Grand Canyon

First thing on the agenda after finding out way back to the Rainbow Bridge trailhead area was food! We made our way into Tuba City, AZ and stopped at the first place we saw - Denny's! A big plate of food and several cups of coffee later, we were ready to move on with our day. I was getting ready to see the Grand Canyon for the first time, and I was excited! The drive from Rainbow Bridge to the GC wasn't bad at all and due to our early start, we entered the Grand Canyon before noon.

The first view from the east entrance of the park is Desert View. There is also something called the Watchtower at Desert View. The historic Watchtower is a replica of the prehistoric towers found on the Colorado Plateau and was designed by architect Mary Jane Colter. It was designed in 1932 and at that time there weren't too many women chosen to design much of anything architecturally so I thought that was pretty cool. She obviously knew her stuff! From the Watchtower, you could see almost 100 miles since it was a clear day when we were there.

After hanging out in Desert View for awhile, we made our way to the main area of the South Rim. We did the obligatory visitor center/exhibit thing and of course watched the 20-minute film about the park. I'm not going to lie, I do this at just about every park. It's one of the best ways to learn about the history of the park! Then we went on a ranger-led nature walk. It really was informative and gave me a better idea about what the park had to offer and what those far off peaks were over on the North Rim. The view to the right is from the South Rim Mather Point.

By this point, we felt it was probably time to clean off the grime of 3 days on the trail. I'm sure the other park visitors were feeling the same way as well. I got a hold of my friend Li, who I met while thru-hiking the AT back in 2007. He is a fire guy at the park and had just settled into his South Rim quarters. He kindly accepted his house as a place of lodging and clean-up. It was great seeing him and catching up on all the hiking he has done over the last five years. You think I'm crazy, I have nothing on how hard core Li is. After cleaning up, Cough Drop treated us to a wonderful dinner at El Tovar, the fanciest dining room in the Grand Canyon. We, of course, wore our hiking best and didn't seem the least out of place. Li had a bit of trouble figuring out the best way to eat his pheasant. Cough Drop and I just enjoyed the show.

The next morning I wanted to get an early start for my 13-mile hike down, around, and up the Grand Canyon. Cough Drop dropped me off at the South Keibab Trailhead at 8 am. After wearing my Yaktraks for about 10 minutes, I was able to take them off and continue on down the steep trail in just my trailrunners. I made it Oo Aah Point in no time at all and enjoyed the magic of the sun hitting the canyon in all the right spots. The video really doesn't give it justice.

The South Keibab Trail drops several thousand feet in elevation over 4.6 miles. By the end of that mileage, my knees were none too happy, but the views were worth it. Li had recommended I get off the main corridor trails and take the Tonto Trail across the canyon. So glad I did. I saw no one on the Tonto Trail. It was as if I had the canyon to myself. After the crowds at the top of the rim, I was super fortunate to experience the Grand Canyon this way. Everyone should take the chance to go into the canyon, it's a much different experience than the rim and there is so much flora to feast your eyes upon. I particularly liked all the different kind of cacti.

I met up with Cough Drop on the Bright Angel trail, which is the route he came down. We met at Indian Gardens, a nice little desert oasis that the native folk used to trek down into the canyon to retrieve their water. Can you imagine having to trek 4.9 miles one way, 4000 feet down to a canyon, only to return with a much heavier load? Grand Canyon National Park still uses that water, but have a much fancier pipe/pump system in place. It's still the water the local people rely on, especially during those extremely hot summer months.

We both ate a little lunch and then began the grueling ascent back up to the Rim. I believe Indian Gardens sits around 4,000 feet and the top of the South Rim is around 7,500. It was a pretty nice climb, but Cough Drop and I nailed it. We made it back to the top in pretty good time. I was actually surprised to have gone down, around, and up the canyon in less than six hours. What to do with our afternoon now? Well first things first, a celebratory drink! I had a specialty spiked coffee to warm-up and Cough Drop had a Grand Canyon IPA.

We chose to spend the last afternoon/evening we had at the Grand Canyon exploring the Kolb Brothers photography exhibit and having a laid back dinner with Li. He made us some really delicious stuffed peppers and we talked about the long-distance hiking community well into the night. And by that I mean, hiker midnight. We were all pretty much in bed by 9:30! I wish I had a little more time in the Grand Canyon, but alas, more places to see on this great trip west.