Fiona's Quiet Life

What i hope to be get­ting up to in octo­ber

Our adven­ture begins and ends in Las Vegas, so you might want to think about adding some vaca­tion time before and /or after the Chal­lenge. For those who want it, we will arrange trans­fers to and from Las Vegas air­port. The Chal­lenge starts at 10.00 am on Sunday 28 Octo­ber at the Amer­i­suites hotel in as Vegas, so you might want to spend the pre­vi­ous night there. We can arrange accom­mod­a­tion at the Amer­i­suites hotel for a small supplement.

Day 1- Sunday 28 Octo­ber 2007

Leav­ing Las Vegas

(Total trekking: 6 miles/9km ??? 3-4 hours ??? 1,000 feet/300 metre elev­a­tion loss & gain)

With Las Vegas in our rear-view mir­ror, we will travel over the Hoover Dam and into the high desert of Ari­zona. Along the way, we will stop for a warm-up trek to a hot spring found flow­ing freely into the Col­or­ado River below Lake Mead. This is a chal­len­ging warm up hike to pre­pare us for the chal­lenge to come. After the hike, we con­tinue our jour­ney to the Grand Canyon Cav­erns Inn on his­toric route 66, where we will spend the night after a sun­set din­ner on the patio and brief­ing by our expert guides

Day 2 Monday 29 Octo­ber 2007

Des­cend into the bot­tom of the Grand Canyon

(Total trekking: 10 miles/16km ??? 4-6 hours ??? 2,300 feet/700 metre elev­a­tion loss)

After an early break­fast, we will drive the short dis­tance to the trail­head, which is perched on the edge of the canyon. It is called Hualapai Hill­top (pro­nounced ???Walapai???). This is the only land travel access to Havas­upai. Start­ing at 5,400 feet/1,645 metres, the trail begins with switch­backs until we reach a dry stre­ambed where the trail begins to level out. After a trailside lunch, the canyon walls seem to grow around us as we des­cend deeper into the labyrinth of red sand­stone. At mile 8 over 2,000 feet/600 metres below the rim, the canyon begins to widen and the veget­a­tion turns lush as we enter the vil­lage of Supai, the most remote vil­lage in the U.S. where even the mail still arrives by pack­horse.

Here at 3,200 feet/975 metres, the Cottonwood-lined paths will lead you through the vil­lage and into the canyon???s back­coun­try. Another two-mile/three km hike to our base camp will take you past 80 feet. Navajo Falls and 100 feet. Havasu Falls. Stop­ping to swim beneath each is a must! As we walk, our guides will dis­cuss the cul­tural his­tory, geo­logy and unique bio­logy of the canyon. Just down canyon from Havasu Falls, we will find our base camp wait­ing for our arrival. Estim­ated arrival time is between 1:00pm and 3:00pm. While our guides pre­pare din­ner we can soak our feet in the creek to pre­pare for the chal­len­ging hikes ahead. Sleep under the stars or retire to a tent.

Day 3 Tues­day 30 Octo­ber 2007

The Grand Challenge

(Total trekking: 17 miles/27km ??? 8-12 hours ??? 2200??? elev­a­tion loss & gain)

This is the big chal­lenge day!!. Awaken in our base camp, adja­cent to enorm­ous Havasu Falls. We will find fresh brewed cof­fee and a hearty break­fast wait­ing in the camp kit­chen to fuel us on the chal­len­ging 17mile/27km hike to the Col­or­ado River. After the first mile, we are con­fron­ted with our first chal­lenge ??? Mooney Falls ??? this water­fall received its name after a miner, Daniel Mooney, had a date with des­tiny, fall­ing to his death. To retrieve the body his com­rades chipped a tun­nel sys­tem into the brittle stone adja­cent to the water­fall which is still used to des­cend fur­ther down canyon.

