The Grand Canyon National Park in Colorado has always been one of my favorite destinations. It is always a great way to see the dramatic change in scenery that Colorado has to offer. Once you see the Grand Canyon you want to stay forever, but every once in a while you also have to go home. The real tragedy is that people end up getting lost or hurt because they did not leave an itinerary with someone back home. The same goes for Grand Canyon hiking and Grand Canyon camping. Although there are good trails to follow, every trail appears to have its territorials. The Grand Canyon this past weekend was on one of those routes quite often. One day I was running some errands in the city and made some mistake and had to vacate the neighborhood. I was forced to call my sister who lived near me. She informed me that there was a hotel in the neighborhood called the Canyon. I went there and had a great meal and a shower. That night was great, just hanging out with my folks. They were a young couple I hadn’t seen in several years. They had come up from Las Vegas to visit family in Colorado.
I have seen this couple a few times since then. Always a fun trip. Grand Canyon camping is always a good experience. It is probably the most famous hiking and backpacking trail in North America. People have flocked to this marshland since the Tonto Trail was completed in 1935. There is a certain fascination that remains after you make your trip. The canyon is not the only feature of this trail, many other trails of the shaft valley have been created by erosion and Development, Willows, and other plants and animals have been brought in. The trail is a unique wintering area for birds and has attracted a multitude of animals. There are several loop trails that bring you back around to the rim of the canyon. I have taken off and then returned to the rim on several occasions. The first time I went back was with my brother Bill, cousin Ron, and a friend. We all decided to return to the South Rim the next day after a 3 hour hike down to Phantom Ranch.
The Rim to Rim adventure was just beginning. The snow was close to a 3 month deep blanket and conditions were perfect for a relaxing hike with the add-on day hike of the Aspen fiberglass chairlift. The unusual weather had started early. It was still comfortably warm and, astonishingly, the overnight low temperature was in the low 80’s. Even low elevation and cooler temps ordinarily don’t turn into full fledged hurricane barbs. Still, that didn’t stop us. We were ready for the hike and the weather was only 2 degrees away. Second, we were the first ones on the South Rim in the morning. Third, and most exciting, we solved the mystery of why the Morongo Lodge on the North Rim had been closed. A quick call to the front desk clerk explained that the closed 24 hour start was because of a fatigued ranger. The rest of the day went just as well as the day before. We expanded our notch by two more rivers, the Roaring Fork and the Crystal, before arriving at our overnight comfort. Tomorrow would be our first night down the Crystal and we would have had a full day of fishing.
After a short break for food and a quick scoop of ice cream at the stream from the stream we worked our way down to the Roaring Fork. One of the lessons we got from our father was the importance of weighed fish. For us, learning to weigh fish was a family affair. Dad would call us at least once a week. While he was always into hunting and Kansas City Starbuck’s, my sister and I were already hooked on sight fishing.
Because we were not on a hurry purchase, we had time to thoroughly check the equipment we would be bringing. We brought boots, etc., but other necessities such as clothing and food were typically left at the house. After some discussion with John, Marie, and myself, we decided to leave the extra stuff at the house. This included the rather large and heavy cooler that held our drinks, gas, etc. Other than that, we simply didn’t need anything else. The next day we headed out for some fishing in the Roaring Fork.
We didn’t have a lot of luck. Look at the Roaring Fork website. We found that most of their boats were booked that day. It looked like we would be sleeping in the boat, but they had a waiting list and people filled it up two weeks in advance. So, not wanting to go through another season camping, I went home and looked for other opportunities. A nearest lake and an activity called “Jet skiing in Aspen, CO” eventually got my attention.
My search began. I Googled “Aspen area hotels” and found a website with comprehensive information.
