Thursday April 4
I picked Rick up at 10:30am and we headed to Phoenix to get Gary, whose plane was landing at 12:30. Apparently, Rick didn't have enough excitement during his 17 month around the world trip he had just returned from only 6 days prior. He needed more. We picked up Gary at Sky Harbor and then did what every self respecting Grnad Canyon hiker should do: we headed to Four Peaks Brewery in Tempe for lunch and a beer.
Tom, Mary and Cam had left earlier that day so they could hike Antelope Canyon near Page, a beautiful sandstone slot canyon. The plan was we would all meet up at the Cliff Dwellers Lodge, where we had rooms reserved for the night. Cliff Dwellers is west of Lee's Ferry near the Vermillion Cliffs and about 20 miles from where the dirt road begins to the trailhead. Somewhere along the way, Tom's car had a tire problem which necessitated them using "Fix-a-Flat" to patch the leak, thinking they'd get to a service station and get the tire fixed. First problem was that there were no service stations which had a mechanic or even an air pump and the second problem was Arizona State Rd 89 was closed west of Page due to an avalanche that had occurred 3 weeks prior and so they had to take a dirt road from Page to Gap, where they headed back north and then west on 89A.
Eventually we all arrived at Cliff Dwellers, us at about 7:30pm and them about 15 minutes later with a slightly underinflated tire. Since the restaurant closed at 8pm we ate and had a few beers and then went to our rooms. After a game of Spades, we all retired for the night, planning on getting an early start in the morning.
Friday April 5
By 7ish we were back at the restaurant for breakfast and then did some last minute packing, wine distribution, pack weighing (yeah Tom brought a scale!). Tom also went looking for a mechanic who might have at least an air pump but no such luck. We headed to the trailhead with Tom's car in front, in case the tire got worse.
I am including a link to a National Park Service file on how to reach the trailhead. It was very helpful and very exact. Just make a note of your odometer reading when you leave 93A and you find the trailhead with no problem. We arrived at the trailhead, did some last minute adjustments, took a group photo and were on the trail by 8:45am.
The trail description say it is a bit over 7 miles to the Colorado River so honestly, we really didn't train too much for this hike. After all, what is 7 miles to seasoned veterans? The 7 miles took us 9 hours!! The trail drops precipitously from the very beginning until you hit the canyon floor about 1-1.5 hours later. It would be more accurate to call it a "trail suggestion". At least twice, maybe three times, we had to take off our packs and lower them down. The first time occurred within 5 minutes of the top. We should have known then that this wasn't going to be a typical trail. Where there weren't rock walls you had to maneuver down there was loose gravel and scree. Finally we got to the canyon bed and headed to the river. At about 12:30pm we met a native american couple who were coming up from the bottom. They said they had left at 7am. Where were our fishing poles? they asked.