I would echo Paul's advice to "keep it light", and "that is a tough hike".
I'm not familiar with the weather at the end of September in the Grand
Canyon, but I'll just take a wild guess and presuppose you'll have hot, or at
least warm, sunny days and chilly nights. So take everything from shorts &
t-shirts to long pants, long sleeve shirts and at least one set of long johns
for the nights. Got a cheapy Coleman 40 degree sleeping bag, or a -15 degree
mummy bag? It makes a big difference. And folks are different. This last
weekend, I was fine in my cheapy Coleman bag on foam pad (in a tent in a
campground at about 2500 ft at maybe 40 degrees F. out), but my nephew, 15
years my junior, was FREEZING in a mummy bag and got little sleep. Go
figure.
You know about the "10 essentials", right? If not, email me, and I'll send
you my list(s) of basics for a day hike. They are essentially the same for
an overnighter, except for an overnighter I would take more food, large
backpack in lieu of daypack to handle tent & sleeping bag, cooking gear, etc.
DON'T go down in that canyon (or anywhere else, for that matter) without ALL
of the 10 essentials, alone or otherwise!!!
Take at LEAST one 1 litre water bottle each. Better, two, AND a pump or some
type of water treatment equipment/stuff to deal with giardia, microbes, silt,
etc. It ain't safe to just refill yer bottle just anywhere anymore. Here in
the Cascades, you run the risk of giardia, fecal human contamination, horse,
a dead mountain goat, deer, elk, marmot, beaver, wolverine, you-name-it in
the stream uphill from you. I would think the Grand Canyon would be similar
(humans & mule poop, mostly?). Assume NO water is safe to drink unless it
comes out of a tap/faucet and is so labeled.
Go slow (look for photographic opportunities, and don't worry about everybody
else passing you up -- that's my excuse), and let your thirst be your guide
to drinking water -- and don't ignore that thirst.
My list of hiking stuff is PAGES long, but most all of it fits in a small
daypack, except for sleeping bag, tent, cookware, etc. for overnighters.
That requires switching to a larger backpack... got a GOOD one?
Are you EXPERIENCED in this sort of thing? Plan, regardless, right down to
how many bandaids and how much moleskin to take.
Wear GOOD hiking boots. DON'T attempt it in tennis/running/cross-training
shoes. They don't have the TREAD/SOLES, never mind ankle support, to keep
you on your feet going DOWN steep trails. Take it from somebody who busted
his keister more than once just this last weekend on fairly easy trails.
Left my boots in the truck because it was so NICE (hot) out. There is NO
substitute for a GOOD pair of hiking boots. Probably the 3rd most essential
piece of equipment/gear/supplies you should have (no. 1 being your brain, no.
2 being water). You can go 2 days without ANY food, but if you aren't using
your head, and/or run out of water, you are in TROUBLE, pal.
I took just my OM-2S this last weekend on a 2-1/2 hour, 4-5 mile (each way)
steep hike in 75 degree sun. Carried just one lens, the 35-105, 3.5-4.5. I
have only one wider lens, the 28/1.8, and was wishing I had it with me for
the SPECTACULAR panorama of the Mt. Stuart Range before us. So I would
recommend a minimum of lenses, but be sure to include a WIDE one. Extra
film, and don't forget extra batteries for the camera (mine died just as we
topped 6300 ft. and got our spectacular view... whew, I had spares). I used
manual for ALL the pics, and now that I think about it, could have done just
fine with the lighter, more robust OM-1MD. But the spot meter on the OM-2S
DID get a good workout, both days, so it was worth carrying. I really need a
24 or 21mm lens for good wide hiking/mountain photos.
I MIGHT carry a 645... IF I had a partner to carry half of the weight of ALL
the gear. Otherwise, you'll get hot, sweaty, tired, lugging it all...
Just my deflated .02 worth...
Rich
P.S. Here's a link (not my site) that shows where I was this past weekend:
<A HREF="http://www.leang.com/kam/scrapbk/mnt_stuart_08_18_01/";>Kam's
Adventure Guide</A>
http://www.leang.com/kam/scrapbk/mnt_stuart_08_18_01/
Biggest free-standing exposed hunk of granite in N. America. Notice that
small pic of the zig zag trail (about half way down the page), descending
down? That's the trail (and that's just the lower half of it) the mt.
climbers use to cross over to Mt. Stuart. Exactly the kind of trail you
DON'T want to attempt in tennis shoes. They'll slip right out from
underneath you, and down you'll go... maybe waaaaay down.
Sunday, drove to and hiked the short (1/2 mile) hike to Red Top Lookout, for
another perspective of the Stuart Range. Two CUTE little old ladies
volunteering up there:
<A HREF="http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/wenatchee/district/cleelum/redtop.html";>Red
Top Lookout</A>
http://www.firelookout.com/wa/redtop.html
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