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Tag Archives: Hiking

The Grand Canyon

Posted on April 23, 2012 by speedycupcake

This is the last of my spring break recaps.  I promise! I hope I haven’t bored all of you too much.  I’m definitely diving back into fitness and running tomorrow and have some good ideas for new posts. But this was a very special time for me, so I wanted to share it with everyone and maybe even inspire some to get out into nature more.  Plus, seeing how happy my husband was to have all his pictures displayed publicly made this little deviation worth it.

The Grand Canyon is a spectacular ‘hole in the ground.’ It’s really a sight to see.  But now that we’ve seen it, we don’t really have a desire to go back.  We just didn’t seem to ‘connect’ with the park the same way we did with the others on our journey.  It seems less nature and more tourist.  It makes sense- this is after all one of the (if not THE) most visited national parks, with millions of visitors each year.  And with that in mind, it’s really well run- great shuttle system, lots of food options and places to stay.  The path along the rim is paved so everyone can easily access the overlooks, and the shuttle system carries you around much of the rim if you’re not up to much hiking.

But to us, it just lost a bit of the magic with all these innovations.  Plus, we were apparently visiting during one of their busiest weeks of the year- not having a family, we forgot about spring break for schools.  So we felt constantly surrounded by people, even on our more difficult hike.

Anyway- we arrived in the afternoon, and after some stress trying to figure out where to park and dealing with unexpected masses of people, we checked into the El Tovar.  This is a really cool hotel literally feet away from the rim.  It’s also a National Historic Landmark due to its age and unique structure.  It was fun to stay there for a night.

The El Tovar on the rim

We decided to keep it low-key since we were anticipating a strenuous hike into the canyon the next day.  So we rode one of the shuttles out to a viewpoint that was about two miles from the hotel and walked back along the rim.  The lighting at that time of day was really nice and the views were pretty wonderful.

 

We went to see a ranger presentation later that night.  I LOVE these programs at National Parks, they are always fascinating.  This was probably the best one I’ve ever seen. If you’re at the Grand Canyon and lucky enough to be able to see Ranger Ron give his living history on ‘Captain’ John Hance- GO.

We got up to walk out to the rim from the hotel and watch the sunrise- pretty spectacular.

Sunrise over the Canyon

We then enjoyed a fabulous breakfast at the El Tovar with a view of the rim, providing us with adequate fuel to do the South Kaibab trail down to Cedar Ridge and back.  We were on the trail by about 8:30 out of an abundance of caution- there are PLENTY of warnings about the dangers of hiking into the canyon and what precautions you must take.  There’s even a sad story they post about a woman marathoner who ran Boston in a really fast time but then died in the Canyon after not planning properly for those rigors.  (Sorry to be a bit of a downer right now…but it was kinda a way to finally tie this blog back into running….)

It is a pretty steep 1.5 mile hike down to the first resting point.  We just wanted to get into the canyon a bit to experience that, but didn’t really have an interest in venturing further.  Plus we didn’t want to be hiking in there during the afternoon sun.  

View from Cedar Point in the Canyon

We were really glad hiking back up that we had gone early since most of it was shaded at this time of the morning.  We took the shuttle to the visitors center, and then walked the rim another 2.5 miles or so back to the hotel.  At this point, both our feet were very tired.  So, aside from setting up camp for that night’s sleep…we didn’t do much the rest of the day besides catch the sunset.

Sunset and Colorado River

The next day, we rose early again to see the sunrise and have breakfast at the El Tovar (again- it was really good!). We then drove to Las Vegas, where we spent the night before our early flight back to Cleveland the following day.  I’m not a Vegas person, but the hotel was really nice and we had a fabulous dinner at Stripsteak in the Mandalay Bay as a sort of send off for our trip.

What a great trip.  Even better? Being reunited with these knuckleheads, who were totally pampered at their grandparents but still BEYOND excited to see us:

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Arches National Park

Posted on April 22, 2012 by speedycupcake

Arches National Park, located right outside of Moab (about 4 miles from the town center, actually) was the impetus for this trip.  Long ago, in my first job out of college for the National Park Foundation, it was pictures like this that instilled the desire to see this area of the country:

Obviously the goals of the trip evolved a lot since that time almost seven years ago, and parks like Zion and Bryce may have surpassed Arches as the dream destination.  But I never would have expanded my horizons to seek out those parks had it not been for Arches.

The park is aptly named due to the fact that it is the largest collection of free standing natural arches in the world.  And we did our best to see many of them.

We got started somewhat early, and it was quickly warming up.  Arches is definitely a desert park- lots of sand and very little shade.  At this time of year it didn’t get oppressively hot, but it was sufficient for me to be glad that we didn’t wait to go any later in the year.

