"Stop the Nonsense"
Juan Hofdahl - Friday October 9, 2010 Kaibab Lodge- 5 guys in a room
Zo
ELG
Jake
Juan
Dingo
This certainly was a memorable trip and trail.We returned home at four in the morning due to a chain of events caused by the brutally jagged Kaibab Limestone rocks that litter Forest Road 22 on the North Rim, and perhaps negligence on Juan's part. See Men Behaving Badly section. This was my third trip to this remarkable area of the Grand Canyon. It was the boys first trip and they loved it.
This memorable trail offers some of the finest scenery in the Grand Canyon. In the 10.4 miles to Upper Tapeats campsite the trail makes three excessively steep descents. Thunder Spring is the most memorable sight in the Grand Canyon. It is a virtual river that gushes out of a limestone cave. Thunder River's powerful waters travel to Tapeats Creek, where we camped. (see attached picture)
The sound of the water as it explodes into the Redwall and Muav limestones gives the river its name. Thunder River is the shortest river in the world. Over 3,000 passageways have been charted behind the waterfall. The water comes from the rain and snow that fall on the Kaibab Plateau. Falling rain dissolves carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This acid rain chemically weathers limestone or carbonate rocks when it pools on the rock and passes underground through sinks and joints into caverns. Sinks are created when the underground caverns honeycomb an area creating weak spots which then collapse. The groundwater drops to the water table or flows out in giant springs if an impermeable layer is reached.
We reached Tapeats Creek around five in the afternoon. Everyone's toes were a mess, jamming them on the way down. We enjoyed a fabulous campsite, and Dingo treated us some spirit libations from the heart of the blue agave. (see attached picture)
The following morning we started the brutal 4800' ascent at 6:30. We were out at 1:30 and immediately engaged in our cerveza ritual. All was well until.....................(see MBB)
MEN BEHAVING BADLY
-Juan and Dingo for espousing the merits of capitalism and greed during the whole trip
-Juan for "venting" and telling "interesting" stories, then not allowing Lobo to use them in the MBB.
-Juan for buying crappy freeze dried food and then trying to pawn it off on Lobo
-Juan (the most prolific farter that ever hiked the canyon) for ripping loud and ripe ones every 30 seconds for 4700"
-Lobo for being the "King" of the canyon
-Juan for greeting the group in tight black underwaer at the Tapeats campsite.
-Lobo for "pressuring?" Juan to drive
-Juan for showing up with bald tires and no jack, borrowing Zo's jack.
-Zo for forgetting a critical piece of the jack
-Juan for getting a flat tire (perhaps driving too fast) 1 1/2 miles from the trail head. (Note Juan had also gotten a flat tire on the 3 years passed Nankoweep blowout)
-Juan for getting a second flat tire on the return, seven miles from the main road.
-Jake for wanting to commit suicide and hike the eight miles to the Kaibab Lodge after the second flat and no spare. This after hikingthe 10/1/2 miles out of the canyon. He wanted to notify Gretchen (his spouse), that we were stranded and in deep shit)
-Juan for not wanting to buy a second tire after we were towed to Fredonia, and only upon the insistence of El Lobo, he finally did.
-Juan for getting a third flat tire close to Jacobs Lake.
-Juan for being hopping mad and spazzing out after the third flat. Only Lobo's calm reassurance that Juan was smart enough, good enough, and that doggon it people like him, settled Juan down.
-Group for driving back to Phoenix with no spare.
-Juan for being responsible for making Lobo and Zo miss one day in paradise (San Carlos). Zo forgave Juan, but Lobo has not.
Thank you for visiting my canyon
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