After our suc­cess­ful des­cent of Mooney we will con­tinue down canyon, cross­ing the creek three times before the next fork in the trail. Here, if you have an adven­tur­ous spirit, ask the guides about the ???wet route??? to Beaver Falls. If you choose this option there will be the oppor­tun­ity to swim to the ???green room??? an under water air pocket accessed by swim­ming beneath the first tier of the water­fall! Once you emerge from the green room the thrill of dis­cov­er­ing this canyon secret will help you steel your cour­age to JUMP off the main fall (18???) into the frothy pool below. Once at the base at the falls you will reunite with the mem­bers of the group who decided to stay high and dry ??? WOW ??? Now turn around and look up Canyon at 80??? cas­cad­ing Beaver Falls, stand­ing in awe of your accom­plish­ment! Our guides spend a large por­tion of their year in Havas­upai, giv­ing them the time to scout excit­ing off the beaten track options that are both dar­ing and safe; trav­el­ing with them you will see and do things few have discovered???

Beaver Falls is the last in the chain of four major water­falls but the hike con­tin­ues 5 addi­tional miles with more swift-water stream cross­ings and mean­der­ing trail before reach­ing the mighty Col­or­ado River. Here at the con­flu­ence of Havasu Creek and the Col­or­ado River you are stand­ing a full mile / 1.6 km below the rim of the canyon and at river mile 157 out of 277, close to the geo­graphic cen­ter of Grand Canyon. Be sure not to be too wowed by your sense of accom­plish­ment yet because 8.5 miles/13.6 km of trail lie ahead before return­ing to Basecamp!

Day 4 Wed­nes­day 31 Octo­ber 2007

Ascent from Para­dise

(Total Hik­ing: 10 miles/16km ??? 4-6 hours ??? 2,300 feet/700 metres elev­a­tion gain)

The scenery and magic of the canyon will make you never want to leave, but after break­fast it is time to con­quer the canyon! While always tir­ing, the exhil­ar­a­tion of reach­ing the rim is an amaz­ing feel­ing we will always remem­ber. Expect to arrive in Las Vegas between 6:00pm and 7:00pm. Here we will take a much deserved and needed shower at our hotel and go out for a cel­eb­rat­ory din­ner over­look­ing the fam­ous Las Vegas strip.

Day 5 Thursday 1 Novem­ber 2007

Farewell

For those who want it, we will arrange trans­fers to Las Vegas airport.

Travel to Las Vegas

Par­ti­cipants are respons­ible for their own flights to and from Las Vegas, but we will be happy to assist in mak­ing travel arrangements

Rules

Par­ti­cipants are invited to take part as indi­vidu­als or in teams of three or more.

? Regis­tra­tion

A non-refundable regis­tra­tion dona­tion of ?195/$380 per applic­ant is requested.

? Spon­sor­ship

In addi­tion, a min­imum spon­sor­ship of ?1,750/$3,500 will be required of each indi­vidual par­ti­cipant but this will be reduced to ?1,375/$2,750 for each per­son par­ti­cip­at­ing as part of a team of three or more par­ti­cipants. UK Spon­sors??? dona­tions may attract tax relief under the Gift Aid scheme. US spon­sors??? dona­tions should be made to ???Amer­ican Friends of Hope, Inc.??? to qual­ify for a US tax deduc­tion. Min­imum spon­sor­ship must be con­trib­uted by 15^th Septem­ber 2007.

? Insur­ance

Travel Insur­ance is essen­tial. All par­ti­cipants will be required to prove they have adequate travel insur­ance (includ­ing med­ical cover) that is valid for trekking in Ari­zona.

?

Par­ti­cipants must be in good health and over 18 (par­ti­cipants between 13 and 18 will be con­sidered, sub­ject to par­ental con­sent, on a case by case basis). The Char­ity reserves the right to decline any applicant.

? Travel Costs

Sub­ject to pay­ment of the regis­tra­tion dona­tion and min­imum spon­sor­ship, the Char­ity will meet all ground travel, food and accom­mod­a­tion expenses from the time we meet in Las Vegas till we return to Las Vegas on day 6.

Par­ti­cipants are respons­ible for their own travel insur­ance, flights to and from Las Vegas air­port and their own cloth­ing and sleep­ing bag or sleep­ing bag liner.

Please note that the itin­er­ary is com­plex and is liable to change. In par­tic­u­lar, change may be needed due to unusual weather pat­terns, wild­life move­ments, the strength of the group and so on. We will do our best to keep to the set itin­er­ary. How­ever we can­not be held respons­ible for any last minute changes that might occur. In all such cir­cum­stances, our exped­i­tion leader will have the final say.

Qual­i­fic­a­tions

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