Elevation Gain: Approximately 1500 ft.
Time: 11:30 am - 5:00 pm
Weather: Sunny, partly cloudy, warm, and beautiful.
My mom expressed an interest in seeing the Grand Canyon around Christmas time. At the time I was about 18 weeks into my hiking commitment, and I thought having a hike in one of the most beautiful canyons in the world would be pretty awesome. Well, time marched on, and before I knew it I was on a plane down to Arizona at the end of July to meet my mom, dad, sister, and her fiancée. We spent a few days in Scottsdale, then left early one morning to spend a full day along the south rim of the Grand Canyon.
We got to the canyon entrance at about 11 am. While the entrance was busy, the cars were still moving through the line. We paid our fee, found a parking spot, I geared up, and we took off for the canyon. Following the crowds from the visitor's center, it only took a few minutes to reach Mather Point. As I felt my self getting closer, I lowered my head, to be surprised by a full on view of the canyon.
I crept up to the railing east of Mather point and raised my head with my eyes closed. I opened my eyes and was immediately welling up with tears. I am not exaggerating for dramatic effect; the view of the Grand Canyon was truly breathtaking. The view was so gorgeous that in 80 degree weather I had goosebumps.
My sister, her fiancée, and I continued west along the rim trail to the Bright Angel Lodge. It took us a little over an hour. There were all sorts of information placards and viewpoints. The pull to stop and take a picture or to sit and stare at the canyon was difficult to overcome. We met my parents at the lodge and had a good bacon cheeseburger lunch. I went into the gift store and bought snacks and water for a hike down the Bright Angel trail into the canyon.
We took off around 2:30 pm. The trail was a lot more like a trail here. Some of the crowd had thinned out a bit, and the trail was not paved asphalt like the rim trail is. We were in the sun, which was not too bad on the way down. It was definitely warm. There were tons of squirrels darting around. I was shocked when one was not moving as I approached. He was in a can of dry formula powder someone left. I assume to lure him closer. I had to toss a rock nearby to get him out of the can. Then I picked up the can and hiked with it the rest off the time.
The original plan was to hike down 3 miles and come back up. By the time we made it to the mile and a half turn around, my sister was dealing with a blister, and it was already 3:30 pm. We had dropped about a 1000 feet, and I did not want to push too far. We enjoyed some Grand Canyon spring water, and the shade of the simple shelter. I used the nice composting toilet. There was a trash can inside with a sign telling you to hike out any trash. I dumped the formula powder and put the empty can in my pack.
The hike up was intense, but the sun had started to slip behind the canyon wall. It took us about an hour and fifteen to get back to the top. We took lots of breaks in the shade. When we got to the top, we sat and stared into the canyon for a good hour before my mom and dad came and found us. We drove around to the east. Found the Grandview view point and watched the sunset.
Orchid: The Grand Canyon
Onion: The trash, everywhere.
Picture:
Google Map
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