June '09 Newsletter
June '09 Newsletter |
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April started out with a 70th birthday for one of our Black Canyon City friends. It became a pretty big deal when what seemed like half the town turned up and then . . . Elvis was in the house! Susan's Aunt Joanne and Uncle Bud came to visit for a few days in early April. They were escaping the Minnesota winter and had traveled to Las Vegas to visit family. Seeing Phoenix was warm and close they decided to stop in here before heading home. A bit later in the month the High Desert Easter Egg Hunt was overwhelmingly popular as always. Susan enjoyed her morning hiding eggs and helping control the throngs of excited egg seekers. She has found it's not the candy but rather the challenge and discovery that the kids most enjoy. In addition to candy filled eggs, the group hides eggs containing small toys and tokens exchangeable for cash. Each child received a raffle ticket for a chance to win one of the 25-50 donated Easter baskets filled with treasures.
She returned from the park to find that tragedy had struck her family that morning when her 28 year old nephew Derek passed away unexpectedly in his sleep at his parents' home. A partially blocked artery to his heart may have caused his early demise. Susan made immediate plans for a quick trip to Minnesota and was there by Wednesday night to be with her youngest sister Laurie and her family. Last year, some family members remarked that the only time we all get together is for weddings and funerals. There are far too few weddings lately.
Home for less than a week, we packed and left for China, details to follow. Jet lag from the trip over was nothing compared to what we experienced upon our return home. It took about two weeks to re-index. Our weed crop was fairly well controlled when we left but had gone crazy and dried out while we were away. After untold loads of laundry, we set about cleaning up the yard. In the interest of fire prevention, the County had opened our transfer station for a couple of months of free slash disposal. Fortunately we caught the tail end of that period and dumped two heaping trailer loads of weeds and clippings. The remainder is being fed into our trash can as space permits.
Minnesota beckons and we are going a month earlier than normal. We leave this weekend and will spend a bit less than two weeks there. Yolande and Antti's cabin is open and we will likely spend a couple of days out there. The third of July is the bigger holiday in Aurora and Susan is still debating whether to clown with her nephews and Gina's in-laws in the parade. Biwabik, a few miles away has their parade on the 4th, so there is always something going on.
The remainder of July, we will be occupied preparing for our August Desolation-Gray and Lake Powell houseboat trips. We are excited about spending a week on the river with Scott and Tennille, along with other close friends. The jury is still out for September. If Bob decides to stall having his left knee fixed, we may spend most of the month in Turkey, finally taking the trip we had to cancel a few years ago.
Imperial China, Tibet & the Yangtze River (4/25/09 - 5/16/09):
All in all, we loved this trip. The people all got along well and were easy going travelers. There was a nice mix of historical, political, controversial, cultural and anthropological learning opportunities. The commercial "factory" tours were for the most part shopping forays but a few like the cloisonné and jade factories were rather interesting and of course shopping is a big part of some travelers' joy. We saw and did a lot in our three weeks and yet had ample free time to relax or do more, as we wished.
2009 Trip Reports:
After sending out feelers and finding few if any of our regular traveling buddies interested in a China trip, we decided to go ourselves with Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT). OAT is a well known company that is the more-active, smaller-sized group division of Grand Circle Travel. Both have good reputations and have been around for a while. OAT trips are generally 16 or fewer - our final head count was 11 plus our guide, a bus driver and occasionally a local guide. A full trip description and their scheduled future dates can be found at their website. If you haven't yet traveled with OAT and decide to, please mention our name and customer number 001072443, as they give both you and us substantial trip discounts. Traveling on a commercial trip of this nature was something new for us but it worked out just fine. At times we might have preferred to spend more or less time at a place than they scheduled but that is to be expected on any organized tour. On the whole, their trip was well paced. We are considering a couple of other trips they offer for 2010 and 2011.
