See the Grand Canyon (#3)

• Posted on KK
• in 100 things, friends, travel
• on July 5, 2011
• 2 Comments.

A couple of months ago, my friend Dana called me and told me that she had recently learned that she had 10 (!) vacation days that would disappear at the end of June if she did not use them. Ignoring the fact that I don’t think vacation days having an expiration date is a very nice thing to do to an employee, it is pretty awesome that she was basically mandated to take 10 days off in about a 50 day period.

She called me, knowing that I am generally up for trips…anywhere. Last November, she was going to be in Seattle, so I flew up to meet her for a 3 day, 2 night adventure. We went to the Harry Potter exhibit, about a month after going to the Harry Potter park in Orlando…I didn’t think I could get Harry Potter-ed out, but I was pretty close. ANYWAY. We tossed around some ideas about her coming out here to visit, which she has done twice, or going to New Orleans, but it turned out that she would be going there this fall for a conference. Seeing as how ‘See the Grand Canyon’ is on my 100 things list, and she also wanted to see it, we settled on going to Phoenix and taking a day, or possibly overnight, trip to the Grand Canyon.

…Until I told my co-workers about our idea, who informed that Phoenix is a soulless, non-descript city of boredom and that we should stay in Sedona instead. Yeah. Best advice I have ever gotten. We stayed in Sedona for three nights and it is easily one of the most gorgeous places I have ever been. It’s warm in the summer, but not as hot as Phoenix – so when we were there it was mid 80s to 90, dry heat with a breeze. The red rock formations are towering and beautiful, surrounded by lots and lots of greenery. When we were there, we had days and days of cloudless blue sky.  I mean, it’s uncalled for how pretty this place is.

Also, there is a state park with a natural water slide. It is full of awesome. If you ever go there, and you should, your instructions are thus: Lay on your towel on a bare spot of rounded sandstone and apply a lot of sunscreen. Get too hot and go wait in line for the slide. Gasp at the cold temperature, but have a blast going down the slide. When you get out, get right back in line, because the second time around, you’re immune to the cold and you have way more fun. Get back on your towel and let the heat dry you in less than 5 minutes. Repeat.

Water slides not being the point of the trip, Dana and I went to the Grand Canyon and let me just tell you that whoever named it…good work. It’s overwhelmingly large – up to 18 miles wide, up to 1 mile deep. For most of the day, we couldn’t even see the Colorado River that we know is at the bottom. Honestly, you could spend weeks and months here and never see a portion of everything. We walked 2.1 miles along the Rim with great views down into the canyon, and then did a 1.8 mile round-trip hike down into the Canyon. That was a bit otherworldly.

The hike down starts off pretty basic – down hill on gravel/dirt paths through lots of switchbacks until you get to a relatively level path that takes you on a more wandering path down into the canyon. Dana and I were heading to “Ooh Aah Point” which provides for amazing views and a great perspective on the scope of everything. I know that a 1.8 mile hike is probably not as much hiking as Dana was hoping for but I’m pretty proud of myself. See, I have a bit of a fear of falling – which made the whole day at the Canyon relatively anxiety inducing for me. Every time a kid approached an edge (most of the stretch of the Canyon does not have railings or anything) I had to turn away so as to not freak out. Poor Dana wasn’t allowed to approach anything edge-like for pictures without holding on to something. So, the idea of walking down steep narrow pathways into the heart of the Canyon was a challenge for me, during most of the adventure I was behind Dana with one hand on the rock wall next to us, looking straight ahead so as to not notice the steep drop next to me. (And no, the drop was not a mile down into the river or anything. But it was still…significant.)

The good news was that we weren’t able to rent a mule. When we first planned our trip, I was all about the mules. Mule or bust. But, overnight mule trips can be booked over a year in advance (!) so it didn’t work out for us (plus, we would have been in the canyon overnight…) The good news comes from the fact that the mules, judging by their droppings, take the same trail that we hiked. I can. not. imagine the idea of going down the same trail I hiked 4 or 5 feet higher off the ground, on the back of a swaying, loping animal that I had never ridden before. No thanks. Hiking all the way! Quite a statement, considering how outdoorsy I am.

Anyhoodle*, Dana and I did all that walking/hiking, and then took the bus down to the area of the Canyon where you can stay overnight (lodges and hotels). (Also, great transit system there. Didn’t expect it, but it was awesome). We wandered through the old structures set up on the edge – photography studios actually – that are now touristy shops. We met a man at one of the overlooks who had set up his camera on a tripod and was taking a picture of a specific rock formation every minute for the hour of sunset. Rightly so, sunset is amazing, easily the most picturesque time to visit, when all the rocks are changing colors with every ray of sun that sets.

I didn’t anticipate it, but I think I would take another trip with Dan and do more serious hiking, or overnight staying, or all the way down to the river exploring. He’s pretty excited.

(Caveat: Back in Phoenix to catch our flight, Dana and I ran into a family who had just taken a 16 day rafting trip down the river. No showers. I draw the line at 16 days with no showers.)

Pictures to come later…

*Terminology credit to Laura Benson