the main difference from 2008 to 2009 for me is that, its another, all new, dilbert calender at office :-) another thing may be to try all new look for myself (well i had my last haircut exactly 1yr back on 4th jan, 08)..
i generally don't believe in resolutions and don't restrict myself from doing something just because i took oath of 'not' doing it. But in 2009, there are surely new things to watch, with hope, with anxiety.
few bulletin points of my watch/todo list includes:
* recession and its new outcomes :-)
* Lokshaba elections in India..
* America's foreign policy under new president elect Obama
* Terrorism and its new faces.
* China's fate with current recession.
* Israel's progress with on going tensions with Islamic terrorists.
* See if Federer can get back his No. 1 position, or ever improving Nadal can keep it up.. well nice to see some serious competition in name of Djokovic and Murray.. new faces to watch too..
* Nice to read that cricket is not anymore dominated by Australia, but somehow, I don't imagine myself infront of TV, watching cricket this year too..
* Plan to improve my tennis skills, learn skate board.. improve volleyball etc.
* Plan to goto dancing classes, so bachelor life in bay area may not bore me as much.
* Plan to visit Alaska, South America (mainly Peru and Brazil), or Egypt as of now.. need to see what happens. Also have to visit East coast of America and Canada. Lets see..
* A road trip to east coast and back if I get proper company.. (well, it may be just over 7000miles overall.. but who cares, gas is cheap again :p)
Professionally I go with the same motto I always keep, "don't look at the pay package, work for passion, success will follow you". Things have worked out well with this till now, hopes continue to exist that it will work out even in future..
well, yet again, even after 4and half years in IT industry, my bank account remains ~0 at the end of month.. :/
wish you all happy new calender year 2009
adventure ಲೇಬಲ್ನೊಂದಿಗೆ ಪೋಸ್ಟ್ಗಳನ್ನು ತೋರಿಸಲಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಪೋಸ್ಟ್ಗಳನ್ನು ತೋರಿಸಿ
adventure ಲೇಬಲ್ನೊಂದಿಗೆ ಪೋಸ್ಟ್ಗಳನ್ನು ತೋರಿಸಲಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಪೋಸ್ಟ್ಗಳನ್ನು ತೋರಿಸಿ
ಸೋಮವಾರ, ಜನವರಿ 5, 2009
ಗುರುವಾರ, ಸೆಪ್ಟೆಂಬರ್ 4, 2008
Hiking the Canyon - 2
For people who love hiking, Southern Utah/Arizona has some really cool places, thanks to 250+ mile long Canyon formed around colorado river.
We planned our September long weekend hikes to few canyons (The same grand long canyon has different National parks, known by different name).
Brief description of the trip:
Date: Aug 30th, 31st and Sept 1st.
Miles Travelled on Vehicle: 1172
People : 8 (Kiran, Nadeem, Schunder, Sudarshan, Shilpa, Mayuresh Baji, Pranav and me)
We all met up in Phoenix, Arizona, at Nadeem's room, had dinner, packed required stuffs, left Phoenix around 1:30am. It was a long drive of 430miles, reached Zion National park with some breaks around 10:00am.
We started hiking with 'Emerald Pools Trail' and then did 'Angels Landing Trail'. Angels Landing was real nice hike, the last stretch was awesome, as we had to climb a stretch of .5miles with the help of chain, on a steep canyon.
Came back, drove to Kanab, camped there in the night. Had Soup, maggi as our dinner. Day one got over without any problem (oops, i don't want to mention about Crazy horse camp ground, which had tag line, "camp forever" :O)
Day 2 started around mid night itself for some of us who slept in a tent without an extra sheet. It started with some drop of water falling on my face.. slowly others got up too, we were waiting for few seconds to think about what to do. Rain drops got bigger and bigger.. we had to run near car. Sadly car was not organized and all our luggage was spread around. we organized it, and slept in car itself (4 of us). It rained whole night, and it was raining even in the morning, and hence we couldn't hike few slot canyons, as planned. Visited BLM office, as per their advice, we went on drive towards Johnson Canyon (towards Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument). It was nice drive. Came to Page, visited Lone Rock, where people were busy with dirt motor biking near sand, and water sports in Lake Powell. Had food in a mexican restaurant in Page. Later went to horseshoe bend. and went on Boat ride in Glen Canyon Dam's backwater into the Antilope canyon.
