One Month until the Liquidlogic XPdition to the Grand Canyon

This years trip will be the 5th annual pilgrimage through the Grand Canyon for the Liquidlogic team.  Unfortunately I am not going to be able to go on the trip this year but what I do have is a bunch of footage that I never put together of my trip last year.  So for your viewing pleasure here is a video loosely documenting our trip self support style down the Colorado River in 12 days.

XPdition Grand Canyon 2012 from Shaneslogic on Vimeo.

Here are a bunch of photos that I took during the trip. Thanks to all the folks on the trip it was a trip of a lifetime and you all made it fantastic.  Hopefully I will be back on the XPdition next year.
Shane

10 days until the Canyon

It's Christmas and I have other things on my mind as well.

I've had a fun time getting ready for the trip.  Let's just say I haven't been completely focused on that goal.  I got my list started.  I didn't achieve a very precision attack but I got the basics figured out.  A place to sleep. Some things to drink. Clothes to stay warm. A place to put your poo, and trash, but food for 12 days that wouldn't bore me to tears or stop me up so I couldn't poo proved the hardest to figure out.  Well, I guess dealing with the (unspeakable) opposite problem from being stopped up might be the most difficult situation I have ever dealt with on a long paddling trip.  But that isn't the point of this article.  The point here is food.  Sorry, I got distracted by reminiscing about Nepal. I never plan food 12 days ahead, so to say that I procrastinated the food buy would represent a serious understatement.

Enough food for 12 days, plus some extra.  Add in all the camping gear and you have a ton of stuff.

I had a few backpacker meals sitting around so I threw those in the pile.  I had tried a Bear Creek insta meal from the grocery store and it turned out pretty good, but I know it's going to bore me to tears if I eat all that just the way it is so I added in a bunch of ingredients, some veggies, and extra pasta, some spices, and other stuff.  I tried out a different style of cooking.  The directions on the bag  said to cook for 15-20 minutes but what I did was bring it to a boil and cook for 5 minutes and then set it aside for 20 minutes.  It turned out well-cooked and it will use a lot less fuel.  The bags make a gallon of soup so I am going to use most of it for dinners and then put the rest in a thermos, heat it in the morning, and have it with lunch the next day.  We'll see if that actually works.

I tried out the food... not bad with some supplementing of ingredients.

I also tried out my new sleeping bag on a cold night to see if it might stand up to the cold temps of the Canyon in January.  I froze my ass off.  I think I am going to have to wear more clothes to bed.

Tried my new sleeping bag on a cold evening. Let's just say that other than big Agnes, I didn't have much on.  

I got it all into my dry bags.

The night before all my gear had to depart for the Canyon I hadn't started.  I hadn't even tried to put anything in the bags.  Fortunately it did fit.  It took until 2 in the morning but it did fit.  Now, I just hope it will all fit in the boat at the put in.  Lee's Ferry: here I come.  I will post a bunch of stories from our exploits in the Canyon.

Now the real trick: I have to get it all in my boat.

I hope everyone has great holidays.
Let's start 2012 in style.
12 days on the Canyon will be a good way to do it.
Cheers
Shane

First Timers Always Try Harder

Garrett chillin in the backyard

Dennis taking himself too seriously as usual

Arlyn grinnin' ear to ear

Sometimes the best decisions are spontaneous.  Visualize your goal and find a way to make it happen.  The plan to paddle the Grand Canyon of the Colorado was hatched by myself and Dennis Gilfillan; sitting around the campfire at the Tallulah in November, less than a month ago.  Talk of ‘what if’ and ‘one day’ morphed into something more attainable when someone informed us of the call-in system that the NPS uses to award unclaimed launch dates.  I called Arlyn the next day- he was in.  On Monday afternoon, we secured a launch date of December 19^th.  We had little more than three weeks to shuffle our feet, jump through some hoops, and make all the necessary preparations before putting on the river at Lee’s Ferry, 2000 miles away in the Arizona desert. 

We will launch three days from now and paddle roughly 280 miles to Pearce Ferry over the course of 14 days.  We will spend 13 cold beautiful nights under the desert sky in the bottom of the mile deep canyon.  We will do it all without the aid of rafts.  This will be the first time down the Grand for the three of us, and I couldn’t be more excited.  Thanks to all who have lent a hand to help make this a reality.  -Garrett

I am excited to hear these guys story because all too often these days when heading into missions like this one person in the group has experience with how it will all go down.  Some of my most cherished memories are when I have ventured into the adventure with open new eyes. I am sure they will come back with good stories. - Shane

All important Groover production!

Groover Wall in Place.  It fits!

The Groover Wall

Arlyn's craft for the mission

Here is a video about the "Groover".

words by: Garrett Thompson

pictures: arlyn agababian