camping – PhotoKent's Musings

2024 Key Activites and Moments

I know, this is 2024 and i forgot to publish so here it is. Stay tuned for 2025.

January 2024 — Dealing with a back flare up from early winter which pretty much knocked me out of commission for about 8 weeks. Stenosis due to old age and the body out of warranty prompted numerous trips to doctor(s) followed by injections and meds and PT and lots of body deep tissue massage. I started to come out of it but no travel. Able to serve in several capacities not requiring much physical effort. the good news is by late 2024 it was under good pain management with out serious drugs involved and i have learned how to function pretty much as before (this is written in Feb 2025). Didn’t get to take birthday trip to Morro Bay tho 😕 as i couldn’t ride bikes

February — Began to feel more normal again but still not going anywhere. Sold our mountain bikes, and road bike and bought Gazelle Step through e-bikes. Ananda held its week long Inner Renewal week with many guest speakers and activities. Was able to attend morning talks and serve in my usual capacities. Tax season looms as usual. No trips yet. Last trip was October 2023.

Limping out on Badwater Basin in Death Valley.

March — Light at the end of the tunnel here. Some additional medical procedures and, of course body work helped me begin to feel this body might last a few more years. We headed south to our usual haunts in Tucson. Catalina State park and McDowell Mountain County park NE of Scottsdale. I was able to ride the new bike easily and began to recondition the body for longer rides.

April —- a few more days of cycling and walking in McDowell Mountain saw us canceling the Grand Canyon part and heading for Colorado river only to find way too many speed boats loudly driving river all day long. So we bolted after 2 nights and headed over thru Carrizzo Plain to Morro Bay for a belated birthday visit. Loved it. End of May saw me in Gualala on the north coast of CA for Ananda Velo bike trip with the guys

May —. Began on North Coast then back home then a spontaneous trip to Grand Canyon since we got snowed out in March. Spent last week of May including Memorial Day camping hiking, ogling, and cycling.

Riding the Gold Country Challenge 56 miles, over 5k vertical

June — Did the Nevada County Gold Country Bike ride. 54 miles. Then also 50 mile RT Downieville to YUBA Pass. Then Up to Truckee area for a few day at elevation to enjoy the Tahoe area. Sraddha and I cycled 25-40 miles every day of trip. End of month was Ananda Village’s annual weeklong Spiritual Renewal week. Many guests from all over the world come for this event and we spend a lot of the week helping out in various capacities.

Part of the herd watching World Cup soccer on my iPad.

July — Annual “gathering of the herd” as i like to call it. Sraddhs’ sister’s family gathers for a week in July and we usually join them for a few days. This year it was in Loeb State park in southern Oregon coast. We drove up North coast and stayed in the Redwoods first for a few days then afterwards ventured up to Nehalem Bay and Netarts and then back down the coast via Bullards Beach and home. Almost 3 weeks of travel

August — first half of August busy at home serving and other responsibilities. Last part was an impromptu trip via car to Bozeman, MT, for a rendezvous with the Nunn family, my cousin Tom and his daughters and families. A total blast. We will be returning.

September — back up in Tahoe Truckee area for a few few more refreshing days of cycling before the snow sets in. As i look at my months calendar it is packed with visits, meetings etc. End of September we head north again to Portland for some specialized service on our camper van. Need an outside baggage door repaired. Had the starboard side repaired here last summer and now the port side needed hinge replaced. So up we go. Then headed across Oregon and Idaho thru Sun Valley area to Salt Lake Utah to see nephew and family. The down to Goblin Valley Utah. Amazing place. And over to Moab and Dead Horse point state park

October— we hit 6 National Parks in 2 weeks. All of them! Including North Rim of Grand Canyon. This was the big trip of year! In order, Canyon Lands, Arches, North Rim, Capital Reef, Bryce and Zion! Plus we encamped Dead Horse point SP next to Canyon lands, and Kodachrome Basin SP at the base of Bryce. Escalante Petrified SP near Escalante Staircase Otherwise stayed inside the other parks in their respective campgrounds. Fun cycling every location and one highlight at Dead horse point was using a Starlink Satellite dish to watch UW Huskies beat Michigan. (No cell service there).