Day two night, camped in Page, had soup, maggi. Played cards in our tent. Well, it didn't rain, but it was very windy. we had fears thinking our tents may flew away (with us inside it :O).
Day 3 started very early, got up around 4:45, folded tents (took time to clean the sand on it :O), brushed, cleaned up, left towards Grand Gulch Canyon.
It was a drive of 3 and a half hour, on the way, passed through monument valley, mexican hat. This ride was full of photo breaks. After mexican hat, we had to climb an ridge of canyon, which provided really spectacular views. Reached Grand Gulch Canyon, had Breakfast, started trekking.
Best thing about GrandGulch canyon is that its a slot canyon (we came to know this after trekking around a mile on top, missing our way), hence there is not much artificial feeling, nor a well laid out trail. there are very few people camping in that trail, hence its very *natural*. The speciality of this canyon is that, you can see lot of greenery, and it has many houses/arts etc which were made by native Indians 1000s of years back. Trek was bit relaxed as there was not much elevation gain (just about 500ft).
After finishing this trek, visited Monument valley, which is really picturesque.
Came back to Phoenix, had bath, slept for some time, got up, flew back to San Jose Airport. From where, I took, bus -> light rail -> bus to reach my office, my first journey in public transport in USA (other than BART).
More photos of the trip later.
NOTE: The distance of the trails were not posted as for Transcanyon hikers these distance was quite easy :D
We planned our September long weekend hikes to few canyons (The same grand long canyon has different National parks, known by different name).
Brief description of the trip:
Date: Aug 30th, 31st and Sept 1st.
Miles Travelled on Vehicle: 1172
People : 8 (Kiran, Nadeem, Schunder, Sudarshan, Shilpa, Mayuresh Baji, Pranav and me)
We all met up in Phoenix, Arizona, at Nadeem's room, had dinner, packed required stuffs, left Phoenix around 1:30am. It was a long drive of 430miles, reached Zion National park with some breaks around 10:00am.
We started hiking with 'Emerald Pools Trail' and then did 'Angels Landing Trail'. Angels Landing was real nice hike, the last stretch was awesome, as we had to climb a stretch of .5miles with the help of chain, on a steep canyon.
Came back, drove to Kanab, camped there in the night. Had Soup, maggi as our dinner. Day one got over without any problem (oops, i don't want to mention about Crazy horse camp ground, which had tag line, "camp forever" :O)
Day 2 started around mid night itself for some of us who slept in a tent without an extra sheet. It started with some drop of water falling on my face.. slowly others got up too, we were waiting for few seconds to think about what to do. Rain drops got bigger and bigger.. we had to run near car. Sadly car was not organized and all our luggage was spread around. we organized it, and slept in car itself (4 of us). It rained whole night, and it was raining even in the morning, and hence we couldn't hike few slot canyons, as planned. Visited BLM office, as per their advice, we went on drive towards Johnson Canyon (towards Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument). It was nice drive. Came to Page, visited Lone Rock, where people were busy with dirt motor biking near sand, and water sports in Lake Powell. Had food in a mexican restaurant in Page. Later went to horseshoe bend. and went on Boat ride in Glen Canyon Dam's backwater into the Antilope canyon.
Day two night, camped in Page, had soup, maggi. Played cards in our tent. Well, it didn't rain, but it was very windy. we had fears thinking our tents may flew away (with us inside it :O).
Day 3 started very early, got up around 4:45, folded tents (took time to clean the sand on it :O), brushed, cleaned up, left towards Grand Gulch Canyon.
It was a drive of 3 and a half hour, on the way, passed through monument valley, mexican hat. This ride was full of photo breaks. After mexican hat, we had to climb an ridge of canyon, which provided really spectacular views. Reached Grand Gulch Canyon, had Breakfast, started trekking.
