The Grand Canyon

May 3, 2012
This trip really began back in February, after my former youth pastor, Rhea, and her husband returned from a trip to the Grand Canyon. She had many positive things to be said about the two day trek she, Brandon, and her mother had adventured upon, so I felt it was necessary to suggest she take us, her loyal college group, on the same tour of the canyon. Of course, she agreed.
The date was set for the first weekend after completing my Freshman year of college. Thankfully, I had my trusty backpack from my trip to France, Spain, and Morocco in 2011, and it had been eagerly packed in the weeks preceding the trip down the canyon.
We took a church van up to the South Rim of the canyon, and camped at the top Thursday night. Everyone brought an extra sleeping bag, and larger, warmer tents for camping up there--it was freezing! Before bed, we made our peanut butter, jelly, chia seed sandwiches that would provide sustenance in the canyon. It was messy, it was beautiful. We lit a campfire and made s'mores as well, and talked about our summer plans.
Looking at the faces around the campfire, I realized I was surrounded by some of my most trusted friends. Ben, who I had known since I was three, looked like a true mountain man in a flannel shirt, knit hat, and long underwear. PJ, who was nearly as close to me at one point in time as a brother in law, mature and levelheaded as always, listened intently to all words spoken. Brandon, foremost silent, spoke jokes occasionally in hushed tones. Rhea, my beautiful youth pastor, who guided me through the awkwardness of middle school and the friendship perils of high school, smiled and laughed loudly as Becca and I made our customary jokes. Becca, sweet Becca, my friend since eighth grade, partner in crime since seventh--she was on this trip as my buddy. We were never going to leave one another's side. One, because we didn't want to get lost in the canyon; two, because I would never let a stupendous friend like her leave my side.
May 4
Our early morning wake up call included Rhea returning from the bathroom, yelling "Brandon! Brandon!" in hushed tones. We groggily climbed out of our tents--it was hard to sleep with such excitement awaiting us the next morning--and saw an elk! He was peaceful, only munching on patches of grass, not out to harm anyone. He was a wonderful item of creation to observe. Before long, the rest of the campground brought their children, wives, husbands, friends, and lovers to see this wild sight so early in the morning.
We ate a quick, healthy, and fatty breakfast--breakfast burritos, made with chorizo, eggs, potatoes, and some hot sauce. Pretty tasty, and great for pre-hike. Before we knew what was happening, our teeth were brushed, our packs finalized, and we were back in the van to head out for the South Kaibab Trail.
The travel from the campground to the trail-head is a little fuzzy in my brain--I remember a 20 minute drive, a 15 minute shuttle ride, and a 5 minute line for an open-pit toilet Rhea insisted we "all use before the hike." She's been a serious advocate of peeing before any long activity ever since the incident on the way to Church camp in 2008. Much to my chagrin, I used the facilities. Becca graciously took my photo afterwards, when my face had returned to smiling. I pointed with glee at what was the parking lot...and beyond that, the Grand Canyon.
 My 25 pound pack felt light as a feather, in the realization that I was doing what many people dream of--I was about to hike the Grand Canyon.
Oh, what I should have known before starting: 3 Liters is the perfect amount for the 7 mile hike down South Kaibab. Wearing a white hat should be discouraged. That sweatshirt? Unnecessary in 10 minutes.
And so it began, the most excruciating, rewarding, ethereal experience of my summer. I insisted we begin the hike with a group picture. I hanged my 7 year old Casio point-and-shoot camera off a tree branch, and it took the full 10 seconds of auto-time for it to stop spinning in circles. PJ, Ben, Becca, Me, Rhea, and Brandon, stood on the edge of the canyon, waiting eagerly to start the hike of our lives.
It was a beautiful view, even before we took our first steps together. The Grand Canyon looked like a cake, with multiple tiers in different colors. It was glorious, and even as I walked down the first switchbacks, I had a difficult time believing I was actually doing this.
Before long, though, I fully understood the magnitude of the situation. It was warming up quickly, and the 7.1 miles from the top of South Kaibab trail to the Bright Angel campground became painfully long. I didn't bring a hiking stick with me, as did nobody else in our group. I also forgot my knee compression wrap. By the fifth mile, I was nearly in tears. Thankfully, Becca had brought a cold compression wrap. It was nice and cold, but not very compressive. We sat down for a while, Next summer, I will certainly bring knee braces, and hiking sticks.
