About 18 months ago John asked me if I want to do a float trip down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon…in June. Although I am not a big fan of the “bucket list” idea I am a big fan of the Grand Canyon for someone who has never seen it except from 34,000 feet. I have always wanted to go and really had no idea what a float trip would be like…I only knew it was something I had to do!In the past we have used the word "epic" for things like a long bike ride in the mountains or a great powder ski day...now I know what the word EPIC really means! Our trip into the Grand Canyon was EPIC for so many reasons! I am so grateful to Tom for inviting us, to John for asking to "let go" of my race season for June and for my life that allows me to enjoy such EPIC adventures!
June is traditionally the kick off to race season so I figured if I committed 18 months out I would be able to build my racing and finances around the trip. John’s brother and sister-in-law Tom and Kristi invited us to join them on a trip with some of their friends so we agreed and set the wheels in motion.
This blog post could be really really long so I think I am going to break it up into a couple posts with tons of pictures. The first part of the trip included a flight to Vegas for some sweet people watching, a shuttle to Boulder City, an 18 passenger flight to the National Park Airport in Grand Canyon National Park and my first visit to the South Rim…aka Disney Land in the Southwest.
It is never easy to get out of town and disconnect from our lives these days and I have to say I couldn’t wait to “disconnect” for a week or more! COULD NOT WAIT! We planned our trip with an Outfitter called Moki Mac out of Salt Lake. Tom Murtaugh had worked with them in the past and knew they were good and I have to agree that they are THE BEST! Annie and Richard helped us coordinate all our plans from DIA to the Colorado River. Our timing was perfect as we arrived at the South Rim with plenty of time to hike a bit, watch the people, eat and meet our guide. Oh, and watch the NBA finals game!
I loved the flight over to the park. The small plane was full of German tourists who were loud and in awe and the motion of the plane kept everyone guessing whether we would end up in the dessert or the canyon! It was so much fun! We flew over Hoover Damn and so much of the country I have never see
n before. Truly beautiful and overwhelming and I wasn’t even able to see the canyon! Once we landed we took a cab with another couple to Bright Angel Lodge for our overnight before our hike to Phantom Ranch. The married couple we were riding with drive a tandem 18 wheeler truck and they parked their truck outside the park in order to spend 4 hours on the south rim, He was driving fruits and veggies from CA to the northeast. They were very interesting people and so excited to see the park. They sleep in their truck and share the driving all around the country. Cool gig.
We saw the Grand Canyon train in the station but we didn’t get to see it move as it was settled for the night. Bright Angel Lodge was everything I expected except for 1 thing…it was a freaking zoo! Honestly it was like being in the Disney Resort on a Saturday morning…but this was a Tuesday afternoon. People of all nationalities clamoring for help, food, pictures and more food! Crazy, loud and a bit disconcerting! We checked in and finally walked out to “the south rim” to see the Canyon! Oh My! Oh my! the beauty was overwhelming and so was the noise. Maybe it was more like being at Sea World in the underground portion where everyone crowds to see the whales underwater? I was just shocked at the number of people and the volume and the craziness! A large group of hikers had just come up from the bottom and were gorging on huge bowls of ice cream and laughing about their trip! I felt out of place in my Keen sandals, dry-fit t-shirt and shorts and English as my first language (and only!) Tourists from all around the world poured off busses and out of the ice cream shops to see the Canyon, take some pictures and then head back inside for dinner and X-box! Actually I met a couple nice people from Australia who really did appreciate the grandeur of the canyon. We 
walk a little ways down Bright Angel Trail to escape the people and catch a glimpse of our 5:00 Am hike the next morning. I was sooo excited I could have run down the trail right then! Instead we had a beer, met some people from Michigan who couldn’t wait to get to Vegas on their tour and then we met Simone our hike guide. Apparently the NPS requires that all commercial outfitters provide hiking guides for their “guests” in and out of the canyon. Tom, Kristi and 14 others had already been on the water since Lee’s Ferry 6 days ago and they were picking us up the next morning while 2 women who only floated the top would be hiking out. Simone was our designated guide and she was an authentic nature loving, river running, trial hiking, living off the grid kind of chick! I thought for a while I wanted her life! She and her husband live completely off the grid down near the Grand Canyon somewhere and they work for outfitters and do other cool seasonal jobs in the southwest. Originally from Alaska Simone has lived in some cool places and had great jobs! I was imagining her life until she told me about “the first” time she had a rattle snake in her house….the stories were all downhill after that and I am happy to live in a snake free zone! Simone clearly meets hundreds of people each summer and has to prepare them for the hike 
down. It was cute as she explained to us that we would need food and water and we would need to rest every 1 ½ miles until we got to Indian Gardens (4.5 miles down the 9 mile trail) in order to maintain our energy and not get too tired. Of course I am thinking that if I were healthy I would already have run down and back before dinner but we were respectful and she turned out to be a great wealth of information about the canyon, the park and the plants on the trail. She was terrific and I am grateful she was able to hike with us.
When we finally went to our room we needed to repack our packs for the hike down. Tom had sent John a list of all the things we would need and since this was Tom’s 3rd trip I figured he was the man to listen to! He also works for the Forest Service and has all the gadgets and clothing you could ever need on a trip like this! John and I spend some major bucks getting ready for this trip and I am glad we did. We packed well (except for the white shirts!) and although my pack was awkward it was well stacked and ready to roll. We had poured lotions and sunscreen into not pop-top bottles and we had plenty for both of us! I know some of you would be shocked to know that I didn’t want to fry in the sun and be unable to hike or enjoy the boat so I packed tons of 30SPF and long sleeve shirts for cover. Over Memorial Day weekend we went to REI to shop and I was blown away by the cool camping and casual classy clothes I could buy for millions of dollars! I opted for a pair of zip off capris and a stupid looking safari hat that would essentially cover my entire body. And I finally found a great use for all the race t-shirts I’ve acquired over the years…they are great for rafting and camping. They clean easily, dry quickly and who cares if I get them stained because I have 10 more just like them at home! I was impressed by the great clothing many of the women had on our trip and I was momentarily jealous but I also knew I would rather spend my money on other things! I also packed swim suit, running shorts, hiking shirts and a long sleeve shirt for cold that never made it out of the bag. I do wish I had packed more cotton. No one mentioned cotton and I would have killed for a pair of loose cotton shorts and t-shirt some evenings. Dry-fit gets annoying!
John had a great idea about packing so we rented a sleep kit from Moki Mac and brought our own cocoons to sleep in. Great investment…a cocoon is a light weight sheet that provides cover and protection from the public use sleeping bag and it turned out to be very useful. I also got used to my REI blow up pillow. The one night I went without my ne
ck and back were not happy so I dug deeper to fund I the next night and was very happy. The other thing we didn’t prepare well for was food and beverages. Yes, I went 9 days without a Diet Pepsi! It was great! And Tom had packed me 6 beers so I was a water girl the entire trip and I am sure it was really god for me! Next time I would pack more box wine or lite beer and some healthy snacks. I am now addicted to Pringles and that is just too gross!
We finally crashed and I slept well for about 4 hours! When the alarm went off I was up and ready to go quickly. My last hot shower for a week+ and a quick check of our packs and we were off to meet Simone.
No comments:
Post a Comment