The Trip to Hull Cabin – April 2014
Arrival
Well Mike and I were scheduled to fly out of SeaTac at 5am
on Saturday April 26th. I’m
to blame for that early flight. I had to
wake up at 1am and then be at Mike’s house by 2:15am. Yuck.
I also had trouble packing. Over
the years I’ve gathered a nice set of camera gear and I wanted to use all of
it. In the end, I brought three large
suitcases to check through to Flagstaff; one carry-on and one backpack for
under the seat. The airline charges $25
for the first bag checked, $35 for the second and $200 for the third. But Mike had just one checked bag, so he
agreed to check one of mine. Nice guy to
put up with a ridiculous amount of luggage.
We fly into Phoenix around 8am to find that snow and bad weather
in Flagstaff have delayed our connection.
We wait and finally find the flight cancelled. But US Air is going to take us on a Tour Bus;
2 ½ hours to drive to Flagstaff including a short stop for lunch. It took a while for the Bus to be ready and
arrive. I think we finally got to
Flagstaff at 2pm and it was still snowing.
The SUV rental had snow on it, we loaded up and headed
out. The goal was to shop for 5 days of
food for Hull Cabin. Kwang would shop as
well and meet us up there; Hull Cabin sits 6 miles from the South Rim of the
Grand Canyon just outside the park on National Forest Service land.
It was a blizzard heading to the Grocery Store. We loaded up with food and supplies and two
bundles of firewood in case the cabin did not have enough. The only heat there is fireplace insert and
it can get well below freezing at night in April.
Now off we went to the cabin. Outside of town the weather cleared of snow;
still cloudy but no problem driving. We
entered the National Park around 6pm; the fastest route to the cabin was
through the park, we stopped off at an overlook and there it was. The Big Ditch. We got to the cabin around 7pm; meeting Kwang
on the way. We stocked the fire,
unloaded the car, picked beds (Kwang and I took one of the two sets of bunk
beds and Mike took the Futon in the living room with the fire), and settled
down to a later Dinner with a Pot Pie that Kwang’s wife Heather had made. It takes a lot to cook at 6,500 ft and we had
to wait. But in the end, it was tasty
and we hit the sack full. (Thanks
Heather)
Day 1
It was Sunday and we got up late. The weather was kind of cloudy and a bit
windy. We drove into Canyon Village and
walked around, looking at the lodges and buying some trinkets and looking over
the edge. We had breakfast at one lodge
that morning and we skipped lunch. We
decided to find a good spot for sunset photography; Lipan Point. We got there a little early, found a ridge to
walk out on and waited for sunset. I
setup both my GoPro Cameras to take different Time-lapse shots and my Canon T3i
DSLR to take another set. Kwang and Mike
setup for the traditional shots. About 30
minutes before a couple of guys showed up to come down and shot as well. They were together and the older gent was 57
and retired from Mobile, Alabama. He was
touring the southwest in a camper and seeing what needed to be seen. He had already done Yellowstone the year
before and was going to do the Northwest next year. He talked so much I almost forgot to shoot
the sunset. Nice guy; just happy to be
alive and seeing he US.
We got back to the cabin after sunset and had Pork Chops for
Dinner. We ate well at the cabin and in
fact bought too much food. It’s always hard
to tell.
That night Kwang setup his Light Bucket scope (Dobsonian) to
show mike some sights. I setup two DSLRs
to shoot all night Time-Lapse and stopped by to see some stuff as well. I think we hit the sack around 2am or
so. Mike and I had switched beds. I was cold in the bedroom away from the heat
of the fire. Mike had a better sleeping
bag, but didn’t like sleeping on the slight incline of the Futon. It was a better fit to switch. I also am a light sleeper and wake every few
hours. When I did, I checked the fire
and added a log if it got low. That way
it was warm the next morning.
