Hiking the Grand Canyon

Pretty much everyone that reads my blog was hiking with us, so I don't really feel that I need to go into a whole lot of detail about what we did... for those of you who weren't there, my family and I (+ a few others) hiked the Grand Canyon from the North Rim to the South Rim on May 23, 2009. The hike is about 24 miles... and it's super pretty. We left from the North Rim at about 5:45 am. I hiked the first few miles with Freddy, Em, Jeff.. a little with Mom and Jess in the beginning.. but for the majority of the hike, Freddy and I were on our own. We got to Phantom Ranch (at the bottom of the canyon) at about 11:00, and stayed there for almost an hour... and I sent a postcard by mule! (Jess didn't even go inside the canteen when she got there... that still baffles me!)

For the most part, I was fine throughout the hike. My feet got a few blisters, but I got some moleskin at Phantom, and they didn't bother me much until after we'd finished the hike. (I should have taken pictures of them for you all too see! Hmph. Too bad i didn't think of it sooner...) Anyways, it rained a little, which was nice. After Phantom Ranch, I guess Freddy and I took the wrong trail, and ended up doing a harder, steeper trail (ugh.) but still made it out in good time.

The trail we took didn't have any water along the way, but luckily, we were saved before we ran out of water-- let me explain. I had about an inch of Gatorade left in my bottle, and Freddy was in the same boat. Then a couple came to pass us and they asked us if we'd seen a man that was having trouble with his leg, because they had water for him. We hadn't seen him, and I guess nobody else had either. We asked them how much farther it was to the trail head. "A little over 2 miles," they said. "Are there any rest stops along the way?" we asked. "Yes, one that's a little over a mile from here," they pointed to a small house-ish thing off in the distance. "Is there water there?" we asked. "No, do you need some?" They sounded panicked at the thought of us running out of water... Freddy and I looked at eachother, and sheepishly, we admitted that we had little water to last us the rest of the way. "HERE! TAKE THIS!" they said cheerfully, as they handed us a full bottle of Powerade! "We'd hate to have you run into any trouble!" Sooo they gave us a whole thing of water! Woohoo! I'd probably still be down there, if it wasn't for them!

Anyways, we made lots of fun memories down there, and I was sore for a couple days after. I walked like an old lady. I plan on doing the hike again either in October or next May! Can't wait! (Or maybe I can...) Definitely a cool experience!


mom & sisters, night before, in the lodge.... 5.45 am, leaving the North Rim

a cool bridge with Em, Jeff, & Freddy.... the black bridge that we weren't supposed to cross..

taking a minute to rest. i look happy, but i'm not... WE DID IT!!! 4.35 pm, South Rim