Month: November 2018

Conquest of the Grand Canyon

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The thought of conquering the Grand Canyon was fairly intimidating and the use of the term “conquer” is fully intentional. And for someone like me being able to hike down and up the Canyon is quite a considerable accomplishment. Me and my mates never underestimated the Grand Canyon and based on the ratings, reviews, feedback, we wanted to ensure we prepared for the worst. And having heard horror stories of sizzling summer temperatures, we thought around fall was definitely ideal. So yes, November is actually a perfect time if you are well prepared to protect yourself against 36 deg F (5 deg C) temperatures at the bottom of the canyon.

And as D-day got closer the nervous excitement only enhanced and unabated. The weekends of carrying 20 pounds of stuff in my backpack and hiking up and down the Appalachians and work put in at the local gym is only part of the prep, as I found out.

Physical prep of course involved weekend hikes basically upto 5-7 miles on rough rocky terrains. In addition weekdays involved a few hours of spinning classes as well as other cardio workouts either on the treadmill or the elliptical machines.

Mental Preparation-

I always thought mental prep was overrated; however as I realized to my own advantage mental prep is probably as essential or significantly more so than the physical prep. Visualizing the terrain, building up the mental strength to survive 36 hours of rough rocky terrain, ability to brave the colds and keeping up a positive disposition are some things I can affirm clearly helped.

The gear-

Dress in layers, make sure you have a 60-65 liter hiking backpack, hiking poles, sturdy hiking boots, 1-2 liters of water (3 if you hike in the summer months), a light weight tent, self inflating sleeping mat and a mummy sleeping bag. You must definitely carry PB & J sandwiches, trail mix (salty foods are good) and dehydrated foods that you can feast on by adding a bit of hot water. A small gas heater was our life saver. A trip to one of the recreation stores (REI, Cabellas) is mandatory. A good night’s sleep prior to the day of the hike is strongly recommended. Do not get carried away by imbibing alcohol. You can always treat yourself once you are done with the “conquest”. Hand warming and toe warming pads help if you get too cold. If you cannot burden yourself with 20 lbs of stuff in your backpack, you can always book mules to carry the stuff and that’s always an option.

Make sure you have prior reservations to the Bright Angel Campground. Its a lottery and you must book it at least 4-5 months in advance. You do not have any option to camp overnight if you don’t. The NPS website has all the information. https://www.nps.gov/grca/index.htm

The hike-

Go for the South Rim, since its open all year round and remember the elevation at the top of the Canyon is close to 7,000 feet. You basically are hiking down to the Colorado river campground which sits at 2,400 feet. We took the South Kaibob trail to go down and it took us under 5 hours for a total distance of 7.5 miles. Not too easy to hike down but as long as you are able to sustain the balance and allow yourself to smell the roses.The sheer magnificence of the hike and the canyon layers of rock formations is awe inspiring. It can be very humbling. We started at  7.00 am and of course sunrise doesn’t occur until 7:15 so we were able to use the cooler temperatures to our advantage. And the first hour or two are when you are excited about taking pictures before monotony can set in. The last hour of the hike going down did take a mental toll not because it was full of additional switchbacks but we thought were getting closer to the base but we just weren’t there yet.

Hike down

Getting to the campgrounds just around 1.00 PM gets you enough daylight to set up the tent, prep time for the food, eat and get it all sorted out prior to darkness setting in around 5.30 pm.

We took the Bright Angel trail going up. Its an extremely picturesque trail for the first half upto the Indian garden that sits at 3,800 feet. The hike gets steeper after that point but since the trail is not exposed directly to sunlight and goes past several cascades and varying vegetation and the occasion glimpses of deer and foxes, you are in a bettre place mentally. It took us under 7 hours to get to the top; 10.7 miles from the campground to the pinnacle.

Hike Up

If you are into it, you are going to love it truly; and you might even be tempted to go for it again and stretch yourself.

A few pictures just cannot do justice to the spectacle. You have to be there in person to truly appreciate the grandeur.

Other tips-

Fly into Vegas and rent a car and remember a AWD vehicle is recommended. Remember, adding a driver to the rental agreement costs extra in Nevada. And a charging bank for your devices is probably a no-brainer.

Like they say- Take a hike!

Armenia? That’s who you are!

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Oh Armenia- With a bit of tentativeness and some excitement I decided to venture to this erstwhile Soviet republic . With not a lot of information except bits from the Anthony Bordain show it was intended to be “go with the flow “ kind of trip. When a few guys decide to embark in alien lands with not even a rudimentary awareness of the language or culture, the trip actually becomes exciting; no expectations; just figure out what to do once you get there.

By sheer fortune, we were there when Armenia was celebrating its national day with massive street parties, concerts and the like including local cops in high heels! Yerevan (the “Y” is silent) is a city that hardly sleeps and you could easily get into any café or bar and get a decent drink. The city is ancient , tad older than Rome. Christianity is prevalent and it has that certain old world charm about it.

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Besides the constant going out and checking out the eateries and bars, day times were spent visiting the Cascade monument; Nothing spectacular but a must do when you are there. We did a day trip to Lake Sevan- Pretty impressive to a huge lake inside Armenia 0ver 74 miles long and among the high altitude lakes in the Caucasian mountains . Several monasteries over 1,000 years old become part of the route and it’s a discovery worth going on to.

 

The country’s infrastructure seems quite adequate and we were impressed with the quality of the roads but language? That’s a whole different kettle of fish. The country itself seems to be a little confused. Not sure if they are fully out of the Soviet era yet or they are doing their best to be progressive. Outside the hotels or restaurants, finding a cabbie or a local that speaks half decent English was like having a root canal. Not that I expect every person on the street to speak English but certainly taxis drivers would have been conversant with the basic phrases; the relative rudeness of the taxi drivers is perhaps explained by their frustration caused by their inability to communicate?

 

Leaving aside the parties, the taxis and the city, the most poignant moment for me was the visit to the Genocide museum. Built on top of a hill overlooking the city, there is just not enough the world could do to remember the 1.5 million Armenians that were systematically exterminated by the Turks between 1895 and 1915 as part of the Hamidian, Adana then the Young Turks massacres. A journey through one of the painful chapters in history and you cannot even begin to comprehend what these folks went through. The pictures are heart wrenching and to walk through the museum without feeling a terrible sadness is just not on. RIP.

So what else? The dollar goes a long way. I was able to get upto 482 Armenian Drams (AMD) for $1 USD. A 10 minute taxi ride costs you upto 1000 AMD ($2)

  • Ride to the Republic Square from the airport will set you back 5,000 AMD ($11) tops .
  • Sumptuous breakfast for 4- Anywhere between 20,000 to 25,000 AMD ($40- $50)
  • Drinks and dinner for upto 4 people- Anywhere between 20,000 AMD to $35,000 AMD ($40- $72); depending on your imbibing and gluttony capacities of course!

Stay- Plenty of options but try to be within a minute or two from the Republic Square. The Marriott which is part of the Republic Square was where we stayed and it was certainly worthwhile. Well worth the $150 USD per night. Just make sure breakfast is included when making the booking. If not, make sure you get a rebated rate. Service is quite good, no hassles.

May not go back there but spending a good part of a week, I’ve come back with some great memories.