than Keller, The Keels, The Traveling McCourys, Drew Emmitt, and Vince Herman doing "Born To Be Wild"???? I think not.

Here is a link to all 15 of my Springfest videos: Springfest 2013.

See you next year!

 

Grand Canyon Thanksgiving Hike

The view from Grandview Trail head.

I just couldn't resist another shot at backpacking the Grand Canyon, so back in the summer when my hiking buddy, Boy Floyd, said that he was off for Thanksgiving week, I said, "Let's plan another hike."

He made the arrangements with the Park's Backcountry office and obtained the permit which would allow us a trip on the eastern side of the Tonto Trail. We had a 5 day, 4 night trip planned. We were joined by another Appalachian Trail hiking friend, by the name of Groceries.

Hometown, Groceries, Boy Floyd.

Day One: Grandview Trail to Cottonwood Creek. 11/20/2012

Somehow, Groceries and I managed to get Floyd packed up and ready to leave his home in Prescott Valley, AZ at o'dark-thirty on the morning of our hike. We drank coffee while Floyd drove and arrived at the Grandview Trailhead around 9:30. We dropped the packs and me off at the trail head, and Floyd and Groceries drove the car back to the Backcountry Office to park it. They then hitched a ride back to Grandview. I told Floyd that they would probably get a ride with some European tourist because we know how few American tourists will pick up a hitchhiker. About an hour later, my hiking partners arrived in a carload of Korean tourists, who, despite having a full car, gladly made room for Floyd and Groceries.

Our benefactors.

The 3 mile descent to Horseshoe Mesa dropped off quickly, with 2500 feet of elevation loss. Our packs were heavy with lots of  food (I can only imagine what Floyd's big red pack weighed), and as always, the descent was brutal on my legs. When we arrived at the historical mining area at Horshoe Mesa, we were ready to kick back, eat some of the pizza that Floyd packed in, and rest a spell. I chose to hike around the mesa and explore a bit. I didn't really find any of the old mines, but I didn't really know where to look. I will definitely return to this place some day and spend more time exploring.

Grandview Trail.

Grandview Trail.

Hiking down to Horseshoe Mesa.

On Grandview.

Hometown and Groceries chillaxing on the mesa.

Horseshoe Mesa.

Horseshoe Mesa.

Camping? Water? X-ray?

.
Next, we dropped another 1000 feet in elevation on the steep jump down to the Cottonwood Creek area. The trail was generous with scree in areas and it was difficult to stay upright. It made hiking a challenge, but somehow, we managed to survive without a fall.

We found a nice camping area near the water and among the pretty yellow-leaved cottonwood trees.
At home, in North Carolina, my new granddaughter, Katherine was born. A great day, indeed.

Trail to Cottonwood Creek.

Cottonwood Creek.

Cottonwood Creek camp.

Day Two: Cottonwood Creek to Grapevine Creek. 11/21/2012

After a wonderful cool night (around 40F degrees) and a leisurely breakfast, we headed out of camp. I was in front, trail finding, followed by Groceries and Floyd. We followed the creek drainage out and started heading across the plateau. We were supposed to meet up with the Tonto Trail and hike to the west. I noticed that the canyon was forming to our left (the west) and I said to Floyd, "How do we wind up over there, if we're hiking over here?" Floyd's Zen master-like response was something like, "Never question the Tonto; the Tonto knows what it's doing."  I guess magically, perhaps? We continued on this way for a couple of miles, thinking we were on the right tract, when at last, it became painfully clear that we were heading in the wrong direction. After pulling out maps and shaking our heads, there was nothing left to do but turn around and backtrack, so that is what we did.

Cottonwood Creek.

The Tonto.

A Cottonwood.

"The Tonto knows"

The thing about Grand Canyon hiking is that it is time consuming. You can't pound out the miles like you can on some sections of the A.T. Miles mean nothing. First of all, you are so in awe of the beauty that you spend lots of time just standing and gawking. The terrain can also be very difficult and dangerous, and getting in a hurry can get you seriously injured, even killed. Also, you have to really take your time route finding in many areas and frequently consulting maps to identify the landmarks to know where you are. It's a learning curve. So, saying all of that, those extra 3 or 4 miles burned up some daylight.

When we got back to Cottonwood Creek we found a beautiful sign pointing the way on the Tonto Trail. We must have just stepped off the trail about 10 feet in front of the sign and never saw it.

WTF?

We ate a bite of lunch and started to tackle the Tonto Trail into the Grapevine Canyon. What I didn't fully appreciate at the time about Grapevine Canyon is that it is absolutely huge. If it was not just a "side canyon" off the Grand Canyon, it would be a major attraction in itself. Our goal was to continue hiking towards Grapevine Creek, find water, and a camping spot before dark. Oh yeah, not getting lost or getting injured was high on the agenda, too. We weren't sure at this point if we could make it before dark, but we were determined to try.

