The Grand Canyon, Take II...

This is the first spring break that I can remember where I have stayed in town for the majority of the week. There has always been family vacations, camping trips with friends or excursions to warmer climates. That's what spring break is about isn't it? The family trip came in January this year, the friends were uncoordianted and the money wasn't around to take a few days somewhere else. So, here I stay.

Monday began with a bang in the big hole in the ground, the Grand Canyon. Last August I decided to hike from the South Rim to Phantom Ranch, 9 miles down the Bright Angel Trail. This time, my brother wanted to do the same thing. The weather was cooler, the first mile had packed snow/ice covering it and the hordes of people were far from the same as was in August. Did the trip become easier? Hardly.

We started out at 5:40am from Flagstaff. Got to the Canyon at 7:00 and were on the trail by 7:30. I don't own yaktrax, and I didn't even think about using them. I have never hiked in the canyon when there was snow on the trail and wasn't thinking about the repercussions of doing so. Needless to say, the first mile or so was pretty sketchy. It was hard packed with ice. It was small steps and hoping we didn't fall down into the mule dookie. We made it and kept truckin. We stopped shortly at Indian Gardens, 4.5 miles from the top and took a break. But, we were in a rhythm and kept huffing down the trail. My brother and I hike pretty fast and we were passing people all the way down. Made it to the river (which was my brother's first time) and over the Silver Bridge and up to Phantom by 11am, in time for lunch.

The weather, compared to Flagstaff was gorgeous down there although my brother and I both agreed 5 degrees more would have been even more enjoyable. But, you can't always have perfection. We relaxed on the benches in front of the cantina and were off, back up the trail at noon. We still had 9 miles and roughly a mile of vertical gain before we were done.

The sun was great. It kept us warmer than when we were coming down and not until mile-and-a-half house did I need to put my sweatshirt back on. Then it was just one foot in front of another until we reached the top. I could tell my brother was hurting a little, but he kept truckin and I am so proud of him for doing it. Altogether we hiked for roughly 8 hours with an hour break at the bottom. Not bad for a day.

It is now the third day since completion and my legs are just feeling better. I never understand why I do things that cripple me for so long.