Our flight from Phoenix left early in the morning so we spent the night with Blue in Tempe, leaving our vehicle at her place, and accepting her generous offer to drop us at the airport. We seem to do this a couple of times a year and it is always fun to spend some time with her and the kitties, Agatha and Gus. Another Arizona member of our group noticed the OAT tags on our bags and introduced herself at the airport. The flight from Phoenix to San Francisco was uneventful. Once on the plane for Beijing, we settled in for a 12-hour mind-numbing flight over the Pacific and the endless snowscapes of eastern Russia. The flight was very smooth until the last hour or so. They had just finished serving breakfast, when we hit turbulence that seemed like it would never stop. Exhausted and green about the gills, we were elated to have our feet planted firmly on the ground once more. Even better, we cleared customs and immigration with minimum hassle. Our guide Danny met the three of us at the gate with a telescoping OAT sign we quickly learned to search for in the many throngs of people we encountered. Danny accompanied six of us to the Beijing Park Plaza and helped us settle in before returning to the airport to pick up the rest of the group.
To avoid suffering from the time difference, we made it a point to stay awake that day until at least our normal bedtime. Our hotel was wonderful and offered a delicious breakfast buffet of everything from omelets to dim sum. We normally had breakfast at our leisure and met the group in the lobby at a specific time for the day's scheduled activities. We attended one optional acrobatic performance at the Chaoyang Theatre but skipped the evening at the Chinese opera. Susan went in 1986 and was not interested in repeating the experience. While the costume changing is fascinating, she found the music discordant to the point of nerve jangling. The acrobats however were fabulous! In Beijing we visited Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, the Great Wall, a cloisonné factory, the night market and a hutong - one of the old residential neighborhoods that are gradually being redeveloped. We learned how to make dumplings in the home of a gracious local resident and observed her niece painting delicate scenes and figures on the inside of snuff bottles.
Arriving at the Beijing train station to catch our sleeper train to Xian, we were ever so happy to have our guide leading the way and making the arrangements. It was a Thursday night before a three day holiday weekend celebrating May Day and what a crowd! We're guessing a couple of hundred thousand people were in front of the station, which encompassed a multi-block area about the size of Black Canyon City's business district and probably another hundred thousand were inside scrambling for trains. We used to think Mexico City was densely populated but now have a totally new concept. Our sleeper compartments had bunks for four but OAT had taken care of us and we were able to comfortably sleep two to a room. The welded rails offered a far smoother ride than the older style split rail tracks. We covered 700 non-stop miles in 10 -11 hours that night. We slept well and awoke shortly before disembarking and locating our bus to the Xian Garden Hotel. After settling into our rooms, we met in the courtyard where a Tai Chi master and son demonstrated their art and put us through our paces. It was offered every morning but unfortunately we had too many planned events to take advantage. As expected, we spent most of a day visiting the famous terra cotta army accidentally discovered in 1974 by farmers digging a well. We found the enormity of this discovery mind boggling and surprisingly much of it remains unexcavated. The Chinese are wisely waiting for better archaeological methods to unearth the remainder of the site. This day's lunch featured a noodle making demonstration that was quite impressive. We also visited Xian's Shaanxi Museum, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and the largely intact defensive city wall constructed during the Ming Dynasty.
Leaving the city by bus, we soon arrived at Hu Xian, a redeveloped middle class "farmers painting village" where we split up into groups of 3-4 and spent the night in family homes. After settling in with our families, we visited one of the painter's studios where he painted a picture for us and had dozens more for sale. They were colorful, somewhat simplistic but cheery. After dinner our hostess walked us to the town plaza for an evening of music and dancing with the locals. Before leaving town the following day, we visited their primary school. One class of children rushed out to greet us and ushered us up to their classroom where they sang English songs for us, showed us how to fold origami creatures and cut out flashy snowflakes. To top off the visit, we all went outside for a tug of war.
