My Bad-Ass Road Trip
Jul 13th, 1999 | 08:07 AM
#1
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Posts: n/a
My Bad-Ass Road Trip
Hey guys,
Oops--I've totally forgotten to tell you guys how my bad-ass road trip went:
The first day my friend and I drove from Chicago to Medicine Bow National Forest in Wyoming. It took us about 15 hours and we crashed there right away. The next day we drove out to Lake Tahoe and camped there. It was Memorial Day weekend and we lucked out in getting a site (actually, it's pretty easy--you just gotta drive around the lake and there are tons of campgrounds). I was a little upset at how commercial the area was but what isn't nowadays. We did a 6-mile hike up into the woods and saw tons of stellers jays and coyotes.
The next day we drove out to Yosemite, and blah blah blah we ended up doing the Half Dome trek. We each brought 4 liters of water and tons of trail mix and Clif Bars, but it was so cold that the water was overkill (less sweat). When we got to the base of Half Dome, it started snowing and raining and the wind was biting. We started to climb the cables but our gloves were soaked and it was the cables were ice cold and Andrew ended up getting frostbite. Plus our boots were slipping on the rock and our fingers were cramping up. We were so scared halfway up that we decided it wasn't worth it and headed back down. No, these aren't cheap excuses because I wanted to do that climb more than anybody. Andrew had already done it twice before. So I left unfulfilled. The hike was nice and exhausting though (17 miles round trip).
So then we headed down to LA to see my friend and we partied and ate some delicious authentic Mexican food. I died.
Next: Grand Canyon. We hiked down the South Kaibab trail at 5am and spoke French with some Parisian girls who were hiking down to the river. We hiked down to the Tonto Trail and then over to the Bright Angel and out. It took us 6 hours total and not too bad. Although I almost bonked coming up because I was getting dehydrated. (Hint: bring at least 4 liters of water and keep drinking every 15 minutes! and keep eating food and salty snacks at least every hour! simply drinking water won't cut it!)
The bottom of the Grand Canyon is so damn quiet that we didn't even hear wind. We did have a close encounter with some mule deer down there. The sun also rose as we descended down the South Kaibab and it was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. (Hint: wear SPF 45 as the sun is BRUTAL. Also do NOT forget a hat and sunglasses!!!!!!!)
Then Zion and Bryce Canyon in Utah. Kind of anticlimactic after Grand Canyon but still pretty nonetheless. Decent hiking but not killer (unless you join a bunch of trails). The hoodoos in Bryce are incredible, formed from years of freezing and thawing and erosion.
More later,
Daniel
Oops--I've totally forgotten to tell you guys how my bad-ass road trip went:
The first day my friend and I drove from Chicago to Medicine Bow National Forest in Wyoming. It took us about 15 hours and we crashed there right away. The next day we drove out to Lake Tahoe and camped there. It was Memorial Day weekend and we lucked out in getting a site (actually, it's pretty easy--you just gotta drive around the lake and there are tons of campgrounds). I was a little upset at how commercial the area was but what isn't nowadays. We did a 6-mile hike up into the woods and saw tons of stellers jays and coyotes.
The next day we drove out to Yosemite, and blah blah blah we ended up doing the Half Dome trek. We each brought 4 liters of water and tons of trail mix and Clif Bars, but it was so cold that the water was overkill (less sweat). When we got to the base of Half Dome, it started snowing and raining and the wind was biting. We started to climb the cables but our gloves were soaked and it was the cables were ice cold and Andrew ended up getting frostbite. Plus our boots were slipping on the rock and our fingers were cramping up. We were so scared halfway up that we decided it wasn't worth it and headed back down. No, these aren't cheap excuses because I wanted to do that climb more than anybody. Andrew had already done it twice before. So I left unfulfilled. The hike was nice and exhausting though (17 miles round trip).
So then we headed down to LA to see my friend and we partied and ate some delicious authentic Mexican food. I died.
Next: Grand Canyon. We hiked down the South Kaibab trail at 5am and spoke French with some Parisian girls who were hiking down to the river. We hiked down to the Tonto Trail and then over to the Bright Angel and out. It took us 6 hours total and not too bad. Although I almost bonked coming up because I was getting dehydrated. (Hint: bring at least 4 liters of water and keep drinking every 15 minutes! and keep eating food and salty snacks at least every hour! simply drinking water won't cut it!)
