Another trip out to the Grand Canyon, this time at the north rim to access Cove Canyon, a beautiful technical canyon that winds its way down to an overnighter at the Colorado River, and then a float down to the exit hike, or a strenuous loop hike out. For some reason we opted for the latter exit, which ended up being quite gnarly and challenging, especially for Ron, who we think drank some funky water and so was feeling sick the whole exit hike out. We camped out on the rim the night before the start and that might have been the coldest night I have ever experienced, as my sleeping pad did not have the appropriate R-value. In the middle of the night I had to crawl into the front seat of Ron’s car and turn on the heater for a while. Lesson learned. And then another lesson I had to learn was that of patience and knowing when to cancel a trip. Another member of our group, Conrad, was meant to join us that night, but did not show up. Not a big deal, and so we hung around in the morning and waited a over an hour after sunrise and he still did not show up. We were not within any cell service so there was no way to communicate. We thought perhaps something came up and he was not able to make it. So we headed off to the trailhead, spoke briefly to the national park attendant in the area as we drove by, then started the approach to the canyon. Not long after we pulled the rope from the first rappel, we heard a shout up above. We looked up and in the distance we saw Conrad peering over into the canyon. He had made it after all. But for some inexplicable reason the national park attendant thought we were just hiking and conveyed that to Conrad, so he hiked the whole approach with just a day pack and none of his canyoneering or overnight gear. He would have had to hike all the way back to the car and then all the way back with his gear. I don’t remember the exact mileage or time, but the approach hike was not a short one, and doing the whole canyon was going to take all day, so we did not really have the luxury of waiting around some more considering we had already waited for almost two hours.. We were able to sorta communicate via shouting, where he explained that he had gotten lost on the dirt roads out to the TH. He ultimately decided to just head back home. It kinda put a damper on the whole trip as Ron and I finished the canyon and then did the strenuous hike out the next day. In hindsight I think it would have been better to not do the trip, and instead wait longer or even drive out to reception to find out what had happened to the other member of the party. I was eager and anxious to get going, so I made a somewhat selfish decision on my part. I think there are scenarios where a group could just go ahead, but we probably should have sorted out Conrad’s whereabouts first. After the canyon and once we got to cell service, I called Conrad and apologized and said he understood, but it still sucked for everyone. All in all, it was a very nice canyon, but I had to learn some lessons along the way.
