Hiking the Grand Canyon

The beginning of February my friend Lisa invited me to go on a several day hiking trip in the Grand Canyon. I wasn't sure if I should go or not, this would be my first trip away from the girls, but eventually decided that it would be a fun girl's trip and I had been wanting to do some more hiking and start working on feeling like I am in shape.

I started going on walks with the girls, and as it came closer felt like I needed to do more. Lisa and I would go walk the track at the local high school at night, and I probably should have done more, but at least I did something!

On June 8th, Lisa, her daughter Jessica, her sister Natalie, her friend Jenny, and I left for the Grand Canyon. We had an enjoyable drive up there, checked into our hotel and ate, and then went to see the sunset. We would have gotten the best part of it, except there was an elk that was off the side of the road, and a lady in a car in front of us decided to stop and take pictures, blocking EVERYONE from driving along the road. And it wasn't like she just stopped, took a few pictures and kept going. She stayed there for at least 5 minutes. We were getting to the point of getting out and going and asking her to move when someone else started heading over to her and she figured out on her own that NO ONE could get by (it was a one lane drive into the parking lot and because the length of the drive we couldn't back out either). So, as we drove by, I stuck my camera out and got a picture. But we missed the sunset, oh well.

The next day we got up early so that we could be on the trail by 8am. We decided to hike the Bright Angel Trail down to Indian Gardens. We got out a little late, and low and behold it was raining. This actually was a good thing, because that meant we had some cloud cover and it wasn't quite so hot the entire day. They recommend that you not hike during the hottest part of the day, which is between 10am and 4pm. Because of the time of the year we chose, and the fact that we were having a fairly mild June, we were able to do some hiking during that time, and it worked out well. If anyone went in July to hike this, I would definitely recommend not hiking during those times (especially the late afternoon)!

This is a view from the top of the canyon down to where we hiked. The green part is Indian Gardens, where we stopped. We could have gone an extra mile and a half out (meaning 3 miles round trip) to the point past Indian Gardens and seen the bottom, but we didn't get out early enough to do that, and there was no cover and it was the hottest part when they don't recommend hiking.

As we hiked, it was really nice to be able to chat and visit and enjoy the view down. It was absolutely amazing!! Everytime you looked, it seemed to be a different view. We had to stop several times though for mule trains to pass us. They were kind of cool in the beginning, but got to be quite annoying as time went on and we kept having to stop. They have rest points at 1.5 miles, 3 miles, and then Indian Gardens, which is 4.6 miles. Those were much needed breaks and gave us an opportunity to refuel a little more!
Most of the mules had people on them, but this group didn't. I was glad so that I didn't make the people on them uncomfortable by taking a picture!
Jenny, Lisa, Jessica, and me. Natalie is taking the picture.
Me, Jessica, Lisa, and Jenny. Thanks again to Natalie for the picture!
This was one of the rest areas that we looked forward to!

When we got to the bottom we took a nice long rest, especially since it was early afternoon and the sun was out in full force. We ate lunch, were attacked by the squirrels who wanted our lunch (they especially liked Jenny for whatever reason), and put our feet in the stream. Very refreshing!
This picture is to give you a little perspective on where the squirrels were in regards to where we were. Some of them were brave enough to come right up to us. Lisa and I had hiking poles and Jessica used them to scare the squirrels. One even got hit in the head by a pole because he was trying to be brave and it still came back for more!


Natalie, Jenny, Jessica and Lisa. This water was really cold, and then felt great as we got used to it!
Natalie, Jenny, me, and Lisa.

Natalie lending some comic relief!
Parts of the cacti garden.


The hike back up was long and tedious. We actually made pretty good time though. There was a sign that I wished I had taken a picture of. It read "Getting to the bottom is optional. Getting to the top is mandatory." They post it so that people will really assess their abilities and their preparedness in hiking (food, water, clothing, etc). Some signs state that they rescue hundreds of people from the canyon every year. Scary!

Proof that I made it down into the canyon!
We saw some deer on the edge of the trail, it was amazing how close we were to them!

I think that some of these pictures look like postcards!

Me and Natalie.
Hiking up the trail! Lisa and Jessica are in the background. I promise I didn't hike with the camera around my neck the entire time. Every so often I would leave it out after taking some pictures so that I wasn't continually pulling the camera out.
Lisa and I were the last to finish. Here we are at the top! Tired after a round trip of 9.2 miles, but glad we made it out before it was too dark.

All five of us at the top after finishing our hike. Lisa, Natalie, Jenny, Jessica and me.

At the top we enjoyed the view and then went and relaxed. The next day we drove home, and it was so good to see my girls!! Lydia kept telling me that she was sad when I left (she was practially sobbing), and I reminded her that I came back. It really made me appreciate those sweet girls so much!! It was good to see Jeff too. He was so supportive in letting me go and working it out to be able to stay home while I was gone. Thank you sweetheart! I would love to do this hike again, but take Jeff next time. He was a little jealous that I got to go. This is the first time that he has been the one left behind from a fun outdoors trip (usually he is going with the Scouts somewhere). I had fun, and am glad that I went. I look forward to more hiking around here and seeing some of the this beautiful state!