The Grand Canyon is quite a phenomenal land form. Carved by the powerful Colorado River, the canyon is about 277 miles long, 4 to 18 miles wide, and over a mile deep in some areas. Millions of people visit the canyon each year, awed by it's massive presence and surreal views. The Bright Angel Trail, one of the main trails into the canyon, is hiked by over 100,000 hikers each year. I visited the canyon last year, 2007, as part of a family vacation. I thought it would pretty cool to visit, but I had no clue how astonishing it is. The first time I laid eyes on it, I couldn't believe how spectacular the views were. They literally took my breath away. In that moment I decided someday I would hike to the bottom and camp.
One year later, my dad, brother, and I were back to the canyon to conquer it's depths. We drove to the canyon last Friday and set up a tent at Mather Campground on the rim. We sorted through our hiking backpacks and began to organize all of the things we would carry in. Water, 170 ounces of it, 4 MRE's, loads of other snacks, a tent, a bed roll, a sleeping bag liner, a flashlight, Gookinaid mix, a large Gatorade, a first aid kit, a mirror, whistle, sunglasses, a camera, and lots of other things. When we had finished with out backpacks we picked them up and realized they weighed way too much. There was no way we could carry them in and make it back out of the canyon. We weeded out some snacks and other things we thought we wouldn't need. The bags still seemed really heavy and all night we worried about carrying them out of the canyon.
The next morning we got up at 5 a.m., took the 6 a.m. bus to the South Kaibab Trail, and started our decent. This was the easy part. You don't really need any physical endurance to make it down. We made it two miles down and stopped to heat and MRE(Meal Ready to Eat) for breakfast. Carrying on downward, we could soon see the Colorado River far off in the distance. It edged closer and closer, and finally we were on the last set of switch backs. We crossed the bridge, and made it to Bright Angel Campground. It was 11:30a.m. The heat had just kicked up, and as soon as we set up our tent, we went to lay in the nearby stream. The water felt so incredible, and we did this for the majority of the afternoon. The thermometer read 120 degrees Fahrenheit. We ate lunch and dinner at our tent, and got in bed at 7:30 p.m. We were planning to get up at 1 a.m. to start our ascent.
That night had to have been the worst night of my entire life. My tent was like a sauna, I could never cool down. Rearranging and laying different directions seemed to help for about 30 seconds, and then I would feel so hot and sweaty again. After 2 hours of trying desperately to fall asleep, I began to worry that my lack of sleep would hurt me in the morning. I changed the direction of my tent a few times hoping to catch the cool breeze , but it never came inside the tent. I was on the verge of losing control and just freaking out. I unzipped the tent and ended up sleeping with my head outside. The only nice thing about that night was that I had never seen a clearer sky in my life, the stars looked so crisp and bright. I even saw a shooting star. I finally fell asleep somewhere around 10:30 p.m.
We woke up at 1 a.m. as we had planned and unpacked our tents. Nobody else at the campground was awake. I was a little excited to be able to use my brand new, powerful flashlight. This excitement wore off as soon as we passed the ranger station and exited the campground. Everything was different at night. We made it to the other bridge that led to Bright Angel Trail and crossed it. Walking across that bridge in complete darkness, the grates shaking, the onslaught of the water below us, and the menacing sound was terrifying but exhilarating at the same time. Once across, a feeling of dread began to develop in my gut. We were hiking out of the Grand Canyon in pitch black darkness. What in the world were we doing?! We started hiking along the side of a mountain with a sheer drop, a couple hundred feet at least, only one wrong step to the right. Sometimes I felt better not knowing what was on the other side of the trail so I didn't shine the flashlight over the edge. Things were going good and we were making some progress, and then all of the sudden my dad yelled out that he walked through a spider web. Adrenaline rushed through my veins and I felt sudden alertness. We illuminated the web hanging from the rock face with our flashlights and searched for the spider. There it was, a grotesque black body adorned with a crimson red hourglass. A black widow. We were stunned and just stood there. After our senses took control
we hurried away from it. The sighting of this spider really left me shaken. For the next 3 hours, until dawn around 5:15 a.m., I constantly worried about coming face to face with another black widow. I had never been so scared in my life. I risked falling off the edge by walking closer to the right side of the trail instead of walking on the other side with the rock walls. We had soon made it to the first of many streams on the trail. I welcomed the sound of the water because it took away the eerie silence of the night. We soaked our shirts and towels in the stream to cool off. We came across 5 other streams and repeated this process. The sky was slowly becoming lighter and soon we didn't need our flashlights. All my fears evaporated, and I felt so good. We picked up the pace and made it to Indian Garden. This camp ground is the halfway marker on Bright Angel Trail, 4.5 miles from the rim. The rest of the trail was quite easy, there was water in 1.5 miles intervals until the top. However, the last 1.5 miles was a cruel joke. Our legs were exhausted, our backpacks seemed to weigh more than before(all trash has to be carried out), and the trail began to climb up at a very steep rate. We ended up taking a breather every 5 minutes on this section. We finally made it out around 8:30 in the morning. I felt very accomplished.
