Mountain Biking the North Rim of the Grand Canyon

North Rim of the Grand Canyon

Five day mountain bike ride trip on the north rim of the Grand Canyon.  

This past December in the middle of winter I signed up for a mountain bike adventure. I was dreaming of dry heat and expansive views; completely opposite conditions of where I was at that moment.  Winter was quickly over, spring flew by and next thing I knew I was packing for a mountain bike trip in the southwest.  The plan was to drive to St George where the trip started and finished. Early Saturday morning, fully caffeinated, we loaded the truck up with bikes, camping gear and hit the road.  This was a going to be a reasonable road trip, the group I was traveling with decided to break the drive to St George up into two days.

We stopped for the night in Twin Falls Idaho.  After dinner we worked off our steak dinner by walking across the Perrine Bridge, turns out this is one of the few bridges in the US that allows base jumping.  We were lucky enough to witness a base jumper jump.   

Sunday early evening we arrived in St George and it was hot hot hot; the air felt like a hair dryer blowing on high heat on us.  Luckily, our bike rides would be at greater altitudes between 7,500 and 8,900 feet with expected temperatures in the 70 and 80's.  

Day 1:  We met up with our guides and group.  The van was loaded up and we drove to the Kaibab National Forest for a quick shakedown ride to lunch followed by a fun singletrack through aspen and ponerosas pine groves on the Arizona Trail with views of the east rim.  The ride ended at our camp site with expansive views from the north rim of the canyon.  We settled in our camp up for the next two nights.

Day 2:  Woke to a beautiful sunrise soon after the guide yells out COFFEE; very nice start to the day.  We rode about 25 mile out and back on the Arizona trail; lots of short climbs and descents and rode in and out of meadows.  Back at camp we relaxed with happy hour and yummy appetizers, chatted with the other guest.  There were 7 of us; two retired guys from Montana that had a long history of biking, a woman doctor from Alaska and us; my friend from HR, her sister and step dad.  

Day 3:  Transition day.  Pack up camp.  Drove to the Grand Canyon National Park for a hike and visit to the impressive Grand Canyon Lodge located on the edge of the extensive north rim of the canyon.  After exploring the Lodge and trails we headed towards the new camp site with a dirt road ride. The camp site  was on the Rainbow Rim Trail with expansive views of the canyon.

Day 4: The Rainbow Rim Trail was designed for mountain bikers and the inclines and descents are not more than 9% grade.  For me, riding on the this trail was rock star cross country mountain bike riding.  The trail closely follows the rim at some points the trail is right on the rim with indescribable amazing views.  After breakfast and packing a lunch we did an out and back ride to the north with lunch at the turn around point.  Back at the camp site we hiked around, test rode other peoples bike and the guides gave a mt bike skills clinic. After dinner we played a competitive game of traveling boccie ball.

  

Day 5: Final day.  Early morning sunrise walk to admire the light changing on the canyon walls, coffee, breakfast and then camp pack up; good living!  Last day of riding we rode the Rainbow Rim Trail to the southern end; great cross country riding with stunning views of the canyon. 



Two day drive back to HR, happy, fun trip and not ready to be home yet.  I am inspired to go back to Grand Canyon for more exploration; I see a Rim to Rim hike in my near future.  

More information: Western Spirit
Grand Canyon

Kokanee Glacier Ski Trip - Feb 2013

7 Day ski touring in the Canadian Kokanee Glacier National Park

WOW!  I would have never have thought I would be invited on a back country ski trip in Canada.  I know many really good skier that go on these trips annually.  I just get to see the photos and hear the stories of their adventures.  Of course I would never be invited, I didn't ski.  I didn't grow up skiing or come from a ski family.  I learned to snow board over 10 years, but didn't love it.  What I liked was to be out in the back country exploring.  Four years ago I made the investment, I bought back country gear a season pass and started skiing.  It was not pretty, but I kept at it; Wallowas hut trip, ski clinics, lots of days alone building my confidence.  When I got the email asking if I wanted to go on this trip my first thought was there must be a mistake.  While I can now ski, I am not killing anything on the slopes, I do love to be out in the back country and to climb. 