Best thing about GrandGulch canyon is that its a slot canyon (we came to know this after trekking around a mile on top, missing our way), hence there is not much artificial feeling, nor a well laid out trail. there are very few people camping in that trail, hence its very *natural*. The speciality of this canyon is that, you can see lot of greenery, and it has many houses/arts etc which were made by native Indians 1000s of years back. Trek was bit relaxed as there was not much elevation gain (just about 500ft).
After finishing this trek, visited Monument valley, which is really picturesque.
Came back to Phoenix, had bath, slept for some time, got up, flew back to San Jose Airport. From where, I took, bus -> light rail -> bus to reach my office, my first journey in public transport in USA (other than BART).
More photos of the trip later.
NOTE: The distance of the trails were not posted as for Transcanyon hikers these distance was quite easy :D
ಸೋಮವಾರ, ಜುಲೈ 28, 2008
Conquering HalfDome
To the uninitiated people, who don't know what/how/why is Half-Dome, do follow the links
* About Half-Dome in wiki
* About Hike in NPS site
Technical Details of our Trip:
Date : 26th July 2008.
People: 6 (Amar, Kiran, Lakshmi, Schunder, Shilpa, Sudarshan)
Vehicle: 1
Total distance walked: 18miles = (16 - HalfDome hike + 2- lower yosemite falls)
Total hours spent in Yosemite : 14hrs (12 + 2)
Places seen/visited: HalfDome + Nevada Falls + Vernal Falls + LowerYosemite Falls
Distance Traveled (on car): 350Miles
Some Photos : My Picasa Web Album
More Photos by Kiran: Kiran's Picasa Web Album
Video clip made by Scud: check here @ youtube
The plan for the hike was made sometime back only by Kiran/Scud and friends. I had plans of going to NewYorkCity and hence had told them that I can't make it. But my NYC trip got canceled, and I should admit it was all for good. I requested them that I too will join them in this hike, and well, they all agreed.
Well, here was what we had planned for Saturday - 07/26/08
leave bayarea by 10:30pm (on friday night)
reach Yosemite ~ 2.30am
start hiking from 3am
reach the peak ~ 7.30am
- have break fast
start down at 9am
reach the bottom at 3pm, hunt for camping site - if we dont get any and are in a bad condition - we can head back else camp.
What happened exactly:
We started almost 1hr30mins later from Bayarea. Reached Yosemite valley base by ~3:50AM, Slept for ~1hr inside car only. Got up at 5AM and took some fruits, energy bars, and water+electrolytes. After using restrooms, packing food, when we left Base to hike HalfDome, it was ~6AM. We started slowly.. Yosemite is a cool place, and also the trail to hike goes inside redwood forests, hence it was all cold and perfect whether. Hence it reduced our water consumption. Along the way, I got the first view of HalfDome, at a long distance. The site along the path were beautiful.
After crossing top of NevadaFalls, me and Kiran picked up some speed, as we were talking about kannaDa literature and similar stuff. We reached the base of HalfDome ~10:30AM. The only thing left to conquer HalfDome was Hiking with the help of Cables put up. There was already a big queue. I took a long rest of 25mins there.. ate some fruits and a energy bar. When I reached the top of HalfDome, it was 11:45AM and the feeling was great. That too, the last 400ft hike with the help of cables made the trip completely unique. Unfortunately all in the team couldn't do the last stretch.
While coming down, we came along with Nevada and Vernal Falls. After coming down, went to Lower Yosemite falls too. Couldn't find a camp ground there as it was already late, and hence came back home.
From Friday morning 6:30AM Till Saturday/Sunday Night 2AM (~43hrs), I (and some others in the team) had just 1hr of sleep :O
* About Half-Dome in wiki
* About Hike in NPS site
Technical Details of our Trip:
Date : 26th July 2008.
