Grand Canyon Rim to Rim ~ They Did It!!

Today started really early for Les and Lance.  They spent last night at the Grand Canyon Lodge on the North Rim.  I received at text at 5:43 a.m. saying, "Heading out!"  Another text came in that said, "12:17 at Phantom Ranch."  The trail from the North Rim to Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon is approximately 14 miles.  Of course cell reception is almost non-existent and trying to follow them on Life360 didn't do much, but as they got closer to the top at the South Rim, I got occasional updates.

In case you're wondering, that distance is slightly more than a marathon! I'm so proud of them!  And very thankful that they finished without injury.  I don't have any pictures from their hike yet, but Les did send this one:

"6000 feet of climbing and I have to go up these to get to my room."

(Somewhat) Wordless Wednesday

 

Les and Lance will be hiking the Grand Canyon three weeks from today.  I have been training with Les and he is doing amazing!  Yesterday was his longest training hike - 20 miles!  The trail was 10 miles one way and we had parked a car at each trailhead.  I did the first 10 miles with him, then after he refilled his Camelbak, he turned around for 10 more and I headed home.

Because Les had meetings that started at 11:00, we were up a little before 3:30 and on the trail by 4:30.  It was completely dark for more than an hour, but our lights did a fantastic job.  We were at the highest point of the trail when we started seeing the sunrise.

It was a beautiful morning, about 60 degrees when we started out

Hawaii Weekending

Our first full week in Hawaii was busy, busy, busy.  Les was at work while I was dealing with car stuff.  We hadn't been to Hawaii in 11 months, so first thing was getting the car washed so we could see out the windows.  I then had to get a safety inspection and oil change.  From there I headed to the satellite city hall to pay our car registration, then it was back to Jiffy Lube to get our safety inspection sticker!  Hawaii is pretty easy going about this stuff, but I don't want to drive around in a car that isn't legal.

Of course we were up early every morning while we were there.  Les joined me for a few runs and also rode his bike while I was running solo.  By the time Saturday rolled around we were ready for some R&R.  Les rode his bike to the north shore.   After my run, I drove our car there to meet him. 

We headed to our favorite Mexican restaurant on the island - Cholo's.  They never disappoint.  We then spent several hours relaxing at our favorite beach park - Kaiaka Bay Beach Park.  This park is usually just local families with kids and extremely mellow.  There were several giant sea turtles in the water very close to the beach and I enjoyed watching them while Les took a nap! We were there for over two hours, just relaxing and enjoying a pleasant breeze.

 

We then headed in to Haleiwa and Matsumoto's Shave Ice.   We both ordered SMALL shave ices that aren't actually small!

 

I got watermelon, lilikoi (passion fruit) and sour apple over vanilla ice cream.  Les got banana cream, coconut cream and blue pineapple with azuki beans over vanilla ice cream.  SO yummy!!

 

On Sunday morning we took our time getting out and about.  When we finally did, we headed to my favorite mountain - Tantalus.  I have been running and Les has been riding this loop for a decade.  This time we packed our trail shoes and explored some of the trails.  It was quite an adventure but so beautiful!  For the most part we were in the shade.  A little over 8 miles with lots of climbing over rocks and roots.

Although I didn't take any pictures, the real highlight was being at church on Sunday afternoon!  We have missed our First Church ohana and were happy to give and receive lots of hugs.  And of course hearing Pastor McGriffin preach is always a treat.

Wordless Wednesday

We were in Hawaii for almost two weeks, I'll share more details tomorrow, but here are some of the pictures I took:

 

 

Mt. Roberts Trail and Goldbelt Tram, Juneau (Day 4, Part 2 of 3)

 

After the announcement was made on board that we would arrive in Juneau early, our naturalist provided some ideas of things to do.  The Goldbelt Tram leaves directly from the port in Juneau, climbing 1,800 feet above sea level, making it one of the most vertical tramways in the world.  What made our ears perk up was the suggestion to hike to the tram, then ride the tram down.  So after lunch that is what we did!

We did not start tracking until we reached the trail head.  We should have started our watches at the port because we walked about a mile with over 300' of climbing just getting out of town.

As soon as we got on the trail, I knew we were in for an adventure.  It was muddy!  Which made it slippery.  There were also a lot of roots to climb over.

The views made it completely worth it!

We heard what sounded like a very large bird.  We searched high in the trees, looking for eagles, but never saw any.  We were in Sitka on Thursday and visited an eagle rehab center and were sure that is what we heard.

We saw quite a few people coming down the trail.  I preferred our way.  Going down on a muddy trail was sure to mean going down on my backside!

We saw one couple that cracked us up.  The guy came first and said, "I'm waiting for my wife."  He hollered back to her and she said, "I'm here."  She sounded pretty frustrated with him, then said, "I have Life360, you can track me, just leave me alone!"  I think we laughed about that the rest of the hike! 

 

 

 

Lots of waterfalls!

 

Just under two miles of hiking brought us to the Mountain House.  This was about halfway up the mountain and it was plenty.  

 

 

We wandered through the gift shop, then purchased tickets to ride the tram back down.  We enjoyed the views going down!

Our day in Juneau wasn't over yet!  We got back on the ship around 4:00 p.m. and had time to get cleaned up before meeting our planned excursion at 5:15.  It was a fun one!