Thursday, March 27, 2008

Canoe Trip On the Colorado River

Spent the weekend on a canoe trip downstream from Hoover Dam, where it's called Black Canyon. A great trip. This was as much a scouting trip for our hiking club as anything, as a few of us glommed on to a Honda Hiking Club trip.
After an awesome hike from Boulder City to Hoover Dam on Friday, on Saturday we put in at the base of Hoover Dam and canoed ten miles down Black Canyon to a place on the Arizona side called Willow Beach. Most of the time on the trip is exploring slotcanyons and visiting hot springs. We camped Saturday night at the canyon mouth at Arizona Hot Springs. There was a group of Icelanders there, and probably they thought our hot springs were pretty lame. Anyway, a slideshow of photos is here.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Photos from Superstition Wilderness


Photos from hiking in the Supers are now up here.






Today was the March club hike, to Echo Mountain in the San Gabriels. It was a great day for hiking!

Monday, March 10, 2008

It's The Grobber

I just got back from the Phoenix area, where I spent a few days hiking, and while there I stopped in to see my old buddy from 1st grade, Dan "The Grobber" Gronseth. Sure, Dan is an artist, Phoenix Park Ranger, great family guy, and all that, but most importantly, if you ever found yourself in Grand Rapids MI in the early 1980's, and wondered, "Who is driving THAT CAR?!", it was The Grobber.
Dan and I lived a few houses apart in Wheaton, IL, and we were in the same grade. We walked to school every day together, usually with his older brother, whose favorite kid to beat up was me. I also remember once defending his sister's honor by punching a big third-grade bully named Cook in the eye. He should have beat the tar out of me, but he just ran home crying. I know - fantastic, but true. Wheaton was pure violence. But I digress. Anyway, it was great to see Dan, and he's even exhibiting some of his art right now in Phoenix.
I have pics from my hikes in the Superstitions, and I'm still sorting through them to make a slideshow. Check back soon...