No home renovations or football talk this time, it's a guest blog entry by Kelsey! This post is about my vacation on the north rim of the Grand Canyon in Sept 2007. Instead of a relaxing getaway, I hiked through the desert carrying a 60 lb backpack and slept on a bed of rocks. Doesn't that sound fun? I spent half the trip wondering why I wanted to to do this. I went with Kristen, Christina and Cameron again, we hiked a different trail on the south rim of the Grand Canyon 2 years ago. You can see more pictures and read about our misadventures from this trip on Steve's blog where Christina is a frequent guest blogger.
After changing a flat tire and retrieving the wallet I left at the hotel (a 1.5 hour drive from the trailhead) this was the first scenic vista we came across. Kristen and I were behind the others because of the return trip for the wallet. There are no more photos from the first day because it was a trail of tears. Kristen was a slave driver and would not stop until we caught up with Cameron and Christina. I really did cry a little bit.
Here we are on the second day of hiking. My nickname from our first trip to the canyon was caboose because I was always the last in line. In this photo you can kind of see everyone far ahead of me. This is the closest I ever got to catching up with the rest of the group. I mean, they all run marathons, what chance did I have?
After a very strenuous hike on the second day, we reached the Throne Room. Hikers from the days of yore fashioned these crude seats out of fallen rock near a small spring. It was the most comfortable thing we sat on during the entire trip.
This is where Deer Creek meets the Colorado River. We had a day of rest on the third day so we only hiked a short distance (1-2 miles instead of 5 or 6 miles) from the campsite down to the Colorado River. This waterfall made the whole trip worthwhile because we were able to frolick in the cool water. And we could bathe.
This is the fourth day when we began the hike back out. There were several very narrow sections of trail with the sheer cliff face only inches away. I am really afraid of heights and got a little weak in the knees here. But I still managed to snap a photo.
Most of the "trail" looked similar to this, a narrow path of rocks without cacti on it. The cacti did grow near the trail though and I had to pull some spines out of my leg.
Here's the gang cooking breakfast on the last morning. And by cooking I mean boiling water for instant oatmeal. You can hardly tell we haven't showered in days!
A trail shot on the last day of the trip. This was one of the few nice sections of trail that was relatively flat but still rocky. Sweet relief from the steep ascent of the previous day.
This picture was taken about halfway up to the rim on the last day. It's about a 6000 ft elevation difference from the rim to river.
Near the end of the trail was a very steep ascent with some scrambling over rocks. The scrambling was intense, our guidebook suggested hikers take off their packs, hand them up and then rock climb.
Here's Christina near the end of the trail. The last half mile was downhill and it was fantastic!
Once I knew I was going to make it out of the canyon and that I wasn't going to die there, the trip was great. It's an incredible natural wonder and it really is awesome. However, for our next hiking trip I'm going to suggest somewhere flat, like Nebraska.
After changing a flat tire and retrieving the wallet I left at the hotel (a 1.5 hour drive from the trailhead) this was the first scenic vista we came across. Kristen and I were behind the others because of the return trip for the wallet. There are no more photos from the first day because it was a trail of tears. Kristen was a slave driver and would not stop until we caught up with Cameron and Christina. I really did cry a little bit.
Here we are on the second day of hiking. My nickname from our first trip to the canyon was caboose because I was always the last in line. In this photo you can kind of see everyone far ahead of me. This is the closest I ever got to catching up with the rest of the group. I mean, they all run marathons, what chance did I have?
After a very strenuous hike on the second day, we reached the Throne Room. Hikers from the days of yore fashioned these crude seats out of fallen rock near a small spring. It was the most comfortable thing we sat on during the entire trip.
This is where Deer Creek meets the Colorado River. We had a day of rest on the third day so we only hiked a short distance (1-2 miles instead of 5 or 6 miles) from the campsite down to the Colorado River. This waterfall made the whole trip worthwhile because we were able to frolick in the cool water. And we could bathe.
This is the fourth day when we began the hike back out. There were several very narrow sections of trail with the sheer cliff face only inches away. I am really afraid of heights and got a little weak in the knees here. But I still managed to snap a photo.
Most of the "trail" looked similar to this, a narrow path of rocks without cacti on it. The cacti did grow near the trail though and I had to pull some spines out of my leg.
Here's the gang cooking breakfast on the last morning. And by cooking I mean boiling water for instant oatmeal. You can hardly tell we haven't showered in days!
A trail shot on the last day of the trip. This was one of the few nice sections of trail that was relatively flat but still rocky. Sweet relief from the steep ascent of the previous day.
This picture was taken about halfway up to the rim on the last day. It's about a 6000 ft elevation difference from the rim to river.
Near the end of the trail was a very steep ascent with some scrambling over rocks. The scrambling was intense, our guidebook suggested hikers take off their packs, hand them up and then rock climb. 
Here's Christina near the end of the trail. The last half mile was downhill and it was fantastic!
Once I knew I was going to make it out of the canyon and that I wasn't going to die there, the trip was great. It's an incredible natural wonder and it really is awesome. However, for our next hiking trip I'm going to suggest somewhere flat, like Nebraska.
1 comment:
YAY guest blogger! good descriptions and nice photos. excited to exchange on monday, for dinner we will boil water and have tortellini without sauce.
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