Back on the bus we were off to the airport for our flight to Chengdu in search of Giant Pandas. We didn't have to search long or hard, as our local guide led us directly to the sanctuary on the outskirts of the city. The pandas of all ages are wonderful to watch. From behind a moat, they seem like gentle, docile creatures. Chengdu is primarily known for its manufacturing and the sun is rarely much more than a red glow in their gray sky. The scratchy throats that we were hoping were smog caused allergy symptoms alas developed into head colds - not a great beginning for our flight to Lhasa, which is at 12,000 feet. We took our Diamox pills for a couple of days prior to the flight and the air quality was much better there but we continued to struggle with congestion. Fortunately, no one in our group developed altitude sickness but we occasionally found ourselves short of breath and tired much of the time. Danny purchased ginger root for the group and we brewed tea with it in our rooms, which helped tremendously.
Lhasa is the political and economic center of Tibet and the former home of the Dalai Lama. The city itself numbers about 100,000 and the adjacent countryside adds another 200,000. It seemed a very small town after other Chinese cities we visited. There is a strong military presence all around town but especially in the Barkhor Bazaar near the Jokhang Temple, the oldest part of Lhasa, bustling with religious pilgrims, tourists, and marketers. We thoroughly enjoyed touring the Potala Palace but were disappointed that we were not allowed to take photos inside. We believe it has been banned because some believe flash degrades the artworks and many people can't seem to figure how to turn their camera's auto-flash off.
Bob celebrated his 69th birthday in Lhasa. On the sly, Danny purchased a cake for him that arrived after dinner. The popular exploding Magnolia candle was coveted by all of us but we doubted we could get them past the sensors at the airport. Wanting to check some things out on our own, we skipped the optional tour to the Summer Palace and the Sera Monastery. Grand Circle Foundation supports an orphanage in Lhasa and we enjoyed our visit there. The older children were at school but the younger ones sang "You Are My Sunshine" and another song to us in English, before they led us by hand on a tour of the grounds. On our way to the airport, we stopped to photograph a group of three yaks, the only ones we had seen. Most of the yaks had been taken to the high country to escape the coming summer heat. Did I mention we had the opportunity to sample yak steaks, yak stew, and yak burgers? Perhaps the heat wasn't the only thing they were escaping from.
Our next stop was a sprawling territory of Chonqing, home to 31 million people. We have never before seen so many skyscrapers. After dinner at a downtown high rise, our bus delivered us to the dock to board the Victoria Rose - our floating home for the next three days. It was an American ship with a Chinese captain and a German cruise director. We explored the ship while waiting for the balance of the passengers to arrive. The ship capacity was about 120 and we think it required nearly that many crew members. The crew was a well-oiled machine and entertaining as well. Most of the clients were affluent Chinese, but there were about 30 of us from various western countries. The ship moved every day but also moored while smaller craft ferried us up narrower gorges for day excursions. One of our favorites was the passage up the Daning River Gorge, which featured Rhesus monkeys, a hanging coffin, and towering, vegetation-covered, limestone walls. Another was our visit to the "Ghost City" where a tram delivered us to a high point to visit the God of Hell and his minions.
At the Three Gorges Dam for our last night on board, we entered the set of five locks to be lowered several hundred feet. We were on the deck for the first step but called to dinner afterward. Just outside the window, we watched the cement wall slide by as we ate. The passage was completed later that night and we awoke to find our ship moored downstream of the Dam. After another great breakfast, we were taken on a tour of the Dam, another highlight for Bob of course, although he did express dismay that we didn't get inside to see the turbines and generators. In our 23 years together, we've never bypassed the opportunity to tour a damn dam. They are right up there with Civil War battlefields; we never miss one of those either. We returned to the ship for lunch, said our goodbyes, met our bus, and settled in for the 5 hour bus ride to Wuhan.
