The Grand Canyon!

Well, this trip certainly was eventful. Im going to describe it now, because I missed it out before but it is actually part of the southern Utah trip which was before theTetons and Yellowstone.

Well, we got to the Grand Canyon and decided that we were up for a challange. We decided that it would be fun to hike all the way down to the Colorado River and back up again in the same day. This totals to 16 miles. 16 miles...doesn't sound too bad right? Well...add 44.4 degree celcius heat (112 Farenheit) and that makes it a little harder. Also, it is really really steep going down so that when you get down there, your knees and ankles are painful and THEN you have to go back up the extremely steep acent back to the top. Sounds like fun! Well everywhere we looked there were signs saying (DO NOT HIKE TO THE RIVER AND BACK IN ONE DAY) and then going on to say that we will get dehydrated/heat stroke/we will die/blah bla blah. Anyway we figured that if the National Park Service was going to give a reccomendation, they would HAVE to tell people not to do it otherwise the amount of people that they would have to pull out would be huge due the the level of obesity in america, and people who had NO experience in hiking, would just think "I can do that" and then they would get into trouble whilst down there. Anyway, so we went to a expert to ask for tips and she said that she had to tell us not to do it on the parks behalf, but she persoanlly thought that with the right water/food we looked like we were up to the task. She told us that yes you have to drink alot, but you also have to eat LOADS as well. The reason why most people get stuck is that they dont eat enough and do not have enough energy even though the drink alot. (and let me tell you now, that heat drains your energy fast!) So I took with me about triple the amount of food I would normall take and 6 litres of water. I figured 6 litres would be enough to get me down there to Phantom Ranch where there was a refill point and there were regular refil points on the way up. Our plan was to take the South Kaibob trail to Phantom ranch at the bottom the other side of the Colorado, and the take the Bright Angel Trail bck up to the top, passing Indian Gardens (a back-country camp site half way up the trail where we could refil) and a few other refil points/reshouses on the last and hardest part of the trail near the top! We had everything figured out, we were going to walk 45 mins and then rest for 15 so to let the lactic acid come, and then go again. We were going to eat somthing evey time we rested. I took loads of apples with me, peanut butter sandwiches, peanut cereal bars, peanuts, chips (crisps), and loads of oter stuff.

So we started off down the trail, it was very hot but BRILLIANT! We left at 4:30 am to watch the sun rise and to miss the heat in the middle of the day (11am - 4pm) It was such a fun trail! The views were amazing!!!! We hand fed squirels on the way down which was cool aswell. There were no refil points on the way down. But that was fine. i got through my 6 litres easily. And we kept to all of our rules. We got down there fairly easily although we were tired at the bottom. We arrived there are about 10:30am. There was a small places where you could buy drinks and stuff at the bottom so we all bought lemonade and sent postcards to family which said "carried by mule from the bottom of the grand canyon - Phantom Ranch." so that was cool! We sat outside in the shade for a while and it was so so so hot. 44.4 degree C!!!!!!! Also it was humid because of the Colorado River. So that was unbearable. The energy was drained out of you just by sitting there! We waited at phantom ranch till 4pm (6 hours) till we left as we didnt want to hike in the main heat (thats what we were told to do, and it is DEFINATELY the right descision). We Went to the Colorado so we could say we went to the VERY bottom and we got ourselves wet with the river water. I bought a rock from the colorado back up with me which is cool. We also jumped in a stream and lay ander the water to cool off.

The Acent - the acent was hot and tough, but fun. It didnt feel too bad. We would keep on having to stop and eat to get energy and we all were drinking regulary as we had camelbacks. (little water pouches that go in your bag with a long straw that you can drink out of whilst you walk) so they helped alot. We passed indian gardens and re-filled all of our water. It started getting dark, infact it got very dark and the moon wasnt up yet so there was only starlight. Our torch had broken so all we had no light, but none of us were really worried about that. We carried on about 1.5 miles up the trail. This is where the fun REALLY begins haha. Un-known to me and Nathan, Britney had been pushing herself extra hard to increase her pace so we could get out of the cayon quickly. So her heart beat was at a higher rate. As we were walking along, she was in front whilst me and Nathan were just behind here talking and not really worrying about anything. Suddenly Britney jumped back and shouted RATTLESNAKE!! just we heard the loud and scary sound of a rattlesnake right on the path infront of us!!! Nathan grabbed Brintye and yanked her back whilst I jumped back myself, Brintye then said, "Its coming this way" so Nathan yanked her again! Whilst I as scared as it was dark and I couldn't see the snake, onces we knew it had slithered off to the side, I was fine, and so was Nathan. Britney on the other hand had gone into shock, was shaking, and feel like she was about to pass out. She couldn't stand and we had to sit her down on a rock with her legs elevated and calm her down. We the talked about what we were going to do. On the one hand, we could go up to the top which was still 3 miles and the hardest part of the trail, or we could go back down to Indian Gardens which was 1 mile down hill and stay overnight. Either way we had no light and Britney was finding it hard to stand. We called 911 and spoke to the Canyon rangers thingy. We wanted to see if they could send a ranger up from Indian Gardens to help get us down with Britney. 911 proved to be not very helpful as after much conversation, they said, "you can either go up or go down" which we knew. So we stopped speaking to them. We decided to go down to the ranger station, however we needed a light. Just at that moment a lone hiker came along the trail. He had a torch. We told him our situation and he offered us his torch. We refused, saying it would leave him in too much danger from snakes as they come out at night. He agreed and said he would come down to Indian Gardens with us and stay the night. He was about 22, and was a kinda hippy guy. He was hitch-hiking the U.S and so had no real commitments so it would be fine for him to come down. We thanked him and went down the trail. On the way down we saw another snake, I dont know what it was but it was black and white and looked cool.

When we spoke to the ranger, the first thing he asked was how much we had drank. When I told him I had drank 15 litres and Nathan and Britney said somthing similar, he asked how much we had eaten, again we said ALOT and he asked if we had been going to the toilet and we all said yes. (he was asking me and nathan to, although we didnt really feel bad, we probably could have carried on up to the top but with Britney in that condiditon we couldnt) In the end he put it down to physical exhaustion and and already high heart-rate which induced the shock at the sight of the snake. We ended up camping overnight at the station on picknik tables with out ANY sleeping equipment apart from hard thin foam mats (rollmats) and Britney had a sleeping bag. But that was fine with me I still slept 6 hours or so.

The next day it was very cool to wake up in the grand canyon! We walked up to the top without too much trouble. Britney was still feeling weak so me and the person who hd the torch went ahead so I could pack up our tent as we had to check out of camp by 11am. We definately make the right descision to go back down the trail the night before, the last 3 miles were the steepest and hardest. Getting to the top was a nice feeling. Think that we had gone all the way and and back up again. even if we didnt do it in one day, I know that I COULD have but we had to go down due to the circumstances.

That was probably the best hike I have ever been on! even though it wasn't a moutnain (although it was much harder than any mountain I have ever done, includeing the 3,541m one I did the other day). I enjoyed every single second of the hike and I got to see and do stuff most people NEVER get the chance to. It is a very extreme and harsh enviroment and you have to be equiped/prepared and fit enough. I would definately do it again. And I would recomment it to anyone who is able bodied enough to do it...but it is VERY hard...well...in the mid-summer it is anyway. We all felt very proud with ourself and happy to have done it. I cant wait to do it again!