Horse Thief Basin

Took a quick camping trip up to the Horse Thief Basin area this past weekend.  It is about 6 miles of rough dirt road SE of Crown King.  A total of about 35 miles of dirt to pull into the Hazlett Hollow campground.  Kenny, Christi, Fuji and I drove up Friday night in the 2 Toyotas and returned Sunday morning.  We ended up being the only group in the campground.  The CCC stonework was very impressive and substantial.  

Saturday, Kenny and I took a ride around the road to the lookout tower and met with the watcher for abit before returning to camp.  Lotsa relaxing sitting around commenced into the night.  The trails and roads are rough, so not the best MTB destination.  But 1.5-2 hours away and so desolate, cool, and scenic is tough to complain about.  

Only a few pics were snapped...

-Ryan

Rainbow Rim, June 2013

I had 3 days off from work and I needed a break.  So let's head north to some "cooler" weather.  Rainbow Rim and the Kaibab Plateau (National Forest) had been in the discussions of late.  So loaded up Friday morning before work, then rolled out motivated after work.  I'm ready for my first visit to the big ditch Grand Canyon.  Turned onto highway 67 at Jacob Lake at about midnight

 Down the highway and turn off onto FS22, time for 22 miles of gravel to get out to Locust Point.  I was glad to have the Tacoma vs the Jetta.  Probably traveled twice as fast with much less stress.  It was kinda busy, so I ended up at 294Y, almost a mile from the trailhead/vista/point.  Setup camp under headlight and crashed out just after 1 AM.  As is my usual, I was up early and took a walk down to the point to snap a few photos.  Came back, got ready and rode north to Parissawampitts Point, then back to camp.  Snacked on some lunch, sat around, took a nap, etc.  Then pulled the Idiot Hour Rookie Move...

...it's only near record high temps, I've ridden 19 miles, I've sat around sipping on the water bladder for a few hours.  Naw, I'm probably ok for a quick ride to Timp Point and back, dundundun...  It was a quick easy ride TO Timp Point, then "AIR", damn, I'm outta water, tired, sore, etc.  So I decided to take the roads around and back to camp.  Probably the better choice than the ups, downs, turns, and rocks along the trail.

I survived, made it back to camp, got some more Summer Sausage and Goldfish before chilling out and reading into the night.

Up early again on Sunday, feeling stiff, sore, and mildly dehydrated still.  So discretion being the better part of valor, I went with the wimpy way out and did some scouting, viewpoint stopping, and hightailing it back home.  It was nice to see the scenery between Flagstaff and the Kaibab Plateau for the first time (in the daylight at least).

Lessons/Notes/Etc.

The Grand Canyon is BIG.  Most of these pictures feature Steamboat Mountain, which is IN the Grand Canyon.
DRINK WATER/CHECK WATER/CARRY WATER
It's time to try the hammock again on the next pinetree camping trip
Pace myself, this was supposed to be a "Get the OOOHS & AAAHS" outta the way before trying a Kaibab Monstercross route attempt.

Now for the pic dump.  Hey atleast this is pared down to 32 from 77...

-Ryan