People: 6 (Amar, Kiran, Lakshmi, Schunder, Shilpa, Sudarshan)
Vehicle: 1
Total distance walked: 18miles = (16 - HalfDome hike + 2- lower yosemite falls)
Total hours spent in Yosemite : 14hrs (12 + 2)
Places seen/visited: HalfDome + Nevada Falls + Vernal Falls + LowerYosemite Falls
Distance Traveled (on car): 350Miles
Some Photos : My Picasa Web Album
More Photos by Kiran: Kiran's Picasa Web Album
Video clip made by Scud: check here @ youtube
The plan for the hike was made sometime back only by Kiran/Scud and friends. I had plans of going to NewYorkCity and hence had told them that I can't make it. But my NYC trip got canceled, and I should admit it was all for good. I requested them that I too will join them in this hike, and well, they all agreed.
Well, here was what we had planned for Saturday - 07/26/08
leave bayarea by 10:30pm (on friday night)
reach Yosemite ~ 2.30am
start hiking from 3am
reach the peak ~ 7.30am
- have break fast
start down at 9am
reach the bottom at 3pm, hunt for camping site - if we dont get any and are in a bad condition - we can head back else camp.
What happened exactly:
We started almost 1hr30mins later from Bayarea. Reached Yosemite valley base by ~3:50AM, Slept for ~1hr inside car only. Got up at 5AM and took some fruits, energy bars, and water+electrolytes. After using restrooms, packing food, when we left Base to hike HalfDome, it was ~6AM. We started slowly.. Yosemite is a cool place, and also the trail to hike goes inside redwood forests, hence it was all cold and perfect whether. Hence it reduced our water consumption. Along the way, I got the first view of HalfDome, at a long distance. The site along the path were beautiful.
After crossing top of NevadaFalls, me and Kiran picked up some speed, as we were talking about kannaDa literature and similar stuff. We reached the base of HalfDome ~10:30AM. The only thing left to conquer HalfDome was Hiking with the help of Cables put up. There was already a big queue. I took a long rest of 25mins there.. ate some fruits and a energy bar. When I reached the top of HalfDome, it was 11:45AM and the feeling was great. That too, the last 400ft hike with the help of cables made the trip completely unique. Unfortunately all in the team couldn't do the last stretch.
While coming down, we came along with Nevada and Vernal Falls. After coming down, went to Lower Yosemite falls too. Couldn't find a camp ground there as it was already late, and hence came back home.
From Friday morning 6:30AM Till Saturday/Sunday Night 2AM (~43hrs), I (and some others in the team) had just 1hr of sleep :O
ಬುಧವಾರ, ಜೂನ್ 25, 2008
Grand Canyon Hike - A dream come true
For the un-initiated, follow these links first to know about what is GrandCanyon and what exactly is the rim to rim hike.
our plan was something like this.
June 20th: leave SanFransisco, Reach Las Vegas by mid-night (by flight).
June 21st: 12:30-6:00AM - Drive to North Rim. Park the car.
06:45-12:00PM - Catch a shuttle from North rim to south rim. (its only one per day shuttle).
04:00PM - Start trek from South Kaibab Trail, reach Bright Angel Camp Ground, Stay there in the night.
June 22nd: Start early, reach Ribbon Falls, spend some time, reach Cotton Wood Camp Ground, Take some rest.
June 23rd: Start around 5am, reach top by 12pm, get into the car, drive to LasVegas, catch the return flight, get back home, live happily ever after.
this is all perfect, and was planned very tightly, and there was no gap for any messups. Lets see what happened actually..
June 20th: Achalesh reaches Airport on time, (ie, before 9:30pm), me and Aspu reached 3mins before the flight time, and we all missed it (as Achalesh boooked the ticket together for all 3). Kiran and Nadeem were at LV by 11:30. As our flight was the last of the day, we couldn't get into next flight, and they told we can land in only next day morning flight. No flights were available in other airlines too.. To keep up the plan of making it rim to rim hike, we had to take one more day off, or split the group, both was not an option for us. We slept in SFO airport only, on the floor, over our sleeping bags.
