Latest Annual Pilgrimage to PoTM

Jeff and the grandparents were in Provo for Mark and Paul's graduation. I skipped down after the my last class to fly with them at the Point of the Mountain. I got there about 5:30 PM, and it was warm with huge south wind. Someone measured it at 55 mph at the top of the hill. But the only plane ready at the time was my old JW. We all flew it around for some time before calling it a night.

Saturday, it was cold (45°) with winds maybe not so fast, but plenty stiff. All I had was a rain shell, so I froze. The rest of us were more or less prepared. I don't  have any pictures of Friday, but here are a few of Saturday.

Pete's brand new JW, almost ready to fly.

Oops. He had to rip off the fuselage and re-wire the receiver so things would work. The Zagi box, the Spork (V-tail), and Le Fish are also visible in the pile.

Jeff, fully inflated and flying his Moth.

Mark testing the wind.

Trying out a homemade wing suit.

Air mattress.

Paul launching Mark's JW. Not sure how we came off with no photos of Paul flying.

Pete, with his electronics finally sorted.

Straight and true.

If you blow it up, you can sort of see the plane..

Neighborhoods where once there was nothing. Maybe Mark will live here.

Very happy with his maiden flights.

Ok, here is a picture of Paul's plane. He must be up there somewhere flying it, but alas we can't see him.

I flew the Vanderer. It was graceful and pretty, but you can't do too much with it. I did a lot of loops.

Jeff and his unique double-handed launch. Grab that radio quick.

It really would have been more comfortable with gloves on.

Le Fish. I flew the JW, Le Fish, the Spork (for a few seconds before it crashed), and the Vanderer. I never unpacked the Zagi.

We all had way too much fun. Let's do it again next year.

The Canyon of Magnitude

So, some of the girlies in the neighborhood had planned on going to the Grand Canyon for spring break, but decided not to for some reason. They asked Jann if we would like to steal their permit from them, and she jumped at the chance. We spent 5 days in the canyon, and relished the experience.

Jann applying goop to Jack, in preparation for a long journey.

Parking lot shot.

We parked the car at the top of Bright Angel trail, and took the bus to the South Kaibab trailhead.

Jack being careful while looking over a 1000 ft cliff.

From the top.

All ready to go.

The South Kaibab is the steepest and shortest trial to the river. There were lots of people there.

Don't fall off..

Adam forgot to bring his hiking shoes, so he wore his skater dudes all 40 miles.

I love these little orange flowers. Jann says they are globe mallow.

The bridge at the bottom of South Kiabab.

Tunnel before the bridge.

Feels good to be down. My knees were a bit pesty on the way, but never gave me trouble afterwards.

Coming to Bright Angel Campground.

The campground was pretty KOA-ish, with tent sites end to end. Neighbors on both sides. But there were potties, and drinking water.

Cooling the feet in the water, trying not to disturb the flannel-mouthed suckers that were spawning.

Adam resting..

We did some laundry, and Jack and Jann went in the water to cool off.

Playing hearts.

Second day, we hiked up to Cottonwood Campground, and had a very excellent and private campsite under a holly tree. 

Third day, we day hiked to almost the North Rim. Here, Adam is preparing to compose a poem at the Manzanitas rest stop.

Clever boy.

Jann, reverse nursing.

On the way up, a PS employee was clearing some rocks from the trail, and Jann asked if we could help. He said "knock yourself out," and left.

We ran out of our few liters of water at the Supai Tunnel, so we turned around a couple of miles short of the North Rim, and headed back to Manzanitas.

Stripy rock at the top of the North Rim. We almost made it.

There were redbuds! We love redbuds.

On the way back down. Don't fall off.

Some remains of the old trans-canyon telephone system.

Back at Cottonwood, even Adam got in the water this time.

Relaxing.

One of Mr. Bilbo's trolls.

This is a speckled towhee. I called it a Juju Pee, since it's call sounded like Ju-Ju-Peeeeeeeee.

Fourth day, on our way back to Bright Angel Campground, we stopped off at Ribbon Falls. It has a huge limestone dome that has formed under the falls.

Jack went in through the bottom, but it didn't go very far.

Jann near the top of the dome.

Adam and Jack pretending to be goats.

In the cantina at Fantom Ranch, near the Bright Angel Campground. We mailed some postcards, which were carried out the next day by mule train.

Adam, saying "Hail."

Ok, so Jann did say not to put the tent there, but I said we'd be alright. We weren't. 

We had to move the tent to a place where there wasn't a huge puddle. Nothing got wet though.

Last day, duct taping up the blisters.

Joshua tree.

Jack, exploring a cave. Again, it didn't go in too far.

The South Rim, near Indian Gardens Campground. Up, up, up.

After lunch. It was getting cold. Mid 40s. It had been in the 70s and 80s at the bottom.

All the way back up again.

We'd totally do it again.

It was a gorgeous trip, and as Adam said, of our five days hiking, only about four hours were crappy.