In February 2013 I drove to Nelson BC with a bunch of skiers loaded our gear into a helicopter and the adventure began.  It was an amazing, challenging, exilerating and fun seven days in the back country.  Each day after breakfast we would venture out into the Kokanee Glacier National Park for skiing adventures.  Before dark we made our way back to the cabin for a few beers and amazing dinners, we repeated this six more times. 

view from the deck of the cabin - scoping our routes

• beacon training
• Kokanee hut

•  crossing the Kokanee Glacier
• repeater on the Kokanee Glacier
• old Kokanee Chief cabin

• packed up and ready for the helicopter pick up

More Information:
Avalanche information

Fun youtube video - different trip same location

Kokanee Glacier ski trip

Circumnavigation of Mt St Helens in one day: part three of the 2012 circle the mountain trilogy

Checking out the trail to Windy Pass

"Hey want to run around Mt St Helens?"  my good friend and running partner asked me as we were hiking around Mt Hood this past summer.  "Sure, that sounds fun", I replied.  This is how I get myself into these adventures, by saying yes and then doing the research.  The trail around Mt St Helens is called the Loowit Trail #216, there are several trails to the Loowit Trail, we chose June Lake based on access to the Loowit trail and our access to St Helens from the south.  Overall, there is 6,700 feet elevation gain and loss around the mountain and it is 30ish miles in length, all very doable for someone with a good fitness level and endurance.  We checked the weather forecasts, pick our weekend and started planning. The day we ended up going was early in October.  We got lucky with the weather, it was warm with almost no wind and completely clear skies.

boulder field trail marker

Our adventure started in the dark around 6:00 am with headlamps on we slowly ran up the June Lake trail to the intersection with the Loowit trail.  It was light out when we reached the Loowit trail and getting warm, we striped our extra layers and changed hats from wool caps to visors for sun protection.  Based on our research we had decided to travel clockwise around the mountain and go through the boulder field first to navigate it with fresh legs. 

The first few miles of the Loowit trail is through a boulder field that is navigated by poles; sight one hike to it, sight the next one hike to it.  It is slow moving.  From the boulder field the trail turns forested and drops 1,600 feet to the Toutle River which is about a third of the way around.  At the Toutle River we filled up our water bladders (treated it with iodine), snacked, applied more sun screen and admired the views.  

looking down at the Toutle River

From the Toutle River the trail is wide open and exposed to the elements, the trail drops in and out of canyons until the blast zone.  We made pretty good time - stopping to admire the views periodically.  

Hiking out from the Toutle River

west side wide open trail - heading north to the blast zone

The blast zone landscape was spectacular, I slowly ran through the flat rocky landscape wishing that we had another day to explore the waterfalls and take in the amazing science fiction landscape.  From the blast zone the trail goes up to Windy Pass, the highest point in the trail elevation 4,950 feet and about two thirds of the way around the mountain.  Before you get to Windy Pass there is a good place to refill your water - we waited until Ape Cave, this was a mistake because the water source there had dried up since late August and I ended up finishing the hike without water.

blast zone trail marker

Spirit Lake with Mt Rainier in the background

Heading through the Plains of Abraham

How lucky, no wind!  Dropping down from Windy Pass to Plains of Abraham on to Ape Cave we made really good time.  The trail is mostly flat and easy to navigate.  Just 5 miles to June Lake trail junction from the Ape Cave trail.  Based on the time we were making we started making dinner plans.  A bit too optimistic - the last 5 miles is very deceptive and turned out to be our slowest of the day.  The trail drops in and out of canyons and the canyons go on forever, even though it is a net down hill that last 5 miles was very, very slow going.  Once we reached the June lake trail junction it was a quick downhill to the car - still light out, still smiling and ready for dinner.

More Information about running the Loowit Trail in one day:
Loowit Trail #216 route around Mt St Helens

Volcanic 50K run
Info on running around Mt St Helens
more info on running around Mt St Helens

Mt Rainier/Wonderland Trail : part two of three Mountain circumnavigation series

First full view of Rainier west of Longmire

Spring of 2012 I decided to put my name in for a permit to hike the Wonderland Trail around Mt Rainier.  Permits are required by the National Park Service for the Wonderland trail and are very limited, you can apply for the permit as early as March for the lottery in April.  Back in March sitting at my desk staring at a map of Mt Rainier I chose my route and campgrounds for the lottery based on reading other peoples blogs about their experience.  Because of my limited vacation time I wanted to hike the trail in 5 days, knowing at the time it would be ambitious but doable.  The trail is 93 miles long with 22,000 feet of elevation gain.

The route I chose in March and was approved for by the National Park Service was:
Start at Longmire - Golden lakes Camp - Mystic Camp - Summerland Camp - Maple Creek Camp - back to Longmire.  This route was 4 1/2 days with some 25 mile days.

What I ended up doing was:

Start at Longmire - 19.7 miles to North Puyallup River camp - 16.3 miles to Eagles Roost camp - 20.3 miles to Sunrise camp - 14.5 miles to Indian bar camp - 22.2 miles back to Longmire

Day 1:  I got off track the first day, which threw me off my assigned campsites for the rest of the trip.  I wasn't too worried about it because I talked to a few hikers that explained to me the flexibility of changing campsites when you ran into a ranger - many people add days or change their campsites based on weather, injury or are just in such a beautiful area they want to spend more time exploring.  I was also assured that there were a lot of rangers on the trail.  A friend of mine had decided the night before the hike that he was up for an adventure and came along, I was happy to have a companion to hike with.  We arrived at North Puyallup River Camp at 6:00 pm with 5 more miles to go, all up hill, to my first assigned camp site, Golden Lakes.  After hiking almost 20 miles that day we decided to stay at the group camp site instead of pressing on and finishing the hike in the dark.

