This trip was originally supposed to be for Alysia, a hiking buddy and woman I truly admired. It was supposed to show her the wonders of Nankoweap, a fabulously beautiful area of the Canyon that is also rich in human history. We had done lots of hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire together and this would be her second trip into the Canyon, following a trip to Deer Creek and Thunder River back in May of 2013. I had done this same trip with Pam, another White Mountains hiking buddy, back in April/May of 2012 and was curious as to how Alysia would take to it.

It only took about a week after her accepting the invitation before things turned bad and she sent me a message saying that her husband would be coming along as well. She didn't ask me, she told me. It raised a yellow flag for me immediately because of a prior negative day hike experience and the fact that this would be his first Grand Canyon backpacking trip. But it had also been Pam's first ever Grand Canyon backpacking trip and she did fine, and if Alysia thought he would be able to handle it... So I kept my mouth shut and hoped for the best.

Then the crap hit the fan about a week before the trip with his discovery of the Youtube videos about the "scary section" of the Nankoweap Trail. I pretended to believe in this farce at this time but it soon became apparent to me that he did not want to do any Grand Canyon backpacking trip at all and by bringing up his fear of the scary section, and the possibility of him losing Alysia there, he would put an end to it. Alysia wanted to give him his first Grand Canyon backpacking experience but he didn't want it, or at least not with Nankoweap. Had he/they actually read the trip reports months earlier (there was plenty of time) I probably could have found something more tame for his first experience but not with one week to departure. Maybe that was part of the plan as well? Who knows? Alysia should have known how difficult this trip was because Pam must have told her about it during the Deer Creek/Thunder River trip. She must have had faith in him being able to do it but he apparently had little faith in her ability to traverse the "scary section" without plummeting to her death. At least that was the sob story he gave me. I am sorry that Alysia missed out on Nankoweap because of his nonsense.

In the end we did this Tanner, Escalante and New Hance/Red Canyon trip which though being somewhat easier than the Nankoweap trip was probably still too much. Alysia had said anything but Nankoweap and this was the only thing that was available without wasting another day to try for walk-in permits. Even this one did not go off as planned because we were starting days too late and hiking too slowly to make the progress I was hoping for. With better time we could have had a layover day at Escalante Creek but that didn't work out. The weather was also some of the worst I had ever experienced on a backpacking trip. It started off with gropple during the hike in on the first day and was just cold and wet for the remainder of the trip. I am sure the Canyon Gods enjoyed themselves immensely.

Live and learn.