Excitement—a feeling of great enthusiasm and eagerness. As in, forget sleep, we’re going to hike down the Grand Canyon. Pam and I had gotten our packs all ready to go before bed, but Chris was flat-lining and waited until morning to finish. Pam and I went to the Market Plaza to grab a bite while Chris finished packing up. When we got back, we all headed to the Backcountry Information Center to get our permit and catch the shuttle to the South Kaibab Trail Head.
I’m accused of being outgoing and talkative at times, but Chris, truly, has never met a stranger. She is always willing to stop and help anyone, anytime, anyplace. While I was in getting the permit, Chris had already met everyone waiting for the shuttle and had taken their pictures for them, helped them lift their packs, whatever anyone needed. She was also picking up trash in the parking lot. She is the definition of constant energy. But, this is how we met Brian Austen. We talked with Brian most of the way to the trail head and he asked if we would mind if he hiked with us for a while as he was here by himself. We didn’t part company with Brian from that point on—we were now a hiking foursome. Brian’s wife isn’t much of a hiker so we were glad to have him along, especially if we ever get in trouble with Canada or need a quick escape north since he is the manager of the Canadian Consulate in Detroit.
Surprisingly, it was all downhill hiking today. We dropped 4700’ in 7 miles. You’d think this wouldn’t be a hard hike but it tears up your shins and calves by never flexing your legs in the opposite direction. It took 6 hours to hike the 7 miles but that is mainly due to taking about 2000 pictures on the way down. Every switchback and bend in the trail presents a new vista with a different perspective. You are actually walking backwards in time billions of years when you head down the canyon.
There are really two canyons in the Grand Canyon—the outer canyon which is more of a high desert, and the inner canyon which is where the Colorado River flows and is surprisingly fertile and green. You don’t actually get a view of the River until you’ve hiked over 4 miles and then you can walk out to the rim of the inner canyon and see the river still a few thousand feet below you.
I experienced a new emotion on the way down which can only be described as yucca envy. I have yucca plants in my driveway in Southern Illinois but these are yuccas in the Grand Canyon. My yuccas rarely get over 5 foot tall but here they are over 15’ tall. I may have to start driving a larger car to compensate.
After a few miles, the people thinned out and we would just occasionally pass an empty mule train climbing out of the canyon which provided an excuse for another rest stop/picture break. We started noticing Chris a little slower getting up after stops and she started drifting a little further behind. If we’d ask, she said everything was alright. Later, we found out her knees were bothering her and she was having an inner battle with her body telling it there was no pain. I think her body was winning the pain argument but Chris’ mind will win any argument so she’ll persevere no matter what.
By the time we got to the tunnel entrance to the black bridge, we were ready to be done. From the bridge on, it’s a fairly level walk which is a great relief after all the downhill. We looked like a patrol returning from a fire fight as we hobbled into Bright Angel campground. What a surprise the campground was. I was not expecting big cottonwood trees next to a flowing creek on the back side of our camping spot. The NPS has done an excellent job with the corridor trail and campgrounds. We had a nice sandy campsite with a picnic table, a “mouse” pole, and food lock boxes. More importantly, we had porcelain with running water. Chris still hasn’t been exposed to back country.
We had a volunteer ranger come in and give us a backcountry orientation. Afterwards, we set up camp and had supper. Brian was in the next campsite and came to get us to head over to Phantom Ranch for a night cap. It just keeps getting better—they sell beer and wine at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. We stayed for a while and tried to teach Chris and Pam how to play Euker. They were both willing but lack the attention span to count cards. Brian and I walked away with it. We also met another solo hiker, Mark. When we left Phantom Ranch to head back to our campsite, we were dumbfounded by the total lack of light pollution. We ended the evening on our backs on a sandbar on the Colorado River staring up at the stars. Since Chris is an astronomer, she tried to impart some knowledge to us. We were kind of fried so she toned it back to constellation names. When we couldn’t remember those, she toned it back even more to “look at the pretty stars”.