I don’t recall the name of the first hike we did, but it was a nice four mile loop scaling lots of tall boulders.  There were two notable arches on that path.  First, and before the trail got too difficult, was the Landscape Arch:

Landscape Arch

Believe it or not, there is over 300 feet laying between the two ends of that arch, or an entire football field base to base.  It’s hard to conceptualize because you can’t get too close, but it’s beautiful regardless.

The final destination- for us anyway- was the Double O Arch.  Really cool:

Double O Arch

Me in the Little O

The trail actually continued beyond that to make a seven mile loop into ‘primitive’ trail, which I take to mean mostly sand.  We were tempted to do that since a lot of hidden gems were supposed to be there.  But we also knew we wanted to do the Delicate Arch hike around sunset which, while only three miles round trip, is supposed to be a very difficult one.

So instead we returned to the car and drove back to Moab to set up our campsite in town.  Our first two nights in Moab we stayed at the Sunflower Hill Inn, which was a wonderful find by my husband.  When we go back to Moab, we’ll definitely stay there again.

But for our third night, we camped. Nice enough campground, but I’d like to try to get in Arches or Canyonlands next time.

After we set up and relaxed a bit, we headed back to Arches to do a series of mini-hikes to several other arches and rock formations before our impending Delicate Arch hike.  It was pretty warm at this point, and I had a minor headache, so it was good to just do some easy sightseeing- and there were lots of sights to see.

The Three Gossips

The Balanced Rock

The Double Arch

After all that, around 5:15 we began our climb to the Delicate Arch.  The Delicate Arch is THE Arch- it’s Utah’s official symbol. It’s a difficult hike, but once you get there you understand why Utah is so proud of it (and Utah has a lot to be proud of, it seems unfair that one state gets so much beauty to choose from).

My husband's #1 goal of the trip was to get a Delicate Arch shot free of tourists- this is one of MANY....

In retrospect, the hike isn’t the most difficult I’ve done due to the terrain- it’s challenging, don’t get me wrong, just not as bad as the Bryce hike or even our climb up from Crater Lake after our boat tour.  But you’re in the beating sun the entire time, in addition to being at least 7,000 feet up.  Those factors combine, along with my cranky headache, made it tough.  But being able to see this is completely worth the strenuous effort.

Me in the Delicate Arch- yup, it's that big!

After hanging out a while and chatting with other fellow hikers, we headed back down before it got dark and grabbed dinner at the Moab Brewery for the second night in a row- surprisingly good food at really good prices.  Plus they had tasty microbrews on site.

It was a great send off to the Grand Canyon, the last park on our itinerary….

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Bryce Canyon

Posted on April 18, 2012 by speedycupcake

Bryce Canyon is visually stunning- you don’t see anything unique until you get right up to the rim.  Then you are surrounded by thousands of enchanting hoodoos- rock spires formed from erosion.  I think this was my husband’s favorite park, if you can have such a thing, due to all the photo ops. 

It’s a small park, and you really only need a day at the most to see.  We saw it all basically in one afternoon as we undertook our most difficult hike of the trip- the 6-7 mile Figure Eight loop that combined three trails to take you past the most spectactular sites of the canyon.  It was a constant elevation change- ascending the canyon one minute, then descending back to the floor the next.  We unwisely kept predicting after each steep climb that we MUST have reached the top. The last 1/2 mile or so was a steep series of switchbacks past ‘the hoodoo’ of the park, Thor’s Hammer.  My glutes and quads were screaming at this point, so I basically charged up that last portion just to get it over with. 

Thor's Hammer!

It was the coldest place we visited- temps didn’t get out of the 50′s and it was so windy, I got wind burn that haunted me for the remainder of the trip.  It was also the most deserted park, which was great.  Most of the time we felt like we had the run of the park to ourselves.  It was awesome.

Even better was how good I felt the next day (well not my face, the wind burn did a number on it!).  No notable soreness in the legs, despite their fatigue at the end of the previous day.  I chalk this up to my somewhat rigorous and consistent fitness routine, strength training and cardio both.  In another era, I would have been pretty sore, and probably could not have done the hike in under the recommended 3-4 hour time suggestion (go me!).  But I felt great and totally up for it.  The elevation change threw a bit of a wrench into it- Bryce stands at 8,000 feet so initially I would get out of breath a little faster than normal.  But I found that if I stopped for a quick rest, I would get a second wind that would propel me up the steepiest, muddiest climbs the canyon could throw at me.  Once again, I learned to really appreciate the good I do my body every time I exercise, and how much it enables me to enjoy so many other aspects of my life.

After a very cold night- where we wisely abandoned camping plans in favor of a hotel after predictions- of low 20′s, howling winds and snow- we were off to Moab along the historic and unbelievably scenic Highways 12 and 24….

