Hi, howdy, hello everyone! After nearly a year gone, I have another week of adventures to share. Accompanying on this journey was an exciting cast of new and old adventurers: Tad, Reuben, Nevan, Jacob, Caleb, Tanner, Cole, Caleb, Rachael, and Kylie all took part in our heists and hi-jinks. For this Spring Break, we loaded into our cars and took off for the Grand Canyon.
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| The GC Crew |
We left on Saturday at a dark and lovely 4 AM in three cars filled to the brim with people, food, and gear. I'll spare you the details of how the next 14 hours went, but I'm sure you can guess (it was long and we drove through New Mexico). We arrived at our campsite which was one mile outside of the Grand Canyon National Park, set up our tents and crashed. It was late in the evening hours before we expected to wake up when we received a sharp wake up call. Perhaps not sharp but cold. Really, really cold. While we did come prepared with all levels of 30 degree sleeping bags, sleeping pads, and warm clothes to sleep in, we were not prepared for the intense levels of cold that happened that night.
On Sunday we had a leisurely rise, packed our lunches, and headed towards the Grand Canyon for our light hiking day. Upon arrival the sight of the Grand Canyon was more than beautiful. It was overwhelming. In cartoons, it is common to see a character's jaw hit the floor when seeing something beautiful or surprising. The only thing stopping my jaw from hitting the floor was the simple fact that human biology would not allow it. The Canyon was magnificent, beautiful, gargantuan, and all together incomprehensible.
We began our hike along the south rim, stopping for pictures every so often, and trying to figure out just how big the darn monument was. We stopped a few miles into the hike to have a short worship service, to pray, and to take in the size of God's creation. After that, we spent hours looking around the South Rim before heading back to camp and cooking up some tasty pancakes.
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| The small point in the middle at the end of the trail will be our destination tomorrow |
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| Panaroma of the Grand Canyon |
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| Classic View of GC |
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| Nevan falling off of tall places again |
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| The sheer size of the Canyon was impossible to determine with the eye |
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| Tanner on the overlook rock |
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| Rachael on the overlook rock |
Monday, unlike Sunday, was an early start, big hiking day. Four of us left before 6 AM to see the sunrise, and the rest of us left an hour later. We met at the trail head of Bright Angel Trail at 8:30, and began our hike down to Plateau Point 6 miles away and 3300 feet down. The hike down was easy, cool, pleasant, and beautiful. The Indian Garden popped out as a lush green valley in the middle of a scorching desert. Finally the Plateau Point overlooked the river itself slowly cutting into the Canyon. While the hike into the Canyon was beautiful, the hike out was less so. The temperature jumped from 60 to the high 80s while we ate our lunch at the plateau, and our water seemed to vanish much more quickly than it had before. While pictures can never do the Grand Canyon justice, and the eye can still struggle to understand the scale, the hike back up to the top taught my legs just how massive the Canyon was.
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| What was once a small strip of rock along the canyon is now a massive cliff face |
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| Deeper in the Canyon |
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| Looking forward to our destination |
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| The Halo of the Canyon |
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| Desert View inside the Canyon |
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| Plateau Point |
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| The Colorado River |
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| More of the Colorado River |
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| Tired |
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| Tired |
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| Tired |
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| Tired |
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| LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |
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| Looking at where we started |
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| Indian Garden |
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| Stream that gives the garden life |
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| Amazing Colors from a clear sky |
To recover from Monday, we had a light and easy Tuesday. Most of us who did not see sunrise the previous morning woke up early to watch it. which consisted of finding a spot along the Canyon, sitting, and reading a book. The light breeze brushed along the cliff side, the talkative families ran to and fro, and the Canyon stood still. It reminded us just how big it was in every sight, and in every stinking pain in every stinking muscle on our bodies.
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| Sunrise over the Canyon |
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| Reuben at Sunrise (Feat. Jacob) |
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| Early Morning at Powell Point |
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| CALEB IS A PRAIRIE DOG |
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| My view from where we were reading |
Wednesday, we packed up camp and drove back to Albuquerque. Because we had three cars, we took liberty in what we did. One set of people visited the Petrified Forest on the way, another group stopped in the retro Owl Cafe, and a different set went to a cliff side restaurant that evening. The interesting new piece of information I learned about Albuquerque was that they have GORGEOUS pink trees that bloom this time of year. A very lucky sight to see.
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| Albuquerque's pink trees |
On Thursday we drove to Carlsbad and hiked through Carlsbad Cavern. Though I had been to a cave before, I had never had the chance to exit through a natural entrance which was a unique experience. We drove to our final campsite at Brantley Lake, and enjoyed one last night under the immaculate stars before driving back on Friday.
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| Carlsbad Cavern's "Doll Theatre" |
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| Two rocks barely seperated |
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| Natural Exit/Entrance to the Cavern |
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| Setting Sun on Brantley |
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| The wind was a bit strong at Brantley Lake |
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| Trail to the Lake |
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| Last spot of day disappears over the lake |
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| Setting up camp |
That's about it. We went, we saw, we hiked, we felt much pain in our bodies. It was a fantastic time. Hope you have a great week, and I will be sure to keep you updated on any future adventures.
Smell a flower
-Tad Kile
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