Small Joys

 Found while transcribing a journal of mine from the Czech Republic:

Things I love:

-Strangers lighting their sparklers from yours

-Duck prints on the frozen river

-A billion diamonds scattered in the snow

Total Lunar Eclipse March 13-14, 2025

 Not sure I really need words:

Grand Obsession: Harvey Buchart and the Exploration of the Grand Canyon, by Elias Butler and Tom Myers

As a person currently quite obsessed with the Grand Canyon (though not as obsessed as Harvey Buchart), I thought this was really interesting.  The authors certainly did their research, and though I think it could have been trimmed a bit, it didn’t feel overburdened by the weight of that research.

The style was very readable, and I liked knowing more about Harvey’s early life and later life, as well as the lives of some of his contemporary hiker/explorers.  I also enjoyed the authors’ attempts to recreate some of the routes/climbs Harvey did.  

I enjoyed the pictures.  I wish there had been a few more maps (the famous one on the inside cover was too tiny to be terribly useful)

Overall, a slightly long but very interesting read for someone already interested in the topic.  It might be a bit much for those who aren’t already a little obsessed.

And Harvey…though this book did keep him a bit at arms’ length, it worked for me, because it kept him larger than life.  

4.5 stars

The Secret Language of Birds, by Lynne Kelly

This was a sweet, gentle, middle-grade read about a girl trying to fit in and learning to love birds.

It was a bit repetitive, and some readers might not find it exciting enough for them, but I really enjoyed it.

The cover is beautiful, and of course I loved the details about the birds, the quest to protect endangered wildlife, etc.  

4 stars

Just a Backyard Flower

 Sorry, I took this picture to test my phone's camera, and I thought it was so pretty I had to share:

National Trail Trek 2025

The National Trail Trek is an annual event at Phoenix's South Mountain Park.  It's a 15.5-mile hike from one end of the park to the other, and this year I got to volunteer with it, hiking the trail and helping participants along the way.  It was a beautiful day (back in January), with perfect weather and good fun.

Here we are starting out in the dark:

And here's sunrise:

Some of my trail friends:

And me at the end of the day, still feeling good:

49 Miles Alone, by Natalie D. Richards

I really enjoyed this.  

The desert setting was awesome, and though a few too many dangerous things happened on their trip for it to really be believable, other aspects of the desert WERE believable and well drawn.

The backpacking details were interesting for me, giving it good pacing throughout, even before the creepy, suspenseful part really started.    

The backstory/underlying themes were strong, and I loved the exploration of the cousins’ currently strained relationship.

My only problem was the alternating first-person points of view.  They weren’t always distinct enough, so I kept forgetting whose head I was in.  However, it didn’t seriously affect my enjoyment.  

I will read more of Natalie D. Richards.  

4.5 stars

Grand Canyon Hermit Creek Backpacking Trip--Day 3

October 19, 2024--returning to the South Rim on the Hermit Trail

We had an even longer rainstorm last night.  But around 2 am I think it was, I got up to use the bathroom and the nearly full moon was out for the first time in the whole trip.  Clouds scuttled fast across it, and the sight was so beautiful I just sat and watched.  

Not a very good picture, but you get the idea:

Since it wasn't going to be hot today, I didn't get up before dawn (as had been the plan with the earlier UNSEASONABLY HOT forecast), but I still got up pretty early.  Everything was WET.  There was a huge puddle in my alcove, and a puddle under my tent when I took it down--but nothing had seeped inside.  Yay for my tent.

I tried to de-mud and dry out the tent, but I eventually gave up and packed it dampish and muddyish.

The day was gorgeous.

Where the Hermit Trail meets the Tonto, I saw these beauties:

And this resurrection moss that I doubt was green and soft two days ago (I don't think this is real resurrection moss, but people use the term--and if you ever spy it and pour a little water on it, you'll see why):

At the Cathedral Stairs, the air was still cool enough and my body warm enough from the climb that when I put on my glasses, they immediately fogged up.  And then I saw this:

Yes.  That's snow on the North Rim.  A bit up the trail, I learned from a downward hiker that they'd also had quite a bit of snow at the South Rim.

