So we saddled up to a ruin site. Turns out that when you have 2 archaeologists with you, you can find a ton of cool stuff!

Anyway… enjoy the photos below. If you don’t see anything interesting it means that you’re probably like me… blind to most archaeological clues.

Timelapse to Albuquerque from Joshua Gilbrech on Vimeo.

Good times.

So Meg and I finally hit the day in which we were supposed to head up to HF. We load up the car with probably everything we could possibly imagine we would need (and then some) and headed north. The drive was pretty meh… hot spots of interest were found in Seligman (an old RT.66 town) and on the road up to the canyon trailhead. We encountered several Burma-Shave ads on the way up and were completely baffled by them (If daisies / Are your / Favorite flower / Keep pushin’ up those / Miles per hour / Burma-Shave). It did provide an interesting aspect to the boring drive at least.

We finally made it up to the top. The gallery below should be in chronological order, the first three pictures show the canyon when we arrived at Dusk and our hopeless attempt at sleeping in the back of a VW golf (don’t try this if you are over 5ft5 it will not work).

The next morning we rose early (I’m avoiding saying woke up because we didn’t really sleep), strapped on our packs and headed out down the canyon. Immediately I’m thinking… damn… this is going to really really suck going back up. Foreshadowing anyone??? We encountered a lovely little rez dog which we lovably named Vic who decided that we needed a local guide on our way down. He ended up following us for the first 3 miles until he spotted another larger group and plodded off with them.

Yeah… so as always… the Grand Canyon is a place of majesty. Every turn you are presented with yet another eye popping visage that took practically forever to make. It really does just beleaguer your mind. I tried to capture all of these as I saw them but there’s only so much that I could manage. (Luckily it’s not like the canyon is going to move anytime soon). The first 6 miles went by like a breeze and soon we were walking along side some of the most crystal clear water that I’ve ever seen. Our pace quickened (due to my Darling Meg’s excitement) then soon slowed as the miles started taking their toll on my hips (god I’m getting old). Soon we were in the little village Supai, which serves as a hub for all the activities down in the falls region. We checked in then quickly made our way to the store for some Ice Cream… OMG it was good.

Anyway… we finished out by heading the remaining 2 miles down to the campground… before getting there we passed by Navajo falls and of course Havasu falls. Breathtaking…. simply breathtaking. It’s still beyond me to know that these amazing places are here in the desert. Like sparkling gems they shine with a glory that I can’t even begin to describe (luckily I have a camera). We marveled for a few minutes and then made our way to set up camp.  The rest of the day was spent roaming around camp, heading down to Mooney Falls (holy crap they make that trip interesting… wet, muddy chains and ladders to get down…. just a weee bit nerve racking), and hanging out at Havasu Falls.

The next day was spent swimming, cliff jumping, picture taking and relaxing by the water. Just fantastic!

Our final day approached with great speed. Even more since Meg somehow accidentally set her alarm and hour early. I was so dazed at 4am that I didn’t even note to check my watch (we were supposed to wake up @ 5). By the time I had figured it out we basically had everything packed and put away. So we headed out early by starlight (crazy how many stars you could see!) and by  headlamp. We made it back the 2 miles to the village by first light and then the next 2 miles to the canyon before 7am.

Our friend Vic and his new pal Rufus accompanied us the entire way back to the top. (Unfortunately we didn’t want to get close to them at all since Vic found a HUGE fresh cow pie and proceeded to smear his whole body in it. It gave him a wonderful green tinge to his coloring SHUDDER). Anyway… yeah… the trip to the last 1.5 miles took us 5 hours. The last 1.5 miles took us another 1.5 hours. OMG it was horrible… just straight up switchback from hell. I shifted down to zombie deathmarch mode and just put one foot after the next till it finally ended. I’m sooooooo happy I decided to finally buy a pair of hiking poles from REI…. that paid off so well in the end.

So yeah… here are the photos. Hope you enjoy!

Yes… you get Mariachi Idol.

Let me tell you… it’s everything I hoped for and more!

Here’s some of the shots I took from the night.

Enjoy!

well maybe lots of explosions… big expensive explosions… with lots of people watching… yes.

4th of July from Joshua Gilbrech on Vimeo.

So after a few pictures I notice that the storm isn’t moving away from us… it’s moving toward us. This becomes even more apparent after a giant bolt of lightning annihilates something VERY VERY CLOSE to us… I would have a better idea what it was if I hadn’t been instantly reacting by throwing myself to the ground and taking cover. I look up to see Shachaf standing there with a big stupid grin on his face.

TIME TO PACK UP!!

Anyway here are the lightning shots… I’ll post the fireworks later after some PP.

Today I actually get to get my hands dirty and pretend to be one of them. I decided that it would be a fun setup to get a time lapse going. As such… I give you my first time lapse creation!

Whole Day Digging from Joshua Gilbrech on Vimeo.

So today we got to get a really good tour around the pueblos. Below are some of the photos taken on this day. After touring around the old neighborhood we camped out at the KOA in Grants. You may notice the field baby saying hi from the front of her tent. Good times!