November — pretty much stayed home for rest of year. We needed the time to recoup and enjoy the fall, cleaning yard for winter and spending time with friends.

December — is a deep time here spiritually. Many events and celebrations. December Kriya, World Brotherhood day, Christmas Concert, many good football games and cycling despite the cooler weather. No major snow events but it was a wet month. I maintained regular Pilates, Peloton, body work to manage the back and stay healthy. A lot of quiet time too.

All in all a pretty good year considering how it began. 18 state parks, 6 national parks, several forest service campgrounds. And a few boondocks nights too. A year of van camping in a 7 month period. Recuperated from back issue to being able to ride 50+ miles in a day. Culminating in a restful quiet end of year. 2025 will have several van camping trips but 2026 may have others.

Wondering around the Yellowstone

Ask me if you know, our camper van is an LTV Wonder. We purchased it in late 2019 just before COVID, and have been traveling around the west ever since.

After the Tetons and a family gathering in Eastern Idaho we wandered, or “Wondered” up to the Yellowstone. We had scored a 3 day campsite reservation in Canyon Village near The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Many of you have read of our hikes and travels in the “real” Grand Canyon but there are several others, not the least of which is the one in Yellowstone National Park. Much of the canyon is actually yellow or hues of yellow, hence the name.

Of course we had to visit Old Faithful. In the past we had cruised by, stopping briefly but decided to make it a go-to place this time. Found a great parking spot way in the back. Pro Tip — Arrive early and have the pick of a spot. We had afternoon shade. Spent 2 days here, including our own breakfast.

We spent a several hours admiring the lodge and even took the 45 minute tour. Unfortunately the photographer of our group spent too much time ogling and not enough time taking photos. Trust me when I say this is one of the most amazing and original lodges in the national park system. Worth a visit. Sraddha did score a pair of earrings tho. They are amazing.

Another day we spent on bikes and foot around old faithful. The riding is slim unless you dare venture out onto the main road, which we didn’t. A 3 mile trail exists to ride down tov the north end of the main geyser area which we did, then we walked around some of hte other areas. Here are a few photos and maybe a video.

Splash geyser in action

We also visited the grand prismatic spring but it was too early and cold so mostly steam. That’s what photographers do…find the shot when the one you wanted wasn’t there.

Steam rising from the Grand Prismatic Spring

Grand prismatic outflow into Firehole River

We didn’t spend a lot of time in the campground. Pretty boring with lots of lodge pole pines. We just chilled. We did walk around the visitor center and village area.

The last morning we departed for points north, we decided to to check into Norris Geyser basin and WOW. We arrived like 630 in the morning. We were the only people out in the basin for at least 30-40 minutes. Truly amazing. Like being back in millions of years ago. And no humans except us.

On the way out to West Yellowstone we stopped to gander at Gibbons Falls

The Yellowstone is so vast it is hard to conceptualize and really describe. We can only hit a few highlights, however, when we are up in 7000-8000 ft elevation, it is very psychically clear. Peaceful, even in in mid summer. We hardly noticed the crowds.

Heading north to Bozeman to visit a family member and “moochdock for a few days including a real shower….

Spring Bike Trip

The past 3 years our local Ananda Velo cycling group has taken trips to ride bikes. Last Spring we went over to Gualala near Sea Ranch on the northern California coast.

Several members stayed at the county park, but i chose Anchor Bay just north a few miles. What a find. As you can see below i had a prime site mid week with a view of the beach. My buddy, Vidura and his son, Dwayne, came over for campfires. Not much beach to walk but listening to waves all night was “hard to take” as you may imagine

We we did several 30 to 35 mile rides each day up in the hills in different places a couple days. It was very windy and one of the rides included a 6 mile stretch of 17% grade my new E bike held up pretty well and I held up pretty well, but I did shorten a couple rides just in caseall in all it was a blast

Below the Rim Postmortem

We are a few days removed from the hike and still feeling worn out. We are in Tucson area having moochdocked at our friends place, doing laundry and looking at photos. We moved over to the Tucson Mountain Park to commune with the cactus. Then over to Catalina State park, then over to our friends place in Oro Valley. We have absolutely no ambition to hike despite being in very good shape. No injuries. Just drained. Interesting. It’s like we floated on a sea of grace and hard work to make the hike down and back. And now feel a part of us was left in the canyon.

