Category: Hike

South Rim

This morning you had two options:  sleep in or get up at 4:30 to see the sunrise over the rim.  I figured I better not push my luck, so I let Richard sleep in.  After breakfast we headed off for what we thought was going to be a hike along the rim.  Upon further information it was actually 3 miles in and out and you descended over a mile in that distance.  So, far from an easy hike with our sore legs!  We got dressed including bandaging the blisters on our feet! 
I was getting more and more nervous as we got to the rim and the weather was getting worse as we got closer.  When we got to the rim the rain and turned to sleet and there were even lightning strikes you could see in the canyon.  Russ made the decision that we should not be hiking on the rim with the lightning.  I have to say that I was a bit relieved at his decision!
 

We ended up just hanging around the south rim and eventually heading back to Flagstaff. 

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Hike out

Today was probably our earliest start as we were up tearing down our camp at 4 am.  We wanted to get an early start before it got to hot out for the hike out.  Everyone in the group was a bit worried about the hike out and the first mile really woke up your legs as it was a steep climb up before it flattened out as you got into the village.  The next 6-miles or so went pretty well and we kept up a good pace.  I could feel my feet a bit and figured I was getting a few blisters, but I was pretty sure I didn’t want to stop and take a look!  Finally we got to that last 1 ½ mile and it was pretty intimidating standing at the bottom of the canyon and seeing how high we had to hike to get out.  We started and decided to take it slow and before we knew it we had made it to the top.  We actually finished 3rd and 4thout of our group!  We were tired and sore, but really proud of ourselves. 
The first thing we saw was a little girl and her mom selling snacks from the back of their car and we went for a Twinkie- I have to say it tasted absolutely amazing… I think it may have had something to do with the hike we just finished.
As everyone finished we had a picnic lunch and got back in the van for a 4-hour drive to the south rim of the Grand Canyon.  As we got to the hotel everyone was excited to take a nice warm shower so everyone ran off to there rooms pretty quickly.  Richard and I showered and headed to the hotel bar for a beer to celebrate! 

Dinner was at a hotel right on the south rim, and the food was ok…  nothing spectacular, but it had really nice views.  Once again it was early to bed! 
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Beaver Falls

It was up early for me in the morning and I took a short little walk before everyone else woke up.   For breakfast we had scrambled eggs, bacon and hash browns… very yummy!    
Today’s hike was about 6-miles down to Beaver Falls and worth every bit of the walk.  It started with a climb down Mooney Falls. 

At the bottom of the falls we hiked through the river several times, up and over some rocks and down some ladders to arrive at Beaver Falls. 


Around every bend you were reminded how special this place was and how very lucky we were to get to experience such a place. 

I thought as the water was probably less than 70 degrees there was no way I was going to get into it, however once I was there it was just to beautiful to not get into it!  We spent about an hour relaxing in the falls before having a nice lunch of smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumber bagels.  


We then hiked back to camp for a few more hours of relaxation before a dinner of chicken curry before bed.
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The trip down to Havasu Fall

The day started early, especially for me as I could hardly sleep, as I was extremely nervous.  We got up and packed up our daypacks and met at the van at 6 am for the 3-hour drive down to the rim.  As we waiting for our gear to get unloaded (and used the rest room for the last time) we had some amazing views.  Little did we know this was just the beginning of the amazing sites we were going to experience.
The trail started off with some fairly steep switchbacks for the first 1½ miles.  As I was walking down I was just imagining how tough it was going to be to get back up.  As we got to the bottom of the switchbacks we began a 6-mile slow decent before arriving at the Havasu Village. We took a few breaks on the way down, including a great picnic lunch.  

Just before we arrived at the village we stopped at a wonderful creek and Russ, our trusty guide, suggested we take off our boots and soak our feet in the creek.  I was a bit leery as I was not sure I would want to put my boots back on and the water was about 70 degrees.  Reluctantly I took my boots off and the water felt so refreshing!  It was amazing hoe much better it made me feel and it wasn’t an issue at all to put the boots back on.   


At the village we topped up our water while our guides checked us in and continued down another 2 miles to the campsite.   It was fairly steep again, but when we came around the bend and saw this, it was worth the journey down.   


We stopped at the bottom of the falls for a bit of relaxation after the 6-hour journey down while Russ sorted out our campsite.  He did a great job as our campsite was only about a five-mile walk from this waterfall right along the creek! 
First things first when we arrived at the campground was a trip to the restroom for me!  Then to our surprise we were given our tent to put up…  We managed to get it up mostly on our own. 

Amazingly we thought it was really small and later we were told it was actually a three-person tent!  After the day we had, all we really wanted was a nice cold beer… unfortunately there is no alcohol allowed at the campgrounds. For dinner that night Russ made us some beef tacos and it was early to bed for me!  I really enjoyed lying in the tent and looking up to nothing but the canyon walls and the stars.  It was so peaceful to fall asleep to the sound of the creek flowing next to us.  Richard can blog about his experience in the tent, as he did not have the same experience as I did. 
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