Grand Canyon - Phantom Ranch (May 3-5, 2014)

Approximately 5:40a on May 5.  Group of 20 ready to head up Bright Angel Trail to South Rim.
Back L-R:  Patrick, Chris, Mike, Maeve, Nick, Paul Jr., Charlie, Dave, me, Alex, Theresa
Front L-R:  Marlene, Jim, Carol, Patricia, Nicole, Kerry, Luis, Pat, Jon

Twenty hikers spent two nights at Phantom Ranch (after a night-before stayover at Bright Angel Lodge on South Rim).  Preceded, and followed, by some fun times in Phoenix.

It's been seven years since our last Phantom Ranch adventure (recounted here).  (Among other delaying factors, worldwide competition for large-group reservations is a challenge (one example recounted here).)

I really don't know how the 2014 experience could have been nicer.  Summary of events is included in the email reproduced below.

Among other delightful aspects of the 2014 trip:  a trove of photos, far better than what we've come back with on our prior hikes.  I will separately post a few.

Nope, can't wait for the next time.
______________________________

From: Paul Gales
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2014 9:40 AM
Subject: RE: phantom ranch 2014 - email #6

[Where were we last week at this time?  Even we tail-enders were probably already leaving Indian Gardens by now?]

***

Having stayed at Phantom Ranch in ’97, ’04, ’07, I’ve actually given a fair amount of thought in recent years to teeing up a group outing to a place other than PR – after all, lots of other fine destinations are available.  But every time I mull this over, I keep coming back to the uniqueness of the entire Grand Canyon/Phantom Ranch proposition – reinforced for me again last week.  I do think the general PR differentiators are worth recalling before memories further fade:

·         prosaic but relevant: it’s drivable from Phoenix and overall reasonably priced

·         the opportunity to spend time at the Rim, including a night-before reception-at-the-Rim – and how nice is that evening?  What a spot this year; and PJ, CCG and team did a particularly great job with drinks/snacks.  A closely-related-but-completely-different experience compared to PR itself.

·         the basic up/down hikes are two entirely separate experiences, each entirely wonderful, entirely world-class hikes

o    with enough challenge to be interesting, but not so much as to be daunting

o    and mules(!) to haul our stuff

·         separated by two days of cabin life – a bit rustic, yes; difficult or annoying, generally no; with

o    prepared meals, hot showers, clean sheets (though not necessarily on arrival at cabin 15)

o    among other menu gems:  chocolate cake every dinner since PR opened, and brightly-colored canned peaches at every breakfast!

o    a bar, or “canteen,” that functions like a living room in off hours – drinks, snacks, games, total freedom to move around

·         cut off from the world – no tour bus folk, no national park visitor hordes, no cell phone or TV; facilitates a focus on nature and one another in a way that cannot, and does not, happen otherwise.  (Just compare the feeling you experience as you start encountering lots o’ folks when rising past 1.5 Mile House on the up-hike.)

·         complete flex on our “rest” day to do more outdoor stuff, relax, whatever

·         ranger talks invariably yield a nugget or three

·         4500 feet below the rim – yup, that’s a pretty unique view/vantage point

·         at Mary Colter’s Phantom Ranch!

·         etc., etc.

Not sure if anything quite like this exists elsewhere?  I guess time will tell if we can identify a suitable alternative.  Whatever other destination we might add, I’m sure I’d be perfectly happy returning semi-regularly to PR no matter what.

Beyond the general GC/PR factors:  each trip yields up its own moments; here are a few that I want to remember from last week:

·         seems like there’s somebody like “Gustav” (the enthusiastic Catalan at our first breakfast) on staff at the canteen every trip  – ok, maybe he was a bit over the top, but I think it’s more accurate to say that he really “gets it” in terms of the unique experience for PR’s overnight guests – anyone blasé about this is just missing out

·         illicit dam building in Bright Angel Creek; licit beer can-pyramid building in the canteen

·         mucho Sequence battles royale in the canteen

·         soaking one’s feet in Bright Angel Creek on a hot day; or in the glorious Colorado River itself

·         I learned after the fact that some of our crew saw – and photographed – a couple bighorn sheep at top of South Kaibab trail.  Pretty rare; entirely neat; I’m actually kind of jealous that I missed this. 

·         some of us saw a raptor abduct a squirrel off a high canyon wall, pretty quickly drop the little struggler some 20-30 feet down into Bright Angel Creek, and swoop to a landing spot back up on the canyon wall – all this played out in the course of a few seconds against a perfectly framed backdrop of steep-tight dark cliffs, brilliant sunlight, clear-flowing water – just an amazing visual

·         Ribbon Falls – our first visit after all these years – we learned that this is so fine that we need to better plan how to take advantage of it

·         some of us did a bit of late-night star-gazing while reposed on benches down at the amphitheater – one of my favorite hours of a trip that had many

·         PJ’s cobbler-work on NOC’s splitting shoes

·         the bemused(?) looks on folks’ faces as I went room-to-room at Thunderbird Lodge on Friday night explaining why our South Kaibab hike-down departure time was going to be delayed a bit; the good fortune to find reasonably good replacement hiking shoes reasonably early on Saturday morning

·         surviving the trudge along Bright Angel Creek as the last segment of our down-hike on a 98-degree Saturday afternoon; sweltering through the “Box” on Sunday; enjoying a cool-weather up-hike on Monday

·         those marvelous Kolb Brothers – their adventures initially recounted by via ranger-talk, then skillfully recycled as up-hike entertainment

·         sack-lunch delights (especially that ineffable sausage (accessed for some of us via Nick’s trail-found cutting-rock))

A few things I learned: 

·         how great was it to be unplugged for a few days?  I thought I was doing a pretty good job of managing/limiting my exposure to political/policy news and the like – but clearly need to cut back further.  Way further.

