2015 - Summer Adventures/Grand Canyon

May 4^th, 2015 – Summer Adventures

Peregrine was hauled out at Cracker Boys Boatyard in Riviera Beach for a badly needed bottom painting and other maintenance work. 

Peregrine on the lift

We spent a week living in the boatyard, but much was accomplished.  The sail back up to Sunset Bay Marina was especially enjoyable.
 

June 3^rd, 2015

Now that we have Peregrine safely tied to the floating dock and we don’t have to worry about rising tides and changing dock lines, it’s time to travel…

First, it’s off to our kid’s house in Kennesaw, GA.  Our job there was to help pack up the pod in preparation for their big move across town to Braselton, GA at the end of the month.  WOW!  Those kids and grandkids can sure accumulate stuff.  With the pod pretty much packed, and us exhausted, we headed back to Stuart and began prepping for our camping trip to the Grand Canyon. We would be spending time with Steve’s sister and brother-in-law, who were serving as camp hosts at Mather’s Campground on the south rim.

 

June 16^th, 2015

We flew out of Fort Lauderdale, FL and into Las Vegas where we spent the night at the South Point Casino (and no, we did not gamble).  It was lovely. We were exhausted. We ate and we slept.  The next morning we took a cab over to pick up our rented 19’ Cruise America camper and took off for the Canyon.  We had no idea it could be so hot.  One overnight stay at Lake Mead at 110 degrees was enough for us.  I thought my shoes would melt into the pavement while Steve was taking this picture.
 

Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the US.  It is located on the Colorado River about 24 miles from Las Vegas.  A short ride for our first night in the camper.  This lake was formed by the Hoover Dam and has the capacity to hold 26.12 million acre feet of water.  The lake has not been at capacity since 1983 due to a combination of drought and increased water demand.  The reservoir serves water to the states of Arizona, Nevada and California.  Between 2000 and 2009 the water level dropped by 100 feet.  It’s much worse now!  While we were there, they reported the lowest levels in history, falling below the point that would trigger a water supply shortage if the reservoir doesn’t recover soon.  They are hoping for a wet spring in 2016.  It was a scary site.  I am sure if more folks got a firsthand look at these low levels, it would bring a whole new meaning to water conservation.  So, stop letting the water run while you brush your teeth people!  I had to go there. 

As mentioned earlier, Steve’s sister and brother-in-law were working as camp host at Mathers Campground inside the Canyon.  How convenient for us.
 

Susan – waiting for happy hour in front of Susan’s (Steve’s sister) and Louis’s trailer

We parked our RV next to their trailer, plugged into the electric outlet, water, and sewer outlet, and began a wonderful eight day visit.  We were lucky in that the other camp host did not show up so we were able to utilize his spot in the campground and not go to the “RV parking lot”.  This is what I would call “princess camping”! We were surrounded by Ponderosa Pines in the campground.  Bet you didn’t know that if you sniffed their bark it smells like butterscotch.  Who knew?  We also had a 33^rd anniversary dinner celebration for Steve’s sister and brother-in-law at the El Tovar Lodge (very nice).

Steve and I visited most of the easily accessible canyon viewpoints and hiked along a good part of the South Rim.  I will tell you it was simply spectacular and after the following few pictures, spare you the plethora of pictures we took. 
 

Pictures just can’t do it justice!!!!
 

This is our first attempt at a “selfie”.  Steve’s not sure it’s working.  Note the furrowed brow, lack of smile, etc.
 

Steve on the Bright Angel Trail.    We had to wait until our last day there to acclimate to the elevation before we could even attempt this hike.  Bright Angel Trail goes from the rim of the canyon at 6860 feet above sea level to the bottom, (9.5) miles.  We only trekked down to the Mile and a Half Rest House (1.6 miles), at 5729 elevation.  Lots of switchbacks and plenty of steep grades.  We brought sandwiches and extra water to refuel before starting back up.  Being flat-landers from Florida, we still had to stop several times on the way back up.  We just “thought” we had acclimated to the elevation.  Surely we were not in that bad of shape! LOL!
 

Looking up to the trail head

 

Looking up at the rim from the first rest stop we knew the return trip up that 1100 feet was going to be painful.  When we did reach the top, we were EXTREMELY grateful we had not decided to hike further down.

Words of wisdom from the Kermit's Rest trailhead

Over 600 people/hikers annually have to be rescued from the canyon.  While it is a "park", the trails are not "a walk in the park."  While the temperature can be cool at the top, it can be in the hundreds further down the trails.  Exhaustion, dehydration and injuries are common.  While we were there, one young man failed his attempt to hike down to the Colorado river and back in the same day.  Rescue personnel had to recover his body.  He was in his mid 20's.

Susan, Susan (Steve’s sister) and Louis pondering their thoughts across the canyon

I think everyone takes a picture like this – so, we had to!

We got a chance to see many female elk with their babies wandering about the campground.  A few days before we left a big male came walking right through our campsite while we were sitting around the picnic table.

 

An awesome site.  He just stopped, looked at us and snorted, then wandered off.  Get a load of the rack on this dude, maybe Mr. Dude! We can never get enough of the wildlife!

An awesome trip!  Yellowstone next year!!!!

August 3^rd, 2015 – Back in Stuart, Fl.

Celebrating our anniversary at the Dolphin Bar and Shrimp House Restaurant in Jensen Beach.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!!!! 36 YEARS!!!!

OK, now it's back to working on the boat projects.  There is much to be done before this winters adventures begin!