Granted we are really ok just feeling like a couple slugbugs. Still in recovery tho.

We are asked if we would do it again. Being in the canyon is magical. Being on the rim looking down is magical (if you spend some time doing so, not just 30 minutes of selfies).

We loved being in the canyon. We loved the hiking. The tent camping not so much anymore.

We wouldn’t mind staying a few nights (minimum 3) at the Phantom Ranch to savor the area more deeply. However, practically, that presupposes a 1 day hike down and 1 day hike out. Is it doable? With some additional conditioning it would make it a little easier. With some planning, we could arrange for most items to be transported by mule both ways thereby only needing to carry water, essential first aid, and snacks for hike down and back. Will we?

One of our favorite lunch spots in Tucson

The key here is planning and the phantom ranch lottery is chancy. Nevertheless we will take some time to recover and decide later if we wish to make an application for a permit and reservation.

In the meantime, we will savor the experience, with gratitude, enjoy the memories and photos, laugh at our foibles and move on to what is next. Like visiting the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. Desert or Dessert?

We are doing a little walking and bike riding. Exploring. Running errands. And on to the next day, the next moment, the next adventure.

The memories remain fresh. The images still return. Glad I took a bunch of photos. Would we love to return? Yes!. Will we? Um….TBD.

A reflective view from trip makes it hard not to want to.

Grand Canyon Below the Rim, Day 4 – Up Bright Angel Trail to the Rim

We begin our last day of 4 with a “hearty” 🙄 breakfast and coffee as we discussed our plans. Temp is about 37 degrees. Temp at the rim is probably 25 but will rise to 45 or so by the time we arrive 5.5 hours later. Be sure to click on the scenic photos below, to expand and enjoy.

We break camp and pack up trying to get an early start on the 4 mile 3000 ft switchback hike pretty much straight up with snow the last 2.5 miles as you can see from the photo below. It appears daunting but doable.

A perennial stream, Garden Creek, cuts through Havasupai Gardens, which is great for soaking aching shins. But there’s an even more significant water source here—a pump house. (Photos below from the internet).

What is truly amazing is that this water travels thru a 16-mile pipeline from a natural spring about 3,500 feet below the North Rim, across the Colorado River and up to Havasupai Gardens. From there, it is pumped to the South Rim, without which there would be no water on the South Rim where a large portion of the 6 million who visited the park in flushed toilets, took showers and filled water bottles.

Looking back north and down toward the Havasupai gardens camp

A little side note: we were told of the 6 million visitors annually, 1 percent or 60,000 walk at least a little ways below the rim. Of that, only 10% or 6,000 hike to the bottom. Wow. Pretty rare company I guess.

The first mile let us get warmed up for the switchbacks. Then the fun begins as much of the trail is shaded, a but muddy here and there AND, definitely icy. Some parts get sun but not much so we stopped in the one place for sun to take our major break. Glad we did.

Up the switchbacks we go. Not a lot to tell here. Huff Puff! The photos do the speaking.

I stopped several times to look around and take a snapshot of the view of the deep canyons

Eventually we made it,but didn’t get a photo right at the top of the trailhead right near Kolb Studios. We celebrated, then headed directly to the shuttle bus station, ready for a shower back at the the van….which we hoped survived the cold during our trek and it did so admirably. We had left the electric heater turned on low, the Truma water heater on Eco (42 degrees) and it survived the 25 degree nights with 40 degree days. YAY!

Relief at the shuttle bus stop awaiting our chariot to the shower.

We did it!!! Not bad for a couple old farts approaching mid-70’s who hadn’t backpacked for almost 40 years. About 25 miles total in 4 days. 5000 feet down and 5000 feet up. 3 nights in a very small tent (ask us about it 🤣). We were ready to celebrate with a good meal at El Tovar Lodge with our companions. I will do a postmortem in a day or so for those interested. Suffice it to say we are glad we did it and tent camping is probably not in our future. All in all it was amazing and satisfying. Over a week later, we are still in recovery.

Our group. from the left, Kent, Sraddha, Kendrick, Mandy, Jan, Dave. The Crème Brûlée already disposed of.