June 21st: Kiran and Nadeem reached North rim early morning, and took the shuttle as per the plan. We got into first flight to LV in the morning. Reached there, still not sure what to do, to keep up the plan. We were thinking of renting another car, goto SouthRim, join Kiran and Nadeem there, do the trek as planned, but stay in North rim for one extra day, and catch the shuttle to south rim, and get the car back to LV. that means, we had to take 1day extra leave :( well, while booking the car, we got the idea that we can just do the car rent one way. Ie, goto southrim using car/bus, meet our team, do the hike, get in the car we have in north rim, get back to LV as planned. It worked out well, and we were there at south rim 6hours later, not with much sleep. Started Trek around 6.30pm, hence did only 20% of the trek when there was sun light.
Reached Bright Angel Camp Ground, tired and exhausted, at 12:15AM, slept without eating as we were feeling so dry, and tired.
June 22nd: 7miles to cover, almost flat ground. left camping site at 7:15am thinking we can make to Ribbon Falls (~6miles) well within time. But, my legs didn't co-operate much, I was much slow than my expectation, hunger made it worst. I couldn't eat anything as I was feeling very dry, survived only on Gatorade and water. When Sun came up, situation became even worse, the temperature grew very high. It was very hot inside the canyon. I had to take frequent stops. Our group was all broken, mostly me and achalesh were together most of the time. I almost fell near ribbon falls, then i realized its because of sun + hunger. Ate a protein bar, felt little better. Made up to ribbon falls, and slept there for ~2hrs. When gotup, most of the muscles were complaining. Realized that without eating proper food, I am not going to finish the trek and even though it was very hard to eat, ate 2 chapatis. Left to Cotton Wood CampGround. Slept.
June 23rd: 12:00AM Got up at ~at this time (little earlier actually) and ate 2more chapatis. Started to hike towards the north rim as its a 4500ft hike of 7miles. We had heavy backpack (~30+ lbs). Best part of starting the hike early was, we had chance of watching the Canyon in moon light, which was an amazing experience. This trail was completely on the edge of the ridge, 90% of the time. We missed lot of nicer views because we hiked it in night, but we had no option. We knew it will be very hard to trek in sun light. well, to my surprise, I was at last but one stop (1.7miles to north rim), well before 8am. I slept a bit there, as i was very tired and was lacking sleep. (sitting on the rock, leaning on another rock). I had camera inside in my bag, and I was so tired that I had no energy to take it out :O, also north rim is very beautiful, so i thought i will keep the views just in memory.
Well to explain you how hard it was for me, i took 3hr30mins for last 1.7miles.
When I got back, my calf muscles were so aching that I couldn't walk properly.
But the feeling of completing a trek which deserves a high physical and mental fitness is great. The feel of Grand Canyon, its grandness, its height, its depth everything was amazing.
After coming back my first words were "I did it!"
Few points to be noted:
* GC trek is 'no trash zone' ie, you are liable to prosecution if you throw trash inside the canyon. Hence carry only things in plastic/paper covers. (so it will be less weight).
* People were amazed that we made it with such high amount of weight. Being light weight is the key for a good Rim to Rim Hike. We carried unnecessary weight. (food + cloths)
* Heat is your main enemy (everyone who did GC trek may agree with it), so plan your trek accordingly.
Imagine what all I carried? 2 sets of 20 chapatis (~1kg each), 2 chutni bottle, 1 pickle bottle, 1 kissan jam bottle, 1 tomato ketchup, and 1 + 1 + .75 + .75 liters of water + cloths (including a blanket which i never used :O). sadly I had to carry them all the way, as I couldn't throw them, and carrying that much weight is not even thinkable now, but I did GC rim to rim hike with that much weight. Though I feel foolish, its a pleasure I did it with all that weight.