first of three suspension bridges

Tahoma Glacier

Day 2:  On day 2 we met a Canadian guy who hikes the Wonderland Trail every year, usually in 4 days and usually in flip flops!  This year his wife had insisted he wear shoes, so he bought a pair of Nike frees to hike in.  Later that day at a river crossing we ran into a tall dread lock man with a strange vest with built in water bottles - turns out he had run the trail clock wise (the direction we were going), slept 45 minutes and was running counter clockwise for the record.  Check out his blog Raj the ultra runner.  

We set up camp at Eagles Roost camp, which is off the Wonderland trail on the Spray Park Trail.  Spray park trail is an alternative route that meets up with the wonderland trail, it is roughly the same distance and has a lot of elevation gain and is famous for the beautiful fields of wildflowers and waterfalls. The clouds were getting darker and the wind was picking up, when we arrived at the camp ground the rain started and then then thunder and lightening started and continued most of the night.  The storm that night was the same storm that started many forest fires near Wenachee WA, Mt Adams and we learned later a small one tree fire at Paradise on Mt Rainier that was quickly put out.  

view of Rainier from Eagles Roost watching the thunder storm move in

Day 3: We walked through Spay Park in the clouds, a bit of a disappointment knowing that the mountain was right there and the views would have been amazing.  Day three was a long trek to Sunrise camp, we still had not run into any rangers to make our camping "official".  We ran into two guys that we had met the the first day who were running around the mountain in three days, two nights in lodges and one night supported camping.  Idea for next year - anyone interested?

hiking through the wildflowers in Spay Park in the clouds

Carbon Glacier

Day 4:  was the most scenic day, it was clear, cold with stunning views of the mountain the entire day.  We hiked down to White River and then up to Summerland for lunch.  We met a couple from Canada that were hiking the trail in 14 days, stopping at every campsite.  This was their anniversary trip.  I was a bit envious of their schedule.  While our days were doable - there wasn't alot of time to simply enjoy where you were, it felt a little rushed.  With that in mind we cut the day short and camped at Indian Bar instead of Nickel Creek, our original destination.  Indian bar is a stunning  camp site with a river running through it.  It was there that I finally met a ranger.  And was properly put in my place for not keeping to my original camp sites.  I have no excuses and I don't recommend my technique to anyone.  But I will say I tried to find a ranger to change the trips as other hikers had and I know that we did not take any ones camp site, I was very careful to scout out the sites and always stayed in a group site when available.

hiking up Fryingpan Creek up to Summerland Camp

shelter at Summerland Camp site

highest point of the Wonderland trail - Panhandle Gap

looking down at Indian Bar Camp

camp site at Indian Bar

Day 5:  the last day.  We got an early start, it was going to be a long haul back to Longmire, the starting point.  We hiked to the interesting sounds of elk bugling in the high meadows that surrounded us.  The morning was crisp and clear.  We spent a lot of time on the ridge above Indian Bar taking pictures and taking in the views - we could see Mt Hood, Mt Adams and St Helen's.  We were both kind of dragging our feet not wanting the hike to end.  Once we dropped down to Nickel creek and were in the woods it was fast moving, our pace picked up and we made good time back to Longmire.  4:00 pm, we were cleaning up at Longmire and thinking about where to get a burger.

sunrise at Indian bar

morning view of Rainier

hiking in the forest near Nickel Creek camp site

trail near Stevens Canyon 

view of Rainier from Nisqually River - 1.6 miles to Longmire

GEAR:
I tried to keep it as light as reasonably possible - I am a minimalist but not an extreme ultra light hiker.  My gear consisted of small, light 2 person tent, sleeping bag and light thermarest,  no stove.  All my food was pre-cooked.  Water was treated with a water filter.  I hiked in vasque low hikers, light but more support than my running shoes, no need for gators.

trail foot wear - my ten toed friend suffered a few blisters
 but overall was pretty happy with the gloves on his feet

FOOD:
4 breakfasts - protein bar or peanut butter and jelly sandwich
5 lunches - peanut butter and jelly sandwich
4 dinners - rice and bean burritos with kale (rice and beans precooked and mixed together in a bag with salsa).  The salsa started to go bad on the 4th day so I ate it for lunch and dinner and had my lunch for dinner the last night.
snacks - lots of Larabars, Clif mojo bars (favorite chocolate, almond and coconut), trader joe's bars, almonds and fruit leather
protein powder for emergency back up


RESOURCES:
The map I used was the National Geographic: Mount Rainier 217 map
Wonderland Trail
http://www.wonderlandtrailguide.com/
http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/travel/04wonderland.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0