Day 54: The Grand Canyon

Since we had already done many of the hikes we wanted to near Flagstaff, we headed out early this morning for the Grand Canyon.  It was about an hour and a half drive up there, and we arrived at about 9am.  The weather was beautiful and clear, providing awesome views of the canyon.  I decided to hike a ways into the canyon, probably to the three mile point, about a 2000 ft drop in elevation.  My grandparents did not want to take such a brutal hike, so they would hike along the rim.  Of course, I had forgotten to take my cell phone, so we would have to leave messages at one of the lodges so that we could find one another.

I grabbed three waters and some snacks and headed down.  The trail is wide and in good condition, which makes for easy walking.  Furthermore, it has dozens of switchbacks, which keeps the slope of the trail fairly low.  The trail was full of people, but less than a mile into the hike, almost all of them had turned around and headed back, leaving the trail wide open.  Further down, the trail also got rockier, but it was still an easy walk.

The Grand Canyon from the top. We have all seen this view.

Starting down the trail.

The views from the trail were awesome.  I could see far out into the canyon, and as I continued down, my angle kept shifting, changing my view.  Though the trail was not steep, it was amazing just how fast I dropped.  After walking down for about 20 minutes, I felt that I was very deep, and I had massive rock cliffs climbing up beside me.  I kept getting lower and lower, and before I knew it, I was level with a small plateau across the canyon, which had seemed very far down from the top.  I soon reached the mile and a half rest point, which had restrooms and a place to refill my water.  I continued on, moving quickly.  Going down, I was only passed by two hikers descending faster than I; they were running down the canyon.  As I neared the three mile rest point, the views were so drastically different from the top that the canyon was hardly recognizable.  Looking back, I saw sheer canyon, which one would assume to be unclimbable.  The sheer distance I had dropped was mind boggling; I had been hiking for too long, yet I seemed to have gone down forever.  I took a long break at the rest point, eating a snack, refilling my water again, and entertaining the fearless squirrels that would come right up to me for food.

View from the beginning of the trial.

See the trail going right down the center? I didn't walk that far down, but look to the right of the trail. The point sticking out is where I went.

The view from the bottom. It is amazing to think that this is only a tiny fraction of the canyon.

Just as I prepared to begin my ascent, cumulus clouds began to dot the sky, providing scattered relief from the sun.  Due to the large elevation drop in the canyon, as you descend, it gets hotter and hotter.  In fact, the bottom of the canyon can be up to thirty degrees hotter than the rim.  This, plus the increasing heat of the day, meant that the clouds were indeed a great relief.  I booked it up the next mile and a half, reaching the rest point in less time than I had gone down.  It was easily five times more difficult going up than down, but getting a good footing on the rocky trail was easier going up, which improved my times.  That and my determination to press on, especially since I knew I was less than half way up.  Like when I had gone down, I seemed to gain elevation shockingly fast.  By the time I reached the mile and a half rest point, the three mile stop was a small point far down in the canyon.

By the time I reached the rest point, the nice cumulus clouds had turned into looming cumulonimbus clouds.  As I rested, they began to thunder, and finally sprinkle, at which point everyone resting cheered and decided to begin walking again, cooled by the rain.  Of course, I did not want to get struck by lightning, but the rain did feel good, and I needed to get back up, so I continued on.  After a few minutes, the rain had already moved on, not to truly get stormy until it reached the middle of the canyon.  The second half of the climb took me much longer.  I still pressed on, but took many more breaks, as the several thousand feet of climb started to get to me.  Several groups and I traded positions several times, as I passed them, then stopped for a break, letting them past, only to pass them again when they took a break.  It continued to feel that I rose quickly, until near the end of the trail, where it was impossible to see the trail.  There, I thought I was almost done several times.

When I finally did reach the top, I went to check for messages, only to find my grandparents there waiting already, recently arrived back from their hike.  As we waited for a table for lunch, in came only of the families I had passed a couple of times.  While we ate lunch, it truly started to pour and the rim.  We waited around for a while, but ultimately had to walk back to our car in the rain, as the rain seemed unlikely to let up.  We heard people talking about someone getting struck by lightning, and when we got back this evening, we found out that someone had been struck and died on one of the overlooks during the storm.

About halfway back to Flagstaff, we decided to stop at Red Mountain, a U-shaped volcanic cone, sitting low to the ground.  When we arrived, it was lightly sprinkling, but we decided to tough it and see what the mountain was like.  The short, fairly flat, one mile hike to the mountain was definitely well worth it.  As we walked, not only did the rain stop, but the clouds cleared and the sky turned blue.  The cone consisted of high sandstone walls on three sides, which allowed entering from the fourth.  The wavy, smooth formations were neat, but the best part was the lack of restrictions.  The trail led into the cone, and from there, there were no signs, warnings, or instructions.  Thus, we thoroughly explored the area.  I walked through several narrow ravines that led to larger openings.  I climbed on rocks to get a better view.  So, even though it was smaller than many of the places we have visited, the degree of freedom it allowed made it great fun.

Grandma doesn't like the rain. At all.

Red Mountain in the background.

Approaching the rocks.

Neat formations.

Yay! No more rain!

I had to wind my way through a narrow ravine to find this opening.

As we finished there, the sky was still beautiful and blue, giving us a great ride back into town.