We want to thank our guides, Mandy and Kendrick for their patience, understanding, expertise and support along this journey. We couldn’t and wouldn’t have done it without you. Their website is https://www.mandyleaphoto.com/

Grand Canyon Below the Rim, Day 3 – Up To Havasupai Gardens

Today we hike 4.5 miles ascending 1,400 feet up to the Havasupai Gardens (formerly called Indian Gardens) Campground. For the first mile or so, from the Bright Angel Campground to the traverses exposed sand dunes, then across the silver bridge across the Colorado River, and west through more sand dunes to the Pipe Creek/River Resthouse area. The pipe under this bridge carries all the water supporting the south rim.

More sand dunes keep us busy for another mile on south side of river with various examples of the Vishnu Schist, the oldest formation in the canyon at 1.8 billion years. Talk about ancient.

From the Pipe Creek resthouse, the trail turns south following a creek through a meandering gully of water-sculpted stone and shimmering cottonwood trees.

From the NPS website: “While the South Kaibab Trail follows a ridge line, the Bright Angel Trail conforms to a fault, keeping to the back of the canyon during the first few miles. Views on the Bright Angel Trail are framed by massive cliffs, and by virtue of being a shadier trail with natural water sources, there is more plant life and animal life along the Bright Angel Trail than on the South Kaibab Trail. The majority of this trail’s elevation change takes place in the upper four miles of trail via a series of switchbacks that can seem endless.”

The trail becomes steep once again where this gully empties into the broad, bowl-shaped Pipe Creek drainage. This section of switchback trail, affectionately referred to as the Devil’s Corkscrew. And we could see why and I wouldn’t exactly say “affectionately” 😉

We continue up through some limestone following Garden Creek to the Havasupai Gardens Campground where we spent the night. Traditionally this was a key native American site where families lived and grew all kinds of vegetables and crops with the year round water. It is also the current location of a major NPS water pump station.

Hiking out to Plateau Point, me in the lead

After making camp, we headed out the 3.2 mile round trip “stroll” to Plateau Point, to view the river from a different perspective and eat our meager dinner in the wind. I had a surprisingly decent Phad Thai (as good as it can be when you just add hot water) We saw a California condor fly over. Condors are one of the nations best animal comeback stories. In 1982, there were only 22 California condors left in the world.

South rim. The highest point on left is Yavapai Geology Museum. We go up that canyon tomorrow.

Now there are about 400 Condors within the states. Returning after dusk, using headlamps, we gazed up at the lights of the Yavapai Geology Museum 3,000 above. Time to turn in, and rest for the final day tomorrow of 3,034ft climb in 4.5 miles.

Grand Canyon Below the Rim day 2 – Phantom Ranch Rest Day

Camp was in the Bright Angel Campground just up from the river and about 10 minutes from Phantom Ranch. On our day off, we rested up after a fairly grueling hike then went exploring. Click on any of the photographs to expand for better viewing.

Our party consisted of 2 couples, and our guides. So we had 3 tents and you can ask us in person about our tent and sleeping experience. 🤣. Suffice it to say we slept fairly well, however there were some comedic moments.

Our meals were the freeze dried type, supplemented with hot tea, coffee and our own snacks.

We used a JetBoil to heat the water, pouring it into the bags while stirring with our “Spork”. We then usually put the whole packet inside our down jackets for some warmth while waiting for 7-15 minutes. My fave was the Pad Thai. Oh, and the Crème Brûlée 😋, Tho we didn’t have a butane torch for the final touch, it was still tasty. Almost anything can taste good after a descent into the canyon.

We strolled around on our rest day checking out Phantom ranch and hiking a couple miles up the Bright Angel Canyon. My fave part was sitting on a rock being serenaded for 5 minutes by a Canyon Wren. Quite a melodic variety.

Writing postcards which will be delivered by Mule

Phantom Ranch is the famous lodge down in the canyon started in early 1900’s, now is run by Xanterra which runs the lodging and concessions on the rim. Until the early 50’s, most people rode down by mule. Now many hikers visit but permits are needed. Today, it is one of the most difficult hotel destinations to access in the US. Reservations usually are 15-18 months out and via some sort of “lottery” system. The campground is a little easier.

