Vickie splashing in the cold Colorado River within the Grand Canyon. It was awesome to cool down in the Colorado after a short hike at the hot bottom of the Grand Canyon, I believe temp reached 102 F. Vickie always very happy when she is in an adventure.

The great Grand Canyon adventure has passed. It was and still feels as one of the greatest adventure I have ever done.

After 60 yrs walking on our planet, I have come to an important realization, I will explain that in a bit.

We started by taking a 4.5 hour shuttle drive from the South Rim to the North Rim. This was to be a “Rim to Rim” hiking adventure. At the North Rim we overnighted in 2 small and nice cabins. We needed 2 cabins because the cabins sleep at most 4 people comfortably. We started hiking around 5:30 am, and around 50 F. For overall details see previous blog. The ladies finished the 14.7 mile downward hike by around 12:00 pm. I kept up with them for a few miles, but they pulled away from me, as negotiating the miles of steps on the trail slowed me down.

The photos above does not do justice to seeing the Grand Canyon with your eyes. Click it for slideshow. To see details you have to see the photo in full size. This photos were taken on the trail from the North Rim, and shows portions of the switchback trail down into the canyon.

The first 5 miles was very nice, but steep downhill, and the steps were mean on my knees. The temperature was relatively cool which makes it nice for hiking. I watched as the ladies pulled away, I guess I must be getting old, can’t walk like I used to, can’t keep up with “spring chicks”.

As we descended, the temp went up and up. The last 7 miles downward has no potable water, that means you must carry it with you. I filled my 2 gallons of water at the Cottonwood campground, the halfway point, and proceeded into the “box”, the hot box. It was around noon and the temp was in the low 90’s F. Fortunately, the downward grade eased-up considerably, but heat was to increase to a brutal 102 F. All the training in the heat paid off, I was very concerned about hiking long distances in temps above 95 F.

Vickie, Sandra, Elaine, Jenna, I was still hanging with the ladies. Cindy is ... ?

I catch-ed up with ladies at the Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon. Vickie, jumped out to greet me, helped me with my pack, and served me a lemonade. The ladies were heavily engaged in a card game call “sheet head” in the cool of the cantina. Yep, they have a cantina at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, they serve beer. They have dorms, a bed (bunk beds) with bathroom/shower. We took a rest day at the Phantom Ranch and did a short hike along the river. There are a couple of bridges for walking across the river. See photo at right. It was during this hike that some of us splashed in the Colorado. Jenna, Vickie and me. On our short walk, we met a couple of ladies also taking a rest day, they were not planning to splash in the river, but seeing us convinced them that it must be fun, so in they went.

The hike out was slow for me, but for the ladies, they boogied the 10.5 miles up to the South Rim on the Bright Angel trail in 5 hours. They reached the top at 10:30 am. Me, I reached the top in 10 hours, around 3:00 pm.

In the last 0.75 miles of the hike out, there were lots of people hiking down, I stopped about 8 times, well, I must have had a friendly and perhaps unusually happy demeanor, as various people queried me, they asked did I hike from the bottom? As I told my story, they were curious, awed, jealous and happy all at the same time.

Hence, as I told my story over and over on that last 0.75 mi of the hike, of accomplishing this adventure and watching people’s reactions,  I came to the realization that at least once a year, as part of the good life, we all should engage in a grand adventure. You need to plan it, and execute, yes, at least once a year. Fortunately, I have been doing so for the last 20 yrs, without realizing that that is what I was suppose to be doing. I remember my first century bike ride, and have done at least 65 of them. My first double century bike ride, and have done 5. My first week long bike tour, and have done around 16, New Zealand, the French Alps, British Columbia, and .... . Trekking around the country with the RV, and am not done yet I have many many grand adventures to still do.

Yep people, it is not to late to start, plan a great adventure and do it, at least once a year. It seems that lots of people do it, e.g. there was a relatively young couple with 2 boys, 5 and 6 yrs old, they made it to the bottom and hiked out without incidents. They took their time, that is a family adventure. I asked and the boys said they never got sore muscles, unlike their parents, and us. Sandra and Vickie suffered as I massaged their legs at the Phantom Ranch. I don’t think they ever had muscles that sore before.

Grand Canyon condor, scorpion at night, and park ranger. National Park Rangers are fun to talk to, they love to communicate with visitors, so ask them anything.