Soooooo....we made it! Here's a little recap of our hike.
Husband flew in to Phoenix on Wednesday to check in with work (his company headquarters is in Scottsdale, AZ) and test ride a mountain bike he's had his eye on for a few months. Little man had to have tubes in his ears on Thursday morning (BTW, this was the fastest procedure EVER) so we spent Thursday recovering. Tiny and I slept at my parent's house on Thursday night so I wouldn't have to get up any earlier than I already was to drop him off and I got to the airport early Friday morning and into Phoenix around 10. Husband picked me up and we got a few other necessities for the trip, met up with the rest of the party and off we went to the Grand Canyon. Tish (Bill the trainer's wife) made everyone eat a ton on Friday (this was very strange for someone who has always had to watch what she eats) which subsequently made my shorts fit a little snug the next day. The whole group decided to be touristy and watch the IMAX movie...I DO NOT RECOMMEND. We should have known it was terrible when all the IMAX movies were dusty and didn't look like one had been purchased...EVER. After the horrible movie, we had a big dinner of pasta and water and headed off to bed.
On Saturday, we all woke up around 6:00 and got dressed for the day. The original plan was to hike from the North Rim to the South Rim but there is about 10 feet of snow still on the North Rim and cars weren't allowed yet so we had to modify the hike slightly. We started on the South Kaibab trail and went all the way down to the Colorado River to Phantom Ranch where we stopped for about 30 minutes to refill our bladders (ie. water pouch in a CamelBak) and eat. Then we started back up South Kaibab (about 4 miles) to the point where the Tovar Trail intersected. I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't this...at one point, I was seriously considering calling for a donkey to haul my ass out of there. After telling myself to quit being such a puss, we finally made it to the Tovar Trail (which was a much more flat trail and very scenic) and I got my second wind. This was almost a surreal atmosphere. You could look up and know that you were still very far down inside the canyon and look back and realize that you were very far up from the river but the actual trail and surrounding area was almost flat. It definitely makes you realize just how large the Grand Canyon truly is! We made it to Indian Garden which was also very cool. Hidden between all the orange and red rocks were these massive trees which had vibrant green leaves and purple flowers...not what I expected to find in the middle of a desert but we definitely went at the right time. We stopped and rested here for about 30 minutes and were off again on the last leg of the hike up Bright Angel trail. This trail is the most commonly hiked trail and isn't as steep so it's a longer trail than South Kaibab. About half way up this trail, my body realized that it needed to expel some of the crap I had been shoving in all day long (Gu gels are not exactly a normal lunch for me) so I damn near ran uphill to the 3 mile stop. For anyone who knows me well, you know that I absolutely hate using public bathrooms and will always put down a lot of paper to prevent any part of my ass from hitting the seat...I had to go so badly, I did a check for tarantulas (we saw in the IMAX movie that they live here so I was a little paranoid) and plopped down. I emerged a few minutes later feeling like a new woman (and my shorts fit a little better as well). It's funny, when we were hiking up the entire trail, I wasn't at all focused on the end or how much further we had to go so knowing that we only had 3 more miles was almost a bad thing. Around the 1.5 mile marker, my body started telling me I was TIRED (mostly my feet and butt) but then I started seeing people hiking down past me in cowboy boots and jeans. This made me realize that we really were almost to the top (and that these people who were happily hiking down past me had NO idea what they were in for when they started the trek back up). One rather large lady informed me that we only had 20 more minutes until the top...I would have paid to have seen her get back up there in 20 minutes. When we finally made it to the top of the trail, I celebrated with a Rocky moment and we headed straight for the bar. The hike was a total of 22 miles which we did in 9 hours and 17 minutes. If I remember correctly, we went from an elevation around 7000 to 2400 and back up. There were several signs along the way cautioning hikers NOT to hike from the rim to the river and back up...Husband and I have a picture by one of these signs.
We were all walking like penguins for a few days after but it was completely worth it...next trip will be from the North Rim to the South Rim :)