Just above the Cathedral Stairs, I met a trail runner headed down.  He had probably a liter of water on him and maybe enough room in his waist pack for a granola bar or two.  His plan?  Down to Hermit Creek, along the Tonto, and all the way up Boucher today.  That's about 20 miles with 5700 feet of gain, and the Boucher is, by all accounts, a very difficult trail with a lot of washouts.  Amazing or crazy, I thought.  If (when?) I do that, I'll backpack it in 4-5 days.  Trail runners are a whole different species.    

I stopped for a relaxing lunch at this boring place with no view at all:

That's my freeze-dried lunch cold-soaking in the sun. Yum.  

A few months back, I read a novel that talked about how there's little to no vegetation down in the Canyon.  To that, I say:

The water in Santa Maria Spring, where we were explicitly instructed not to drink the tadpoles:

The day had been gorgeous:  mostly sunny with a few pretty clouds, warm but not hot below, cool but not cold the higher I climbed.  Around Santa Maria Spring, it started getting cloudier.  By the junction with the Dripping Springs Trail it was starting to look threatening.  The sky got darker and darker as we climbed.

Maybe half a mile from the top, on those steep switchbacks, I'll give you one guess who I met.  Yes.  The trail runner.  I hadn't been hurrying, enjoying instead a leisurely hike.  But he...he'd done the whole loop and lapped me.  Sigh.  Hats off to you, trail runner.  I think, however, that I prefer my style of foot travel.

Here's me, at the requisite "Going down is optional.  Coming up is mandatory" sign.  Success!

What a fantastic trip. 

I met my dad at the trailhead, where the wind was picking up and the temperature was dropping.  

I'd worked up a sweat on the uphill section, and I figured it would be best to change into something dry.  I had time to do that and take a quick trip to the outhouse before it started raining.  Talk about perfect timing.  The whole trip, the rain happened a) at night, b) early morning on a day I didn't need an early start, c) as soon as I finished the hike.  Amazing. 

I absolutely recommend this route (but not in hot weather).

See my posts on the first two days of the trip here:

Day 1

Day 2   

My story long-listed for the Welkin Mini prize

My story got long-listed for the Welkin Mini prize--but I can't tell you yet which one is mine.  This is a competition for micro fiction, and out of 819 entries, mine was in the top 50.  

A lot of the titles are really long.  I think that's because the story itself could only be 100 words, so the titles have to do some of the work.   

Check out the list here: https://www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-prize/news

Grand Canyon Hermit Creek Backpacking Trip--Day 2

Hermit Creek and Tonto Trail exploration--October 18, 2024:

We had quite a thunder concert in the night, along with rain.  A beautiful sound when you're (mostly) safe and snug.  It was the first night I'd ever used my tent in the rain, and it did well.

In the morning, a foggy, slightly drizzling morning met me, gorgeous in its own mysterious, color-deepening way:

I lazily ate breakfast and invited my neighbors from last night to shelter in my alcove while they did the last of their packing and snacking.  By the time I was ready to go exploring, the rain drizzle had stopped, but a few delightful sights like this met me as I headed west on the Tonto Trail.

Then things started clearing up and I got views like this:

I only went about 2.5 or 3 miles before I turned around and sat at the best viewpoint, overlooking Hermit Rapid (pictured above) and ate lunch.  

When I got back to camp, a new set of neighbors had arrived.  Two older women backpacking together on a seven-night trip:  down the Bright Angel and across the Tonto to Cedar Springs, then a night at Granite Rapids, two nights here, two nights at Boucher, one night halfway up the Boucher trail.  They amaze me.  I chatted a lot with one of the women, who has been on even longer trips here, solo.  She's my new hero. 

In the afternoon I headed upstream along Hermit Creek, which both sets of neighboring campers had recommended because it was so pretty. I found a gorgeous little cascade and thought, "This must be what they were talking about."

But they just kept coming--one little waterfall after another.  It was incredibly beautiful.

Again, I was thankful for my water shoes that let me explore with so much ease.

Besides the two women in camp with me, I saw absolutely no one else the entire day.  Which is amazing for a place as popular as this.  I'm even more convinced that the bad forecasts contributed to the emptiness here.  I feel bad for those who must have cancelled...but selfishly happy for me.  It felt like I had the canyon almost entirely to myself.  

It was a beautiful, beautiful day.  

For my report on Day 1, click here:  https://www.melindabrasher.com/2024/12/grand-canyon-hermit-creek-backpacking.html