Hiking at the Grand Canyon is like taking a picture in front of Eiffel Tower, you do it so you could tell your grandchildren that you actually went there.
I went there in December with three amazing women. They come in accomplished, motivated and physically fit kind of category. They have been hiking for years, Deirdre who has become a great friend has hiked in all six continents. Dian has been hiking for 28 years. And Debbie it takes one glimpse to know she is in kick ass shape.
Right before we took the first group photo, I found myself looking at my companions and then at myself. Deirdre tried to train and we hiked three times but haven’t been to the gym in a year and to me I was in the worst shape ever in my life. And yet there I was about to do something, which only 10,000 people out of 1 million visitors of Grand Canyon dare to do.
We took Bright Angel Trail which is 1o.5 miles long. We started after 8 AM in the morning and covered the distance in almost seven hours.
You don’t realize how deep the Canyon goes until you reach at the bottom. In seven hours I found myself surrounded by huge mountains; and when I say huge it is way bigger than what Grand Canyon looks like from up on the rim. And pictures cannot even capture 10% of its vastness. I was in a different world completely isolated.
Out destination was Phantom Ranch we reached there little before sunset so I didn’t have much time to look around. Next morning we set out to walk to the Ribbons Falls which was five miles from our cottages. The trail was pretty much horizontal and it gave me plenty of opportunity to appreciate the scenery and also the fact how claustrophobic it feels when you look up from the bottom of the Canyon.
At the rim the temperature was close to zero but the bottom of the canyon the weather was like Phoenix. Phantom Ranch was comfortable place to stay. When I got back from Ribbons Falls I have walked almost 21 miles in two days. I was tired and dirty and the clean hot showers at the Ranch felt like a luxury in the midst of wilderness. I slept like a baby while my three companions struggled with sleep.
But for two days and nights I couldn’t help but think about hiking out of the Canyon. While starting our journey from Bright Angel Lodge me and Diane noticed one t-shirt with a tagline ‘Hiking-in is optional but hiking-out is mandatory.’ That tagline was like a revelation and I thought to myself the bigger part of this trip is hiking out and it is obviously going to be difficult.
So on the final day after having breakfast we headed out to climb the canyon. This time we took South Kaibab trail which is three miles shorter than Bright Angel Trail and naturally much steeper; which makes the climb tougher than Bright Angel Trail. Debbie told, ‘Just put one foot in front of another keep repeating it until you reach to the top.’ I did exactly the same.
I started climbing and I actually climbed fast for the first 20 minutes and after that I suddenly felt dizzy and nauseated. That was one of the few times I felt vulnerable in my life and I started calling Deirdre who was ahead of me. She told me it was because I started gaining height quickly. In order to give my body time to acclimatize I had to climb up very slowly. It was painful to climb so slowly but after an hour I felt better and I speeded up a little just to find out that you couldn’t climb up really fast because the trail became steeper and steeper.
It was becoming colder every minute. Best thing about South Kaibab trail is that it has amazing view and worst part of it is that in winters you are exposed to cold wind, if it is a windy day, making the climb even harder.
I took at least 20 stops before I reached to the top. The most important lesson I learnt is difficult trail makes you feel more accomplished. No matter how long and tiring the journey is once you reach the destination you look back and say ‘it was worth it!’.
Hali Writes 