Classmates felt sorry for me when they found out my family was going to the Grand Canyon to camp and hike as a vacation. If only they knew what we were hiking, one of them may have given me a sympathy present. I was a junior in high school and terrified of heights. After a night in the tents, we headed down the South Kaibab trail with only the 72 ounces of water in each of our Camelbaks. After a few hours my two brothers, sister and I started asking our parents when we were headed back. The Grand Canyon is extremely hot Memorial Day weekend and we were beat. My dad kept quiet while my mom replied, "We're going to the Colorado River." "We are WHAT!?!" we all snapped back. "Did you not just see the sign that says lots of people die each year from attempting to hike to the river and back in one day?" My mom's response was, "Oh. We will be fine. We have water." We kept hiking and soon came to a park ranger who told us we should start heading back soon. Again we kept hiking until we finally talked our way into quitting for the day. We turned around with the understanding that the next day we were going to get an early start and complete the whole rim-river-rim hike that is highly not recommended.And so the next (late) morning we started off with each of us having a Camelbak, Cliff Bars, Power Bars, one extra water bottle, one Gatorade bottle and positive attitudes. The South Kaibab Trail does not have any water source so this is all we could drink until reaching the river. The way down was a breeze except for the occasional stumble and hot weather. The picture to the left shows the switchbacks of the South Kaibab trail. The South Rim has a depth of about 4,500 feet. When we finally reach
ed the Colorado River, the temperature was a dangerous 107 degrees Fahrenheit. We cooled off in the frigid river water, refilled our water at Phantom Ranch, and rested an hour before starting the strenuous journey up...straight up. We decided to take the Bright Angel trail this time. It is a little longer, but is more shaded and has one place to refill water along the way which was extremely necessary. Numerous people each year need to get helicoptered or muled out of the deep canyon due to heat exhaustion. Although, we all made it out of there on our own, it was easy to see how one could get in that predicament. Atop the canon rim once again I vowed to never hike that awful thing again.Of course, exactly one year later, the whole gang headed to the Grand Canyon once again. We were going to do a scenic day waterfall hike. I guess once you've done it you can never pass up the challenge. We started the 12 plus hour rim-river-rim hike this time at 3:00 in the afternoon. The lower temperatures made for a much more enjoyable hike. However, remember to bring an adequate supply of headlamps considering the thousand foot drop offs along the trail. We failed with that part. One thing clear with hiking and true to many things in life is the more anticipated and difficult something is to achieve, the greater the satisfaction and pride in its completion. I guess my parents knew this when they drug us on the hike initially. When it is all said and done, I'm definitely making my kids hike the Grand Canyon.
