Jeremy picked me up in the Four Seasons’ truck and we scooted around to pick up Tanya and Chad from their meeting point. It was about 1 and a half hours to our starting point and we all chatted on the way and got to know each other a little better. After all, we were about to spend three days together in some of the most remote terrain on earth, so it was only right that we know each other well before we start.
You can imagine my surprise when I find out that Tanya is a nurse navigator at a hospital in Minnesota - it seems that I naturally gravitate toward nurses!
We got to the Grandview Trail trailhead and Jeremy handed out the extra supplies that we would be carrying over the next three days. I was given the Gatorade and drink additives and the others carried all of our daily snacks. All of us were given our own bowls and cups to carry, as well as a toiletries pack.
Now let me set the scene. This hike, over three days, would see us descend 3500 feet into the Canyon, camping overnight at Cottonwood Creek. We would carry everything in with us - water, food, bedding, tent, clothes, toiletries and all other equipment. Luckily we only had to carry 30-35 pounds each, while Jeremy carried about 80 pounds of gear. We were only going to walk 6 miles (about 10kms) - how hard could it be? Turns out it was pretty tough as we spent most of the day descending, which puts a real load on the knees. My right knee blew up a bit, and with the combined lack of sleep, throwing up and nausea (which meant I didn’t eat much throughout the day), I had a pretty rough time, with a bit of light-headedness. I was feeling like a total idiot, but Jeremy brought out an umbrella to shade me from the hot sun and we were soon headed to our first campsite.
We had heard that the creek had run dry, however when we got there there was a light flow - enough that we could draw water if we had needed it.
Highlights from Day 1:
1 - saw my first tarantula on the trail. He was very cool and even raised his rear end up in warning
2 - realised I was hiking with three very supportive people. They were so encouraging and supportively generous that they put my self-doubt to rest
3 - I was down in the canyon. Like really down. Like surrounded on all sides by some of the most breath-taking geological features
4 - slept with the fly off the tent so I could just gaze up at the stars throughout the night.
5 - Jeremy’s cooking skills - we had Chicken fajitas for dinner and they were great!
6 - finding out we only needed to carry out our used TP and not all of our waste. So we could dig cat holes for the waste, but had to take out any non-natural items.
7 - the silence. It was so quiet out in the middle of the canyon that you could believe you had lost your hearing - it was eerily silent at first, but you began to get used to it after a few hours of it.
Day 2 - wake to coffee brewing and breakfast cooking. Breakfast burritos - bacon and scrambled eggs made with Hatch green chilies- what an awesome treat! I’d slept fitfully - having subconscious dreams of medivac rescues, dying in my tent and generally negative thoughts. At the visitor centre there was a sign that noted that there were two kinds of travellers in the canyon - those who do it once and never hike again, and those who fall in love and return again and again. If you had asked me at the end of day 1, I would have easily said I was the first type of person, questioning my very sanity and ability to do this task.
Pack up our camp and head out on the trail where we would head towards our lunch site looking down to the Colorado River and then winding around the west arm of Horseshoe Mesa on the Tinto Trail and up to our second night’s camp site. A shorter day on the legs but gaining back 1000 feet of the elevation lost. I managed to get cactus spines stuck in my foot (through my shoe) and had to dig some of the finer spines out of my toes and thumb.
Highlights Day 2:
1 - once again, the people I spent the day and night with. While I was much slower, they were always encouraging and never made me feel less for it. Generosity of spirit in spades!
2 - our lunch site - a lovely charcuterie board of cheeses, salami, crackers, dates, spring peas and cucumber. Sitting on the edge of the cliffs looking down to the Colorado River and watching some paddlers going through a section of rapids. My travel companions are both avid paddlers, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be seeing Facebook posts of them travelling the Colorado sometime in the future!
3 - dinner - miso soup and chicken teriyaki - Jeremy could make delicious meals out of just a few freeze-dried pouches.
4 - the sunset over the Mesa was like nothing I’d seen before, so many colours bouncing off so many points around us - the most gorgeous light show, all for free thanks to Mother Nature.
5 - sleeping once again under so many stars. The Milky Way looks spectacular with zero light pollution. I was especially happy to wake during the night and be able to identify a few constellations from back home - Leo Minor and major, Canis Major, Orion, Taurus and Pleiades. Added Cassiopeia, Ursa Major and Minor to the repertoire and felt just a little more connected back home.
6 - finding I still had a piece of cactus splinter in my pinkie toe at 2am - only to have it work it’s own way out by 5am
Day 3 and we wake early to watch the sun rise over the Mesa. Spectacular light show once again and after a breakie if bagels and coffee, our final day stretched ahead of us. Pretty much climbing the entire day (gaining back 2500 feet over 3 miles) with a smaller amount of water as we were running a little low. Went to the composting loo before I left - the first toilet in three days. It was literally a loo surrounded by 3 walls, so as you sit and do your business, you are looking out over the most beautiful vista - it’s the ultimate loo with a view.
It was a tough days’ climbing, and the self-doubt was creeping in again, but with my very own cheer squad waiting for me at the end and willing me the last 100m, it was done. I was exhausted and elated. I cried as I took those final steps. There were high fives and hugs all round and I can’t thank Jeremy, Chad and Tanya enough for their support. They got me through one of the most challenging experiences of my life.
Day 3 highlights:
1 - that sunrise
2 - finding the inner strength to just keep pushing through the pain to continue to the end
3 - re-finding my self belief
4 - that feeling of accomplishment as I took those final steps and sharing in the experience with three amazing human beings
5 - making new friends through those experiences
I’ve glossed over a lot. I might write further about this later, but for now a recap is enough. I’ll add a few pics here, but I have more on cameras that I’ll consolidate back home. The biggest learning - hiking in the Grand Canyon is unlike hiking anywhere else. The final day was 3 miles and took just over 3 hours. The guides plan on 1 mile per hour and regularly stop for breaks to recover on both climbs and descents. It is some of the most amazing back country in the world with the chance to camp in some of the most remote areas on earth. There was no easy exit strategy, no short cuts, it was all or nothing. So glad I chose to do this, and looking forward to a Yosemite adventure in the future.
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