A Grand Canyon

 Today started too early for a vacation. The alarm went off at 4:50am. Uuuugghhhh. We booked a guided hike into the Grand Canyon and we needed to meet our guide at 7:30. The canyon is about an hour from our cabin and we needed to factor in time to get coffee and breakfast. We managed to get out the door on time, at 5:30. There is a coffee shop in Williams called Brewed Awakenings that opened at 6, which was perfect. We arrived a few minutes early, so we sat in the car for a moment until that neon Open sign started to glow.

I’ve been on a Chai kick this trip, so I stuck with that and Ross with his black coffee. We snagged a breakfast burrito and breakfast bagel. We had a few minutes, so we sat inside to gobble up most of our food. I finished up the bagel in the car. We made it to the entrance to Grand Canyon National Park around 7:20am and found our approximate meeting point. We decided it would be smart to make a bathroom break at the visitor’s center. Lucky for us, our guide was running a few minutes late, which gave us the right amount of time to hit the bathroom. I was really hoping to get a morning poo in, but no luck for me (as of 8pm, I still haven’t managed to eek out anything...) Ross on the other hand finally got his epic, I feel 5 pounds lighter, dump. I was happy for him and maybe it helped him crush it on the trail today. 

We made it back to the meeting spot and was able to park right behind our guide, Josh’s, truck. He had brought us lots of snacks and cold beverages, and hiking supplies for our day. We chit chatted for a few, ate a few snacks to get us fueled up for the day. The first half mile was a paved trail, but then we got onto the well-maintained South Kaibab trail. The weather was nice and we started with a breeze, some shade, and the sun to our backs. There were not a ton of people around, but a lot more than I expected. We had our masks up a lot or ready to pull up at a moment’s notice. 

Josh is incredibly knowledgeable about the history of the canyon including its formation, the types of stone and soil of the canyon’s makeup, how to spot little fossils in the rock, and a plethora of Native American history as well. Ross and I could barely keep up with all the knowledge he was throwing at us. He explained in an over abundance of detail on how the canyon was formed going all the way back to Pangea. Our conversation topics did change to less intense topics, but did include conservation, human impacts on the planet, and his passion for taking care of the canyon and nature really showed through. If he saw any piece of discarded trash, he made sure to pick it up along the way. I think we collected 5 or 6 plastic bottles during the hike. Funny story about one of them a little later. 

As we descended into the canyon, we made a few stops along the way for photos and one bathroom stop at Cedar Ridge. He said the name wasn’t quite right for the point as there are no cedar trees in the area. We eventually made it to Skeleton Point, which was our turnaround spot. Skeleton point is more aptly named because during the construction of the trail, many mules were utilized. The ones that died on the trail were sadly pushed over the edge into the canyon. But today, no people or mules died or fell into the canyon. We did see a mule train hauling dirt for trail repair though. A good amount of mule poop on the trail. Look out!

We walked just past Skeleton Point to get some photos while in the shade and our only view of the Colorado River down below. We were about halfway down into the canyon. Our guide walked back up to Skeleton Point while Ross and I enjoyed a few moments with the majesty of the canyon. While we were sitting there, a random piece of multigrain bread crust fell from above into Ross’ lap! A curious Raven was just a few feet away, so he tossed it a little closer to the bird. We watched as it cautiously approached the bread and eventually claimed the snack. It hung around for a few more minutes maybe hoping for another treat from us, but that’s all we had to give the bird. We took a few photos with Cheeky while the raven was still milling about. We were just a little nervous that the bird would scoop Cheeky up to his untimely death! It eventually went along it’s merry way. Ross and I walked back up to our guide where he was starting to set up lunch for us. 

Josh unpacked a nice spread for lunch. We had hummus, pretzels, and veggies along with some ciabatta rolls with cheese, veggies, avocado, and more hummus. It was really quite tasty and great timing to fuel up, though I didn’t realize quite how good of timing it was until a little later. Before we took off to return up the canyon, I was feeling pretty good about the hike to that point. I felt like we could have went farther down, but I figured out guide knew much better than I did. Turns out, he does. 

It wasn’t long after the start of our return hike that I realized going back up the canyon was a lot more strenuous, at least for me, than it was going down. A good amount of the steps up were just a little higher than my short legs were comfortable with. I was clearly much slower than Ross and Josh, but I didn’t mind. They would walk ahead for a little while, then stop in a shady spot and wait for me to catch up. It was a good time to grab some much needed water. I still didn’t drink enough on the hike. 

