Grand Canyon Day 3 -- To the Top

The call it "topping out" when you reach the top of the Grand Canyon (much like they call it "summitting" when you reach the peak of a mountain). On day 3, we began our hike to the top of the Canyon from Indian Gardens.

It was hard. Very hard. Fortunately, the weather had warmed appreciably, so the snow was mostly melted on the way out. But that didn't make it easier. It was 4 1/2 miles walking and 3000 feet of elevation. As you can see, that's a pretty steep climb.

The trip is nicely divided into 3 parts, with rest stops at the 3 mile mark (that is 3 miles from the end) and at the 1 1/2 mile mark. We slogged our way up the trail. I confess that this was much harder than I had anticipated. I think I was not in as good a shape as I had been when climbing in Peru and I was carrying quite a bit of pack weight. With just a mile or so to go, I "bonked." Actually felt light headed and out of breath. I sat down for a recovery, and that helped alot, but oh my.

What made matters worse is that we were passed on the route by one of the park rangers -- the same one who had done the lecture the night before. She started 2 hours after us and passed us, like nobody's business, going up at full steam. I wish I were younger.

On the other hand, nothing beats the feeling of accomplishment at the end of a difficult adventure. We reached the top after 5 hours -- just in time for lunch and a beer. The beer had never tasted so good.

It was the adventure of a life time. The Rosenzweig Brothers Conquer the Canyon, or some such. I'll be bragging on it the rest of my life. Indeed, as I get older, the trip seems to have gotten easier -- now as I recall I ran barefoot; scaled the rock walls without ropes and caught a mountain lion with my bare hands. Or something like that.

Grand Canyon Day 2 -- The Easy Half

Having gone down to the bottom of the canyon in a single 9-mile day, our plan was to take two days to hike back out. The first day going up was going to be the easy day, and so it was. We went up only about 1500 feet and took only about 4 hours. Of course it wasn't a "piece of cake" walk -- we had to go back up the Devil's Corkscrew. And if you think going down was hard ... well, up was much more difficult. At least it was a sunnier and warmer day.

Actually, in some ways this day was the most enjoyable one of the whole trip, at least for me. When we got up to the camp at Indian Garden it was just lunch time. After another pleasant meal ... I took a nap. Jim and I went out and found a warm rock that was heated by the sun, and just lay down to relax. Jim listened to his tunes and I had a short snooze. Heaven.

Later that afternoon we went for a 3 mile walk, out to Plateau Point and back. It is amazing how easy it is to walk on flat ground (no hills) and without a 32 pound pack on your back! Plateau Point is a magnificent overlook, perched about 1500 feet above the Colorado River. Below is a short video I took from up on the plateau that gives a nice sense of the panorama.


After we got back to camp we had a pasta and pesto dinner and then we went to hear a Ranger talk on the "myths and mysteries" of the Canyon. The most notable of them was the story of a married couple that took a honeymoon ride down the Colorado River in the 1920s. They were last seen on the river just below where we were at Phantom Ranch. The boat was later found floating, but empty, down the river The wife disappeared, and the story goes that she might have killed here abusive new husband and walked out. But she was never seen again ... spooky.

That night was notable for only one thing -- how amazingly cold it was. Even though I wore 4 layers of clothing and was inside my sleeping bag (allegedly good down to 32 degrees) I actually woke myself up with my own shivering. Brrr ..... And it didn't help that the next day's climb would be much, much harder on little sleep.