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Arizona
2005 |
 April
29, 2005
Dear Family and Friends,
Hiking down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon went a lot better than the
last time I did it with my uncle a few years ago. I'm attaching a picture
of the two suspension bridges over the Colorado River at the bottom of the
Grand Canyon. The silver one in the foreground carries a water pipe that
supplies drinking water on Bright Angel Trail. The black one in the
background connects the Camp Ground and Phantom Ranch with the South
Kaibab Trail which is further east in the Canyon.
I think that there were a couple of big differences about hiking this
time--one was that my uncle and I had hiked to the top of Mount Humphreys
the day before we hiked down to Bright Angel Camp Ground and we carried
tents and sleeping bags. This time we only hiked down to the bottom, and
we did it in the reverse direction--going down on Bright Angel Trail and
going up on the South Kaibab Trail.
I would highly recommend doing it that way--despite the fact that the
materials from the Back Country Permit Office do not. Frankly, Bright
Angel is about 3 miles longer than South Kaibab, and the grade is a lot
more gradual. The trade-off is that your knees are in much better shape
with the gradual descent and so are your toes. The climb up on Kaibab is
harder, but shorter and there are no water sources, as you would have on
Bright Angel.
It also made a huge difference that we had a cabin at Phantom Ranch. The
bunks are very nice and it's great not having to carry a tent and sleeping
bag down and out again. From a 5:00 AM start at Phantom Ranch, with a 30
minute stop at the bridge over the Colorado to try and locate some
misplaced items in our backpacks, I made it out just before noon.
It's great to be back in Northern Arizona! And I want to extend special
thanks to the Luffman family for their hospitality in Cottonwood--I've
been bunking in with them both before and after the hike. And thanks also
to the Pike family for the work that they did in lining up the
reservations and for letting me hike with them to the bottom of the Grand
Canyon. I hope to be around this part of the State until the Sedona
Century Ride, though I may be in and out a bit. After the Century Ride,
which will be on April 7, I plan on heading back down to Sierra Vista to
be with family until I fly out of Tucson for a Tour of Germany on May 20
and then back to Israel in early June to be the guest preacher at the
English Speaking Congregation at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in the
Old City of Jerusalem.
Life indeed continues to be interesting!
--Bob Jones, on leave from call in Northern Arizona |
April 20, 2005
Dear Family and Friends,
Life continues to be interesting: I've been spending some down time with
family in Sierra Vista getting my taxes done and lining up travel plans
for a Tour of Germany, work in Israel, and the Bike Tour in Italy that I
won in a drawing at El Tour de Tucson last Fall. Things got a lot more
complicated--it turns out that the prize was for food and housing and bike
training costs in Italy, but not for transportation, so I had to do a
little scrambling to line-up transportation. The practical upshot of this
is that I'm postponing my trip to Italy until after I've finished working
in Jerusalem this Summer. I'm planning on going by Eurail to Riccione for
"Bike Training", on the Italian Riviera on Aug. 8. Anyone interested in
joining me should e-mail me right away. You can also get information at
www.cyclecvi.com
Biking here in Sierra Vista is interesting. Like the Verde Valley,
Cochise County in SE Arizona is rich and diverse. I rode over to
Tombstone the other day (about 18 miles away and part of an interesting 48
mile loop) and on Sunday I found a wonderful "back road approach" to the
Nature Conservancy at Ramsey Canyon, about 11 miles from town. For
Cottonwood and Verde Valley cyclists, the terrain here on the San Pedro
River Valley is not as hilly as it is up your way. So average speeds on
my bike are quite a bit higher.
Meanwhile, I'm preparing to hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon during
the week of April 25 with Pastor Harl and Judy Pike from Sierra Ev.
Lutheran Church in Sierra Vista. They have been planning this for quite a
few months and we had discussed the possibility when I was still serving
as pastor at Spirit of Joy Lutheran in Cottonwood. I intend to spend some
time in and around Cottonwood and Sedona before heading back to Sierra
Vista to make final preparations for flying out of Tucson on May 20.
Also, I'm hoping to participate in the Sedona Century Ride for the Old
Town Mission on May 6. In past years I have asked members of Spirit of
Joy and anyone else who is interested to help-out with sponsoring me on
the ride. If anyone is interested in sponsoring me on the ride, please
reply to this e-mail and make a pledge. It's going to a good cause.
In short, life continues to be interesting.
--Bob Jones, on leave from call (temporarily) in Arizona |
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