·         how great was it to have a couple birders around (if that’s the word)?  I’m thinking that the time I subtract from following policy debates should go to looking at birds – if you start paying even a little attention to these critters, it ends up being a pretty amazing extension of one’s nature observations.

·         how great to have several actual photographers along on this trip?  Can’t wait to see the results.

And we had a series of fine non-GC/PR adventures (with participation varying based on who was here in Phoenix at the time):

·         Squaw Peak limber-up hikes (Wednesday and Thursday)

·         lunch on Ohso Brewery patio (Thursday)

·         dinner at 11419 featuring Fuego Bistro entrees (Thursday)

·         lunch in downtown Flagstaff at Criollo Latin Kitchen (Friday)

·         NOC’s birthday celebration at PJr/Nedda’s place (Monday)

·         breakfast/recap session at 11419 (Tuesday)

·         pizza lunch downtown at “nationally-renowned” Pizzeria Bianco (Tuesday)

·         dinner, lobby photos, and laughs – with the final hangers-on at Gallo Blanco (Tuesday)

***

So all of this was quite wonderful. 

But we all also observe that the success of the project depends far more than anything else upon the people comprising the group – and setting aside a couple much-regretted absences, I just don’t know that we can ever put together a group quite this fine?  Everything went so smoothly (including previously-daunting tasks such as duffel-coordination).  Consistent patience, good humor, helpfulness, interesting conversation, etc., etc.  Delightful.  Moving in groups-of-20 is definitely not always this consistently easy and fun.

PJ and I had high expectations for this group, and they were exceeded, easily.  We very much appreciated having each and every one of you along. 

And like always, I’m more than a little sorry when it’s over.

Paul & Patricia

p.s #1:  It is my sad duty to report a “tragedy at the mule barn” – my clip-camera was lost in the parking lot there while we were fussing around waiting for duffels to arrive (at least that’s the last time I recall seeing it).  So we shall never know whether this not-quite-ready-for-prime-time technology would have yielded anything interesting.  (And I think I shall not replace it.)

p.s. #2:  for the record, our hiking group included travelers from 10 states (AZ, VA, CA, AK, MN, MA, PA, MD, NJ, OH). 

Paul M. Gales

pgales@phoenixlawgroup.com

From: Paul Gales
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2014 3:18 PM
Subject: RE: phantom ranch 2014 - email #5

Final thoughts:

1. Thursday dinner planning here at 11419 is shaping up nicely, and most everyone that’s made it to Phoenix by then will be here.  Entrees being catered from Fuego Bistro – the guys that did such a great job with the food at Nicole-POC wedding back in 2011.  Appetizers, salads, dessert, etc. being taken care of by the usual local pros.  No fixed start time as we figure folks will be drifting in throughout the day.  Will set out the entrees perhaps 7p or so, but that stuff will be good for hours on the warmers.

2. Bad news:  Nedda had to drop out.  But that did open a spot for the highly esteemed Jon Blaha! (Say hi to Jon.)

3. Bring cameras; take lots of photos; and somebody figure out which photo-sharing site to use.  Please share!

4. Wearable tech #1:  anyone going to wear a fitbit (or similar)?  I want to know how many steps this requires.

5. Wearable tech #2:  I’ll be wearing the Narrative Clip (http://getnarrative.com/) – hopefully no one is uncomfortable around this kind of thing these days, and now you’ve been warned.  (Have been testing it out for a couple weeks now with consistently lousy results, but I’m not giving up.  Yet.)

6. The weather forecast is really quite good.  Definitely trending to the high side for this time of year, but should be no issues with precipitation – which is the one factor that can really damage the experience.  Those of you who have been up on Colorado Plateau know it’s typically pretty windy up there, so I am expecting a lot of that throughout the trip.  I’ll take a jacket for Friday night/Sat morning on South Rim, and then leave it in the car . . . space permitting, will send a separate light jacket down on the mule train since it likely will feel a touch cool down at Phantom Ranch at night (at least to we Phoenix folk).  Not planning to carry a jacket in my backpack even though it might feel a bit cool at the very start of the down-hike.  All in all – given that we’re dealing with three overnights across about 5000 feet of elevation change – the forecast is looking about as good as possible, I’m very grateful for that.

7. Reminder that technically we’re supposed to be bringing 10 male and 10 female hikers on this trip.  Likelihood of enforcement problems on this issue seems extremely low.  Still, if you’re a guy-hiker named “Patrick” or “Christopher” – I listed you with the females under a shortened version of your name in my submission to the vendor.  You may wish to dress accordingly just in case.

8. The only recent revelation for me as to packing – the importance of socks!  I tried the REI brand of “light” hiking socks instead of my usual, and they were noticeably thinner – such that I all but gave myself blisters heading down Squaw Peak the other day.  Too much room for the foot to move around inside the shoe.  This reminded me that the blister problem is primarily on the down-hike.  Anyone in doubt whether they have the right shoes-socks combination probably should stick a backup pair of socks – of a different thickness – in their pack on the down-hike.

9. We’re closing in on having sufficient donkey-duffel bags.  We definitely want those bags locked and loaded before we leave Phoenix on Friday.  Will have a staging area in our living room for this – please be prepared with your donkey-stuff – but not too much of it, in view of space limitations.  (Can somebody local bring a bathroom scale to weigh these bags?  We don’t have one.)

10. We’ll sort out Friday departure times, cars, etc. once everyone’s here.  If anyone has a schedule conflict preventing Friday morning departure, it would be helpful to know that right away, however.

We’re looking forward to seeing everyone soon.

Paul M. Gales

pgales@phoenixlawgroup.com