It's a long long road...

There's a reason why it is called the Grand Canyon. Every time I see it, I'm awestruck by the large scale and impressive views. It really is a grand canyon.

Our little camera doesn't do justice to the magnificent views

Yesterday we drove the 90 minutes from Flagstaff to our last stop on this 16-day road trip. I wasn't sure what exactly I wanted to do, when we got there, but I was pretty sure I wanted to hike part way into the Canyon. After watching a short film and consulting the map, we started walking along the Rim Trail toward Bright Angel Trail.

Along the rim

It was a 2.5 mile hike along the rim until we reached the trail head to Bright Angel. Bright Angel Trail is a popular trail that goes down to the bottom of the Canyon. I thought we'd hike down to the first water stop which is 1.5 miles along switch backs. Yeah, I was dreaming.

On the way down Bright Angel Trail

As we started along the trail, we were greeted with the aroma of mule manure. There was a generous supply along the trail and some was fairly fresh. Fortunately, it wasn't constant and there were only about three places where it was really smelly.

The first quarter mile of the hike wasn't bad with a decent amount of shade. We were hiking down at a fairly good clip and feeling pretty good. Then the trail started getting steeper, and I noticed the people coming up the trail were pretty red in the face and short of breath, but we kept walking. After a while, we passed a ranger on his way up the trail and he asked us how far we were going. He told us we were about halfway to the water stop. It was 3:45 and we'd been walking about 30-40 minutes on the trail. It was then I decided we were going to turn around and start back up the trail. Only Zach was disappointed.

I'm the one in the middle of the picture trudging up the trail

It took me longer to get back to the top then the rest of them. David was the first to pull ahead. He was determined to get the top in the same amount of time it took for us to walk down, and he did it. Zach kept stopping and waiting until he could see Joe and me off in the distance, and then he'd start off again. Eventually, Joe decided he wasn't going to let this Canyon get the best of him, so he pushed himself and made it to the top second. Zach continued to wait for me and took pictures. I made a lot of rest stops and chatted with two middle aged ladies who had started hiking from the bottom at 6:00 a.m. They stopped even more than I did, but who can blame them? I was totally impressed they had hiked down a few days before and were now hiking back up.

When we had all made it to the top, it started to rain. It was one of the best things I'd ever felt. Cool gentle rain on our hot, sunburned skin was just fabulous. We rode the shuttle bus back to the visitor center where our car was parked and drove to Williams, Arizona where we were staying the night.

We ate dinner in the motel restaurant and were serenaded by a one man band. He played guitar, harmonica, chimes, and maybe some other instruments as he sang an assortment of oldies from "Cat's in the Cradle" to "Norwegian Wood." We had a great discussion about what our favorite parts of the trip were. We all agreed that meeting and spending time with family was one of the best. Zach liked the National Parks we visited. David said leaving New Orleans was the best. Joe was happy he got to attend some baseball games, and I enjoyed all of the views along the Mississippi river and other waterways.

By 10:00, we were falling asleep. It had been an exhausting day and we were beat. Even now as I write this post, the boys are still asleep and it's close to 9:00 a.m. We need to get on the road soon, since we have a long drive home, but I didn't have the heart to wake them yet. As I type this in our darkened room, they are now beginning to stir and rise.

Our own beds are calling our names, and we still have 9 chapters of Mockingjay to finish. It's time to hit the road for one last drive!