Breaking News: The Grand Canyon is still there!!
Due to scheduling nuances that are beyond the scope of this report, Jeff arrived in the GC area on September 1, and stayed at Mather Campground for a few days.
On Sept 5, Labor Day, he moved over to 10X campground, campsite #18. Harry and Lenny were scheduled to arrive that day, but unforeseen cat issues delayed the trip by two days. Harry and Lenny drove up together, but in their own vehicles, on Wednesday, Sept 7. Harry brought Smoke along, too.
Site 18 turned out to be great! It's in the Squirrel Loop, which is in the interior of the campground, but the place is so big that there was nice woods behind it and all around. We also had site 17 reserved, in case we needed extra parking. Harry did move his vehicle there for two nites to save the $10 extra fee.
On Thursday Harry and Jeff went drone flying in Harry's vehicle; Lenny stayed on worked on his camp setup. Later that morning we all went for a walk for several miles in and around the campground; we saw a horny toad. Smoke saw a squirrel and went nuts. Jeff and Lenny went to a nice steak house and brought back some food for Harry. Thanks Jeff for treating! It rained pretty hard and we huddled under a sunshade for a while, but then we all had to retreat to our tents/travel trailer. Thursday evening we had a fire; thanks Jeff for bringing wood!
On Friday Jeff and Lenny got up early to do a hike; Harry packed up and saw us off, and returned to Phoenix. Jeff was not feeling well but hung in there like a trooper, and we did the hike; Santa Maria Springs.
Lenny had been on this trail twice before and didn't make it all the way, but this year he managed to get in just good enough shape to complete the trek, very slowly. The snail-ish pace was fine with Jeff because he was ailing.
Santa Maria Springs is great!! The last half mile of the trail is like the scenery from a Roadrunner cartoon, and there is a nice shade hut and benches at the destination. Super view from here!!
Back at camp, Jeff got to feeling a little better and we made ourselves comfortable after the days exertion. Rain was threatening, so Lenny tied an additional tarp to his tent to create a roof over the small "patio" area. The ensuing rain was very heavy, however, and the tarp was too small for the purpose. Learning experience!
On Saturday Jeff decided to stay a couple of extra days to make sure he didn't transmit his illness to the family in Albuquerque. There was more rain Saturday morning, but the weather cleared later, and we took a walk to look at prospective sites for Jeff's additional stay. (The site we were in was reserved for someone else starting Sunday nite.) In the afternoon we got in some good chess and backgammon play in the cool, rain-washed pine air. Zen moment!
Sunday, Sept 11, Lenny packed up his soggy gear and drove home; Jeff moved to site #8. He had to drive the wrong way on the loop briefly to get the view side of his rig facing the best way, but the Smokies didn't get him.
Lenny spent Sunday afternoon and most of Monday drying, cleaning and prepping his gear. (Ready for the next trip!)
Jeff drove home Tuesday, and we were all relieved that he tested negative for Covid. So it must have been some other nasty germ or allergy.
Thanks Harry for coming along, and for feeding the cats! Thanks Jeff for all camping contributions, and hanging in there while not feeling well. Great trip, stoked for next year!! 😀
Here's some pics:
This one is from Jeff's camera; you can see the Santa Maria Springs shade hut in the distance along the trail. It's a dark horizontal rectangle.
The view from the shade hut.
Another view from Santa Maria Springs - breathtaking spot!
The shade hut. Note the cultivated vines in front, really nice shade and ambiance.
Here's the little dripping spring.
Here's how much water I took. Note the nice smooth bench in the background. My sunglasses in their case rolled underneath here and were missing for a few minutes, it was a bad moment. I didn't mind losing them, but I didn't want to hike out squinting.
I like big square rocks.
On the way out; super scenery in this area.
Back in camp; here's my tent setup ready for the rain. (Actually I just thought I was ready. My porch flooded.)
In this view, you can see I've used the sunshelter frame to attach the porch roof lines.
Short rain video:
Grand Canyon 2022, great trip!!!
