Mister Fixit's World

 I finally got in a decent length hike, the Siltstone Trail in Jefferson Memorial Forest in Louisville. It’s sort of a tradition because I’ve hiked it every time I’ve been to the canyon, and we hiked it the first time when we went to Havasu in 2008. I didn’t go quite as far as we’ve gone before, but I did climb all the way to the high point of the last ridge. My average time per mile is just pitiful, but so far I’ve always managed to arrive no matter how slowly I get there. I’m feeling a bit more optimistic than I was just yesterday. My feet and knees are complaining, but just a little.

 It’s the Thanksgiving weekend and I still haven’t done a long hike. My excuse is that the dog had surgery and I’ve been looking after her while Charlotte has been at work. I’ve been going to the park in town at night after she gets home and walking a couple of loops (2.6 miles) but that’s not the kind of hiking prep I’m used to doing before a Canyon trip. The good news is that my weight is as low as it was for our first hike, but the bad news is that was seven years ago and I had both more hiking prep and more knee cartridge. I still need to get in at least one long hike, both for conditioning and just for tradition, but there’s a voice inside my head that says it won’t make much of a difference and I’m a little bit afraid I will hurt myself and jeopardize my trip.

 I signed up for the Sheltowee Trace hiker challenge.  I’ve had the idea of hiking the ST in the back of my mind since it was created in 1979 because it passes within 5 miles of my childhood home and I remember when the trail marker appeared along KY 52 while I was still in high school. Over the years I have done a lot of car/boat camping, and several nights of walking into the woods and sleeping while in HS, but the first thing I’ve done that I would consider “real” backpacking didn’t happen until 2005 when my wife and I hiked the Little River Trail in the Smokies. My longest ever trip has been two nights. My upcoming Grand Canyon hike will more than double that, although I will have the luxury of being able to buy food at Phantom Ranch and will be sleeping in a developed campsite each night. The ST hiker challenge isn’t a thru hike. For most people it’s one weekend a month where participants hike around 30 miles. By the end of the year you cover the entire 323 miles, but tha...

 As I'm typing this (11-14-20) my fifth Grand Canyon hike is less than a month away. I have only done three prep hikes, none longer than four miles, so I'm feeling a bit underprepared to say the least. That's especially true since this hike isn't just going to Phantom Ranch and back up to the South Rim. This time I'm camping for five nights with the intention of seeing how far I can get up the North Kaibab trail before the snow stops me.  I don't think there's even a remote chance I can make it to the North Rim trailhead, and if I do then it's 100% certain I will be returning to Cottonwood Campground in darkness. Cottonwood is the only place you can camp on the North Kaibab so I have to make it back there on the day I climb north. It's kind of like "summit day" for people climbing Everest.

 A blog that will be seen by practically no one documenting a bunch of things that will probably never happen.