Photos from the Grand Canyon Trip ...

Here are some of the pictures I post-processed. I will post more of the photos as I finish.

Too much ...

Piggy back

Ounce of prevention ...

Postcard shot

Plateau Peak

Sunset at Plateau Peak

Jacob's ladder

Where are Colby and Josh?

Easy way down

Mule train

Trail workers

Untitled

Life is a trail. I want to walk it all night long!

Self portrait

Day 2 of Grand Canyon Trip ...

Date: November 11, 2006

I woke up early, because I had to take care of my morning business. My legs felt mildly stiff, but I did not feel any pain that would require medication. YES! I guess training paid off. (Mental note: climb Squaw Peak more often.)

I saw a mound on top of our picnic tables. It turned out to be Debra sleeping in her bag. I was surprised since she was supposed to be sleeping with Pam in a tent. Huh? I wondered if there was a problem. Maybe the tent was too small?

After taking care of no.1, I decided to walk around the Bright Angel Campground and scout locations for photos and/or video footages as my campmates were not up yet at six a.m.

I walked to Black Bridge and Silver Bridge. I was looking around when I noticed a brilliant sunrise. I ran to the campground for my equipment. I say I ran, but I mean I moved as quick as I could without discomforts. Others were still sleeping. I made it back to the sunrise location where I video taped and took photos. Wow, what brilliantly red clouds to go with the great location. I also got some photos/footages of deers and campgrounds.

By the time I got back to the campground, everyone was up and getting ready for breakfast. They were heating water for oatmeal and coffee. It would seem people like oatmeal in the morning when they camp, because I never see anyone ordering oatmeal in restaurants. We were talking about various things, but there were no complaining. What troopers!

Somehow we ended up talking about yoga, and I thought it was a good idea to do some poses. I know it always makes me feel stronger. Especially, the warrior pose! Amanda and Debra joined me. Amanda is a tremendous yoga practitioner. Everyone was impressed. In fact, people broke out their cameras to take pictures. I suppose for Amanda's unbelievable poses and my comical poses.

We broke into groups as some wanted to hike, and some did not. I stayed back with Nick and Amanda. We talked and joked around a little. It would seem Nick likes to settle things by knife fights. It is a good thing I brought my pocket knife.

About lunch time, we decided to walk over to the only store/restaurant/canteen to get bagels. We came across two wild turkeys. Not the kind I am used to anyway. One of them even had a chest beard. They were aggressive. I thought they looked like velociraptors when they started to come at us. I did not want an altercation, so I ran away. In retrospect, it is kind of funny how I ran from the turkeys.

Everyone came back to the campground around mid afternoon. We sat around the tables and chatted, ate, and drank. After eating, Cindy, Josh, Anthony, and Janna made their way to the store for souvenirs.

Colby started putting together his fly fishing rod. Suddenly, Gina shouted loudly about a bug. I thought, 'weird, I don't see any bugs.' For the second time, Gina got freaked about a bug. This time she leaped up, and started brushing off a bug with her hands. Pam started bawling with laughter. Colby then started to laugh as well. I was not sure what was happening. Apparently, Colby touched Gina's ear with his fishing rod. Pam kept on laughing. Poor Gina.

Amy, Colby, Gina, Pam, and I went to the Colorado River. We wanted to hang out and watch Colby fish. I also wanted to get a video footage of it. We had to walk through some brushes, but it was nice to be near a noisy river. It did not take Colby too long to catch a rainbow, which was about 12 inches. We decided to come back in time for us to make the steak dinner. I mean who wants to be late to the best meal ever!!!!!

Thanks to Cindy, I had a reservation. I sat with Cindy, Josh, Pam, Anthony, and Janna. The dinner was served family style. We ate as much as laid out and asked for more if needed. We got a salad, a baked potato, corn and peas, a steak, corn bread, and chocolate cake. The meal was great.

It still did not measure up to the dinner I had here last time. I wondered if the meal does not feel as good because this is the second day rather than the first day like last time. I would still rank this meal way up there in memorable meals. Everyone was in great mood.

We went back to our campground as the stew reservations were coming in for their turn at eating. We played Battle of the Sexes. We wagered ten minutes of massaging. Men took off fast by answering questions like five mother sauces. When it was said and done, women still won by one question. I suspect a foul play as men never doubted if we were ever behind. I figured guys would not win by arguing about it anyway. Hanging Chad? Let Nick settle this by a knife fight with Debra?

Did I mention it started raining half way through the game? It did not matter as Josh and Nick was determined to go for a night cap. Who am I to stop them? I did the only sane thing, and joined them. We used whatever available to make it to canteen dry. According to Josh, I looked like the yellow M&M with the plastic cover I was using. Isn't that the dumb one?