I could share many photos of the canyon, as it was such an amazing place. You could feel the Divine in Nature here very easily. The Vishnu Schist is the lowest geological layer we encountered, rock over 1.8 billion years old. Lots of flora everywhere. Cacti of many flavors, cottonwoods in the lower canyon. The trail follows the water line which brings water from a spring just below the north rim down to Phantom ranch then all the way up to the south rim. More on that later.

Of interest to me, was the telephone line which, in 1935, was added to run from the south r to the ranch and up to the north rim. Remnants remain can be seen along the trail in wires and pipe poles, some of which have been used in the campgrounds on which to hang packs. Maybe we could use some at Anandabell?

We went down the the beach where river rafters stop and take on fresh water.

Video of our dip in the river

Let me just say, well, we froze while dipping in. 🥶🥶🥶😂. The video is short (13 seconds) from in and out so we didn’t dally around at all. You can watch it above.

A full moon presented us with the opportunity to test our iPhone 14 nighttime capabilities. Not bad from what i can see.

Greetings from the bottom of the Grand Canyon!

We returned the second evening to eat house-made cornbread, veggie chili, salad and dessert at Phantom Ranch Canteen where our guides had made reservations months in advance. Unfortunately I didn’t have any photos. Satiated, we returned to our camp and went to bed. Guess we were tired. (Ya Think?). The next day (3) we head up to Havasupai Gardens.

Grand Canyon Below the Rim, Day 1 – South Kaibab Trail to Phantom Ranch

We spent 4 days hiking into and out of the Grand Canyon with 4 other people. 2 guides, Mandy Lea and Kendrick, and 2 wonderful people, Jan and David, from Minnesota. It was the first time our guides and taken a whole group of folks over 70 years of age! Each day will have its own flavor and blog post.

South Kaibab Trail begins near Yaki point just a mile or so east of the visitors center. We camped at Trailer village with hookups to ensure heat in our van while on the hike, since the south rim temps were forecasted to be from 22-39 F. A big snow storm has blanketed the rim the prior week.

NOTE: this is a long post.At least look at photos. Click on them to expand.

Backcountry info center and trailer village west of Visitor Center.

We took the blue line shuttle from camp at 6 AM to meet our group at the Backcountry Info Center on the west end of village. Grabbing a coffee at nearby Maswik Lodge, we board, at 7AM, the “Hiker Express” shuttle directly to Kaibab trailhead on the east end. See maps above with red circled areas.

Trailhead with series of steep north facing switchbacks.

A sense of anticipation was building. We had hiked the first mile or so down to Ooh Aah point last fall and before during dry season, but ice and snow is a different cat on a steep downhill trail. Dangerous and slippery, we tried to stick to the uphill side of the trail.

Knowing there was snow/ice we were using Kahtoola micro-spikes which slip over our boots and provide stability down the series of steep north facing switchbacks to Ooh-Aah point and on down 1.5 miles to Cedar Ridge where we rested. Below this was mud, ice and mud-ice or “mice” in which we slipped a bit. Ask me about it. Needless to say we should left spikes on for another half mile. We continued down a good trail (except for the mud) to Skeleton Point, about 2.7 miles and 2,027 ft below the rim.

The next leg was down a very steep, rugged switchback called the “Red & White’s”on a trail blasted out of limestone cliffs, down to the Tonto Plateau. 4.5 miles and 3,200 ft below the rim. It’s called the “Red & Whites” because the limestone is white, however it is tinted red from all the other minerals and rocks around it. It was challenging but we made it down safely.

The Tonto plateau runs through the park on both sides of the Colorado river about 3000 feet below the rim and about 2000 feet above the river. We stopped for a rest at the “TipOff”. Which is a junction spot for the So. Kaibab and the Tonto Rim trails. A composting toilet Bathroom break helped, and we removed shoes to check the hot spots on feet. We refreshed the moleskin, dried out socks and headed on down.

Around that limestone bluff we just hiked down

On the trail over 5+ hours now, we “tip off” into the gorge down switchbacks and really fun areas. Trail is in good shape. we snack during the down-hike. Me on clif bars, Gu, peanut M&M’s. Sraddha has Kind bars and Gu. We each have 3 liters of water and electrolytes for the 7.2 mile, 4,872 ft elevation drop. There is no water on the trail. My pack weighs 29 lb. Sraddha’s is 19-20.