As we hiked, the trail itself, at times, became quite exciting. We admonished each other to be extremely careful as we hiked along the side of a short downward slope that would quickly turn a slight trip or misstep into a 1000 foot sheer drop off into the bottom of Grapevine Canyon. As we approached these treacherous sections, we suddenly found that the hike mentality had changed.  All attention was on our footing, we spread out on the trail, we quit talking, as we realized that there was no room for error. Like I said, things got exciting.

Canyon hiking.

Back on Grapevine.

Awesome Grapevine.

Precarious!

No room for error.

Hometown wildlife!

The sun was quickly fading, as we approached another precarious section of the trail. Floyd called from the rear position asking if we wanted to continue. As there was no place to throw down, and no water, we said, "Let's keep going". We took numerous unsuccessful side trips exploring dried-up springs, as it became too dark to see, we strapped on headlamps. We hiked on the edge of dark oblivion. It was just another outing with trip-leader Floyd.

Finally, we heard and then found water in a small creek cutting through the trail. We stumbled around in the dark, trying to find a camping spot and finally hiked back about 50 yards and set up on a flat and dry creek bed. It was perfect. I decided to cowboy-camp and lay beneath the beautiful starry sky. I fell asleep watching meteorites flash across the heavens. Ahh!

Sometime during the wee hours of daybreak, ravens attempted to attack my pack. I shooed them away.

First Grapevine Camp

Day Three: Grapevine Creek. 11/22/2012

Thanksgiving Day! We had a "zero" day scheduled for this day. That means we had a second night of camping in the Grapevine Creek area scheduled and essentially had "zero" miles to hike today. We slept in and hung out, eating, drinking coffee, telling stories, and generally chilling. We didn't have much on the agenda today. In the late morning, a lone hiker approached on the Tonto, heading west. He stopped to talk and ended up visiting with us for over an hour. His name was Eric, he was from Canada, and he had completed several long section hikes on the A.T.  We found out that Eric had camped at Grapevine Creek the night before (I thought we were at Grapevine).  He said it was about 45 minutes further east. We enjoyed his company and conversation.

Photo by Eric.

After Eric departed, we packed up and hiked the 45 minutes around to Grapevine Creek. It was a beautiful and ideal setting at the head of this deep and remote canyon. The water was lovely with several nice pools. After looking around, we decided to cowboy camp on the flat rock on the creek's edge. It was a good decision, because no sooner had we finished scouting it out, the first couple, of a party of 8, flew into camp and were quickly throwing down, without giving us the courtesy of inquiring what our camping plans were. We thought that was somewhat rude and inconsiderate, showing a real lack of backcountry etiquette, but we thought we would give them the benefit of the doubt. Probably city folk, what can you do? We tried to engage them, but they seemed to have little desire to interact with us.

We set up camp on the stream bed, filtered water, and started our Thanksgiving feast. We smeared tortillas with Grocery's delicious  homemade guacamole and piled on peppers, sprouts, and cheese. We made and ate stuffing with dried cranberries. We fixed mashed potatoes and doctored them up with goodies. I brought Turkey Spam and fried it up. We snacked on turkey jerky. Groceries made chocolate mousse and raspberry crumble. We ate til we were stuffed. We drank coffee. Life was good at the head of Grapevine, deep within the Grand Canyon.

Thanksgiving camp.

Floyd, one leg in, one leg out.

Looking down on camp, from the ledge above.

Camp life.

Turkey Spam!

Groceries getting excited about Spam.

The hit of the hike, Grocery's guacamole!

Camp life with Groceries.

 I was glad that I was getting to spend some awesome trail time in such a beautiful setting with such great friends, but at the same time, I couldn't help thinking about  my family enjoying their feast without me. And my new little granddaughter, whom I had yet to see.

That night, while trying to catch some zzzzs in our bags, beside the creek, our neighbors must have been drinking liquor and got louder and louder and louder. It really was somewhat of a spoiler to the serenity of Grapevine. Fortunately, the festivities didn't last too long and they soon went to bed.

Sometime during the wee hours, ravens knocked some of my stuff sacks off the ledge. Nothing seemed  damaged or missing.

Floyd actually carried math, with him. Did I mention the horseshoe and hockey puck? No, I didn't. Don't encourage him, you know.

Nice Grapevine water.

Day Four: Grapevine Creek to Cremation Creek. 11/23/2012

We rolled out of bed in the cool morning twilight. We had a long and dry day of hiking ahead of us and a dry camp at night. Eric had told us earlier that there was water about 5.7 miles ahead at Boulder Creek. We knew the rest of the hike was dry. Could we find the water? Would we know when we were at Boulder Creek? We weren't really sure, so we filtered up and packed out. I carried 4 1/2 liters. Floyd must have had 6 or more. Groceries had her hula hoop full. Did I mention her hoop?

