Hey everyone!
WOW. So I had heard rumblings about the Grand Canyon being pretty deep, but on foot, with a huge pack on your back in the blazing heat, wow. It's REALLY far down. But we made it, and even though it was the toughest hike either of us have ever done, it was also one of the most amazing experiences we've ever had. So to start at the beginning, we set our alarm for 3am on the first morning so that we start our hike by 4 and hopefully beat the heat. Elijah's watch alarm went off at 3, he turned it off, and all of a sudden it was 3:45. Whoops. We finally got up, broke camp, drove to the trailhead, and finally started our hike around 5:30am. The trail was wide and well kept with rocks lining the cliff edge of the trail. About a quarter mile down, Elijah spots a nest of Mexican Jays. Most of you know that Elijah is unnaturally obsessed with birds, and so this took over our attention for a good couple of minutes. Finally he put the binoculars down and we continued on our way. After a few moments, the trail began to narrow, and the rocks that provided a barrier between us and the cliff's edge disappeared. Very quickly the trail became outrageously perilous and difficult. We found ourselves trying to climb over waist high rocks, sliding down slippery slopes trying to catch ourselves before sliding off the edge, and weaving under and over trees, all terrifyingly close to a steep drop off the canyon wall. We started muttering to ourselves, "hmm, didn't expect this," and "yikes, I wonder how the mules carry people through this." We had been told this was the easiest trail (if any hike down the Grand Canyon could be easy) and the most hiker friendly, and it was certainly not turning out to be such. Finally, the "trail" turned down a very steep rock, and appeared to simply drop off the edge of the canyon. Finally Elijah turned around and I said, "I'm not sure, but I don't think we're going the right way." We looked off in the distance and saw the beautiful wide trail with families walking down together with their children, and we looked at the bleak "trail" ahead of us, and finally came to the conclusion that our path was probably not going to cross with theirs, and we turned around. We wound back over rocks and under trees, grabbed onto tree roots while shuffling across the slanted path. After about a half an hour, we came out onto the trail where we had stopped to look at those damn birds. Apparently, we had gotten so distracted by the birds that we didn't see the very first switchback in the trail, and just blew straight ahead off of the main path. What the heck, we're just a couple of kids from New York, how were we supposed to know how to get down the Grand Canyon? So now we had not only slept in, but had just lost an hour in our treacherous detour, and so we hurried on our way. The main trail now felt like a cake walk, and we reached the 1.5 mile rest house easily. We continued on to stop at the 3 mile rest house, and then onto the Indian Gardens Campground about 4.5 miles down the trail. It was about 9am at this point, and we decided to stop there for the afternoon to wait out the heat. While hiking, we had to be constantly eating salty snacks and alternating between water and gatorade to keep our body temperatures down. By the time we stopped at the campground, it was already pretty hot and we found a shelter to pass the time in. It was very pleasant in the shade, and we had a nice relaxing afternoon. I read a book while Elijah napped, until he woke up and stared at me until I agreed to play with him. We played cards, had lunch, fought off the feisty ground squirrels that tried to burrow into our packs, and went to a ranger program about rattlesnakes. Finally around 4pm when it was slightly cooler, we put our packs and boots back on and finished the 4.7 mile hike to the bottom of the canyon. As we got closer we began to see streams that flowed down to the river, and all we could hear was rushing water. Then out of nowhere we rounded a corner and the Colorado River was in front of us. It was absolutely huge with a very fast current. We hiked alongside it until we saw an amazing silver bridge for hikers to cross. After the surprisingly long walk across the river, it was only a short ways to the Bright Angel Campground where we would be spending the night. The campground was located along a gentle stream with large rocks that formed perfect little swimming holes. We ate our dinner, set up camp, and went to bed. Even in our mesh tent with plenty of ventilation, we were sweating. It must have been in the mid 80s, and Elijah decided to cool down by sprawling out, squishing me into the tent wall. It was not the most comfortable of nights, but the stars were incredible.
The next morning we woke up around 8am, and it was already hot out. At about 9, we walked to the rangers station to look at books to check out, and we happened to walk past a thermometer. It was nine o'clock in the morning, and it was already over 100 degrees. We didn't look at the thermometer anymore after that. We spent the day at the creek in the shade either swimming, playing cards, or dreaming of the Wendy's frostys that we were going to get as soon as we got out of there. You might wonder why we always seem to have obsessive food cravings on every hike we take, but when you are sitting in a 120 degree pit eating hot pasta salad out of a ziplock bag, your mind has to go somewhere. Those frostys were the only thing that got us out of that canyon, let me tell you. As a matter of fact, we are sitting in Wendy's right now, fed and happy. (Side note: WE FOUND CHACO TACOS TODAY!! We've been searching since Yosemite) Anyways, we had a pleasant day despite the heat enjoying the incredible scenery, and around 4pm we started our 4.7 mile hike back up to Indian Gardens for the night. It was a steep, difficult climb, but we finally made it to camp in time to watch a beautiful sunset from inside the canyon. We went to bed early and woke up at 3am the next morning (we actually got up this time). We were hiking by 4, and sweating by 5. The climb was steep and never ending. At each rest stop we collapsed in exhaustion. At the final rest stop with only 1.5 miles to go, we saw a Bighorn Sheep laying down on a giant rock near the rest house. It was awesome. What was not awesome, was the last 1.5 miles. Apparently, this last stretch is called "heartbreak hill." Well no one told us about that until we had reached the last quarter mile, and it got to a point where we could not walk 100 yards without collapsing on a rock to catch our breath. It was getting hot, and we could barely move. Finally, FINALLY, we reached the top and collapsed onto a bench at the bus stop. Unfortunately, we still had a 10 minute walk to our car, and the slightest incline made our eyes water. Upon arriving at the car and finding that our fuel canisters had not blown up in the heat while we were gone, we were giddy with happiness. We still cannot believe that we actually hiked the Grand Canyon, it is surreal and amazing that we had this opportunity. We have now showered, eaten, and are heading to the North Rim of the canyon for the night before heading to Zion National Park tomorrow.
I hope you all have a great 4th of July!
we will post again in a few days,
Laura
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