Saving Grace: 5/17/14 -- The Grand Canyon: Hiking out

Dear Mom,

Today has been a long day. We are exhausted but happy to have made it out of the canyon before it got too hot. I hope that the text Emily sent you didn’t worry you too much, but we are safe, watered, fed, and clean now.

Our day started at 2:30am when we awoke to break camp and hike out. Although the sand around our tent was dotted with curious little footprints, the tent didn’t have any new holes. The rat sack and Emily’s ingenious packing strategy seemed to have prevented any of the owners of those curious little footprints from getting to our food. Although drowsy, we managed to be on the trail and hiking beneath the light of the full moon by 3am. We hoped that this early start would get us out of the canyon before the hottest part of the day. As we hiked, we could not believe how hot it still was in the early morning hours. It was a relief to be beyond earshot of the rapids, but the silence became eerie when we found an abandoned water bottle lying in the middle of the trail. We hadn’t seen anyone at the beach all yesterday so we didn’t have a clue how it got there. Wanting lighter packs, we left it.

Around 4:00am we stopped for about 10 minutes to rest in the moonlight. Since neither of us felt well, we decided to hike until 5:00am before stopping for a breakfast of Clif Bars. The lower portion of the trail has a relatively moderate incline so we made good time. The further we hiked, the cooler it became and the more the sun started to illuminate the tops of the canyon. A few flashes from Desert View Tower told us that the not so lazy tourists were also up and were enjoying the sunrise from the rim. By 6:00am I had finally finished my Clif Bar. Emily was long done with hers; she was hungry. The sun had finally reached us and we saw a pair of trail runners flying towards us. More excitingly, we saw the rock where we had cached water. We decided to hike there before our next break.

Watching the sunrise from inside the canyon!

Still pretty tired...

A beautiful morning!

We reached our water spot by 6:30am. This was a great place to take a long break. We refilled water, had a snack, applied sunscreen and went to the bathroom. The next section of the hike climbs quickly to the rim. We hoped to make it to the top by 9:00am, requiring us to complete the journey in two hours.

We can see the top!

Back at the saddle

On the way up we passed a couple hiking to the river, a couple on a long day hike, and a lone woman who made up for her apparent lack of hiking fitness with impressive use of trekking poles. When we stopped at 8am, Emily recommended we elevate our feet. We almost didn’t make it back up.

As we neared the top, the definition of a ‘big step’ got smaller and smaller. Each step was difficult and the sun was becoming hot. We were ready to be done. Emily had never been happier to hear the sound of cars. We reached the trailhead at 8:58am. After six hours of hiking, we were ready to transition into lazy tourists. Emily had quite the list of lazy tourist activities for us to do, but first up was to text the parents.

After changing into flip-flops and sandals we drove to Desert View point. Once there we went to the bathroom before eating a breakfast burrito. I had seen someone walking by with one and couldn’t resist. It was my turn to be hungry. Never before had eggs been so fluffy. We even had real coffee. The instant coffee was a great suggestion and we have been using it daily, but it doesn’t compare to the real thing. From the tower we used Emily’s binoculars to observe the day hikers far below on the Tanner Trail. We could even see the little beach where we were camped not too long ago. A pint of Ben and Jerry’s Half Baked (a combination of vanilla cookie dough and brownie fudge ice cream) served as a reward for our hard work. While we sat in the shade and called our mom’s (you), a kind lady overheard us and congratulated us on our accomplishment.

Our little camp spot on the beach!

Amen

Aidan using the reflector box to view the canyon without
looking into the sun

Emily learning about water conservation and
use in the Grand Canyon

The rest of the day included multiple visits to the general store (to return the rat sack and to purchase hot dogs), to the post office (hopefully a post card will have reached you), to the showers (much needed and much deserved), to the campground registration office (to thank the ranger who gave us the tip about the rat sacks who of course didn’t remember us), to the visitor center (to stamp my passport book) and to the mule crossing (to take goofy pictures). If this sounds like a lot, it was! By the time we left the park we were thoroughly exhausted.

Aidan digging the Grand Canyon

We are camped at the Ten-X campground about 10 miles outside the park. Compared to the Mather campground inside the park, the sites are huge! Dinner consisted of a family size can of baked beans with hot dogs and canned green beans. I think it is probably a good thing we are camping without the rain-fly, some extra ventilation might be necessary.