Race Report.....NO Hike Report ( Grand Canyon)

We left our house at 4:45 am on Saturday ( after 2 hours of sleep) flew to Las Vegas drove 5 hours to the Canyon and arrived there very tired at 5pm. First time I saw the canyon I thought no way am I going up and down that. Looked so steep and dangerous ( I don't like danger). All I could think about was how 250 people a year are recused from the Grand Canyon and like 20 die. I just kept telling myslef this really means a lot to Nolan and just need to be extra careful. We checked into out bare bones hotel room ( that is what they have there). I was laying around when Nolan went out to take some pictures. He came back after awhile and said Laura you need to come out. I did and there were 3 California Condors outside the hotel. There is only 300 in the world and they have 9 feet wingspan. After that I went to the gift shop to buy a condor animal for Baron and saw a nice book called DEATH IN THE CANYON.... Note not good to sit and read before you do the hike. Yes many people that have died there were being stupid ( we saw some of that). But, some were just freak accidents.

We got a sort of good night sleep then checked out are hotel and caught a shuttle to take us to the North Kaibab Trail. This is the steepest trail in the canyon and there is no water stops the whole way. There is a trail....But it is very narrow and if you slip and go off you are falling hundreds of feet. The funny thing is we were on this bus and we did NOT fit in. I insisted on wearing running clothes and running shoes. Nolan tried to talk me out of this but I knew they were comfy. Everyone had hiking clothes, hiking shoes, ect. And it was very cold on the top 40 degrees and 30 miles hour wind. Sometimes people get hypotherma and heat stroke on the same day. And all we had on were long sleeve t- shirts and shorts. People had jackets and hats. Everyone had 2 hiking poll... Nolan had one. And we only had one small back pack/camelback for both of us. Everyone had packs double our size and each person had one. Even a teenage girl that weighed about 100 lbs had a huge pack. People were probably looking at us like they are going to get resuced! We just explained we packed really light so it would be easier to hike. We did have some extras: first aid kit, flashlights, and a backpacking tent ( just no covers, pillows, sleeping pad, or sleeping bag)

We started the hike at 5:45 am. It took us 4:46 mins to make it 8.5 miles down. For an average of 34.01 per mile ( I had my Garmin). It was even hard going down as you really had to watch your footing and we stopped to take pictures. We arrived at the Colorado Rive aroung 10:30. We had to cross a suspension brige to get across the river. WOW that was hard. Then we went to the Phantom Ranch ( everything there comes down from mules). Were Nolan had arranged for us to have a sack lunch. It was a mix of a whole bunch of stuff. It had a bagel with cram cheese and we both don't like cream cheese. But, we decided this was one of the best things we had ever ate. We then layed under a shade tree by a creek. We had time to kill as we were not strating the hike up till 2pm ( the experts say stay off the trail from 10 am to 2 pm and don't hike it in one day).

At 1:45 we started the leg to our campground . We did 5 miles in 2:26 for a 29.25 average. This was the easier leg not as steep ( most of that would be on the second day). I gave Nolan a little break and carried the pack for about 2.5 miles. We arrived before 5 to Indian Garden- it is called that since it is a lush area in the middle of the canyon. We had a nice area to set up camp. After eating some trail mix for dinner. We only brought that and cliff bars for are meals ( less space). But, we had the worse night of sleep ever!!!! Horrible. It was so cold, the ground was so hard I swore it was brusing my body. Nolan gave me his long sleeve shirt and I put around my legs. Oh well we can sleep later.

We woke up the next morning ( did we even sleep) we packed up camp and left on the last hard journey at 6am. I carried the 40 lb pack almost the way this time. Nolan would of made it but he was having to stop for breaks every .20 of a mile it was taking him double me so he only carried if for 1/2 mile. We did this leg of 4.14 miles in 3:09 for an average of 45:43. This was tough I was breathing heavy the whole way out. And my legs are sore. But, we made it to the top.


A couple of funny thing on the trip.... We learned that everyone wanted to share with us. They were jealous of our small pack and wished the packed less. There is no trash or anything in the canyon so everything you carry in you have to carry out. So people were always offering us food, ect. They were like we took to much you want it. It was very funny.

We lost two things on the trip.... my glasses. We have no idea if they are on the trail or left in the hotel .. they just vanished. And Nolan's trekking poll he was going to hang it up in his bar. He made it to the top with it. But, I guess when we stopped to take pics at the top we left it.

We also met so many intersting nice people. There were people doing this hike that were really old and it was there dream to do this. One guy we met was by himself and was a judge from Indiana. He almost died 2 years ago and weighed 350 lbs and now weighs 200lbs and made a promise to his son and grandchildren to get in shape. And told his son he would hike Mt St. Helens with him. he did that. I asked if he trained for this ( still slightly overweight) he said he would run 5 miles with a 40 lb pack on him on gravel. I can not do that! It's amazing what people can do if they put there mind to it. I saw a 70 year old man at the campground with blisters all over his feet that was with a guide that wanted to do this before he died . He was almost done with a 5 day trip in the canyon.

We have also learned that if we wanted to we could of hike the Canyon in one full day. We saw some people doing this. It is not allowed as they say it is too dangerous. We did go pretty fast.

We had a really good time. Thanks to Oma and Opa for watching the kiddos. They our having a blast. I will have pictures from all their fun stuff next week. We are now in Las Vegas. Nolan is doing work and I am just entertaining myself.