Practice setting up your tent

Bob is practicing in the back yard, who knows, maybe he'll sleep out there tonight;)  Hopefully everyone is comfortable with setting up their tent, and blowing up the air mattress, then putting everything back together.  I am feeling pretty good about the food after today.  I spent all day on it:  Cooking, measuring, packaging, labeling, oh yes, and the dehydrator is still going. It will be running overnight, then I'll set it up again for tomorrow. I've taken over the dinning room table with the Canyon  freeze dried food, fortunately we can still eat dinner on the deck.  The food for the Canyon Trip is almost ready. Yeah!!!! Getting excited.  Hope you are too:)  Oh yes, and Happy Halloween!!!

More food

 Made the first pot of black bean chili tonight.  Will dehydrate it tomorrow morning.  Then make another pot, and do the same.  Still have to cook the ground beef/turkey that goes into it and dehydrate that as well.  I think I'm going to bring one of our large car camping pots, so I can do our dinners all at once, rather than the eight of us eating in shifts.  I figure we can put two of our stoves under the large pot.  I'll try that here at home first:))

Here's the last batch of protein energy bars. After they cool I will cut them up then vacuum seal the bars separately.  I need to make the trail mix, but I think I'm going up to bed now.  I am 3/4 into The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, so I have to get reading.

Gran Centenario

 

 This is what we are taking in our platypus.  It just seems right to drink Tequila at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

Gran Centenario Anejo is made from 100% Blue Agave, aged for 18 months in toasted American oak barrels. It is light-bodied with mild Agave with toasted wood overtones. The label on this bottle reminds us of a tequila legend: More than 150 years ago, Lazaro Gallardo calls for an angel, in order to hold a watchful eye on his still growing agaves.

El Tovar

Isn't this an adorable Burrowing Owl?  I saw him on the Sarcoma Race/Walk in Plantation Fl on October 24th.  Just wanted to tell you all that I booked our dinner reservations at El Tovar Restaurant for the night we climb out of the Canyon.  It is a great place to 'remember' our life changing hike.

First nights' dinner in the bottom of the Canyon

hey fellow Grand Canyon hikers.  We cooked the Key West marinated Chicken tonight.  I've got to tell you that it was hard not to eat it, but just freeze it. I did pour some of the juices onto Darby's dog food and she readily ate. Thank Goodness, we were cooking shrimp for our own dinner.

Making chicken

Hey gang,

Will be cooking the chicken for the trip in the next day or so.  Bought the kielbasa for the red lentil soup today, put that in the freezer.   Getting close.  Hope everyone is practicing..  It's gonna be fun:))  Happy Trails

The Permit

Here is a look at part of our permit.  Each permit lists the campground and the date we are to be there.   It is wise to make copies and give to each person in your group.  The original must be tied to the outside of someone in the group's backpack.  Over the years we have realized that it is more enjoyable staying two nights at the same campsite rather than packing up every morning and moving on. This way, you have a day of adventure without the large pack.

Protein Energy Bars

Here is the first batch of my protein energy bars.  I'll need to make a couple more pans of these.  This is concentrated energy in one tasty bar, along with plenty of complex carbohydrates to keep us moving on those day hikes down in the Canyon.  These bars are loaded with four kinds of ground nuts, dried fruit(cranberries- golden raisins- bananas), protein powder, oats and honey.

Cashew Chicken

I just finished dehydrating shaved sweet potatoes and carrots that I tossed with Olive Oil, Cumin, Coriander and a little Salt & Pepper.  On the Trail,  after being re-hydrated, this will be part of  a tasty lunch called Cashew Chicken. A flavored tortilla will wrap around these along with mushrooms, cashews, coconut, chicken and a special sauce. Yum.Yum.

Another practice day

Donna was in town this week, so we took her to the North Table Loop Trail in Golden, so she could get in a practice hike with a backpack on before heading back home to Ft Lauderdale.  The wild life didn't let us down, we had at least five sightings of deer as we hiked around the mountain.  Great day.