Viewed from a fast-moving bus window, the passing countryside was unlike any we had seen so far but much like what Susan remembered from her 1986 trip. We rolled by farming village after farming village, plot after plot of rape (canola oil plant), rice, and lotus. Barefoot peasants in traditional broad brimmed straw hats worked the fields with archaic tools and water buffalo. Unfortunately, we made only one stop on this long run and that was to use the facilities at a convenience market. We would have loved to take some photos but nothing we shot from the fast-moving bus window turned out fairly well. It was good that we arrived rather late in the afternoon as the night at our dingy Wuhan hotel was not a trip highlight. We were glad to be up early and on the plane for Hong Kong.
Our modern Hong Kong (HK) hotel, the Hotel Jen, offered an hourly shuttle service to many of the key points in HK but was also conveniently located to many interesting forms of public transport. Once checked in, we were on our own for the day. After a short ride on a double-decker tram, we connected with the excellent metro system and rode it to Kowloon. First sight-seeing in a local park, we then navigated on foot to the Museum of History and spent much of our afternoon there. More wandering and window shopping led us back to the ferry terminal and a scenic return across the bay to HK. Elevated pedestrian walkways enabled us to easily stroll high above the frantic street traffic to the double-decker trolley line and another pleasant ride back to our hotel.
The next day our local guide took us to the Daoist Man Mo Temple. A thick blanket of pungent incense drove Susan to the parking lot but Bob ventured inside for some colorful pictures. Next we walked a few blocks of what our guide humorously called Chinatown, narrow alley-like streets lined with vendors of flowers, fish, produce etc. We took a short trip on the Mid Levels Escalator, the longest covered escalator in the world. In crowded HK, this is a major people mover that reverses direction during the day to accommodate people going to and from work. A short bus ride landed us at the wharf of the Aberdeen Fishing Village, where we boarded a sampan to cruise around the harbor comparing the lifestyle of the boat people to the many skyscrapers in the background. After a quick tour of a jewelry factory, three of us split away from the group and took a double-decker city bus to the Stanley Market. We had lunch at an ocean-front restaurant and did some wandering before boarding an express bus to the base of Victoria Peak. A steep ascent on the funicular provided spectacular city views, as did the multi-storied shopping mall at the top. We said our goodbyes to Ken, who was ready for more walking at a faster pace than Bob's bad knee could handle, and slowly made our way home to relax.
Up early the next morning, the two of us took the hotel shuttle to the ferry dock and boarded a ferry to Lantau Island, which is twice as large as HK, covered with parkland, and better still, sparsely populated. We arrived in port just as the #2 city bus left for Po Lin Monastery. Not wanting to wait an hour for another, we caught a different city bus that dropped us at the entry road. Just as we completed our steep, 4-kilometer hike to the giant Tian Tan Buddha complex, the next #2 bus passed us and pulled into the parking area. Ah well, the exercise was good and the views certainly worth the effort. This awe-inspiring Buddha is the largest outdoor seated bronze Buddha statue in the world. It was impressive enough that we braved the 200 steep steps to take pictures at the base. Going back down took its toll on Bob's knees, so we enjoyed a snack and a short break before hopping the sky tram down to the Kowloon-Airport metro line. It was the longest and most interesting ride in our limited sky tram experience. Bob took numerous pictures while celery-colored Susan retreated to her little mental room in one corner of the car. Firmly planted on land once more, we split up at Chinatown. Susan returned to the Mid Levels Escalator district for some shopping while Bob took the trolley back to the hotel, photographing along the way. It was our last night and we gathered for a dim sum farewell dinner at a nearby restaurant. Danny surprised each of us with a gift of pictures he had shot of us along the way. He had about two weeks free time before the arrival of his next OAT group and thought he might travel to Shenzhen that evening so he could catch a cheaper flight home.