I bought the first round. Mm, Tecates! We sat down to play fanga aka fake Janga. Josh struck up a conversation with a woman named Nicole, and she joined in our game of fanga. We were having a grand ole time building our wooden block very very tall. Yours truly did not lose once. Colby joined us about two games into it. It is always nice to have more when you are drinking and having a good time.

We close the place down. This only means ten o'clock! I was a little worried about sleeping outside, but I was under a canopy. I hoped it would not rain heavily over night.

Am I An Art Snob?

I just received prints of photographic arts from Christopher Colville. He was my most recent photography instructor. I think he is a great artist. I had a chance to order prints from his work done during his summer trip to Iceland. I wrote about it here. He included a letter, which thanked his patrons, and another, which told background information about the prints.

I never really thought I would start purchasing things like prints of fine arts, but here I am with three great looking prints. Unfortunately, I have to part with two. I hope people who receive them really appreciate the prints.

He is having a gallery show his work. Look below for details.

Rough Cuts of Trekking Grand Canyon ...

Here is my rough cuts from the Grand Canyon footages. Let me know if you have any suggestions for making it better.

Day 1 of Grand Canyon Trip ...

Date: November 10, 2006

The day started early for everyone. Wake up calls came at 5:30 am. We started changing into our backpacking gears. Some of us wanted to take a last shower prior to our descent this morning. I did not see the point.

We went down to eat our free breakfast which included waffles. Yeah, WAFFLES!!! We all ate one each. Our last two group members showed during our breakfast. They are Nick and Amanda. Nick looks just like Josh. Nick is thinner and blond version of Josh. Wow! It turns out they are brothers.

After breakfast, we looked over our belongs and divvied up a little. I thought it is a great idea to divvy up communal items. I did not want just a few to bear the brunt of carrying things. Some still carried much more than others.

We drove in four vehicles to Grand Canyon, which was about 1.5 hours away. Again the drive seemed short. Amy, Colby, Debra, and I were in one vehicle, and we made it to the backcountry reservation office first. We waited for others to arrive. It took others sometime to arrive, which was weird because they drove just behind us most of the time.

It turned out they were making arrangements for dinners and mule transportation. Thanks to Cindy, I got a reservation for a steak dinner at Phantom Ranch. Yeah, Cindy! Pam made an arrangement for some of her stuff to be carried out by a mule. Good for her!

We, all thirteen of us, looked over our belongings and divvied up one last time to be fair. We also decided to weigh our bags, so we knew how much we were taking in. Colby came in first with 52 pounds, Pam came in last with 25 pounds, and I was in the lower end with 33 pounds. We asked Colby to share some more of his stuff with us. I felt better afterwards.

After two natural gas powered bus rides, we were ready to descend via South Kaibab trail around 11 a.m. Our spirits were high. We did not all climb down together as a group. Rather we just walked at our own pace and freely formed little groups. It worked well as no one should have felt any pressure to keep up.

We stopped to take in fluids and nourishments at two rest areas along the way to Phantom Ranch. Colby shared his smoked Gouda and peppered salami (insert your joke here). I would say he shed at least one pound of food from sharing. Smart move! I always say, "eat your own food first." I know people are always happy to share their food toward the end of any trekking trip.

When we got to the second rest area, our group ran into a couple who desperately needed help. It never occurred to me that they were going to stay there. It is good thing Josh and few others inquired and decided to help them. The couple hiked with one less backpack as four or five our group members divvied up the load. What a bunch of good people! Good karma should be coming their way!!!

I do remember asking the lady of the couple how she was, but she did not reply. I felt bad after the others helped her. I should been more proactive about asking and helping. I also thought I need to make sure I can be hike down before I can help others. What a bunch of garbage! I should have asked. Bad karma must be coming way, I can tell.

I thought to myself as I walked the trail that everything looked familiar. Surprisingly, I remembered many of the scenic views from the last hike. Sights and sounds are awesome!

It took us nearly five to six hours to hike down. What is with the one hour range? Well, some of us are faster. I was happy to finally take off the hiking shoes. My toes were hurting so much so I thought I would get blue toes the next day. Everyone was hurting from the steep steps, which were very prominent during the last part of the hike down. I, personally, felt my quadriceps shake as I took steps down. Ouch!

Everyone wanted to set up their tents first thing. It is a good idea since the sun would soon go down, which is about 5 p.m. I did not care as I planned to sleep outside. After setting up tents, we boiled water for our dinners. We all ate our freeze dried dinner. Mm! Freeze dried goodness. My chili mac with beef was not great. It was crunchy even after the prescribed cooking time. I suppose I could say al dente, but that would be a lie!!!! Everyone seemed to enjoy their dinner, but I know we all looked forward to the steak dinner the next day. I told everyone how great the steak dinner was the last time I was in Phantom Ranch.