Before long, we were crossing the black suspension bridge, and we were almost to our camp ground. We were finally at the same elevation as the bottom of the canyon, which is only about 1,000 feet higher than Phoenix! All three of us girls stopped at the nearest camping site, while the boys went and found another one right by the Bright Angel creek. They came back, and carried our pack to the new camp ground. As we emptied the food from our bags (the squirrels are vicious down there), I spread out over the picnic table and began to take a nap as everyone else moseyed down to the creek. I decided to join them in a bit. When I came back,  a squirrel had chewed through the zipper on my backpack, and devoured half of the lanyard with my car keys on it. Why? I spilled coffee on it a week before, and it smelled like food. Frustrated with the evil squirrels, I spread out my sleeping mat and took a nap, while Ben proceeded to throw arrowheads over me.
They awoke me when it was time for dinner. I woke up, groggy, and nibbled on an instant meal (Just add water--we promise it'll taste as good as cardboard!) The park ranger came by, checked our camping permit, and gave us the low down. There was a presentation of ghost stores at the amphitheater at 7 pm, and we all decided to go. Turned out, they weren't all ghost stories, but we did learn about many people who died in the Grand Canyon and were never found, like Glen and Bessie Hyde. After the spooky stories, we went on a scorpion hunt, mostly for the kids in the audience. (There were seven-year-olds who hiked down! Seven! It was crazy!) Now more awake, after realizing there were scorpions near by, we went down to the ranger station/store and enjoyed some candy, and each other's company. Then, at 9, we decided to call it a night. We all put on our pajamas, washed our faces, brushed our teeth. Becca, Ben and I stayed up (and out of our tents, for Becca and I). I refused to go to bed until after I saw a shooting star.
There I was, laying under a clearing in our camp site, on the picnic table. Birds were singing, even though it was at night. The stars were beautiful, and Becca and I talked in hushed tones as not to wake anyone. After twenty minutes, I saw my shooting star, and went in to the tent. I fell asleep before 9:45 pm.
May 5

It's a good thing I fell asleep so early, because we all awoke equally early the next morning. Everyone was up, with tents packed, water bladders filled, and food consumed by 7 am. We had an even longer hike to face today. My muscles ached, arguably more than anyone else's. The hike today was a bit over 9 miles, from Bright Angel campground to the start of the trail-head. I found it to be much more beautiful than the South Kaibab trail, but it was also longer and much more strenuous. It was all uphill! Which meant it did not hurt my knees as much, but Becca and I certainly stopped much, much more. I have no problem with how often we stopped, though. It gave us extra time to enjoy the beautiful canyon around us. We hiked alongside the rest of the group until the first stop. Then Ben stayed back with us, as we moseyed through the turns of the paths. We stopped, dipped our shirts in the river like the ranger had told us to (wet shirts prevent overheating), and caught up with everyone else around the corner. From that point on, Becca and I were on our own, with the other four waiting for us at each restroom stop just to be sure we were still alive and okay.
Because Becca and I were hiking alone, we made friends with other hikers who traveled at the same pace as us. There was a group of two fathers, who had been friends for a long time, and they treated us like daughters. They made sure we were well watered, and that we ate something from our granola bar stash every hour. There was also a group with a gray-haired man guiding a few of his friends through the canyon, and they provided someone nice to talk to each time we caught up with them.
Rhea, Brandon, Ben and PJ were happy to see us at each of the restroom stops, but we certainly weren't happy to see the restroom cleaners at each of the stops. Apparently the grumpy restroom keeper hiked at the same pace as us. (Then again, if I had to clean poop out of the Grand Canyon week after week, I'd be grumpy too. You should see how much fiber hikers eat!) By the last mile and a half, after the rest house, we made a habit of stopping everyone who looked like a hardcore hiker on their way down, and asking them how much longer to the top, how long they had been hiking for. In a 60 minute span, three groups had said "twenty minutes, no more." I'm not sure if they were hiking fast, or lying, because it took for-ever to reach the top. My theme words became "Becca, we're almost there. Keep going."
By the end of the hike, I don't think either of us would have made it to the top without encouragement from the other. It felt so wonderful to be able to look down at the canyon in the end, and say "We did that. We just hiked that." All the memories from the past day rushed through my head...all the times I swore "I'm doing this again next summer!" in the first three miles, and all of the times I cursed "I. Am. NEVER. Doing this again." in the last five miles.
Clearly, we made it to the top, congratulations abounding from Rhea, Ben, PJ, and Brandon. Rhea expressed that she had even become a bit worried about us, since we took so long. We ate at the restaurant at the lodge, and hopped in the van for the long ride back to Phoenix, where Ben drove Becca and I to my house. We all hopped in the shower (swimsuits on) and rinsed the thick coat of red dirt from our skin, then proceeded to dive into the pool. It felt wonderful on our sore muscles.
As I floated on my back and looked at the stars, I was reminded that this trip was wonderful, something many people only dream of--and I couldn't have been more fortunate to go with such an encouraging and thoughtful group.