On the last morning of our China adventure, our local guide arrived to accompany us to the airport. To everyone's delight, Danny was also there to say goodbye. The Swine Flu crisis was at its height and we had some concerns about being quarantined in HK. Fortunately, the scanners didn't pick up any elevated temps in our crowd and we passed uneventfully through the airport concourse gates. Nine of our party were on the same flight from HK to San Francisco, while another was routed through Chicago, and one more was taking a local flight to Shanghai to spend a few more weeks traveling.
The China we experienced was a different world from the one Susan saw in 1986. Officially still a Communist country, China's population does seem freer to do and say as they please. We had no sense of being watched and there were not excessive numbers of police or military present, except in Tiananmen Square or downtown Lhasa. In both areas unarmed soldiers paraded in small groups, probably to show who was in charge. In Lhasa's main square, the weapon of choice at some corners was an unusual shotgun-like gun that probably shot bean bags or something similar out of an approximately 2" barrel. One would see more fully automatic weapons in many of the Central American countries we've visited. Capitalism has definitely emerged in China and the standard of living of at least the 300 million urban dwellers seems much improved. Gone are the throngs of bicycles and standardized Mao attire. Western dress is de rigueur. However, a billion Chinese still live a rural life and may not be reaping the full benefits of this rapid conversion to a market-based economy. We look forward to returning in a few years to visit Guilin and possibly take the train to Lhasa before bussing through the Himalayas to Kathmandu in Nepal.
| Participants: | Bob & Susan Marley. |
| Participants: | Ernie & Sandy Hildner, Dave Kehs, Bob & Susan Marley, Scott McCoullough, & Kay Threlkeld. |
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Updated on Tuesday, June 23, 2009 @ 3:30 MST © 1995-2009 by Robert R. Marley |
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Early the next morning, we were off to Grand Canyon. The trailer was heavily loaded and the truck was crammed full. With only two true seats it was a squeeze for the three of us. This necessitated frequent breaks along the way so Susan could unwind herself from the floor- mounted gearshift. We made good time to Flagstaff and after stopping for gas, continued on to another stretch stop at Cameron. Since it was too early to eat lunch, our next port of call was Cliff Dwellers, where we relished delicious burgers on their veranda, beneath the soaring Vermillion Cliffs. We had been advised to order quickly as 30 bikers would be arriving shortly from Jacob Lake. Fortunately they were a well-behaved, family, yuppie Harley crowd rather than gun-toting, trouble-making Hells Angels types. Pressing on, we arrived at the De Motte Campground to find Scott holding a campsite for us. He unloaded Dave's crated up bike and the two of them efficiently reassembled it. The North Rim was cold and cloudy, promising to be ten degrees cooler than usual. We test drove our bikes over to Kaibab Lodge where we ran into Sandy and Ernie, who were headed for the dining room. They'd camped at De Motte the previous evening and after biking out to Point Sublime for the views decided they needed a warm bed and showers. Kaibab Lodge was full but they scored a room at the Jacob Lake Inn.
After a crisp night, we arose to find frost covering our gear. A steamy round of hot drinks got us going and we quickly packed up and met the remainder of the group at the Lodge where we loaded up their gear and bikes. We gathered for a map talk and the group decided biking the Arizona Trail from the East Rim Viewpoint to forest road 610 and the forest roads to Marble Canyon Viewpoint would be enough of a first day's ride. We drove to the East Rim in Kay and our vehicles. Even with haze from a South Rim fire, the views were spectacular. Kay caught a young horned toad to show us before placing it safely out of fat tires' way. Once in the saddle, the rough single track left little time to be gazing around but Susan caught a glimpse of the hindquarters of an enormous elk disappearing into the Aspens. After a couple of hours and a few spills, the intrepid bikers rejoined Kay and Bob for lunch along the road. The flower-covered high elevation meadows were enjoyed but the single-track path occasionally caught up with unwary riders. After a sumptuous roadside lunch, our two drivers took the group's gear to our campsite, while the rest continued on their bikes. All arrived in fine shape, though there was some mild whining that evening about the roughness of the last four miles of road. There certainly were no complaints about the views from our campsite. The point was littered with dwarf paintbrush and fleabane.
