Grand Canyon trip

We took our first real vacation without the baby- a backpacking trip to the Grand Canyon. We haven't been backpacking in years and neither of us had been to the Grand Canyon, so it seemed time to go. Caroline spent 6 days with her grandparents while we ran around the southwest.

It was tough to leave her, actually, because she got a fever the day before we left, which lasted a day or two into our trip. So we were worried, but she didn't have any other symptoms, and we knew we were leaving her in very capable hands. We were glad she got better before we got out of cell phone range...

We flew into Vegas. We had a bit of trouble with our car rental (they ran out of cars?!), but eventually got it worked out (loitered at the counter until one came back), and we made it to our hotel. But by then it was midnight and we had to get up at 6am to hit the road, so it was a dull night by Vegas standards.

The next day we drove to the South rim of the Grand Canyon. We went by the Hoover Dam- quite the engineering marvel. It took about 5 hours to get to the canyon, but we got there about lunch time, so we had the whole day to explore. We had lunch in the village and then took a little hike and rode the shuttle around the rim of the canyon. It was truly one of the most beautiful and amazing places I've been. It just goes on and on. It was great to get the vistas from above before climbing into the canyon the next day.

When we left the Canyon, we stopped for dinner at Williams, which is on Rt. 66, and walked around a bit there. Then we drove in the dark to the trailhead, where we camped overnight. I was paranoid we'd hit a deer on the way- we saw a number of them, along with some elk and a fox. But we made it safely and set up our tent on one of the few flat spots not covered with donkey droppings.

The next morning we were up with the sun, broke camp and started down the trail. It was tough start- lots of switchbacks down into the canyon. But we made it down pretty quickly and then just walked along the bottom of the canyon the rest of the way. It was a much more beautiful hike than I expected. The red walls of the canyon were rising close above us most of the way, and there was a beautiful view around every corner. It took us about 3 or 4 hours to get to the Native American village of Supai. I can't get over that people choose to live in such isolation- having to hike or ride horses for several hours and then drive another hour or two to get to the outside world. They do have a pretty awesome spot down there, though. We met some interesting people along the way- one nice couple from Ohio who brought their 7 month baby with them on the trail. I thought they were a little crazy, but she seemed to do great. There was also a couple from Idaho who decided on a whim to go on a day hike down there. Kind of nuts, since it is 10 miles each way, through some pretty tough terrain. They were hoping to take a helicopter out, but somehow missed the last one, so they were hiking out after dark. Yikes!

So after we made it to the village, it was another couple of miles to Havasu falls. The trail was pretty much sand at that point, so it was excruciating on our calves. We walked past Navajo falls, which had been torn up by some flash floods last year, and they were working hard to repair the land around it. Finally, we came to Havasu Falls. It was such an awesome sight- just gorgeous turquoise water cascading over red rocks, with a big pool at the bottom. After we found a campsite and ate some lunch, we went down to take a dip. It was heavenly! We spent a long time lingering in the water and then just went back and relaxed at camp for the rest of the day. We were so sore from the hike, we were both limping around and grumbling.

The next day we planned to hike to the next waterfall- Mooney Falls- just about a mile down the trail, and maybe on to Beaver Falls, which was supposedly another 2 miles past that. Mike said he would love to go down to the Colorado, but it was 7 or 8 miles each way, and we were planning on hiking out of the canyon the following day, so that seemed like a bit much. So we hiked to Mooney, and basically had to scale a cliff face to get down there. There were tunnels through the rock, chains and ladders to help you get down, but it was so incredibly scary. I seriously thought I was going to die. I'm not the world's most agile person- some might call me clumsy. So one misstep and down I would go. So my legs were shaking and my quads got so tight. Once I got down I was so relieved but I also wanted to pass out and throw up all at the same time. Mike, meanwhile, went down it like a regular mountain goat. He was very supportive of me, though, which helped!

Then we decided to walk down to the next falls. Most of the hike was pretty easy, but there was one stretch with a crazy rope you had to climb up. Finally, we got to the top of Beaver falls. Someone said it was only 2.5 more miles to the Colorado, so I told mike that I'd go with him. I'm not sure why I agreed or why I believed these people, when the map said otherwise. Perhaps you see where this is going... it took FOREVER and involved 6 or 8 river crossings. At one point, I wanted to rurn around, but we didn't bring enough water, and our only hope of getting more was from the rafting boats we knew were waiting at the river (we met some hikers from the boats going the other direction). So... eventually we made it. And it was really beautiful and fun to see the confluence and swim in the river down there. But we couldn't stay long, becuase there were only so many hours of daylight and I sure as heck wasn't climbing back up that cliff in the dark! But we made the hike back up so much faster that we had plenty of time to play around in Mooney Falls before hiking back up. I did twist my ankle pretty bad on the way up, and I was so worried I'd have trouble walking out, but it ended up being OK. At the end of the day, I felt like I could barely walk, and was wondering how the next day would be...

We went to bed early since we were planning to get up well before dawn to start the hike back. I was up before 4am to coax Mike up with breakfast in bed. We packed up camp and were finally on the trail just before 5am. It was dark out, but the stars were amazing and just a sliver of a moon was on the horizon. We were both pretty sore and after the first uphill stretch at the waterfalls, we were feeling pretty pessimistic about the hike, but we just got into a groove and it ended up being just fine. We made it to the final uphill with the switchbacks just before the sun crested over that area, so we were really lucky to catch it in the shade. When we made it to the top we were so excited and ready to be done hiking.

We drove back to Vegas and after a long, long shower, we hit the pool and then just walked around town. It was good to stretch out our legs, but I was so exhausted after a while that we just came back to the hotel room and crashed without doing any gambling. The next day we flew back to Wisconsin. I was over the moon to see my little baby again. And she seemed excited to see both her mama and papa again, even if it meant her time being spoiled by the grandparents was over for now…

At the Hoover dam
The Grand Canyon

Mike with the rock layers

At sunrise, starting the hike into Havasu Canyon

There were lots of horse and mule trains going up the canyon

Entering the small Native American village of Supai

Havasu Falls from the trail

At the base of Havasu Falls

Mike recouperating from our long hike at our campsite by the river

No kidding, descend at your own risk!!

The crazy chains and ladders we had to use to get down the cliff to Mooney Falls

Mooney falls

Mike at the base of Mooney Falls

We saw several big horn sheep

The canyon was a real oasis- so beautiful!

The confluence of the Supai and the Colorado Rivers

Mike at the bottom of the Grand CanyonMike swimming at the confluence

The Supai river went through a narrow canyon just before entering the Colorado. It was so beautiful and fun to swim through

On the last day, just after we made it back to the top of the Canyon. Phew! We made it!