First, allow me to give a brief editorial on the ignoramuses (and I use that term in Christian love) who try to "educate" visitors to this amazing place about its origins. I have been to the Grand Canyon at least four times now in my lifetime, and no matter how many times I see it, I am completely awestruck by its immensity and beauty. Especially now, having been deep inside this glorious work of God, I can only pity those who honestly believe that this wonder of creation was "carved over billions of years" by a lone river - the Colorado. Any Christian reading this blog already knows this fact, but let me state it here unequivocally: THE GRAND CANYON WAS CREATED BY GOD, OVER A PERIOD OF 318 DAYS, VIA THE REMOVAL OF BILLIONS OF TONS OF ROCK BY THE SWELLING AND RETREATING WATERS OF THE GREAT FLOOD, AS RECORDED IN THE BIBLE. Anyone who believes otherwise 1) has never seen this place personally, 2) is woefully deficient in the common sense department, or 3) willingly chooses to believe the lies of the godless evolutionists over the truth of Scripture. "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." (Psalm 14:1 / Psalm 53:1)
Having gotten that small sermon off my chest, back to our hike! We drove from Williams AZ north on AZ-64 / US 180 to Grand Canyon National Park, and arrived at the South Rim of the Canyon at around 8:30am. We knew it was going to be another very hot day, especially in the canyon. The morning temperature at the rim was around 85 degrees, and we knew that the temperature can be 30 degrees higher at the bottom. So we packed a half gallon of water each, and sandwiches and snacks. (More on provisions later.)
It took a while to find a parking place anywhere near Bright Angel Lodge, so by the time we walked to the trailhead of the Bright Angel Trail, it was nearly 9:00am. We took our "before" pictures at the trailhead, visited the necessary room, and started down the trail.
Bright Angel follows an ancient Havasupi Indian trail, and runs approximately 9.5 miles from its head at the South Rim to the Colorado River. Along the way, the elevation change is 4,263 feet (from 6,782 feet at the rim to 2,519 feet at the river). The average grade of the trail is 14%, or a 14 foot drop in elevation for every 100 feet traveled.
Rest houses with water are provided at the 1.5-mile and 3.0-mile points, and there is a campground with water and rest facilities at Indian Gardens, which is 4.5 miles down. We were not sure how far we would be able to make it into the canyon, so we decided to hike down until about 12:30pm, rest for an hour, and begin our hike back up. The reason we ended up deciding on a 3½ hour hike down is that we were told by numerous sources that we would need to ALLOW TWICE AS MUCH TIME TO HIKE UP AS WE TOOK GOING DOWN, so that would make the total trip including rest time of about 11 hours. This bit of advice proved to be very accurate!!!
Within the first mile or so of descent on the trail, we became aware of several things:
- The incredible quiet, except for birds and your (and others') footsteps on the trail
- The intricate beauty and richness of color in the rock formations
- Working of muscles which have not been used in some time!!
- Some discomfort in the toes, from heading downhill and jamming them into the end of your shoes
- A rapid increase in air temperature. And don't buy that "it's a dry heat" stuff!
- There's a good reason that the park rangers strongly recommend packing ½ gallon of water per person! We NEEDED it!
By the time the first rest house (1½ miles down) came into view, it was a VERY welcome sight! We rested for about 15 minutes, replenished our water supply, and enjoyed some rare shade. By now (around 10:00am), the temperature was well into the 90s. Continuing down, we passed through more and more layers of red rock and saw lots of chipmunks and lizards, but thankfully no rattlesnakes!
We rested again at the 3 Mile house, where a volunteer guide hosed us down (and we were grateful for it, as the temperature was now over 100). We chatted with a family from Denmark who were obviously more experienced hikers than we were -- but I think hiking is much more popular in Europe in general.
It was 12:30pm when we arrived at Indian Gardens, the oasis of tall trees and a fresh stream of water, where campers can stay overnight with permits. I stretched out on my back on one of the picnic tables in a pavilion, and rested, while Becky filled our water bottles for the hike back out of the canyon.
Leaving the gardens around 1:30, we had the daunting task of climbing back about 3,000 feet vertically during the hottest part of the day! Even though we returned on the same Bright Angel trail, it seemed that the slope had drastically increased. It soon became evident that although we had plenty of water, we had not packed enough salt and electrolytes for what we were asking our bodies to do. Becky started having tingling down her arms, and we had to stop every few minutes to rest. I started to be concerned that she might be dealing with heat exhaustion.
The 3 Mile stop was REALLY a sight for sore eyes (and legs)! A very kind man offered us some of his beef jerky so that we could get some salt in our systems. That and the rest (legs propped above our heads to relieve lactic acid buildup in our legs) did a world of good for us. Becky seemed to get her second wind, but the further up we climbed, the more my old weak muscles were crying STOP! For the last 1.5 miles up the trail, we literally walked for about 3-minute stretches and rested for 4 or 5. During this last part of the ascent, I found that hyperventilating while I rested actually helped me. I thought of it as supercharging the oxygen supply.
One good thing was that after 4:30pm, much of the trail was in shadow, so we got a small break from the oppressive heat. The downside of this was that we were now racing to get out of the canyon before dusk. The pictures included in the slide show tell the story better than I can here, but you can certainly tell that the climb was as physically demanding to our unfit bodies as running a marathon would be for a fit person.
At around 8:40pm, almost 12 hours after our journey started, we reached the trail head at the South Rim. My first words were "Thank you, Jesus! Hallelujah!" and I meant them with all my being! It was a fantastic experience, but I was VERY thankful that it was behind us.
As crazy as it sounds, I would still like to undertake a trip all the way to the canyon floor someday, with two important caveats... 1) I would want to be back at the fitness level I was in 2004 (i.e., weighing 200 pounds or less, and working out every day), and 2) I would make sure our provisions included plenty of carb and electrolyte replenishers! As long as you prepare properly, a Grand Canyon hike is an experience I would recommend to everybody. You won't regret it, and it will give you an even greater appreciation of God's great creation!
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