Day 4... Strangers become friends....
I left the day 3 blog at being dropped off at the hotel... partly because day 4 really began the night before. I had literally found out an hour before that one of my favourite (ist) people in the world was also at the hotel waiting for everyone to arrive. Julie (or more fun Jules) as she has become known is a Southern gal now living in Aspen. I first met Julie in Vail, when I jetted out to see Mike play with Big Country in Denver and to hike up Vail Mountain with LHS. She certainly earns her moniker and I gave her a huge hug when we met in the lobby, glad to be able to spend some more time hanging out with her.
One by one, or sometimes in two's the LHS trekkers Rocked up (see what I did there?). Some I knew well, some I had met once or twice and the rest were new people, including my roomie for the week, Michelle, a bubbly lady with a fantastic american accent, who has proved to have a great sense of humour and a willingness to put up with being my tent buddy!
I'm crap with names, so i tried really hard to remember all the new people but as it was the first night, everyone pretty much ran to their hotel room before splitting up and heading out to dinner. Name drop time... Robin from the Gin Blossoms got some of us a table at a really nice restaurant so we spent a great evening eating mexican food and chilling out.
The next day we arose bleary eyed but at least I wasn't jet lagged like most of the others. We ate breakfast and tried to get to know each other better, catching up with old friends and getting to know the new ones. The 'range' of people here was very diverse stretching from west to east coast USA and North to South England and Wales. That said, we all had one huge thing in common, our love for Mike and Jules Peters and the charity/cause that we were all here to support.
We piled on the buses and our journey began....
1st stop Sedona and our first hike, a warm up and as we were to find out, the last time we would be warm!!!
The journey passed with laughter and chatter and the miles passed quickly. Before we knew it we were piling back out into blue skies and warm sunshine. Red towers of rock jutted out in the background as we gathered for a group photo and a song from Mike. The hike began... a meandering through pines and scrub, over dry river beds and across a wooden bridge.
It was a nice easy hike, good paths, not like the bramble infested footpaths back home, but a well cleared trail. Dry and dusty sand reaching out to the red peaks in the distance.... and more importantly in the sunshine. A great introduction to the week.
We then drove a few hours to our campsite and the further we drove, the lower the temperature got. Through the gates to the grand canyon park and tge temperature was pretty close to freezing. This wasn't how it was supposed to be!
Then came much laughter as we tried to erect the tents. Of course our one was the one with the crappy zip but eventually sorted. Meanwhile graham and the team of guides from the USA did a sterling job of setting up a field kitchen and getting us dinner. So there we were huddled round the campfire... trying to avoid the smoke in the face and eat/chat at the same time. Then came a bit of music round the campfire... followed by the realisation that a few flakes of snow were falling.... snow....in the grand canyon... how ridiculous! We crawled into our tents and having not received the memo re the forecast of snow, I pulled my hopelessly inadequate sleeping bag right up... pulled my snood over my head and face and tried to settle down for a nights sleep. Shivering relentlessly half the night meant that I got less sleep than I might have done. The loud snoring from several of my camp mates meant that I got next to no sleep. Good start to the trip!
One by one, or sometimes in two's the LHS trekkers Rocked up (see what I did there?). Some I knew well, some I had met once or twice and the rest were new people, including my roomie for the week, Michelle, a bubbly lady with a fantastic american accent, who has proved to have a great sense of humour and a willingness to put up with being my tent buddy!
I'm crap with names, so i tried really hard to remember all the new people but as it was the first night, everyone pretty much ran to their hotel room before splitting up and heading out to dinner. Name drop time... Robin from the Gin Blossoms got some of us a table at a really nice restaurant so we spent a great evening eating mexican food and chilling out.
The next day we arose bleary eyed but at least I wasn't jet lagged like most of the others. We ate breakfast and tried to get to know each other better, catching up with old friends and getting to know the new ones. The 'range' of people here was very diverse stretching from west to east coast USA and North to South England and Wales. That said, we all had one huge thing in common, our love for Mike and Jules Peters and the charity/cause that we were all here to support.
We piled on the buses and our journey began....
1st stop Sedona and our first hike, a warm up and as we were to find out, the last time we would be warm!!!
The journey passed with laughter and chatter and the miles passed quickly. Before we knew it we were piling back out into blue skies and warm sunshine. Red towers of rock jutted out in the background as we gathered for a group photo and a song from Mike. The hike began... a meandering through pines and scrub, over dry river beds and across a wooden bridge.
It was a nice easy hike, good paths, not like the bramble infested footpaths back home, but a well cleared trail. Dry and dusty sand reaching out to the red peaks in the distance.... and more importantly in the sunshine. A great introduction to the week.
We then drove a few hours to our campsite and the further we drove, the lower the temperature got. Through the gates to the grand canyon park and tge temperature was pretty close to freezing. This wasn't how it was supposed to be!
Then came much laughter as we tried to erect the tents. Of course our one was the one with the crappy zip but eventually sorted. Meanwhile graham and the team of guides from the USA did a sterling job of setting up a field kitchen and getting us dinner. So there we were huddled round the campfire... trying to avoid the smoke in the face and eat/chat at the same time. Then came a bit of music round the campfire... followed by the realisation that a few flakes of snow were falling.... snow....in the grand canyon... how ridiculous! We crawled into our tents and having not received the memo re the forecast of snow, I pulled my hopelessly inadequate sleeping bag right up... pulled my snood over my head and face and tried to settle down for a nights sleep. Shivering relentlessly half the night meant that I got less sleep than I might have done. The loud snoring from several of my camp mates meant that I got next to no sleep. Good start to the trip!
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