photos here
-----
[ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ]
"Grand Canyon" ಹೀಗಂತ ಒಂದು ಜಾಗ ಇದೆ ಅಂತ ಕೇಳಿದ್ದೆ. ಎಲ್ಲೊ ಒಮ್ಮೆ NGC TV ನಲ್ಲಿ ತೋರಿಸಿದ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಅಲ್ಲಿ trek ಹೋಗೊದನ್ನ ನೋಡಿದ್ದೆ. ಬಹು ಕಷ್ಟ ಅಂತ ಅವ್ರೆಲ್ಲ ಹೇಳ್ತಾ ಇದ್ರು. ಎರಡು ತಿಂಗಳ ಹಿಂದೆ ನನ್ನ ಗೆಳೆಯ ಅಚಲೇಶ್, "ಮಗ! Grand Canyon rim to rim trek ಬರ್ತಿಯ? permission ಸಿಕ್ಕಿದೆ" ಅಂತ ಹೇಳಿದ ಕೂಡ್ಲೆ "ಹು! sure ಮಚ! i am in" ಎಂದು, ರಜೆ ಕೂಡ ತಗೊಂಡು ಬಿಟ್ಟೆ.
ನೋಡ್ತ ನೋಡ್ತ ಎರಡು ತಿಂಗ್ಳು ಕಳ್ದೆ ಹೊತು. ಸರಿ ಎಲ್ಲ್ ತಯಾರಾಗಿ, ಶುಕ್ರವಾರ ರಾತ್ರಿ ಎರ್ಪೋರ್ಟಿಗೆ ಹೊಗ ಹೊತ್ತಿಗೆ ಎಮ್ಮ ವಿಮಾನದ್ದು ಬಾಗ್ಲು ಹಾಕೆ ಬಿಟ್ಟಿದ್ದ, ಅವತ್ತು ರಾತ್ರೆ ಅಲ್ಲೆ ಮಲ್ಗೆದ್ದು, ಬೆಳ್ಬೆಳಗ್ಗೆ ಒಡ್ಹೋಗಿ Q ನಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಂತು, ಮೊದ್ಲ ವಿಮಾನ ಹಿಡ್ಕಂಡು, ಲಾಸ್ವೆಗಾಸ್ಗೆ ಹೊದ್ಯ. ಅಲ್ಲೊಗಿ ಬಾಡ್ಗೆ ಕಾರ್ ತಗಂಡು flagstaff ಅನ್ನೊ ಊರಿಗೆ ಹೊಗಿ, ಕಾರು ಅಲ್ಲೆ ಬಿಟ್ಹಾಕಿ, ಬಸ್ಸು ಹಿಡ್ಕಂಡು south rim ಗೆ ಹೊಗ ಹೊತ್ತಿಗೆ, ಬರೊಬ್ಬರಿ 6 ಗಂಟೆ ತಡ.
[ಮುಂದುವರೆಸಲಾಗುತ್ತದೆ]
our plan was something like this.
June 20th: leave SanFransisco, Reach Las Vegas by mid-night (by flight).
June 21st: 12:30-6:00AM - Drive to North Rim. Park the car.
06:45-12:00PM - Catch a shuttle from North rim to south rim. (its only one per day shuttle).
04:00PM - Start trek from South Kaibab Trail, reach Bright Angel Camp Ground, Stay there in the night.
June 22nd: Start early, reach Ribbon Falls, spend some time, reach Cotton Wood Camp Ground, Take some rest.
June 23rd: Start around 5am, reach top by 12pm, get into the car, drive to LasVegas, catch the return flight, get back home, live happily ever after.
this is all perfect, and was planned very tightly, and there was no gap for any messups. Lets see what happened actually..
June 20th: Achalesh reaches Airport on time, (ie, before 9:30pm), me and Aspu reached 3mins before the flight time, and we all missed it (as Achalesh boooked the ticket together for all 3). Kiran and Nadeem were at LV by 11:30. As our flight was the last of the day, we couldn't get into next flight, and they told we can land in only next day morning flight. No flights were available in other airlines too.. To keep up the plan of making it rim to rim hike, we had to take one more day off, or split the group, both was not an option for us. We slept in SFO airport only, on the floor, over our sleeping bags.
