Welcome to Snuffy's Grand Canyon Adventure! Welcome to Snuffy's Grand Canyon Adventure!Day 1, Friday, February 9
Right now I'm sitting at O'hare Airport in Chicago. I'm hoping to catch a flight from Chicago to Los Angeles. I'm headed to the Grand Canyon if all goes well to hike below the rim and stay overnight at Phantom Ranch.
Although it's been a long time dream of mine to hike below the rim at the Grand Canyon, I must admit this trip came out of nowhere and came together unbelievably fast. I was working in my office in Charlotte two days ago when I received a page to call my former administrative assistant in Hickory. When I returned the call I discovered she was calling to tell me her son-in-law who is a pilot had some travel companion passes that were going to expire and was I interested in using them? I said "Sure, if they aren't going to be used by anyone, I'll take them." That was Wednesday morning.
When I talked with her son-in-law, he offered me the passes that had to be used before February 28. I immediately began to think how I could work in some kind of trip in the next several weeks. The first thing I thought about was getting out west for a couple of days skiing. Although I'm already going in April, it would be nice to get in a few days in the heart of the season. I also began to look for a partner in crime. As it turned out my schedule was the only one free enough to go at the last minute. Everyone else was tied up until the end of the month.
When I started checking on the availability of flights, most of the ski destinations were fairly well booked. I was going to be flying standby and I didn't really want to be sitting in airports all day long coming and going waiting for an open seat. Especially with just a couple of days available.
I also began to consider another possibility. What about flying to Las Vegas and heading to the Grand Canyon and do some dayhiking? That didn't sound bad, especially since I was heading out by myself.
The flights to Las Vegas were all overbooked, and Phoenix didn't look any better over the next several days. But Los Angeles looked wide open. I considered leaving Thursday (yesterday), but I really needed to finish up a few things at work first. So I began to contemplate leaving on Friday, staying over the weekend, and flying home on Monday or Tuesday.
On a chance, I called AMFAC who runs the Grand Canyon National Park lodging to see if I could find a room inside the park for one of the nights. I got lucky because they had several rooms/cabins available at the South Rim, but more importantly, and the part I am most excited about, I found an open slot for the night at Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon.
So I planned to fly to Los Angeles Friday, pick up a rental car there, and drive to Las Vegas Friday evening. I'll hit a few casinos and spend the night. I'll get up Saturday, drive to the Grand Canyon and spend Saturday night at the Bright Angel Lodge, get up Sunday morning and hike down the South Kaibab Trail, cross the Colorado River to Phantom Ranch and spend the night there Sunday night. I'll then hike out of the canyon on Monday and drive back to LA and fly home Monday evening or Tuesday morning.
Being able to stay over at Phantom ranch really is what makes this trip an adventure. It is supposed to be a really cool place. Plus staying overnight means that I won't have to kill myself hiking from rim-to-river-to-rim in one day. Although it's only a 15-mile round trip, it's over 4,600 feet down and 4,600 feet back up. Not for the faint of heart!
After scrambling to get everything together and pack light since I was flying standby, I caught an early morning flight out of Charlotte to Chicago and now here I sit. The flight was very uneventful and almost empty. I wasn't sure what I'd be facing in Chicago, but so far so good. The flight was a little bumpy (raining hard in Chicago), but otherwise perfect.
I check in at the counter for the leg to Los Angeles. It leaves in less than an hour. A few minutes later they call me back to the podium for a boarding pass. Unbelievable. We're a few minutes late on departure, but with the rain, understandable.
The flight to Los Angeles is nondescript. The in-flight movie is the latest Cameron Crowe surreal story about a teenage boy rock n' roll journalist want-to-be who tracks an upstart band over the course of several weeks trying to complete a piece for Rolling Stone magazine. The movie is Almost Famous. Never heard of it, but it fits well with this trip.
The plane arrives at LAX at 12:30 PM. I get to the Hertz counter and pick up my car and I'm leaving the airport by 1:00 PM. It takes me an hour and a half to wind my way out of Los Angeles. Traffic isn't too bad by L.A. standards. I only sit still on the freeway a half dozen times for a total of 30 minutes or less. Traffic is herky-jerky, but hey, this is L.A. I finally climb over the ridge and leave the valley behind shortly after 2:30 PM.
Traffic is steady and heavy but I'm able to drive 80 mph for most of the next 3 ½ hours. Drivers in L.A. are left-lane-lovers. They rarely move to the right lane to allow faster traffic to pass. "Keep right except to pass", means nothing here.
I make a Del Taco stop for food and stretch my legs in Baker, CA at 4 PM. Two hours to go. I call and make a hotel reservation at Harrah's in Las Vegas.
The drive from LAX to Las Vegas crosses the Mojave Desert. It's a barren wasteland covered with scrub brush that stretches as far as you can see. As I cross north of Baker, the first cactus appears. Las Vegas appears in the distance like an oasis in this wasteland.
I finally reach Las Vegas at 6 PM, just as it's getting dark. I drive down the Las Vegas Boulevard ("The Strip") the whole way until I see Harrah's. This is my first visit to Las Vegas, and I'm not sure what to expect. I must admit, "The Strip" is impressive.
I check in, call home, check messages, and head to the casino to check things out. I love to play craps. We'll see if there is any more luck riding with me tonight. I don't play a high stakes crap game so when I get up a couple of hundred dollars that's great. I quit at 12:30 AM up a little over three hundred dollars.
To bed at 1:00 AM. Long day!
