A Very Special Halloween Treat

For my last major hike of the 2007 season, I wanted to do something special. I got the chance this month to do a rare hike with my brother in Arizona. This is definitely one of those off-the-map specials: a rim-to-river scramble deep in the remote, rugged wilderness of the eastern Grand Canyon.

During the landmark 1869 Powell expedition through the Grand Canyon, Walter Powell (brother of John Wesley) scrambled up from the confluence of the Little Colorado and Colorado Rivers to the Canyon’s rim, some 3400 vertical feet above.

While it is likely native peoples used this route to access the river before Walter Powell, his is the first recorded passage, and thus the way is known as the Walter Powell Route.

I have to say, after seeing the Grand Canyon, I think I need to get back to my home state of Arizona a little more often. This was truly a memorable hike: savage, challenging, and more spectacular than I can possibly describe.

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Today’s Quote

This comes courtesy of the Backcountry.com Newsletter:

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing — Helen Keller, 1957

Our thoughts are with the evacuees and those who’ve lost their homes and lives during this week’s wildfires in Southern California.

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