For the National Parks, the Grand Canyon is one of the big ones. It lives up to its hype and then some. One of the eight wonders of the world and one of the few features that can be seen from space, it is a breathtaking natural geological wonder. Words and photographs cannot do it justice. It requires our eyes to search out all of its wonderful features. You have to scan from one horizon to the other and take in all the colors, lines, and features that are spread out under that big sky. If you’re lucky enough, inclined enough, and motivated enough, you will also take to one of the trails that bring you down through switchbacks and along cliffs to the very bottom at the Colorado River. Now you can still get slapped with the wonderment of the Grand Canyon by standing on the upper rim, but its like looking at a loved on from a distance who you haven’t seen in a while. Don’t you want to give them a hug? You can’t by standing on the rim. But, you can give it a big hug by hiking down and then up. Hiking puts you in touch with the very physical aspect of this amazing geological masterpiece. They say that hiking down is optional, but, hiking up is mandatory! We decided to give it a hug. That meant down and up. You can’t meet her half way. Now we’ve had our ups and downs with showing up at parks without any reservations but the National Park gods were there for us on this one. We didn’t have any reservations but secured a campsite up top for 4 days. We were then able to get the heavily competed for back country permits to hike down and have a campsite on the bottom. They are limited and many are reserved months in advance. Grand Canyon is also one of the few if only park that has its own dog kennel and we were able to secure a spot for Jackson so we could leave him while we overnighted down below. Everything fell into place. I could hardly sleep the night before we left I was that excited about the hike. It is a strenuous hike both down and up and having backpacks on ratcheted up the physical aspect of it a bit as well. I was looking forward to both the physical challenge and engaging the canyon.

We were up at 4:30, did some final packing, made some PB & J’s for lunch and then headed to the kennel to drop off Jackson. He was not happy to be left and we heard his painful barks as we drove away. It was like dropping your kid off at kindergarten for the first time! The temperature was in the 40’s and there was a moderate breeze blowing as we boarded the park bus that would take us to the trailhead. We would be hiking down on the South Kaibab trail that runs for 7 miles down to our campsite. We would be hiking up on the Bright Angel Trail which runs for 9 and a half miles up. Each trail has its own unique features and vista’s so we decided to mix it up as many roundtrip hikers do. We were excited to start down and were greeted by views of the canyon that slowly became illuminated with the rising sun. The trail down was narrow and dusty and the wind would gust and blow dust up into our eyes and deposit grit in our mouths. It’s a vertical mile from the rim to the bottom and the trail was steep and traversed many a steep cliff. At about the 4 mile mark our quads started putting up a fuss as they weren’t used to this much continuous strain but downward we went. The trail switched back and forth and around every bend was another amazing view that had us stopping to snap pictures. The lower we descended, the warmer it got and the wind started to settle down until it eventually called it a day. We occasionally got a glimpse of the Colorado River between canyon walls and then we reached a point where it actually seemed close. Wrong. Nothing is close when you’re doing switchbacks but it was encouraging. An hour or two later we were crossing the “Black Bridge” over the Colorado which would take us to the opposite side to where the Bright Angel Campground was located. Our legs were a little wobbly, our calves a little sore, and our feet a little achy, but, we were here and it was both a relief and a thrill to be at the bottom. Very notable was the temperature, which according to a thermometer in the camp, was sitting at 100 degree’s. There was a slight, continuous breeze though that kept it bearable, as long as you weren’t in the direct sun. The campsite was quite nice. It was nestled in a canyon between two cliffs that rose about 175 feet above us. There was a rushing stream running down the center of the canyon called the Little Colorado that nourished a number of trees and bushes that provided us much welcomed shade. We pitched our tent and laid down for a short rest. We were sore. Not debilitated but our 4 hour descent over 7 miles had definitely left some lactic acid in our muscles that let us know that we weren’t ready for Everest yet. In addition, we had the 9 ½ mile climb back up early the next morning. We decided to take it easy that afternoon. No additional hikes, just walk around the canyon and down to and along the river. The Colorado is a very dangerous river, both cold and possessing an incredibly strong current so there wasn’t any swimming taking place which was a disappointment. About a 10 minute walk up the canyon from our campsite is what is called Phantom Ranch. It was built I believe in the early 1900’s and consists of a series of very small, one room stone walled cabins with cots inside. Very rustic and really cool looking. There’s a small wooden building that is the Canteen where guests can purchase drinks and snacks and also reserve a seat at their nightly steak dinner. We were lucky enough to grab the last two seats by reserving them the night before. This really was a great meal, although we really didn’t need the meat. A whole bunch of carbs would have been just what the doctor ordered and we had those back at the campsite. Regardless, it was a luxury that we thoroughly enjoyed. While we were eating dinner, the hostess, Kate, relayed to us that of the 5,000,000 visitors to the park each year, less than 1% actually hike down and back. For once, I’m proud to be a member of the 1%!

It gets dark early and, we had to get up early to start the hike up, so we went back to the tent, laid on the picnic table and took in the light show being put on by the stars. The Milky Way ran perpendicular to our table and although we could see it, it wasn’t as pronounced here for some reason. After watching the night sky and hoping for a shooting star, we called it a night. Five AM came quickly and I assembled my backpacking stove and heated up some water for coffee and some oatmeal. Turns out we both just went with the coffee and replaced the oatmeal with a granola bar. Moving around in the dark with our headlamps we broke down the tent and finished packing up our gear. We hit the trail at six thirty and headed along the river to Bright Angel Trail. Unlike the hike down on the South Kaibab, Bright Angel had three water stations between mile 5 and the top so it meant that we didn’t need to pack as much water weight going up. That’s a big plus. In addition, we had the benefit of having shade most of the way up due to our early departure. Ahh, the small things in life. The views were different from this trail and no less fantastic and again, we stopped regularly to capture them with our camera’s. By days end, we tallied about 300 photos of our two day journey. Now its not to say that the hike up wasn’t a real slog, but it turned out to be easier than I thought. Still strenuous, but, a little less steep than the hike down as the vertical mile was spread out over an additional two and a half miles of length. Our quads took a rest on the way up and laughed as it was now time for the hamstrings and calves to complain. Just put one foot in front of the other. Eventually you’ll get there. We must have looked pretty bedraggled towards the end as everyone coming down the trail moved out of our way in what seemed like an exaggerated fashion. It was a great day for us. We completed a strenuous hike, got to see and feel the canyon in the way only hikers can, and, we got to pick up Jackson who reacted as if he got the Red Rider on Christmas morning, times 10! He was one happy mutt. Just kept running circles around the RV until we opened the door at which point he leapt in and wasn’t leaving. The next day was spent visiting a number of vista’s like Mather Point and Desert View and a museum on the South rim that talked about how the canyon was formed. The Grand Canyon rivals Yellowstone in the interest it must hold for those versed in earth science. I wish I was but I’m not and much of it was lost on me as I tried to understand a couple of billion years that led us to this moment. All I can recall is tectonic plates colliding, erosion happening, oceans coming and going a number of times, different sediment accumulating, and erosion happening. I might have missed a few things there and if I have the chance, I’m going to try and go back and learn it better. No time now though. And then it was up in the morning and on the road to Southern Utah and the 5 national parks within its boarders. Bottom line: its an amazing park and I’d like to come back and do the hike again.