Day 2
Monday had a special plan in place. We woke around 6am in order to get rolling by
8am. Kwang had booked Mike and I a photo
tour of Antelope Canyon on Navajo land near the Grand Canyon. Kwang was headed home to Flagstaff to handle
some building plans and to switch scopes for the next few nights. Well Mike and I got lost on the way there;
with a Garmin and everything. It has to
do with a road closed and we should have taken 89T and not 89A. The Tour wanted us there at 10am for the
10:30 tour. We got there at 10:25 and
they had given away our seats. We
expressed our disappointment and were walking away, when one woman said she had
called another tour company and we could join their tour at 11am.
The tour drives a few miles up a sandy dry river bed to the opening
of the canyon. There are probably about
100 to 120 people in the canyon in groups of 6 to 8; the canyon can be as wide
as 40 feet or as narrow as 3 feet. It
takes a photo tour two hours to go through and back; stopping to catch the
shots of light beams falling into the depths of the canyon. Mike had a blast, but my camera decided to
not work. Turns out I had accidently
loaded a bad battery, so I just enjoyed the view. Great Tour guide who played the Navajo flute
and told stories during our half-way break.
When we were done, Mike and I ate in the town of Page, AZ
just down the road from the Tour Parking lot.
Page is also known for the big Navajo Power Plant that burns coal for
electricity. A big source of jobs in this
town and also set to be closed because it does not meet EPA regulations.
Drove home and beat Kwang to the cabin. That night, Kwang setup one of his
astrophotography rigs; scope and mount and laptop, and we spent the night
aligning and him showing me the software.
It was super cold and I decided to pack it in around 3am. Kwang did too though he was not feeling the
cold like me. He has a snowmobile suit
for the long nights and I had just long underwear.
Day 3
Tuesday Kwang and I slept in. Mike took off to enjoy the day at the
park. This was going to be the hallmark
of the next two days as Kwang and I stayed up late and slept late. Mike had the rental SUV to himself. When Mike got back he made Spaghetti dinner
while we setup for the nights viewing. Good
food again.
Kwang and I setup both scopes that night. I learned the run the scope with my own
laptop, he setup his more fancy scope and mount to take a series of shots that
lasted till first light around 4:30am. I
also setup two more DSLR Cameras for night Time-Lapse and a GoPro to capture
sunrise. We packed up around 5am, but I
stayed up till 7am to get the Sunrise shots.
Day 4
Wednesday we woke around 11am. Mike had left early saying he was thinking of
doing some hiking into the canyon. As it
turned out, he hiked the Grandview Trail.
That is 6 miles round trip down into the canyon and back; an elevation
change of 2600 ft. He got back to the
cabin near 4pm footsore, but happy with himself.
Kwang and I packed his gear up. We had to leave the next morning for home so
no late night astronomy. It takes
several hours to get the gear stored in Kwang’s truck. When we were done and Mike was back, we
decided to drive to the nearest town of Tusayan and eat dinner at a steak
house. Then Kwang would head home to
Flagstaff with his gear while Mike and I used the showers at the canyon
campgrounds; our first real showers since we arrived. When we were done, we walked along the canyon
again taking shots and drove to a Grandview to take a night shot with the moon.
Day 5
Thursday Mike and I were up at 6am. I had to pack all that crap and I’m afraid
Mike did more cleaning than I did. We
got done early and were gone by 9am.
That allowed us to spend an hour walking along the Rim taking
pictures. I’m afraid we overstayed a bit
and ended up rushing back to Flagstaff to make our 3pm flight out to Phoenix
and from there to Seattle. We made it.
In Phoenix
Okay, funny thing. We
had an hour layover in Phoenix. We are
waiting at the gate and loading is set to start in about 5 minutes. I head into the bathroom and while there hear
some garbled message and the seat number 12F.
That was my seat. I come out and
ask Mike what the announcement was, but he had not paid attention.
The Gate Agent told me that seat 12F was broken; it would not
lock in a position and folks in 12F, 12E and 12D had to wait to board while the
fixed it. Well, it took a while. Eventually everyone was allowed to board
except me. Finally, I was the last
person on and got cleared the seat was fixed.
We landed in Seattle, claimed bags and car and were home by
9am. Now the real work begins with the processing
of the photos. I will link here when
they are ready.
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