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Zion National Park

Posted on April 17, 2012 by speedycupcake

Our first day and a half were spent at Zion National Park in Utah- a huge hiking spectacular.  You feel very small (or ‘insignificant,’ as my husband described it) among the huge boulders and canyons.  It was a great way to start the trip.

We did three hikes for a total of 8 miles on our second day.  The first and best was the famous Angel’s Landing, a relatively steep hike, the first part of which is all in the sun with a bunch of switchbacks.  We opted not to actually do Angel’s Landing, which is a very narrow and steep .25 mile portion at the end where you have to hold onto a chain to keep from falling.  Six people have died since 2004.  We weren’t super inclined to join them.  The rest of the hike was vigorous enough and offered fabulous views.

Hiking down the canyon- see how small I look?

 We also did the Riverside walk- pleasant but not terribly memorable- and the lower Emerald Pool, which I would have loved to gone further but it was pretty late in the day.

 

I also had an awesome veggie breakfast burrito at the Meanie Beanie to start my day, and my husband won’t stop raving about his duck enchiladas at the Bit and Spur in Springdale, just outside the park gate.  We camped the first night, where it got into the low 30′s, and then stayed at the lodge in the park on Night #2.  The room was charming with a fireplace and porch, and when you walked outside you were immediately surrounded by huge rock peaks.  Totally awe-inspiring.

Talk about a room with a view!

I was sad to go, but that’s because I didn’t know what awaited me at Bryce Canyon….

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The Wayward Blogger Returns

Posted on April 16, 2012 by speedycupcake

I’m back! I’m not sure that anyone noticed, since my blogging dropped precipitously over the last month, but I am back from my long-awaited spring break.  It was a fabulous trip- for me, a trip of a lifetime because I’ve pinned about taking it since my first job out of college.  I already mentioned previously that our trip encompassed the major Southwestern National Parks- we flew in and out of Las Vegas, rented a car and drove to Zion, Bryce Canyon, Moab- where we went whitewater rafting and visited Dead Horse Point State Park and Arches National Park- and the Grand Canyon.  It was spectacular, I really can’t describe these areas unless you see them in person.  To sum up my gushing (for now), it was everything I hoped for and more.

Me at the Wall of Mirrors at Bryce Canyon (photo courtesy: my husband)

While this isn’t technically a travel blog, I am going to do a series of posts about my trip over the next few days.   I can justify it as qualifying for a fitness blog because this was a very active trip- we did some serious hiking every day we weren’t driving, and even those days we usually managed a small hike.  So please indulge me the pleasure of doing some recaps and picture sharing- my husband took hundreds, it would be a shame not to display some of them!

That’ll start tomorrow.  Today was just part of my reacquainting myself with my fitness regime.  Among the many other wonderful lessons from my trip, I felt a renewed motivation to really tackle my work-outs again.  I was feeling a bit in a funk just before I left, for a variety of reasons- post half marathon let down, incredibly busy work and social schedule, and some upcoming big changes that I’ll talk about at a later date just had me not as motivated- I was still working out, but not with the sense of purpose I had before. 

This trip, with so many challenging hikes and other physical adventures (hello, class 3 and 4 rapids!), really inspired me to maintain my fitness.  I looked around and saw so many others who could only look at what nature offered.  They didn’t have the stamina or ability to venture beyond the shuttle buses or trimly paved paths.  While this sounds judgmental, it’s not- I have no doubt that these people still enjoyed their surroundings tremendously, how could they not? And I think that it was great they were venturing out into nature in any capacity.  But I felt truly blessed that I was able to really experience what the parks had to offer, see sights that you can’t see from the nicely maintained viewpoints, and have a great endorphin rush from pushing my body in ways I don’t on a regular basis.  I don’t want to not be able to do these things EVER.  Hopefully this will serve as a life long motivator to maintain a decent level of fitness.

It also re-ignited my desire to amp up my workouts and seriously think about my next races.  We got back into town late Saturday, and both Sunday and Monday mornings I did a nice 3 mile loop.  As much as I want to ramp up, I hadn’t run in basically 2.5 weeks, never mind two days in a row- I hadn’t done that since long before the Rock ‘n’ Roll half! I know better than to just jump into things, so three miles is a good starting place.  And in spite of all my hiking, my hamstrings are a little sore right now as I type- it’s amazing how quickly you can lose the strength! Don’t even get me started on my toning- my abs are in the greatest disarray since I started working out regularly last year.  Time to plank. 

I’m not discouraged.  I know it’ll take a couple of weeks but I’ll be back on my game and looking to take my running and other work outs to the next level.  Really challenging myself out west reminded me of how important it is to keep your workouts tough, to keep setting goals and to keep it interesting.  And that’s what I’m planning to do. I’ll get into specifics at a later date, once I make some final decisions.

Happy Monday, everyone.

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