Only Ernie, Dave and Bob biked the rough road to our Nankoweap Trailhead campsite the next day. For some reason the repeated four miles didn't seem nearly as bad when the bikers were fresh and they quickly left forest road #219 behind, cruising on the wider, smoother #610 again. Along the way, the drivers and co-pilots saw a mother turkey and her brood of ten to twelve and stopped numerous times to identify wildflowers, of which there were many. Bob had told everyone it was mostly downhill to camp and was delighted to see his memory hadn't failed. Ernie had a calibrated odometer on his bike and claimed to reach speeds of nineteen miles per hour for a short distance. Fearing for his life, Bob lagged behind at those times and caught up when Ernie stopped to wait for him. By lunchtime we were in our intended campsite on the rim of the Canyon. Breaking out the hiking sticks that afternoon, everyone went for a hike on the upper Nankoweap Trail. Most hiked only 1-2 miles but Ernie made it as far as the saddle where the old trail down from the monocline rim intersects the more popular access trail coming up from Houserock Valley. The locust fields with their clusters of light pink flowers were gorgeous though a bit vicious and left us with some scratches. The trail was bordered by blue flax, paintbrush, and lupine. Susan was delighted to see wild clematis on the return trip. Most of the day had been clear and it seemed cooler temperatures were going to make biking and hiking very enjoyable.
We awoke to a dismal, gray-sky morning, not cold but threatening to rain. The first activity of the day was to be a hike or bike about 2 miles on a rudimentary trail from our campsite to Point Imperial. Bob and Susan had hiked it the previous year, finding the first half mile dense with locust fields, followed by a downhill, then across a ravine and ending with a fairly flat walk for the last mile to the Point. After suggesting anyone attempting to bike it wear some kind of leg protection and watch their bike tires in the locust, Ernie was the only taker. Our group met one couple hiking the opposite direction on this seldom-used trail. Sandy and Susan made numerous stops along the way to peruse various blooms. A small patch of large Colorado columbine, both lavender and light yellow, was a suprising find. Bob and Kay drove the vehicles around, arriving to find the group well and Ernie nursing his wounds, as the locust bushes had their way with him. The original plan had been to ride to the campground but Bob thought it ill-advised after he noted a fairly horrendous uphill and blind corners on the narrow highway. Many of the group had not been to Cape Royal, so we loaded up and wound our way there for lunch. It still hadn't rained but the skies were ominous and it was truly a dreary day by Arizona standards.
After feasting at the road end picnic area, we walked out to view Wotan's Throne and walk on top of Angel's Window. The views along the drive also were spectacular with some of the group pointing out different Canyon features and routes below the rim. By the time we reached the campsite, it was pretty dismal and light rain was occasionally falling. Less than excited about cooking in the rain, a night out at the Lodge dining hall seemed in order. Kay drove up to make a reservation only to find the only thing open was 4:45 or 9:00 PM. Neither seemed all that attractive but cooking in the rain seemed even less so. After some fargling we finally decided to go for the 9:00 PM seating, a very late dinner for folks who had been hitting the sack as early as 8:00. While we arrived at least an hour early, no tables for seven became available until well after 9:00. Several of us watched the evening ranger program about cross Canyon hiking the North Kaibab and Bright Angel Trail. The seasonal ranger was entertaining, more so because of his obvious lack of experience in backpacking Grand Canyon. Eventually we were called for our dinner, the quality of which was approved by some of us and disappointing to others.
