I went for two weeks: the first with the awesome family I live with and the second with my boyfriend (also super awesome… when we don’t watch too much baseball on tv)- kidding Brent, if you read this. Most of my time was spent in Sedona. That place is wicked!! For anyone who is an avid cyclist, camper or hiker you have to go! It’s about 2 hours from the Grand Canyon and it’s amidst some spectacular Red Rock that is great for mountain biking in (make sure you bring lots of laundry soap- and some bleach!). Since I stayed in Arizona a week before Brent came, I was sort of unofficially designated trip planner for us. You can imagine how this went over. It was on the smooth side, but yes, we got lost and plans got sidetracked.
I hiked part of the grand canyon with the Browns and some of their friends. We went down a pretty neat trail and did alot of gawking, oohs and aahs. The hike gave me a brilliant idea that Brent and I should hike down to the bottom and camp out one night. The more I looked into it, the more it seemed to fall apart. Turns out that you have to book camp sites like 2 years in advance, but we still tried. We stayed in Flagstaff the night he arrived and thought we’d camp out. Haha, we got out of the car and I immediately sprang for the only sweater I’d brought. It was so cold! I felt like a bit of a chicken, but we pretty much turned around to find a hotel. Worried that all the camping stuff he’d brought would never be used, I assured Brent that we’d definately camp out somewhere… just not in Northern Arizona.
The point of the drive to Flagstaff was to get closer to the Canyon so we could start our hike early the next morning. Don’t ask how, but we began at 12:15 that afternoon. Our plan was to hike the whole thing from bottom to top. The staff had told a hiker who was doing the same route as us that she needed to bring a headlight, some warm cloths and lots of food because she wouldn’t be back until perhaps 8/9 at night. She left at 9:15 in the morning. Good thing we met her when we were done or else I don’t think we would have done it. We ran down to the bottom, starting with toques and lots and lots of clothes and ending with shorts. It was like a 25 degree change in temperature in an hour and a half! The maps didn’t state the full kilometre markings on the trails, and we passed a few signs that said “Warning, do not attempt to hike the whole Canyon in one day”. Needless to say, we pretty much hammered the entire hike, stopping for a quick lunch and a water break. At the watering hole, we met some other hikers who had hiked the bottom portion of the trail that day. They asked where we’d hiked and when we left. Brent said “12:15″ and one of them said “today???”. We laughed and then one of them recognized Brent as an NST member. Turns out they were from Alberta and one of them had a son who was also a full time skier. I think it seemed a little less astonishing after that. Well, we made it to the top at about 5 pm. I was grumpy as all get out because I’d gone through about 5 different “injuries” along the way, but all happiness was resumed when we were done.
We toured around Flagstaff the next morning- a must see in Arizona, the main strip is really neat and then drove to Sedona. The next day we put on our cycling gear and headed out for a mountain bike. I’d done some mountain biking with the Brown’s the week before and they showed me some awesome trails I wanted to take Brent on. Believe it or not we didn’t really get lost that day!! (you can take the “didn’t really” part of that any way you want). My first ride with the Browns was a prefect intro to mountain biking again (recall that’s how I broke my leg). As Paddy and Aidy (9 and 11yrs old) ripped down the first double track decent, I followed grabbing my breaks thinking “please god, don’t let me fall”. This was the tame section that pretty much looked like a sidewalk. We were out there for 4.5 hours (yes, the boys are real troopers and good on thier bikes!). After hours of slowly picking my way through technical sections my confidence had come back completely. The next day Davina and I went on a shorter ride through some super fun and rocky single track. The wind put a twist in things when we got out onto rocky plateaus. It must have been blowing nearly 100k/ hr out there and there were a couple times it knocked us off our bikes!
Of course, I wanted to show Brent the whole trail system so there we were again, putting all our eggs in one basket. I had to laugh when he said- and I quote- “the first 3 days of our holiday and I’ve already done 10 hours of training”. Well what did you expect when your with me??!! We agreed that it was super fun and well worth it though. We took it easy and just played golf and walked around for the rest of our vacation.
As you probably know, Arizona is known for it’s ranches- and baseball too, according to Brent. So we made a point of doing both. We went on a great trail ride at a working cattle ranch outside of Wickenburg. It was cool to talk to the lady who owned the place and see what her life was like as a rancher. It sounded just like the old Westerns or the Man from Snowy River! I fell in love with the idea of it and jokingly said I’d come back and work for her after I was done skiing (all fantasy aside, there was actually a hint of seriousness in that). After the ride, we packed in the rental car- insured or uninsured we still don’t kow- and headed to our campsite! Yes, we found a campsite. What we were doing is what the park called “primitive camping” which basically meant you drive around for like 45minutes trying to find a spot somewhere on the lake that wasn’t prickly with cacti or slanted at more than a 45 degree angle. We settled for one that was in between- scanty cacti prickles with a 20 degree slant was the best we could get. It may have actually been one of the best sites around because we were well protected from the howling wind (it was really strong once again and a storm was brewing). After a great campfire meal, we hopped into the tent… and that’s when the rain started. Of all the days it rains in the desert, it had to rain when we went camping. It poured all night and well into the next morning. I was careful not to complain because I wanted to prove that I could be a real good primitive camper. Relief came when we went shopping for the rest of the afternoon.
That evening we saw the Arizona Diamondbacks play the LA Dodgers at Chase Field in Phoenix. It was tons of fun even though the Diamondbacks got slaughtered. The ballpark is really nice- tons of shops, eateries, beer, and fans… by far the nicest stadium I’ve been to. The night was capped off by an epic walk around the city trying to find a night club and me squealing we were going to get raped. We found ourselves in a sort of latino bar. It was fun, but man are they good dancers! Brent and I felt a little out of place so we didn’t stay for a very long time- just enough to get our fill of what it’s like to party in the southwest.
Well, that pretty much sums up the trip! Now I’m back at home in Canmore. I’ve resumed a bit of training again. It seems as though everyone is just starting to rest, but after a month, I’ve had my share of rest. I’ll keep you updated on the team selection and my future skiing plans. Till then, enjoy the spring!
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