The bottom of the Grand Canyon is so damn quiet that we didn't even hear wind. We did have a close encounter with some mule deer down there. The sun also rose as we descended down the South Kaibab and it was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. (Hint: wear SPF 45 as the sun is BRUTAL. Also do NOT forget a hat and sunglasses!!!!!!!)
Then Zion and Bryce Canyon in Utah. Kind of anticlimactic after Grand Canyon but still pretty nonetheless. Decent hiking but not killer (unless you join a bunch of trails). The hoodoos in Bryce are incredible, formed from years of freezing and thawing and erosion.
More later,
Daniel
Jul 13th, 1999 | 10:48 AM
#2
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Posts: n/a
Daniel:
Thanks for your trip details...sounds like you enjoyed it.
Good thinking about Half Dome -- that could have been a dangerous situation. If the park service has to pluck people from the rocks and cliffs I've been told they send you the bill to boot.
How did you like the climb out of the Grand Canyon? It just about wiped us out. I was never so glad to end a hike in my life. Did you do the Angel's Landing hike in Zion?
Glad to hear from you again!
Thanks for your trip details...sounds like you enjoyed it.
Good thinking about Half Dome -- that could have been a dangerous situation. If the park service has to pluck people from the rocks and cliffs I've been told they send you the bill to boot.
How did you like the climb out of the Grand Canyon? It just about wiped us out. I was never so glad to end a hike in my life. Did you do the Angel's Landing hike in Zion?
Glad to hear from you again!
Jul 13th, 1999 | 10:56 AM
#3
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Posts: n/a
Boy is it great to see your post...with the recent slides in Y, I began to worry about you. My friends from the Czech Republic went up there last weekend and said lots of the public areas were fenced off. Sorry you couldn't complete that climb...I know how important it was for your adventure. The variation in the temperatures during a climb are awsome from your description. The Park is wonderful year round....its totally a different feel in late Fall and in Winter....Perhaps you will be able to revisit and see Y in another season or come back next year for another attempt at that climb. Glad youre safe.
-The Other Dan's Mom
-The Other Dan's Mom
Jul 14th, 1999 | 04:55 AM
#5
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Posts: n/a
hey guys,
yeah, i heard about the rock slides in yosemite just a week after we were there. very spooky, because we camped not too far from there.
the climb out of grand canyon was very killer. as i said before, i nearly bonked because i was so dehydrated. it was about 90+ degrees and i highly recommend going DOWN the south kaibab (no shade) and UP the bright angel (shade and rest stops). i can seriously see how people die down there annually. i saw a lot of dumb people (fat, or with kids, or too old) coming down the trail with absolutely no water or sun protection, coming down the trail at the hottest part of the day. i'm not saying that fat, old, people with kids are all dumb--just the ones that don't think about coming back OUT of the canyon. i saw the helicopter go down 4 times in the short 6 hours that we were hiking. unbelievable--and we hiked at 5am, too. imagine later in the afternoon when it's climbing to 100 degrees.
i didn't get to spend much time in LA but i did have the best damn burrito i ever had in my life. i thought they were good in chicago but this shit was authentic. i also got to see manhattan beach where the volleyball studs made their careers. i would've liked to have seen venice beach though.
i would love to live in california. it is such a diverse state, it's almost like a different country. i sometimes wonder what it would be like if it WERE a part of mexico.
more later.
daniel
yeah, i heard about the rock slides in yosemite just a week after we were there. very spooky, because we camped not too far from there.
the climb out of grand canyon was very killer. as i said before, i nearly bonked because i was so dehydrated. it was about 90+ degrees and i highly recommend going DOWN the south kaibab (no shade) and UP the bright angel (shade and rest stops). i can seriously see how people die down there annually. i saw a lot of dumb people (fat, or with kids, or too old) coming down the trail with absolutely no water or sun protection, coming down the trail at the hottest part of the day. i'm not saying that fat, old, people with kids are all dumb--just the ones that don't think about coming back OUT of the canyon. i saw the helicopter go down 4 times in the short 6 hours that we were hiking. unbelievable--and we hiked at 5am, too. imagine later in the afternoon when it's climbing to 100 degrees.
i didn't get to spend much time in LA but i did have the best damn burrito i ever had in my life. i thought they were good in chicago but this shit was authentic. i also got to see manhattan beach where the volleyball studs made their careers. i would've liked to have seen venice beach though.
i would love to live in california. it is such a diverse state, it's almost like a different country. i sometimes wonder what it would be like if it WERE a part of mexico.
more later.
daniel
