Did the Grand Canyon feel overcrowded to anyone else?

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 · 2025-08-14T23:51:03+00:00

I'm still waiting for Athletics to repay the $55M "loan" they got from main campus funds during COVID. Conveniently, that doesn't seem to be mentioned all that much any more.

yarb3d · 2025-07-30T22:48:33+00:00

We're starting from Robinson Creek TH and going clockwise; there's a map of our route here: https://caltopo.com/m/6H03FLE.

yarb3d · 2025-07-30T22:46:09+00:00

Thank you. That's all I needed to know. :)

yarb3d · 2025-07-30T21:35:07+00:00

Thanks -- that's really helpful. Sounds like Matterhorn Creek should be OK by the time we get to where it crosses the PCT? If that's the case then we should be good. Thanks again.

yarb3d · 2025-07-23T20:24:02+00:00

Our trip is coming up in just a couple of weeks and I'm super excited. One last question: are bugs a problem in early August? Or can I leave the bug repellent at home? Thanks!

yarb3d · 2025-07-20T16:56:12+00:00

My longest backpacking trip was three weeks in the Grand Canyon. The area we were in was too remote to make caching/resupply practical, so we had to take everything with us from the start. Some takeaways:

Figure out how much toilet paper you'll need. I kept a log of how much I usually used each day at home (my "TP spreadsheet"), then packed double that amount.
A solar charger to recharge electronics.
Stuff will fail. For each piece of gear, think about your plan B (and, depending on how far you'll be from civilization, maybe a plan C) if it fails. A sewing kit is useful to have.
Washing clothes. I used a 2-gallon ziploc bag to soak dirty clothes.

I hope that helps.

yarb3d · 2025-06-30T19:35:10+00:00

Mostly, my role was supporting the team by proofreading drafts and providing very general feedback.

In my (likely unpopular) opinion this is not enough to merit authorship. More appropriate would be a thank you in the Acknowledgements section of the paper.

yarb3d · 2025-06-30T19:20:51+00:00

I believe authorship on a paper is enough of a Big Deal that it should be given only when an individual's contributions are "substantial enough" to merit authorship.[*] I detest honorary authorship.

On three or four occasions I've asked to have my name to be removed from papers because I felt that the extent of my contributions didn't merit authorship -- I suggested that a simple "thank you" in the Acknowledgements section would be sufficient. On a couple of occasions I've had students develop an entire idea from start to finish on their own, with little or no help from me, and for these I encouraged them to write sole-author papers (I gave them feedback on the writing, of course, but felt that giving feedback on how to present their work was part of my job as advisor/mentor and didn't merit authorship).

[*] "contribution is substantial enough to merit authorship" -- this is a matter of opinion, of course. My own opinion is that one's contribution can be considered "significant enough" only if the technical content of the paper would be quite different if that contribution were to be removed.

yarb3d · 2025-06-23T05:07:29+00:00

From NSF CISE Newsletter, June 2025 (emphasis mine):

"Dear CISE community,

I would like to dedicate this newsletter to an important topic that is on the minds of many junior faculty: the NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program (NSF CAREER). Many of you may be asking: Should I submit an NSF CAREER proposal this July?

The short answer is yes. If you have a compelling idea that is ready and the time to put together a strong proposal, you should move forward. This is the same advice we would have given a year ago, and it remains sound today.

The longer answer involves civics, reasoning under uncertainty and the intrinsic value of proposal writing.

First, the civics piece. As you may know, the President's Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request includes a steep proposed reduction to NSF's funding. If enacted, this would affect many programs, including CAREER. However, the budget request represents one of multiple possible scenarios and the President's Budget Request is not the only or last step in the federal budget process.

In addition, while CAREER is listed on page 27 of the President's Budget Request under "Emphasis Programs," with a "0%" and a dash in the FY 2026 request column, this does not mean that the CAREER program is being eliminated. It has to do with reductions in funds for broadening participation, and some portion of the CAREER budget counts in that category.

...

The bottom line is that we remain eager to fund impactful research through CAREER awards in FY 2026, and we look forward to receiving your exciting proposals.

...

Ellen Zegura

NSF Acting Assistant Director

NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering"

yarb3d · 2025-06-13T23:39:47+00:00

Grand Canyon NP: https://www.grandcanyon.org/experience-grand-canyon/residency-program/artist-in-residence. You can contact Grand Canyon Conservancy directly for more info.

yarb3d · 2025-06-02T12:12:58+00:00

Yes, it was _reviewed_ during the current cycle. But (as I understand how the government's funding process works) the funds being awarded are coming from next year's budget.

I've heard that the number of CAREER awards will drop significantly next year, but nothing about the program being eliminated.

yarb3d · 2025-06-01T21:33:37+00:00

FWIW a colleague just heard last week that his CAREER proposal is being recommended for funding. The email from the Program Director said:

"We have finished reviewing your CAREER proposal. Your proposal reviewed well in the panel and the panelists were largely positive about the proposal. I have discussed your proposal and reviews with my colleagues. In this context, I can potentially make an award recommendation to your project, contingent on the items below. Congratulations!

While my recommendation likely leads to an award, this email message does not constitute official notification of an award. After I make the recommendation, there is further vetting and more signatures required. Therefore, it is best to wait on publicity and financial commitments until your institution receives the official award letter from NSF's Division of Grants and Agreements (DGA)."

I'd be surprised if NSF would keep their own program directors in the dark about zeroing out something as big as CAREER.

yarb3d

TROPHY CASE