Grand Canyon National Park, AZ

I know what you are probably thinking; it’s taken us this long to get to the second most visited Nation Park.  The thing is, in a way that’s the reason we waited this long to come here. After Yellowstone I had seen enough tourists to last a lifetime.  We got into Grand Canyon well after
dark.  Luckily I had just had coffee, so I had more energy than I ever had during the day.  We set up the camper, and I jogged a quarter mile to shake off the caffeine. 

The next morning we found out that we had to move campsites, so we packed up, and since we couldn’t put our camper in a site yet we had to park with it. Our first thing we did that day was bike to a place called Hermit’s Rest. Along the way we stopped at a few view points. All of them aren’t shown on this map, but we stopped at about six different spots. All of the views were amazing, but on the third or fourth they all started to blend together.  We went to Trailview Overlook, Maricopa Point, Powel Point, Hopi Point, Mohave Point, The Abyss, Monument Creek Vista, and Pima Point. At the end there was Hermit’s Rest, which ironically had the worst views.  We thought that Hermits Rest would have the best views of all.  The Abyss was the one we had heard about the most. It was supposed to have the best views, but we might have come at the wrong time of day because it was completely shadowed.

Day two was the best day, it was the worst day.  It was the day of wisdom, it was the day of foolishness.

-Charles Dickens 1859 (slightly paraphrased)

This was our sunrise

No, not really, it was not the day of wisdom. If I had any wisdom I would have stayed in the camper and taken a nap, but when have I ever been intelligent (no remarks in the comments!). We got up at the crack of dawn and started hiking. The views were best at sunrise because the sun shone on the rocks and made them glow. Also the sun wasn’t shining on us, and that was nice. We went down the South Kaibab Trail for 7.4 miles down to Phantom Ranch, where we ate lunch.  

You can't see it, but the sign says Phantom Ranch

When we were finished we started back up the daunting 4314 feet of elevation spread over 9.9 miles. Just for fun how about someone graphs what our average slope was. My dad made me, but seriously the hike was hard. By the end my legs hurt so much that I collapsed on a bench and waited for my parents. I hadn’t realized how fast I was going on the way up, but I found out when my parents came up an hour later. Before going on the hike we read that most people couldn’t do the Grand Canyon in one day. Some of those who tried either died of heat or were still hiking well after dark. The National Park Service website says “The National Park Service DOES NOT RECOMMEND hiking from the rim to the river and back in one day.” I did it in nine hours.

The next day we rested and recuperated because it hurt to walk up stairs.  At the end of the day we went to a ranger talk about things to fear in the canyon. We learned about scorpions, spiders, and snakes and how dangerous they are. It boiled down to that we shouldn’t fear these things. We should be afraid of falling off the edge.

On day four we did another hike down a steep trail. Part way down I sat, and when I got up again I whacked my head on a tree branch. After that I felt dizzy, so I couldn’t go much farther. That evening we went to an I-MAX movie about the park.

Day five we rested again and went to another ranger talk in the evening. This one was all about fire and how we need it. Forest fires are natural. They clear out smaller trees and make it so the bigger trees can get enough water. In addition the burned trees provide nutrient rich soil for the larger living ones. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t put out campfires to decrease forest fires, but we shouldn’t stop them entirely. The forest needs controlled burns to give that good soil, and make sure the trees get enough water. Plus when we suppress fires the brush collects.  When brush collects, the fires can become hotter, higher, and more dangerous, so when this happens the big trees burn and fall.

I can see why the Grand Canyon is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world.  The sheer immensity of it is incredible. If any of the other six natural wonders are even near as cool as this one I hope I can see them one day.  If anyone has been to any of the other wonders please tell me about them in the comments. I would love to hear about them.

For the next month we are going to be in an air B and B.  An air B and B is just like an ordinary Bed and Breakfast, just without the Breakfast. Basically someone is renting out their house to us. Since we are going to be more stationary I won’t have as many blog posts. Honestly I’m kind of glad that we are out of the camper. I was starting to go insane in that place. After Sedona we are going to Hawaii for a month and working on an all organic coffee farm. I probably won’t have many posts there either.  After Hawaii we are going to spend a week in San Diego, then fly up to Canada and ski at Whistler for another week.  Then we are going to be skiing for the remaining two months at several mountains in the west/mid-west.