It Was....

Fantastic, Amazing, Wonderful, GRAND!!!!
The Grand Canyon. We say it all the time without thinking about the adjective in the name. It is just the name of the place. But when you experience it from the inside, the adjective takes on its original meaning. The place is truly on a grand scale. The sheer size of it. Hundreds of square, no, cubic miles. It is deep, wide, and long. And old. Very, very old.
The top layer of rock at the rim is older than dinosaurs at 270,000,000 years. The rocks at the bottom are 1,000,000,000 years older. The Colorado River carved it out beginning more than 5,000,000 years ago. Now, the Canyon is widening faster than it is deepening. In another five million years it will only be a little deeper, but will be twice as wide.
Peggie and I, along with brother-in-law Dave planned our trip for most of a year. We applied for camping permits and were denied. So we applied again and got three days and two nights below the rim. Dave has been hiking for years, and this was his sixth Canyon trip. Peggie and I began training less than a year ago and researched and purchased gear. We got a trainer to design a hiking-specific workout routine to build up the muscles used in back-packing. We took local hikes. We spent the summer in Colorado where it is cool enough to hike in summer and became acclimated to higher altitude. We honed and refined our packing to minimize weight.
Then our assigned date arrived. November 3rd.
We picked Dave up in Cottonwood and drove to Mather Campground on the South Rim. We drove through torrential rain with a forecast suggesting snow by morning. We got a break in the rain long enough to set up camp. It snowed lightly overnight. Cold, but not bitterly.
Down we went. And down, and down, and down on the South Kaibab Trail. Not far along is a place referred to as Ooh-Ahh Point. It is when you get your first panoramic look into the inner canyon. It could have been called Oh, Wow! Point. In modern vernacular is would be OMG! Point.
We pulled ourselves away and continued down. The descent is 4860 feet in 6.1 miles. The first view of the Colorado River is deceptive. It appears to be just a long rifle shot away. But we can't travel that path. The next time you see the river it is within pistol range. But the trail goes a different way. Finally, after hiking 10 of the 6.1 miles, the river is close enough for a professional outfielder to throw a rock into it. It is still more than a mile by switchbacking trail. Which is 5 miles for your tired, sore feet, legs, and back. After hours of one foot in front of the other dogged, determined descent, you are within spitting distance of the powerful Colorado. But its 100 feet below, and 300 yards of trail to get there.
By the way, it is important to note that firearms are prohibited in the National Park, so don't try the rifle or pistol shot. It is illegal to disturb the plant and mineral resources, so no rock throwing. Spitting is permitted, but check wind direction  first.
At the end of that first week of hiking, we came to a tunnel that leads to a bridge across the river. It was built in 1928 and still feels solid. Bright Angel Campground is just on the other side of the river. You just need to coax those twenty pound feet to carry your hundred pound pack past the ruins of an ancestral pueblo, past ranger housing, three tenths of a mile to the campground. That is now an actual total distance of 6.4 miles. We did it in 6 hours, arriving at the camp before 3pm. We got set up in time to attend a ranger talk on the geology of the canyon at 4, at Phantom Ranch.
It was full dark at 6:30, so we went to bed. Exhausted. And excited.
We arose in time to help ourselves to free coffee at Phantom Ranch, eat, pack up, and set out for Indian Gardens Campground before 8. We were in no hurry, as it was only 5.1 miles to climb 1200 feet. Literally, a walk in the Park. Aches and pains of the day before were quickly worked out as we began using a completely new set of muscles to climb, rather than descend. The trail follows the river for a while through rock that was created over a billion years ago. Amazingly, it doesn't look a day over 50 million. Of course, until a million years ago, or so, it was covered by over a mile of other rock, so it is newly exposed to the eroding of wind and water.
After the fairly easy part of the trail, we reached Devil's Corkscrew. Does the name suggest the difficulty? Uh-huh. But here is the good part. At one point I suggested a sit-down break. (As opposed to a stand-still-and-catch-your-breath break.) This part of the trail is in a side canyon about 200 feet wide. I took up my binoculars and scanned the far side for wildlife. Seeing none, I relaxed. Then, I spotted a Desert Bighorn Sheep standing atop a rock, on the skyline, posing for Field and Stream. I swear she hadn't been there ten seconds earlier. Then, with all three of us looking, we spotted first one, then three more lower on the hillside. One of them was the classic ram with fully curled horns. Magnificent! We watched as they grazed on shrubs and began descending to the creek about 200 feet below. We were surprised at the noise they made knocking loose rock down ahead of them and clicking their hooves on bare rock. When we heard voices of other hikers coming from above, they froze in place and became almost invisible. Eventually, a dozen or so hikers and a mule train came by and the sheep assessed the danger as minimal, and continued on down for a prolonged drink. We also moved on.
Indian Gardens is quite lush compared to the rest of the trail. It has a flowing creek and full grown cottonwood, mesquite, and willow trees. Deer wander fearlessly among the campers. Squirrels sometimes sit up and beg, but signs warn against feeding them, lest they bite a finger. (That is the leading injury treated at Grand Canyon Village Clinic.) I turned my back on our table down at Bright Angel the day before, only to turn and discover a raven trying to help himself to some boiled eggs we had in a bag. After setting up camp, we set out the 1.5 miles to Plateau Point. This is prominently visible from many of the rim view points. You get a spectacular view of the river and trail below, as well as rim-to-rim views above.
Once again, we hit the sack at dark, and slept twelve hours.
We left Indian Gardens before 8 and started up the remaining 4.5 miles of trail. This is the hardest part. Not only because it is the third straight day of hiking, but it is brutally steep, climbing over 3200 feet. The push begins at Jacob's Ladder, a set of switchbacks climbing past the three mile rest house. It is three miles from the rim and provides drinking water and toilets. A mile and a half further up is another rest house, followed by the steepest leg of the climb. The temperature had been dropping as we climbed. At this point the snow from the day before was frozen on the ground, which was hard as rock, and the puddles were glazed with ice. Until a mule train came along, after which, all the puddle ice was broken. Those mules just step wherever! And poop wherever, too. Watch your step! Near the top of the last switchbacks we met more casual hikers just down for a brief experience of the canyon. Some carrying cups of coffee from the snack bar. In the last half mile we finally walked into sunshine for the first time that day. We had been in rim shadow for four hours. We hit the top in just under five hours. Not bad!
We opted to head straight to Cottonwood for a celebratory dinner, stopping only in Tusayan for a beverage. At that stop, we were a little stiff and sore. Stopping for gas in Flagstaff, we stretched a bit, but were less sore. After hot showers at Dave and Margie's we felt downright spry.
Coming home today, we are proud to say we are feeling good. All the workouts and training and practice hikes paid off. It wasn't easy. But it sure wasn't impossible. We will go again. Right now, we are thinking April, when the weather again will be not too hot, not too cold.