The Grand Canyon (Post 100!)

After Mark's conference we drove from Las Vegas to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon. I had been once as a little girl with my dad and brother Reggie.  All I remember from that trip was an elk sticking his head in the passenger window to swipe an Oreo with his tongue off the dashboard. We later read " Don't feed the animals" in our brochure, whoops. I also remember there was snow on the ground which I wasn't used to living in Texas. 

 This time I was very happy that there wasn't snow on the ground, since moving to AK snow isn't so exciting anymore, and I could appreciate this spectacular canyon in 60 degree weather.  We arrived about an hour before sunset and took a short walk along the rim. The shadows were gorgeous and gave the canyon a lot of depth. 

Hunter was excited to be out of his car seat and getting a ride from Dad.  Mark had never been to the Grand Canyon and was very excited to finally get to experience it.  If this had been a few years ago we would have been hiking down and camping out in the canyon, but we had to go for the smaller adventures with Hunter in tow and we were happy to have him along.

We saw several deer. A little frustrating to Mark who went deer hunting earlier this fall and was skunked. This buck would be a trophy in AK and we were standing 5 feet from him and his twin.

 We got to watch the beautiful sunset two nights in a row.

 We stayed in a hotel right outside of the park and were ready early the next morning to start exploring the canyon.  Hunter was excited and loves to be outside. That's a good thing since he doesn't have much say in the matter. We hope he'll continue to love it once he does have a choice.

We hiked down the Bright Angel Trail. I carried Hunter the 3 miles down AND the 3 miles back up.  I think many wondered why Mark wasn't carrying him but I had a good reason... Over the past 2 1/2 months I have lost around 20 lbs. while competing in my family "Biggest Loser" and Hunter weighs just a bit over 20 lbs. He was my reminder of what I've lost and that I don't want to carry that around anymore!

 People were very happy to see Hunter on the trail smiling, giggling, or just his feet hanging out as he slept on my back.  The trail was a lot of switchbacks and we descended 2,000 vertical feet into the canyon. It was amazing to look up and see how far you'd come down.  The trail disappeared above you and it seemed as if you would have to scale sheer rock walls  but luckily the trail was there to slowly lead you up and down.

 Hunter was excited to get out at 3 mile house.  There was a bathroom and not much else at this stop but all H wanted was be down and make lots of noise.  He was in heaven playing in the dirt and throwing (or trying to eat) rocks.

 Here is a glimpse of what the trail looked like leading down.  It was another 1.5 miles to the next stop and then a total of 10 miles down to the river. We REALLY wanted to keep going but knew we should be smart and turn around. Hiking into the Grand Canyon is much different than hiking in AK since you go down first. You don't feel tired at all and except for the strain on your knees you feel like you could go all day. Then, the hard part starts as you turn around. The opposite is true here because you get so tired going up the trail and then the down seems fast and easy.

Needless to say, I was tired by the time I hauled this sack of potatoes back up to the top but it felt great. 

This is one more view from down at the 3 mile point looking back up, it was spectacular.

After reaching the top we ate a bit more food, changed Hunter, fed him a bottle, and let him crawl around. People were drawn to him while he was crawling around. They couldn't resist stopping to watch him as he grunted and made all sorts of noises. People wanted to take pictures of him and pick him up. He's hard to resist!

We spent the rest of the day taking shuttle buses along the rim trail and walking from lookout points along the rim until sundown. We probably walked/hiked about 10 miles total and were pretty darn tired at the end of the day. Hunter was a great sport and happy all day. At one point, Mark gave him a stick and he was so excited and happy with his new toy. When it got dark we headed back to the car, made some tuna fish sandwiches and headed to a hotel in the cute little town of Williams on historic Route 66. 

Just a word to the wise, if you travel to Williams, AZ ( about an hour before the south rim of the Grand Canyon) and need to stay in a hotel, DON'T stay in the Travelodge!  Good thing all we needed was a shower and a place to crash!