Canyon hooping.

Fun times in the canyon.

We worked our way around the west side of Grapevine. We stopped after a while to take a break on the high Tonto platform and Groceries broke out her backpacking hoop for a spin.

This was some sweet Tonto hiking. High above the canyon, we wound our way between the cactus and over the lava rock. Before long, the brown and muddy Colorado River was in view at the bottom of the deep gorge, and we started skirting Lyle Butte and heading into the Boulder Creek Canyon.

Nice!

Canyon back country.

Deep Grapevine gorge.

Not many of these around western North Cackalacky!

Nice one.

Looking down at the river.

The big thumb that I now will always associate with the west side of Grapevine.

Tonto Trail.

Here, I started paying close attention to the distinctive three "arms" of the butte and easily figured out where the trail would cross Boulder Creek. When I arrived, I dropped my pack and hiked about 75 yards up the dry creek bed and found nice, pump-able water. Groceries and Floyd joined me after 30 minutes; we filtered water, cameled up, topped off our bottles, ate lunch, and moved on.

Floyd and Groceries.

Canyon hikers.

Tonto.

I love the Tonto. I think the Tonto loves me.

Inner gorge.

Tonto hiking.

Next, we followed the Tonto back out to the inner Colorado Gorge and then into Lonetree Canyon. Lonetree was, as reported, dry. As evening approached, we found a truly awesome and magnificent camping spot in the Cremation Creek area, high on the Tonto platform, with the mighty and aptly named Zoroaster Temple looking down upon us from across the river. What a front porch view! We threw down cowboy style and marveled at the glorious Grand Canyon beauty.

Wonderful, wacky, Tonto Trail. Look at that sky!

Boulder Creek.

Miles and miles of smiles (as long as you tote plenty of water).

Groceries in the back country.

Floyd, looking cute.

Hombres of the Canyon.

We saw no other people today, after leaving camp.

Zoroaster Temple.

Cremation camp!

Losing the sun in the canyon.

Moon.

Camp.

Day Five: Cremation Creek to South Kaibab. 11/24/2012

This was our hike-out day. This Tonto trail section from Cremation to the South Kaibab intersection was difficult. It involved many steep ups and downs through lesser canyons, with lots of little lava rock scree to make things dicey. I think I saw Groceries go down a couple of times. It reminded me of the good old White Mountains, without the rain!

Before long, we were at the big privy which signaled the intersection of the South Kaibab trail. Actually, it was more the circus atmosphere, which announced the S. Kaibab. There appeared a full mule train of tourists wearing cowboy hats and chaps, their guides and mule wranglers, day hikers, and jocks, and even a backpacker or two.

I felt just like I did when Segue and I had to feed the Nancies some corn at Lake of the Clouds hut, one time, long ago.

Groceries told me that Floyd was secretly looking for a juggling unicyclist. I'm not sure what that was all about.

Hike across Cremation.

Mule train.

Floyd never met a privy, that he didn't appreciate.

This mule wrangler took the time to ask us about our trip. Nice!

Groceries hopping up the Kaibab.

Looking back down towards Cremation.

South Kaibab switch backs.

Canyon hikers extraordinaire!

Aptly named.

Groceries looking like it took no effort.

Floyd looking for attention.

We talked it over and decided we had enough water to make it out. We climbed the S. Kaibab, through the switchbacks to the top. In places, it gained elevation quickly. Being a main corridor trail, the crowds got bigger and bigger, as we neared the top. There were several fools climbing on ledges, perching on precarious edges, clowning for cameras, generally taking too many chances. I mentioned to Groceries that one didn't seem to see that kind of risk taking down in the back country. It seemed more like a rim phenomenon.

As we got to the top, a group of elk were hogging the water station. Silly elk, they didn't know that the water was for thirsty Floyd!

On top, Floyd still toting his beloved big, red, pack.

Elk drinking Floyd's water.

We rode 2 crowded buses back to the back country office. As we departed the bus, I was grabbing the packs off the rack in the front of the bus and handing them out the door to Groceries. I pulled hers off, no problem. I pulled mine off, no problem. Finally, I attempted to grab Floyd's. Nothing happened. I grabbed it again, I couldn't budge it. I yelled out the door, "Floyd, you're gonna have to get this pack". I couldn't budge it! He hopped on the bus and grabbed it. Ha ha! I guess I'm just a light-weight backpacking weenie!

Loading our packs into our car, we were surprised by our Canadian friend, Eric. He just happened to be there, after hiking out the day before.

Eric trying on the infamous "Big Red Pack".

What synchronicity! He joined us for a post-hike celebration meal at the Bright Angel Lodge.
It was a fitting end to a wonderful hike with great friends.

Groceries, Boy Floyd, Eric, Hometown at the Bright Angel Lodge.