spokewench
11-13-2006, 08:32 AM
Had a great time for the Veteran's Day 3 day holiday!
My husband and I backpacked down the Grandview Trail to Cottonwood Trail. What a beautiful, beautiful trip. We went with two other couples and had a ball. The Grandview Trail is pretty tough, steep and has some exposure issues for me, but it was well worth it.
The trail starts out really steep and has some real narrow, close fall offs, exposure places. Since I have some issues with fear of heights this was tough for me. I had to keep telling myself not to look down, and to keep breathing but I managed okay. It was pretty hard not to look down cause the edge was so close you could get a glimpse of it in your peripheral vision. It was really pretty hard though. I think as I am getting older, my fears are getting bigger! There really is no hiking that gets you ready for the canyon. We've been hiking hills on the mountain near Flagstaff for a few weeks now, but they just don't compare in steepness and length. So, I was pretty sore by the time I got to the bottom with a 38 pound pack. The weather going down was pretty good, in the range of 50's on the way down. Most of the hike after the first part wasn't too bad until we got to HorseShoe Mesa (yes, it is shaped like a horseshoe and there used to be a copper mine down there so there are some old ruins from the mining operation down there. We stopped and had lunch at horseshoe mesa. Then we started down the last scree slope down to Cottonwood Creek where we were camping. Wow, was that steep and slippery! Not maintained, so it was really hard and by that time, my quads were pretty much torn up. But we all made it down and found a nice campsite right near the cottonwood creek (this is a perennial creek formed by a spring). That is really nice in the canyon. A lot of trails often don't have much water till you get to the river. We had plenty of time to set up our tents, get situated and eat dinner before it got dark. It gets dark really early in the canyon due to the high walls and this time of year, sunset is around 5:30 too. So the nights were very long. We tried to stay up for a while, but it was just too cold not to be in your sleeping bag pretty early so we were in the sack for a long time.
Got up the next morning, and the other two couples hiked down to the river. Mark and I just hiked about 1/2 way. It was probably for the best cause they said the scree slope down to the river (which is really not so much a trail as a goat path) was pretty exposed too. So I probably would have had some trouble with the height thing again! It was a beautiful day and we saw old ruins in the cottonwood creek area and a huge variety of plant life.
We all had a nice camp dinner again on Saturday night and right after we all got situated in our tents, the wind whipped up and and it started raining! It rained on and off all night, but thankfully when we got up it was dry and clear and sunny. What a beautiful day to hike to the top! The air smelled all fresh from the rain, the trails had a little bit better traction with the little bit of rain (not muddy) and it was not hot! We got unpacked and started the long slog to the top! It is easier on my fear of heights when I'm going up, so it was much more pleasant. Plus, hiking up is so much easier on the body too so it was very pleasurable. I did still have little problem with the heights right near the top of the climb, but I perservered and made it through. Besides I was almost to the top so I was happy to know how close I was to being done! The views on the way up were spectacular with fluffy clouds in the distance and the typical red rock gorgeousness of the canyon!
It took us about 4 hours to get to the top and one of the guys had cold beer in their vehicle waiting for us at the parking lot. Boy did that taste YUMMY! There was a little bit of snow on the ground at the top, not much but just enough to show us that it had snowed at the top when it rained on us in the bottom.
All and all a great trip! I'm pretty sore (Calves and quads) but that is pretty typical of a hike in the canyon! I'm always glad I go down to the canyon on a hike cause it is so spectacular, but Wow, Glad that one is over now!
Spoke
My husband and I backpacked down the Grandview Trail to Cottonwood Trail. What a beautiful, beautiful trip. We went with two other couples and had a ball. The Grandview Trail is pretty tough, steep and has some exposure issues for me, but it was well worth it.
The trail starts out really steep and has some real narrow, close fall offs, exposure places. Since I have some issues with fear of heights this was tough for me. I had to keep telling myself not to look down, and to keep breathing but I managed okay. It was pretty hard not to look down cause the edge was so close you could get a glimpse of it in your peripheral vision. It was really pretty hard though. I think as I am getting older, my fears are getting bigger! There really is no hiking that gets you ready for the canyon. We've been hiking hills on the mountain near Flagstaff for a few weeks now, but they just don't compare in steepness and length. So, I was pretty sore by the time I got to the bottom with a 38 pound pack. The weather going down was pretty good, in the range of 50's on the way down. Most of the hike after the first part wasn't too bad until we got to HorseShoe Mesa (yes, it is shaped like a horseshoe and there used to be a copper mine down there so there are some old ruins from the mining operation down there. We stopped and had lunch at horseshoe mesa. Then we started down the last scree slope down to Cottonwood Creek where we were camping. Wow, was that steep and slippery! Not maintained, so it was really hard and by that time, my quads were pretty much torn up. But we all made it down and found a nice campsite right near the cottonwood creek (this is a perennial creek formed by a spring). That is really nice in the canyon. A lot of trails often don't have much water till you get to the river. We had plenty of time to set up our tents, get situated and eat dinner before it got dark. It gets dark really early in the canyon due to the high walls and this time of year, sunset is around 5:30 too. So the nights were very long. We tried to stay up for a while, but it was just too cold not to be in your sleeping bag pretty early so we were in the sack for a long time.
Got up the next morning, and the other two couples hiked down to the river. Mark and I just hiked about 1/2 way. It was probably for the best cause they said the scree slope down to the river (which is really not so much a trail as a goat path) was pretty exposed too. So I probably would have had some trouble with the height thing again! It was a beautiful day and we saw old ruins in the cottonwood creek area and a huge variety of plant life.
We all had a nice camp dinner again on Saturday night and right after we all got situated in our tents, the wind whipped up and and it started raining! It rained on and off all night, but thankfully when we got up it was dry and clear and sunny. What a beautiful day to hike to the top! The air smelled all fresh from the rain, the trails had a little bit better traction with the little bit of rain (not muddy) and it was not hot! We got unpacked and started the long slog to the top! It is easier on my fear of heights when I'm going up, so it was much more pleasant. Plus, hiking up is so much easier on the body too so it was very pleasurable. I did still have little problem with the heights right near the top of the climb, but I perservered and made it through. Besides I was almost to the top so I was happy to know how close I was to being done! The views on the way up were spectacular with fluffy clouds in the distance and the typical red rock gorgeousness of the canyon!
It took us about 4 hours to get to the top and one of the guys had cold beer in their vehicle waiting for us at the parking lot. Boy did that taste YUMMY! There was a little bit of snow on the ground at the top, not much but just enough to show us that it had snowed at the top when it rained on us in the bottom.
All and all a great trip! I'm pretty sore (Calves and quads) but that is pretty typical of a hike in the canyon! I'm always glad I go down to the canyon on a hike cause it is so spectacular, but Wow, Glad that one is over now!
Spoke