4. The Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon, Rim to Rim.

Oct. 18, 2013

This was one crazy gnarly adventure! GC's website explicitly warns people NOT to do rim to rim in one day.  So what do I do? Hike rim to rim in one day.  Although, in my defense, it wasn't my choice.  I was with four other women and I hadn't been my brain child.  The day before, we had done our shopping and traveling. I told my traveling companion, Ginger, that I always get lost once on each trip and this trip was no exception. Even with a map, I zigged when I should have zagged. Luckily the detour to Kanab was minimal and laugh worthy. Arrived at Jacob's Lake, checked in, got settled in the cutest little cabin where Ginger and I would be spooning that night. LOL. We met a group of three men who asked us if we needed a guide on tomorrows trip, we said no but Ginger pipes up and asks if he knows someone who will drive my car to the South rim for us.  He tells us he'll do it and he gives us his card.  He had just done rim to rim that day by himself and was quite a lively character! Long story short, we googled him and decided (hoped) we could trust him.  We ate dinner and bought food from the bakery for breakfast and hit the sack.  I promptly felt ill.  All night I was hugging the white throne.  At 3:30 am, I finally decided that I wouldn't be able to hike.  So at 4:30 when the alarm went off, I told Ginger that I wasn't going.  She said she wasn't sure she wanted to go without me, so I called one of the other girls in our group to see if they had any meds, she said yes so I decided I would get ready and I would ride at least to the trail head and see how I felt.  Since I felt fine, I decided to go for it.  We started the hike in 17degree weather but the day was promising to be divine.  The scenery was never ending. The canyon just kept giving and giving.  Around every turn was something new and glorious.
Ribbon falls was one of my favorite things there.  It was a very unique waterfall.  I was definitely longing for my full size tripod but had to do with a small travel sized one. I would have loved to stay here at RF for hours exploring, relaxing, cooling my unhappy feet.  Next time. sigh.

Phantom Ranch was fun.  Lots of people hanging around, resting, eating, preparing for their trip out the next day. We rested for a bit here and ate and then hit the trail again.  The Colorado River was amazing.  Loved walking next to it.  Pretty soon it was dark and we all pulled out our headlamps. Walking in the dark as different.  It was a bummer not to see the sights of the South Rim but on the positive side, it was very peaceful. Nothing to distract you. The stars were out and the bright almost full moon was soon up.  We were all very tired but there was nothing to do except keep going.  The trail never seemed to end.  The cliffs just kept growing it seemed.  Hours and hours of walking in the dark.  Pretty soon we could see our breath and it was really cold. We finally topped out at 12:30 am, exhausted both mentally and physically.  It was a tough hike but beautiful.  I would definitely recommend taking two days for this hike!