On our ascent, we were nearing the end when we passed a popular photo vista, “Ooh Ahh” point. Josh spied another half full plastic water bottle leaning up against a rock on the side of the trail. To the three of us, it clearly looked discarded. So Josh grabbed it and used the remaining water on some of the shrubs nearby. Not much later we encountered a pair of women I assumed to be mother and daughter in their 60s and late 20s, respectively. The daughter had come jogging up behind us to catch up to her mother. The daughter had been searching for the mother’s bottle of water. We figured out that the one Josh had grabbed was hers. The mother was clearly upset and claimed it was obviously in a safe spot. Josh told her that they had a difference of opinion. He gave her the empty bottle back and filled it with some of his own water supply. The mother and daughter continued to gripe about it behind us for a few minutes. Who was in the right? Up for debate, but too many people leave trash on a trail that is supposed to be “Leave No Trace” so we supported Josh in his decision. Plus it was a little entertainment for the last bit of our hike.

We finished our hike back on the paved section at the beginning of the South Kaibab trail where a lot more people were milling around and waiting for the shuttles back to the visitor’s center. There was still a small group of female and young elk hanging out in a shady area that we had passed this morning. We looked for pine nuts from the Ponderosa Pines that lined the trail. Josh had found one at the start of the hike. Ross and I each found a tidbit of a pine nut to taste. We learned that even though land is cheap out here, the price goes up if there are Ponderosa Pines on the land. We finally made it back to our vehicles, unpacked our gear and snacks, and thanked Josh for an excellent day! I will say the guide was not needed on the trail we took, but we were given a lot of history and information about the canyon and the communities in the area. Plus we think it took the focus off of the physical exertion we were experiencing. Josh gave us a few recommendations for our planned visit into Flagstaff “Flag” this evening and we were all on our way! Thanks Josh!

Before we could entertain the idea of going into Flag, we had to get back to our cabin and clean ourselves up. We were exhausted and covered in a fine red dirt from 6 hours of hiking. We managed to do all of that and not just fall asleep for the night. We picked a Thai restaurant and headed into town.

Flagstaff is a fun city. It was bustling with live music and people everywhere. It seemed like most people were wearing masks too. Masks!! As we were driving we realized we left the cabin without grabbing masks!! Ross remembered we put our wedding masks in the trunk with the rest of our wedding gear. Phew! Dinner is saved. It took us a few minutes to find a parking spot, which was about 2-3 blocks from the restaurant. It was a chilly evening! I should have worn my jacket. But I survived. We found Red Curry Vegan Kitchen and got ourselves a table. I had to bring my iPad with so we could finish Thursday’s wedding blog post. My phone didn’t have a mobile hotspot and Ross’ phone gets no reception at the cabin. As we waited for our food, we had a trio of devices transferring photos and data to one another so we could finish the post! 

In the mean time, Ross spilled a glass of water everywhere and we got another dose of entertainment for the evening. A couple walked into the restaurant and seemingly cut the line that had formed. Another couple that was already seated saw this and immediately went into attack mode, letting the other couple that there was a line. The “intruding” pair wanted to ask the waitress a question, but the seated pair were in the middle of ordering and told the “intruders” to back off. Once ordering was complete, the waitress came back to talk to the “intruders” (who wanted to place an order to go, not be seated) and they told the waitress how miffed they were that the seated pair jumped all over them. The seated pair overheard this, because it was a small space, and quickly said, “We’re lawyers, so if you have any problems....something something...snarky comment...” Ross and I were giggling internally wondering what being a lawyer had to do with anything. I was trying to pay attention to my blog work and food, so I wasn’t staring at anything transpiring around us. It was quite a spectacle for such a little restaurant. It seemed like the “lawyers” were ready to start a fight from the start. With Flagstaff having a university in town, my guess was that they were actually just law students trying to flex on anyone who gave them a chance. The rest of dinner was tasty and uneventful. 

It was getting late and we were ready for bed. It had been a long day! I quickly lead the charge back to the car because I was cold as soon as we got outside. After a quick 20 minute drive back to the cabin we were almost immediately ready for bed. The original plan was to have champagne and cake for dessert, but once again we were too full and too tired. Cake would have to wait until breakfast. Another day in the books! Our vacation is almost done. Back to Vegas in the morning!

Stats:

Steps: 22,864

Miles Hiked: 8

Hours Hiked: 6 hours, 18 minutes

Plastic Bottles Collected: 5, plus 1 that shouldn’t have been

Verbal Altercations: 2