June 21st: Kiran and Nadeem reached North rim early morning, and took the shuttle as per the plan. We got into first flight to LV in the morning. Reached there, still not sure what to do, to keep up the plan. We were thinking of renting another car, goto SouthRim, join Kiran and Nadeem there, do the trek as planned, but stay in North rim for one extra day, and catch the shuttle to south rim, and get the car back to LV. that means, we had to take 1day extra leave :( well, while booking the car, we got the idea that we can just do the car rent one way. Ie, goto southrim using car/bus, meet our team, do the hike, get in the car we have in north rim, get back to LV as planned. It worked out well, and we were there at south rim 6hours later, not with much sleep. Started Trek around 6.30pm, hence did only 20% of the trek when there was sun light.
Reached Bright Angel Camp Ground, tired and exhausted, at 12:15AM, slept without eating as we were feeling so dry, and tired.
June 22nd: 7miles to cover, almost flat ground. left camping site at 7:15am thinking we can make to Ribbon Falls (~6miles) well within time. But, my legs didn't co-operate much, I was much slow than my expectation, hunger made it worst. I couldn't eat anything as I was feeling very dry, survived only on Gatorade and water. When Sun came up, situation became even worse, the temperature grew very high. It was very hot inside the canyon. I had to take frequent stops. Our group was all broken, mostly me and achalesh were together most of the time. I almost fell near ribbon falls, then i realized its because of sun + hunger. Ate a protein bar, felt little better. Made up to ribbon falls, and slept there for ~2hrs. When gotup, most of the muscles were complaining. Realized that without eating proper food, I am not going to finish the trek and even though it was very hard to eat, ate 2 chapatis. Left to Cotton Wood CampGround. Slept.
June 23rd: 12:00AM Got up at ~at this time (little earlier actually) and ate 2more chapatis. Started to hike towards the north rim as its a 4500ft hike of 7miles. We had heavy backpack (~30+ lbs). Best part of starting the hike early was, we had chance of watching the Canyon in moon light, which was an amazing experience. This trail was completely on the edge of the ridge, 90% of the time. We missed lot of nicer views because we hiked it in night, but we had no option. We knew it will be very hard to trek in sun light. well, to my surprise, I was at last but one stop (1.7miles to north rim), well before 8am. I slept a bit there, as i was very tired and was lacking sleep. (sitting on the rock, leaning on another rock). I had camera inside in my bag, and I was so tired that I had no energy to take it out :O, also north rim is very beautiful, so i thought i will keep the views just in memory.
Well to explain you how hard it was for me, i took 3hr30mins for last 1.7miles.
When I got back, my calf muscles were so aching that I couldn't walk properly.
But the feeling of completing a trek which deserves a high physical and mental fitness is great. The feel of Grand Canyon, its grandness, its height, its depth everything was amazing.
After coming back my first words were "I did it!"
Few points to be noted:
* GC trek is 'no trash zone' ie, you are liable to prosecution if you throw trash inside the canyon. Hence carry only things in plastic/paper covers. (so it will be less weight).
* People were amazed that we made it with such high amount of weight. Being light weight is the key for a good Rim to Rim Hike. We carried unnecessary weight. (food + cloths)
* Heat is your main enemy (everyone who did GC trek may agree with it), so plan your trek accordingly.
Imagine what all I carried? 2 sets of 20 chapatis (~1kg each), 2 chutni bottle, 1 pickle bottle, 1 kissan jam bottle, 1 tomato ketchup, and 1 + 1 + .75 + .75 liters of water + cloths (including a blanket which i never used :O). sadly I had to carry them all the way, as I couldn't throw them, and carrying that much weight is not even thinkable now, but I did GC rim to rim hike with that much weight. Though I feel foolish, its a pleasure I did it with all that weight.
