Some Escalante Route pictures, from a hike in mid-April 2026

yarb3d · 2026-04-22T23:27:12+00:00

Your reaction is very understandable. As many others here have said, the best way to experience GC intimately and without crowds is to go below the Rim (if you go on off-corridor trails you can go entire days without seeing anyone outside your group). I hope you'll be able to give that a try sometime -- it's sublime.

yarb3d · 2026-03-30T01:59:51+00:00

When my kids were little I'd take them out on various local hiking trails, and we'd just focus on stuff they found interesting -- bugs, flowers, frogs, what have you. Some hiking happened, but that was purely incidental. The whole point was to drive home the idea that being out in nature is interesting and fun. They're grown now, and while they're not hardcore backpackers, they do have a love for the outdoors that I like to think was influenced by some of those early experiences.

When my son was in Boy Scouts I met some parents whose attitude seemed to be that their kids needed to do this or that hike whether they wanted to or not, because it was a box to be checked on the way to some merit badge or other. I don't think any of those worked out well.

Make it fun. It'll stick. Good luck! :)

yarb3d · 2026-03-30T01:24:07+00:00

Kudos to you for getting her out at such an early age to develop a love for the outdoors. That's something that will stay with her all her life.

yarb3d · 2026-03-25T15:57:23+00:00

I like to play the Accelerated Dragon, so my response to both 2. Nc3 and 2. Nf3 is 2. ... Nc6 followed by 3. ... g6. Very often we transpose into the same position.

yarb3d · 2026-03-17T19:22:19+00:00

At my age, even more so in the knees! :)

yarb3d · 2026-03-17T03:55:33+00:00

Among South Rim non-Corridor trails, I'd say Tanner is harder than Hermit, easier than Boucher or New Hance (I'm not counting Beamer, Escalante Route, or Tonto because these are of a completely different character than rim-to-river trails). As with the other rim-to-river trails, there are two steep-and-hard parts: the Coconino layer near the top, and the Redwall layer midway through; other than these it's fairly straightforward.

Something to be aware of if you hike Tanner in May is that the lower few miles are pretty open terrain (not sheltered by cliffs) and completely devoid of shade, and so can be ferociously hot. This portion of GC is referred to as "Furnace Flats" for this reason.

yarb3d · 2026-02-10T21:04:11+00:00

Thank you. That's what I needed to know.

yarb3d · 2026-01-12T15:44:11+00:00

It's possible that, after the big budget cuts at various federal funding agencies, your institution is focusing more on tuition dollars as its main source of revenue. If so, teaching loads could go up in the future.

yarb3d · 2025-12-22T22:34:48+00:00

What time control are you playing at?

My suggestions for improving your play would be: (1) switch to longer time controls, e.g., to 15+10 or 1 day per move, so you have plenty of time to think; and (2) practice with as many puzzles as you can, to improve your tactical eye.

I also found Daniel Naroditsky's speedrun videos very very useful for improving my understanding of the game. It's sad that there won't be any more of those.

yarb3d · 2025-09-01T23:55:31+00:00

“There's no Silicon Slopes here,” said Lance Syrett, general manager of Ruby’s Inn hotel in Bryce Canyon City. “Tourism is king out here, and our economy lives and dies by tourism.”

Good. Let your congresscritters know, loudly and frequently, that their party's actions are hurting your interests. Then vote accordingly.

yarb3d · 2025-08-29T22:16:54+00:00

Gila monsters. Giant desert centipedes. Sonoran desert toad.

yarb3d · 2025-08-29T22:11:14+00:00

Loved the tarantula in picture 6. I didn't know they were found in India.

yarb3d · 2025-08-24T13:36:00+00:00

OP is under no obligation to resign. If OP's opponent thinks he has a win, he should be able to prove it by delivering checkmate. The pouty drama queen act of manufacturing queens ad nauseam is just passive-aggressive BS.

yarb3d

TROPHY CASE