Carl Hutzler’s Blog

My hiking buddy Davy Crockett is running the Grand Canyon again this weekend. This time he is carrying a Satellite Phone and a Satellite/GPS location device. The location device reports his position periodically so we can track his progress on Google Maps. As you can see from the map, his latest position is on the return trip across the Colorado. He just crossed the bridge and is making his way up to Phantom Ranch. Next is the long 5000+ foot climb to the North Rim and the end of his 80+ mile journey which started at 2am yesterday!

He is being sponsored on this run by SKYCALL satellite phones and the SPOT GPS/SAT location device company. So to help with sponsorship, he called into the KSL radio station on their morning outdoor show today. I caught it on the internet from my location at 38.969ºN / 77.341ºW. Here is the recording (7.5MB mp3) if you want to hear what it sounded like live via satellite phone to the radio to the internet to my laptop :-) Not bad!

Update 11/28/2007: Davy just posted his write-up. Fun read.

On Monday, August 13th, I flew to Salt Lake City to meet up with Davy Crockett, Brad Clements, and David Hansen for our annual “man trip” into the woods. As best we can remember, this is the 13th annual meeting of our group aptly named “A bunch of Mormons and a Jew”…..me being the jewish guy.

In years past we have visited many amazing places in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, California, and Arizona. This year we would hit Colorado for the first time and hike the Four Passes Loop trail near Aspen. The trail is in an area called the Maroon Bells and is a loop trail which circumnavigates the main feature of the area, Colorado’s 27th highest peak, Maroon Peak which stands at 14,156 feet.

Maroon Peak from Maroon Lake

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I am enroute to Apsen, Colorado to meet up with some friends for our annual “man trip” as my friends call it. This year we are hiking the four passes loop trail. But we have also decided to attempt to summit Maroon Peak (14,156 ft) which is one of the most photographed peaks in the Rocky Mountains.

The climb begins from the main four passes loop trail at around 10,000 feet and is very steep up to 13,500, but not terribly technical. But according to the photos and trail reports we have been reading, the rest of the trip to the summit is very difficult from a route finding and scrambling perspective. Everyone is wearing helmets in the pictures for some reason??! It looks scary to me and I have been in some scary places. I guess a good dose of fear goes a long way to being safe.

Route Description

But the view from the top promises to reward us if we make it…

On July 21 and 22, I had the distinct pleasure of providing support to one of the nation’s top 100 mile endurance runners, Davy Crockett.

While Davy is not a professional/sponsored runner, I consider him one of the best ultra marathon runners in the nation because:

1. He runs four or five 100 mile races a year….and FINISHES!
2. He is 49 years old
3. He typically finishes in the top half to third of the field.

For this, I have great respect for him.

Davy asked me if I would like to handle and pace him during the Vermont 100 race this year. After a little discussion with Rylan and figuring out logistics, I agreed. I drove up to New York on Thursday night and stayed with my friend Kenny in Brooklyn. Then early Friday I completed the drive to Woodstock, Vermont, about 30 minutes from Killington, up in the Green Mountains.

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My annual “man trip” takes our group (5 Mormons and a Jew - I am the Jew) to the Snowmass/Aspen area in Colorado to a trail called the Four Passes Loop. Its aptly named as it is a) a loop and b) includes four 12,000+ passes. Read more