photos here-----
[ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ]
"Grand Canyon" ಹೀಗಂತ ಒಂದು ಜಾಗ ಇದೆ ಅಂತ ಕೇಳಿದ್ದೆ. ಎಲ್ಲೊ ಒಮ್ಮೆ NGC TV ನಲ್ಲಿ ತೋರಿಸಿದ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಅಲ್ಲಿ trek ಹೋಗೊದನ್ನ ನೋಡಿದ್ದೆ. ಬಹು ಕಷ್ಟ ಅಂತ ಅವ್ರೆಲ್ಲ ಹೇಳ್ತಾ ಇದ್ರು. ಎರಡು ತಿಂಗಳ ಹಿಂದೆ ನನ್ನ ಗೆಳೆಯ ಅಚಲೇಶ್, "ಮಗ! Grand Canyon rim to rim trek ಬರ್ತಿಯ? permission ಸಿಕ್ಕಿದೆ" ಅಂತ ಹೇಳಿದ ಕೂಡ್ಲೆ "ಹು! sure ಮಚ! i am in" ಎಂದು, ರಜೆ ಕೂಡ ತಗೊಂಡು ಬಿಟ್ಟೆ.
ನೋಡ್ತ ನೋಡ್ತ ಎರಡು ತಿಂಗ್ಳು ಕಳ್ದೆ ಹೊತು. ಸರಿ ಎಲ್ಲ್ ತಯಾರಾಗಿ, ಶುಕ್ರವಾರ ರಾತ್ರಿ ಎರ್ಪೋರ್ಟಿಗೆ ಹೊಗ ಹೊತ್ತಿಗೆ ಎಮ್ಮ ವಿಮಾನದ್ದು ಬಾಗ್ಲು ಹಾಕೆ ಬಿಟ್ಟಿದ್ದ, ಅವತ್ತು ರಾತ್ರೆ ಅಲ್ಲೆ ಮಲ್ಗೆದ್ದು, ಬೆಳ್ಬೆಳಗ್ಗೆ ಒಡ್ಹೋಗಿ Q ನಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಂತು, ಮೊದ್ಲ ವಿಮಾನ ಹಿಡ್ಕಂಡು, ಲಾಸ್ವೆಗಾಸ್ಗೆ ಹೊದ್ಯ. ಅಲ್ಲೊಗಿ ಬಾಡ್ಗೆ ಕಾರ್ ತಗಂಡು flagstaff ಅನ್ನೊ ಊರಿಗೆ ಹೊಗಿ, ಕಾರು ಅಲ್ಲೆ ಬಿಟ್ಹಾಕಿ, ಬಸ್ಸು ಹಿಡ್ಕಂಡು south rim ಗೆ ಹೊಗ ಹೊತ್ತಿಗೆ, ಬರೊಬ್ಬರಿ 6 ಗಂಟೆ ತಡ.
[ಮುಂದುವರೆಸಲಾಗುತ್ತದೆ]
ಭಾನುವಾರ, ಮೇ 18, 2008
ಮನದಾಸೆ ಹಕ್ಕಿಯಾಗಿ.. ಮುಗಿಲಲ್ಲಿ ತೇಲಿ ತೇಲಿ..
ಇಂದು ನನ್ನ ಕೆಲವು ಗೆಳೆಯರೊಡನೆ ಆಕಾಶನೆಗೆತ (ಬಹುಷಃ ಕನ್ನಡ ಶಭ್ದಬಂಡಾರದಲ್ಲಿ skydiving ಅನ್ನೊ ಪದ ಇಲ್ಲ ಅನಿಸುತ್ತೆ, ಈ ಕ್ರೀಡೆ ಬಹು ಇತ್ತಿಚಿನದು) ಕ್ಕೆ ಹೊಗಿದ್ದೆ. 13ಸಾವಿರ ಅಡಿ ಎತ್ತರದಿಂದ ನೆಗೆದಾಗ ಆಗುವ ಅನುಬವವನ್ನು ಹಂಚಿಕೊಳ್ಳೊದು ಬಹು ಕಷ್ಟ, ಅದನ್ನ ಸಾದಿಸಿಯೆ ತಿಳಿಯಬೇಕು.
ನಾನು ಮಾಡಿದ ನೆಗೆತದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ - About the jump
ಫೊಟೊಗಳು ಇಲ್ಲಿ - Photos here.
ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ಸಬ್ಸ್ಕ್ರೈಬ್ ಆಗಿ:
ಪೋಸ್ಟ್ಗಳು (Atom)