ALL HIKERS

POSTSCRIPT

     This was a great hike.  It had been on my Bucket List for some time, but I never imagined I would get to do it.  I'm thankful the group invited me along.

     This was my first experience with late afternoon appetizers and community dinners.  The participants in all my prior hikes brought their own food and stoves.  All in all, it worked out pretty well.

     There were so many highlights it is hard to name all of them.  A few of the better ones were:

  • Going to the Royal Arch by way of Point Huitzil, although this presents some difficulty in finding the "Rabbit Hole."  Having GPS coordinates will be a benefit.  I show them to be:  N 36° 09.133'   W 112° 25.601'    The climb down the pole was not a big challenge, but it helps if the first person down holds it for the others.  Roping all the packs down was harder than climbing down the pole.

  • The petroglyphs next to the Rabbit Hole were simply stunning.  It's hard to believe there were that many and all were of great quality.

  • The Royal Arch was amazing.  Be sure to go on the trail behind it to see some incredible drop-offs.

  • The old Bass mining camp and mines in lower Copper Canyon were a real treat.  A special thanks to Bob Bordasch for researching this historical gem.

     Numerous critters such as mice, ravens, squirrels, and ringtails are a threat to attack your food in the inner Canyon.  For many years, there were two widely used defenses against critter attack: the Ratsack Cache bag, a mesh, stainless steel bag, which came in three sizes, and the Ursack, a bag made with a Spectra material.  I bought both, but preferred the Ratsack because it was larger, cheaper, and had a superior Velcro closure system.  Even though the Ratsack company website is still active and will accept your money, most people now indicate they never received their order, their money was never returned, and they could not get the company to return a phone call.  Due to the widely reported difficulties and lack of response from the Ratsack company, that product is no longer carried by the General Store in Grand Canyon Village.  Two new products have recently come forward to fill the void:  the Outsak and the Foodsack.  Both are similar in design to the Ratsack and utilize a mesh stainless steel bag with a Velcro closure system.  The Outsak is a lighter duty version and some people report that animals were able to penetrate it.  The Foodsack is the heavy duty version and appears to be bullet-proof, so it is the product that I recommend.  I have and use the Foodsack.

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