What makes me a professional of the Grand Canyon? Is it because I graduated in Parks and Recreation? Is it because I interned there every summer since High School? Is it because I was born and raised in the Grand Canyon valley? I’ve done none of those things, so probably not. HOWEVER! I did just finish my first jaunt there this weekend. It was a quickly planned trip. Less than a week really. But what was built in 7 days will last a lifetime (soft music playing). Hannah of the dietary tech persuasion mentioned that she had reserved a camping spot near the entrance of the North Rim for Friday and Saturday nights. Having never been there, I immediately jumped at the chance. Within a day I had covered my PCMC shift for Saturday (holla to Amanda) and taken Friday off work (which was tricky mind you). With some more finagling, Jenessa was able to come. Dear Jennie had already made plans and was sadly missed and thought of often. And though Christers had also been invited, she was unable to come. And then the last tragic casualty of the weekend, Hannah’s friend got sick and couldn’t come last minute. So it was the 3 of us. May it also be noted that I don’t camp a lot, or hike a lot. I’ve definitely wanted to do it more, but I am still inexperienced. I chose to go with two girls who had been doing both their whole lives. So I was definitely the hatching in this situation. But you couldn’t find anyone more eager to learn.
Day 1, Friday June 8th:
It was decided I was driving. I have never driven longer than about 1.5 hours anywhere, so new experiences were just rollin in. I had packed and was prepared physically and mentally for the journey. I had even made a playlist for the drive with requests from the other two. Jenessa had to work that morning, so she and Hannah rolled into my driveway at about 10:30. My mom was quickly reassured that they were experienced campers and knew what they were doing. Then we were off!! The glorious thing about this location is that it really is a pretty straight shot from I-15. We stopped in Cedar to pick up groceries and soldiered on.
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| Hannah ready for the trip |
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| Jenessa ready for the trip |
I must say that Utah and Arizona are definitely deserts, I can validate it now. We drove in arid nothingness for a really long time. I saw an awesome sign on the way though. What more could you want in a rest stop!!
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| There were two of these guys hanging around the pond |
Jenessa brought a spacious 6 man tent, and we set it up.
Just as we started getting dinner together (lemon and rosemary chicken with couscous and grilled peppers), Marc showed up. Sans friends. This guy was fabulous entertainment for the evening. He loves Kanab, farming, and girls. And Hannah.
Anyway, we were tired from diving, shooed him home, and went to sleep.
Day 2, Saturday June 9th:
It was a pretty rough night. It was incredibly windy and we all almost suffocated as the tent was blowing in on us. I woke up about 8 times, and finally was up by 5:30 AZ time. I tried to sleep until 6:30 when we all just got up. We had out oatmeal and bananas and were on our way. You can see from the pictures that I am clearly the most inexperienced one. They brought exercise shorts, skirts, and tops, I brought jean shorts and a tee shirt. They brought camelbacks and dried fruit leather, I brought a fabric string backpack and an enormous Nalgene bottle. Anticipation was in the air as we got closer to the park entrance. And yay for us, it was unofficial Be Outside Day, so we got in free! We drove another 50 million hours into the park and stopped at the Visitors Center and Lodge.
We went to the scenic overlook which was a tiny “hike,” Bright Angel Point, and then worked out our attack of the National Park.
Next up was Uncle Jim Trail. In theory an easy 5 miler, which meant for me lots of strenuous ups and downs. I either hid my extreme fatigue well, or the other two are just very very polite. It was beautiful though. Honestly, I had imagined just one long jagged cut through a canyon. It is enormous!! Full of majestic views!! (In an email, Hannah had said this trip would be full of majestic views, and Jenessa mentioned it about as often as she mentioned her latest trip to Hawaii. Which was about every half hour like clockwork.)
We took a break for some PB&Js, fruits and veggies. Traveling with other nutrition folk kind of curbs your appetite for sweets and junkfood….. We had wanted to go to a Ranger presentation, so we went back to the lodge and did a 3ish mile hike to the campground and back. At one point Jenessa was on a jutting ledge and I had to be a mother and demand that she had gone out far enough, and to come back in. The Range presentation was on geology, which I thought was be fascinating. It met 67% of my expectations. It did teach me somewhat how it was formed, but left me with more questions than I started with. I’ll present you with it now.
To know how the Grand Canyon was formed I would say to you: DUDE, the Grand Canyon rocks. DUDE, geology rocks. DUDE stands for : deposition, uplift, downcutting, and erosion. I would Wikipedia it if I were you.
After this fascinating display, we went to another small hike to see Angel’s Window and yet another overlook. It was beautiful though, as everything there was. We walked out onto Angel’s window and it was more windy than anything else I have been to in my life. See video.
I discovered a fear of unrestrained heights recently, so I had a bit of a hard time letting go of the rails at these places. We were planning on doing one more hike that day, but we were all pretty tired and were covered in a thin layer of grit. I had unfortunately tried to put more sunscreen on over my grit, and created smudged legs that look like I had rubbed charcoal on them. Plus I was driving some pretty tight, windy roads, causing tension that drains all life out of you. Our last stop on the way home was to a final overlook. It was recommended by Hannah’s dad, apparently easy to get to. It was on a dirt road, which is a little tricky for a Hyundai. 13 miles took about 45 minutes. But it was probably the best view we had. Most majestic view.
On the way home I feared that since it was 8:00 and we had had no dinner, that we would maybe be cranky (an unjustified concern). So we listened to the unquestionably hysterical Jerry Seinfeld’s “And I’m Telling You For the Last Time” live standup show.
That lasted us the entire ride back to camp and is still as funny as the first time I heard it. In the darkest and pitch blackest of night, we made bean, cheese, and veggie burritos. It is amazing what you can make with a small gas grill and burner. While we waited for the beans we cook, the three of us consumed an entire bag of Santitas chips and salsa. So hungry, and everything looked so delicious. In theory we had decided to play games and braid each other’s hair that night (only kind of kidding), but we just zonked out. We couldn’t be bothered, you might say.
Day 3, Sunday June 10th:
We had talked about visiting church for a few minutes on the drive home, but when we got up at 7, and realized that church started at 11, we decided not to wait and just packed up and left.
Driving home was more excruciating then driving there, because I was dirty and tired, but we listened to Jerry Seinfeld again and it helped. We stopped at McDonalds and were the worst customers ever. Meaning, we used their bathroom and ate our own PB&J’s standing around my car in their parking lot.
But all’s well that ends well. It was a great trip, full of majestic views. I can’t tell you how grumpy I was to return to work on Monday. But I have ONE week until I leave for Germany and lots to get done. And by lots, I mean everything. I haven’t done a single thing to get ready….