I would recommend hiking the Grand Canyon to anyone, it may have been scary and exhausting while we were inside, but when we got out it felt great to know that we did it. From the point when we got to Bright Angel Campground on, I was just wishing I could get out and I thought I would never do it again. Now I'm wishing I could do it again.
One year later, my dad, brother, and I were back to the canyon to conquer it's depths. We drove to the canyon last Friday and set up a tent at Mather Campground on the rim. We sorted through our hiking backpacks and began to organize all of the things we would carry in. Water, 170 ounces of it, 4 MRE's, loads of other snacks, a tent, a bed roll, a sleeping bag liner, a flashlight, Gookinaid mix, a large Gatorade, a first aid kit, a mirror, whistle, sunglasses, a camera, and lots of other things. When we had finished with out backpacks we picked them up and realized they weighed way too much. There was no way we could carry them in and make it back out of the canyon. We weeded out some snacks and other things we thought we wouldn't need. The bags still seemed really heavy and all night we worried about carrying them out of the canyon.
The next morning we got up at 5 a.m., took the 6 a.m. bus to the South Kaibab Trail, and started our decent. This was the easy part. You don't really need any physical endurance to make it down. We made it two miles down and stopped to heat and MRE(Meal Ready to Eat) for breakfast. Carrying on downward, we could soon see the Colorado River far off in the distance. It edged closer and closer, and finally we were on the last set of switch backs. We crossed the bridge, and made it to Bright Angel Campground. It was 11:30a.m. The heat had just kicked up, and as soon as we set up our tent, we went to lay in the nearby stream. The water felt so incredible, and we did this for the majority of the afternoon. The thermometer read 120 degrees Fahrenheit. We ate lunch and dinner at our tent, and got in bed at 7:30 p.m. We were planning to get up at 1 a.m. to start our ascent.
That night had to have been the worst night of my entire life. My tent was like a sauna, I could never cool down. Rearranging and laying different directions seemed to help for about 30 seconds, and then I would feel so hot and sweaty again. After 2 hours of trying desperately to fall asleep, I began to worry that my lack of sleep would hurt me in the morning. I changed the direction of my tent a few times hoping to catch the cool breeze , but it never came inside the tent. I was on the verge of losing control and just freaking out. I unzipped the tent and ended up sleeping with my head outside. The only nice thing about that night was that I had never seen a clearer sky in my life, the stars looked so crisp and bright. I even saw a shooting star. I finally fell asleep somewhere around 10:30 p.m.
We woke up at 1 a.m. as we had planned and unpacked our tents. Nobody else at the campground was awake. I was a little excited to be able to use my brand new, powerful flashlight. This excitement wore off as soon as we passed the ranger station and exited the campground. Everything was different at night. We made it to the other bridge that led to Bright Angel Trail and crossed it. Walking across that bridge in complete darkness, the grates shaking, the onslaught of the water below us, and the menacing sound was terrifying but exhilarating at the same time. Once across, a feeling of dread began to develop in my gut. We were hiking out of the Grand Canyon in pitch black darkness. What in the world were we doing?! We started hiking along the side of a mountain with a sheer drop, a couple hundred feet at least, only one wrong step to the right. Sometimes I felt better not knowing what was on the other side of the trail so I didn't shine the flashlight over the edge. Things were going good and we were making some progress, and then all of the sudden my dad yelled out that he walked through a spider web. Adrenaline rushed through my veins and I felt sudden alertness. We illuminated the web hanging from the rock face with our flashlights and searched for the spider. There it was, a grotesque black body adorned with a crimson red hourglass. A black widow. We were stunned and just stood there. After our senses took control
we hurried away from it. The sighting of this spider really left me shaken. For the next 3 hours, until dawn around 5:15 a.m., I constantly worried about coming face to face with another black widow. I had never been so scared in my life. I risked falling off the edge by walking closer to the right side of the trail instead of walking on the other side with the rock walls. We had soon made it to the first of many streams on the trail. I welcomed the sound of the water because it took away the eerie silence of the night. We soaked our shirts and towels in the stream to cool off. We came across 5 other streams and repeated this process. The sky was slowly becoming lighter and soon we didn't need our flashlights. All my fears evaporated, and I felt so good. We picked up the pace and made it to Indian Garden. This camp ground is the halfway marker on Bright Angel Trail, 4.5 miles from the rim. The rest of the trail was quite easy, there was water in 1.5 miles intervals until the top. However, the last 1.5 miles was a cruel joke. Our legs were exhausted, our backpacks seemed to weigh more than before(all trash has to be carried out), and the trail began to climb up at a very steep rate. We ended up taking a breather every 5 minutes on this section. We finally made it out around 8:30 in the morning. I felt very accomplished.
I would recommend hiking the Grand Canyon to anyone, it may have been scary and exhausting while we were inside, but when we got out it felt great to know that we did it. From the point when we got to Bright Angel Campground on, I was just wishing I could get out and I thought I would never do it again. Now I'm wishing I could do it again.
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