[azbackpackr]

Hahahahaha! This seems to be a combination of outrageous arrogance, along with somewhat ridiculous levels of stupidity, naïveté and ignorance. How much do you want to bet the Park won't even issue him a permit, let alone the Havasupais. I really hope we hear more about this...

http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_19748002

[Jim_H]

I tire at laughing at or complaining about people doing things like this, but:

In preparation for the hike, Ruiz has purchased equipment he will need, including ....a solar power charger for his cell phone...

Uh, ....OK.

[kingsnake]

I won't feel sorry for him if he achieves a premature state of oneness with nature.

Btw, any 9-year old girls flying solo across the country or 13 year old boys climbing Everest this week?

[azbackpackr]

My friend who sent it to me said, jokingly, "He has done his research--he read Fletcher's book!" Hahahahaha! Very funny. Fletcher did his hike around 1963, right after the dam was finished. Water very low at that time, so you could walk along the shores of the river for miles. That's one thing. No Havasupai permits or NPS permits were necessary back then. That's another thing. Fletcher also had considerable experience with long-distance desert hiking, having hiked 1000 miles of the eastern Calif border in one summer.

Fletcher also LIED at one point in his book, one place where he wrote that he floated across and downriver on an air mattress, he actually booked a chopper to take his *ss across. This is well-known in Parkie circles, but not by the general public. I believe this occurred around the area of Nankoweap. (I can find out if you really want to know.)

[Jim_H]

I believe there is a 4 year old that is planning to free climb El Capitan in Yosemite. You know, since there is virtually no snow this winter.

[Patrick L]

This goes hand and hand with that article Rob posted yesterday. Hopefully this doesn't turn into a recovery operation.

[big_load]

If he goes, I hope he has enough sense to bail out if needed, which seems pretty likely. Fletcher was aided by air drops and some first-hand route information from Butchart. Butchart did it piecemeal and was in a category of his own as an off-trail hiker.

[azbackpackr]

Nowadays there is a whole cadre of hikers doing length of canyon, below North Rim, piecemeal, from Lee's Ferry to Grand Wash Cliffs. This is much, much further. I have met a couple of these guys, heard a lot about the rest of them. One of them is Dave Baker, founder/former owner of Summit Hut in Tucson. These guys actually know what they're doing. There is a lot of dicey terrain, off both rims, and long waterless stretches where you can't reach the river. And this is a dry winter, which doesn't help the water situation.

I still want to bet that the Park will want to deny him a permit to do much of anything but hike to Bright Angel Campground...

The final sentence in the article is priceless (or clueless): "I don't have a reason," he said. "It just seemed like something I'd randomly do. It's not a big deal."

I hope he doesn't go there, hike 15 miles, then go back to Whittier to make false claims that he actually did the hike he had planned on.

[big_load]

"It just seemed like something I'd randomly do. It's not a big deal."

That struck me, too, as a glaring expression of cluelessness. He won't get very far into it without having to re-evalutate whether it's a big deal.

[PLC92084]

azbackpackr wrote:"It just seemed like something I'd randomly do. It's not a big deal."

That struck me, too, as a glaring expression of cluelessness. He won't get very far into it without having to re-evalutate whether it's a big deal.

Sadly, it will probably cost the taxpayers big bucks for a helicopter rescue, etc...

[big_load]

When did my spelling get so bad?

[Alston Neal]

And I thought I was a misguided uninformed myoptic maroon.
Well I still am, but that's besides the point.

[azbackpackr]

I didn't even notice your error. Imagine that! At this point, speaking and writing and reading English is restful, since I am so focused on trying to communicate with my host family, and to listen to my profesora, who never speaks English, etc. Speaking Spanish and trying to understand what they are saying to me uses a whole lot of brain cells all at once!

[big_load]

Speaking Spanish and trying to understand what they are saying to me uses a whole lot of brain cells all at once!

Learning Spanish is one of my retirement goals. I should really start on it now, but it seems more possible some other time.

[azbackpackr]

It takes a long time. I'd suggest taking night classes at your local CC. Most good CC's offer four semesters of Spanish. Take ALL four semesters! Then consider you might want to transfer to do the 300 classes, or go live in Costa Rica for awhile. I'm serious here. It takes a long time to learn a foreign language, so you may as well start now.

There is a class in Spanish 101 at Sussex County CC on Monday nights, at 6:30 p.m. http://sussex.edu/wp-content/uploads/20 ... -20121.pdf

[big_load]

Monday nights are band practice (I keep trying to get that moved), but I probably will go up there eventually.

[azbackpackr]

Ok! Meanwhile, back in Whittier, California...

[kingsnake]

Speaking Spanish and trying to understand what they are saying to me uses a whole lot of brain cells all at once!

Learning Spanish is one of my retirement goals. I should really start on it now, but it seems more possible some other time.

I'd like to learn it before that. I want to be able to go into a Mexican restaurant and not be a total gringo ...

[azhiker96]

Why not grant his permit? To deny it would be interfering with natural selection.

[azbackpackr]

We hikers should start our own version of the Darwin awards...