Our guides, Mandy Lea and Kendrick have about 30 trips into the canyon. Experience has taught them to take care of the details and one of these details is to send down gear as much gear as possible with the mules, which included our sleeping bags and food etc went down earlier and awaited us at Phantom Ranch. This makes such a large difference Mandy led the other 2 people, Jan and David who are faster while Kendrick stayed with us

I didn’t take a lot of photos on the last leg as we were tiring. We made it thru the tunnel, across the suspension bridge and more or less trudged along the river, one…step…at…a…time. We were grateful, exhilarated and super glad we made it to the bottom before sunset. About 9 hours, 7.2 miles, 20,000 steps and 4,872 feet below the rim.

Soon to be sunset on Colorado River. The tents are for a conservation corps crew working on the trail. Not a great photo due to sun in distance creating shadows but, well you get the idea.

We camped at the Bright Angel Campground right near the confluence of the Bright Angel creek descending from the north rim and the Colorado river. Phantom Ranch itself is about 1/3 mile up the creek from the river. (so-to-speak). More about that later. We set up camp and ate, grateful we made it safely and more or less sanely.

Daytime temp in mid 60’s and night time the low-mid 40’s. Most importantly the whole hike was in dry weather. I can’t stress enough how much this made our trip enjoyable. The previous week’s trip, our guides tell us, was colder, and much wetter. That’s a story for another day. Let’s just say we felt blessed.

Hopefully, i can find the time to make a shorter post about day 2 tomorrow. If you reached this “low point” 🙄. I urge you to subscribe to future posts on my home page and also leave any comments or questions. I will respond. I am not a big social media person, but it helps to know people read this.

California Central Coast

We headed down to central coast camping at Morro Bay state park.

The marshes and bay are fertile areas for many bird species

We stayed one night up at the strand north of town then back to MBSP for the most amazing Sunday football games ever

Monday found us heading south to Pismo beach state park

A section of Grover besch is alloyed for drivi g on so we went down there, parked and walked the beach then had lunch watching the surf waves roll in.

We scored 2 nights in a wonderful spot in the north Pismo state park campground

Our campsite at North Pismo Beach state park

Next door to the campground inside the park is a butterfly grove. Thousands of Monarch butterfly’s hanging out. About 28,000 by last count. According to AP news, over 250,000 counted overwintering here in California. Way up from recent countd.

Monarch Butterfly haven. Last count was 22,000 and climbing.

We hiked down to Oceano campground via the beach then returned thru the dunes.

This was the easy 1/3 mile. The other 3/4 mile was a slog

Time for a nap

Next day, after 2 days in Pismo and a long discussion, we elected to head back to Morrow bay state park. I rode my bike up 33 miles on back roads while S drove the van. And I beat her! Haha. We knew, from looking at reservations site,there were dry sites available so when we arrived at the entrance the lady gave me several open sites to review and we rode our bikes around to check.

Decided on one with plenty of sun for solar and general warmth (it’s cool in winter here) then dumped waste tanks and have settled in.

Morning bird watching out on the bay. Morro Rock in the distance.

Early morning we made our coffee, dumped waste and headed home up the 101. Found a spot to wash the van in West Sacramento. IW for a little R&R at home.

Fun on the road last week

We pressed on. I-5 brought us sticker shock.

We scored a delightful site
at Morro Bay state park

Reserved 3 months in advance and it is a slow time of year. We lucked out in the weather this week with dry daytime temps in upper 60’s and low 70’s.

We did a lot of local riding around the town. I went to liberty twice to use internet. And got a long ride to Avila beach 22 miles south near San Luis Obispo.

Along the harbor the Sea Otters rest and nurse their young.

Didn’t know there was such a wonderful marsh area across the road. Birds galore. Spouse in heaven. For the first time we saw a California Thrasher. Lotsa shore birds; white pelicans, egrets, amazing wildlife in the area.

Now time to move on. We have reservations for Arizona, however are going to remain on central coast for rest of week then head home. The weather has been amazing.