It rained sporadically throughout the night and was miserably wet the next morning. Susan and Bob prepared hot drinks and threw together a quick breakfast under the canopy of a large Ponderosa. Bob had purchased a camping permit for Swamp Point but the rain was persistent and more intense as the morning wore on. At the last minute, expecting difficult road conditions, he rerouted the group to the next day's planned North Timp campsite. This turned out to be a good decision as the skies partially cleared there and we were greeted with a fairly pleasant afternoon. Susan and Scott had scavenged a huge tent at the North Rim group camp. The family group using it apparently did not want to put the wet mess into their vehicle so they trashed a brand new 10 x 12 foot tent and a bunch of their other gear. After eating delicious creampuffs that Sandy and Ernie had bought for the group at the Kaibab Lodge, we set it up right away to dry it. It came in handy to house our card game during one brief intense afternoon shower. Kay was hiking the Rainbow Trail while this was going on but stayed dry under Ponderosa cover. By 4:00 PM it was gorgeous, so everyone except Kay biked the Rainbow Trail to Timp Point and back, three miles each way. The views off Timp were wonderful, exposing Thunder River far below us and Owl Eyes across the river on Great Thumb. Unfortunately, Sandy was struck with a debilitating migraine and Kay drove over to pick her up.
Kay and Ernie were both disappointed that we hadn't gone to Swamp Point, as they wanted to hike down to the Roosevelt Cabin on the saddle below. Since we were ahead of schedule, four of our group decided to drive there in Kay's vehicle and do the hike if the weather was appropriate. The evening had been sparkling clear and the next morning was both warm and clear. After eating a hearty breakfast of apple pancakes and sausage, the foursome was off on their adventure. Sandy returned to her tent, hoping rest would erase the last vestiges of her migraine. Eventually she felt better and that afternoon was on the rim drawing an impressionistic image of Steamboat Mountain and Crazy Jug Canyon below her. Bob eventually joined her and took a number of Grand Canyon panorama shots that with the help of Photoshop he planned to stitch together into high-resolution images. The adventurers returned, having had no problems with the roads, with great stories about the Roosevelt Cabin (incorrectly labeled as apparently Teddy was never there at a time after the cabin was constructed). After more Canyon viewing everyone returned to our fantastic campsite and a lengthy Mexican Train dominos game broke out. Several hours later, Dave won. Another great fire and some star gazing left us ready for another early turn-in.
We set up camp before investigating the rim viewpoints, where we were rewarded with 270-degree panorama possibilities. A view swept from Crazy Jug Point across the horizon to the Powell Plateau with seemingly endless canyons displayed below us. After 2-3 hours of biking our riders arrived with new stories. Apparently Locust Point (the point with the best campsites) had been a hot bed of activity. In addition to some independent biker/hiker/canyon-viewers, a couple of commerical tour companies had folks out biking. As we prepared lunch a lone condor floated majestically overhead. Unfortunately few cameras were at the ready, so only Sandy caught a telephoto shot from far away.
The plan was to get an early start but we awoke to a drizzle. Susan got the coffee going under another large Ponderosa. Using the tree for cover we were able to finish breakfast and get ready for the last ride. Kay and Bob were to drive the vehicles over to Parissawampitts Point, the end of the ride. Ernie remarked on how well everything was going (no accidents, no gear problems) but Bob suggested we might want to wait on those comments until we were back at Kaibab Lodge. We said our good-byes to Scott, then away the bikers went and away Bob and Kay went to meet them. In only a couple of miles there was a loud sound like a pop can being opened near your ear. Bob got out and checked the tires, finding one of the trailer wheel rims slowly settling to the ground. They changed the tire and continued on relatively uneventfully, although the last #250 forest road hill had the wheels spinning and just about stopped the truck and trailer.
The bikers arrived unscathed from their ride with some mild complaints about the trip being primarily uphill and how some places were nasty enough that taking the bike for a walk was absolutely necessary. However the smooth forested sections of the ride were delightful. Fortunately no more tires were holed on the drive out to the Lodge. The six of us ate our last lunch as a group on their picnic table and repacked our vehicles. Sandy and Ernie were off to Toroweap, Kay was staying the night at the Lodge, and we were headed for Black Canyon City.
