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My weekend in 4 pics

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 20:55:40 GMT

I took a much needed Jeepin' trip with the family this weekend. Here are 4 pics from the batch. If anyone is interested in more, I set up a gallery here . If you want to read what it's all about, I posted a trip report here .

Grand Canyon hike revisited and new photo gallery

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 05:45:11 GMT

As some of you know, I took an amazing rim to rim hike from the North Rim to the South Rim across the Grand Canyon last year with my Dad. On my return I built a website to commemorate it at www.hikethecanyon.org. I changed hosts a couple of months ago and due to other priorities getting in my way, it has unfortunately been down since that time. I just wanted to announce that it was back up for anyone who might be interested in a pretty detailed trip report and about 300 pictures. As I was looking back through the images, I decided to test out the new photo gallery feature of InstantSpot. I dug through some of my favorite pics and put them together in a gallery here . Enjoy!

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Got a new toy!

Sat, 11 Nov 2006 02:46:05 GMT

As some of you may know, I have this thing for big Jeeps and offroading in general. I have a fairly big Jeep that has been a non-stop toy/project for about 7 years. As awesome as the CJ is, it is not exactly the most practical offroad vehicle for a father with 3 little kiddos. I can only fit 2 of the kids in it, and packing it full of gear for a weekend just isn't happening! Tonight I added to my Jeep collection with a nice practical family wheeling toy, a 1993 Jeep Cherokee (XJ), which I bought from a good friend of mine. He has taken meticulous care of it and has made some really nice enhancements. So, hopefully this will give me a good excuse to go AFK a little more on the weekend! Here is a picture of it from before it was mine.

Grand Canyon... It's on!

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 05:00:00 GMT

My father and I decided that this was the year that we would hike the North Rim to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. I know this seems crazy, but it is actually a paperwork challenge to be able to hike the Grand Canyon. There is an application process in which you have to fax your request in the 1st day of the month 6 months before the intended date of your trip with a detailed itinerary, including where you will be sleeping and when. We sent faxed our paperwork in and held our breath on the 1st of April, 6 months before we hoped to go in September. After no word for a month we finally contacted them, only to find out that we had been rejected. Discouraged, but not beaten, we laid out the calendar to see if there was another time that would work. We decided that November would be acceptable, albeit a little colder. It should be in the 60s in the bottom of the canyon though where we will spend the majority of our time. Once again, we laid out our itinerary and faxed in on July 1. My dad received a letter today dated July 6, 2005 telling him that they were sorry, but they were unable to accept out application. He spent a good hour walking around the house cussing and feeling terribly disappointed. A bit later my mom noticed there was another letter from the Grand Canyon dated July 7, 2005.

Dear Mr. Shuck, we have accepted your request to hike the Grand Canyon on the dates of November 1, 2 and 3, 2005. Enlcosed are your passes, which you will need to affix to your backpack and carry with you in the canyon. There is no need to stop by the back country headquarters before departing on the trail.

So in 3.5 months, I will be taking this in....

We have landed

Sun, 10 Jul 2005 05:00:00 GMT

Well, I have installed my blogging software. Time to play. :)