We walked over to the ranger's talk after the dinner. I remember sitting down and listening to the ranger "Pam." She started to talk about the creatures of the night. I dozed then something about bats. I dozed again then something about ringtail cats. I dozed yet again then thank you for coming. Before walking back to our campground, some of stopped for a beer each. Mm, Tecate! I believe all of us slept soundly. At least, I did.

Day 0.5 of Grand Canyon Trip ...

Date: November 9, 2006

Josh organized a trip to Phantom Ranch, which is in the bottom of Grand Canyon. I've been looking forward to this for months. Of course, I still waited until the last moment to get ready. This means I was desperately double checking and triple checking the packing list a day before our descent date. I was busy making last minute shopping trips and calling my parents to take care of my dog, Cenya. Even with a mandatory meeting at work, I still managed to get ready although I felt really rushed and under prepared. I guess this is what I get for procrastinating. I barely managed to fit my belongs in my Miata's trunk.

I drove to Colby's to catch a ride up to Flagstaff. There are four of us, who are Amy, Colby, Debra, and me. When I got to Colby's, he lifted my backpack to make sure it was not super light. I was already catching flak for packing light. I mean who wants to hike in with bunch of stuff you may or may not need. Besides, I will be carrying about five pounds of video equipment. Sure hope to catch good video footages and photographs.

We left a little after 7 pm. It was a nice little drive up. It was good to catch up and have a little chat. It was really nice to feel a little cold as I got out of the vehicle. We checked into La Quinta Inn, and met others who were already there. It was good to see Pam, Gina, David, Josh, and Cindy since it's been sometime, but there were two people I did not know. They were Janna and Anthony. We hugged and said hello.

Josh decided to go to Walmart to get a last minute fishing license. Colby and I went along. We got a six pack of Alaskan Amber from Bashas' along with a fishing license. We drank and joked in the lobby for a little before turning in for the night.

Four Musketeers Are Back Together ...

One of us got married! Guess who? I cannot remember the last time all four of us were together. Garrick, Karen, Ian, and I (from right to left) are good friends from high school. Yes, the good ole days. Karen and I even went to the same college. It took a wedding to get all four of us together. Most of the time we meet as a pair and on rare occasions as a trio.

Karen married a man named, Chris, last Saturday evening at Phoenix Botanical Garden. It was a simple and elegant wedding. I was very impressed with the wedding, which was a small and intimate ceremony. Bride looked beautiful. She looked happy. I could not be happier. Good luck and much happiness in their future.

I also appreciate Karen for making sure her high school friends were together to enjoy and reminisce. Ian, Garrick, and I were having great fun catching up and laughing it up.

On a side note: Karen's mother introduced me to her friends and guests as a teepeeig hoodlum. Apparently I cannot live down the night Ian, Garrick, and I got caught teepeeing the house of Karen's parents when we were high schoolers. I remember panicking and freezing up when Karen's parents drove up. Luckily, they told us to finish up. I made a lasting impression with my youthful indiscretion, which is funny. At least, it is now.

One Bad Week ...

My apology goes out to my three loyal readers, who probably wondered where the heck are the new posts. I had an acute food poisoning that practically kept me close to my personal porcelain god. I am not sure what I ate, but starting last Monday night I was vomiting, very slight temperature elevation, frequent #2, felt cramping in my stomach, and was very gaseous. I felt much better by Wednesday, and made the mistake of eating solid food. Wow, that was not a good night either, minus vomiting. Thankfully, I am much better this morning. I had solid food last night without any ill-effects.

Chinese Connection

I had a ghost from the past drop in for a visit last week. His name is Dennis. He is a good friend from college days. He went to China as a missionary more than five years ago. I guess Dennis wants more Chinese people to accept Jesus as their personal savior. Personally, I am not sure how I feel about this.

Dennis got married about four years ago to a lady named Grace. She also is into evangelizing. I guess this would make it a family business.

Dennis and Grace are now in US and will attend a seminary in Denver, CO soon. I thought this meant they will be ministers, but they are doing it for their faith. WOW!!!!

On their way up to Denver from Tucson, where Dennis' parents live, they stayed at my place a night. It was nice to see Dennis after many moons. We got along pretty well although I am pretty much agnostic about religion.

His wife, Grace, was very good at speaking English. I was very impressed. In addition, she is fluent Japanese speaker. Doubly impressed. (Side note: I should have asked about how most Chinese people do not like Japanese people per WWII occupation.)

We went out to a Cajun place for dinner. Weather was nice so we dined al fresco. It was a good time.