Here is a description that I wrote to Jacob about the Grand Canyon trip. Pictures are at the end of the blog:
Last week, I took four of the young men and Brother Moss on a 50-mile backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon. The boys were Kyle Sloan, Brad Kennedy, Dillon Moss and Sylver Gonzales. I had Brad and Sylver spend Tuesday night at our house so I wouldn't have to pick them up in the morning. We got up at about 3:50am and picked up the Mosses and drove to the rim of the Grand Canyon where we met the Sloan family. The Sloan's decided to vacation on the rim while we were backpacking.
We got to the south Kaibab trail head at about 1pm and started our descent into the canyon. The trail was about 4-5 feet wide and had many switchbacks. There was no way you could get off the path or you would fall 1000 feet to your death! As we were hiking down, we saw a giant bird with about a 10-foot wing span flying in the canyon. The bird had white feathers on his neck and wings. The bird also had tags (Number 83) and was a rare California Condor! The condor landed about 100 yards in front of us near the trail. A group of students from Berkley took a picture of the bird. We later caught up with the students and asked them to email us a picture of the condor. Hope they do so I can blog the picture!
It took us a while to drop to the Colorado River, cross a suspension bridge, and set up camp in Bright Angel Campground. We were pretty tired, but I took Sylver to listen to a talk given by one of the Grand Canyon rangers on the history of the formation of the Grand Canyon. It was an awesome talk, but I had a hard time staying awake since we had risen so early! After the ranger's talk, I asked her about the condor. She said there were 60 condors in the Grand Canyon, and that the biologist suspected a couple of condors were attempting to hatch their eggs in the neighboring canyons.
The next day (Thursday), we broke camp early and were on the trail by 8am. We started hiking up the Bright Angel Canyon to the Cottonwood Campsite. This campsite was about 8 miles away with an elevation change of about 2000-2500 ft. As we were hiking, I let some of the boys (Sloan and Kennedy) go ahead to pick out a good site. I hiked with Sylver, and we were close to the others most of the way. About a mile before camp, we saw a trail for "Ribbon Falls." We decided to drop our backpacks and take a quick day hike. The day hike was well worth it because ribbon falls was so beautiful! The small stream of water came out of the red rocks and landed on a big rock covered with bright green moss! The color contrasts were stunning! After taking a bunch of pictures, we went back to our packs and hiked into the Cottonwood Campsite where we set up our tents and waited for the Mosses.
We decided (me, Sloan, Kennedy, and Gonzales) to start hiking to the North Rim at 2pm. The Mosses got to the campsite at about 1:30 and the four of us got ready to go to the North Rim. We had a little water and a couple of flashlights. After hiking about 2.5 miles, we discovered an awesome rangers' cabin. There was no one in the cabin, but the bathroom door was left open. The bathroom had a flush toilet, hot running water, and a space heater. I was so glad that I brought my biodegradable soap and towel and could take a quick, hot bath over the sink! Outside of the cabin was a basketball court and ball, as well as horseshoes! We didn't stay long and headed out for the North Rim.
As we hiked a few more miles, we saw the source of the Bright Angel Creek Roaring Springs. Roaring Springs is a spring which gushes out of a rock cliff and falls a few hundred feed to the canyon floor. It was pretty spectacular. It was starting to rain lightly, so we decided not to spend too much time at the springs and to keep heading up the canyon to the North Rim. At Roaring Springs, the trail starts to climb at a steeper grade.
As we were climbing, the rain was getting us a bit wet, but we weren't cold since the hike was hard and we were hot from the hiking. We came to this narrow trail with an extremely steep drop off. Some of the boys couldn't resist and attempted the world's record vertical urination! We kept going further and came to a spot where the echoes were fantastic. There seemed to be a two-minute delay before the echo would return to us. One of the boys threw a rock, which sounded like a shot gun going off in the canyon. It was spectacular!
By now, our elevation was getting higher. With the higher elevation came colder weather, and the light rain turned to sleet. Soon the sleet became light snow, then heavy snow. Brad was starting to get cold and wanted to head back. I told him to keep going until we found a spot on the trail with an overhang of rocks so that he could keep dry. I told Sylver to stay with him (the buddy system) and told him that Kyle and I would be back in about an hour. This was about 6pm. Kyle and I kept hiking. Kyle was bound and determined to make it to the top of the North Rim. In reality, we were only within about 1 mile to the top. We kept going, passed through a tunnel, and at about 7pm we decided we were close enough. The trail was covered in about 6 inches of fresh snow and it would be getting dark soon.
I felt bad about not having the other boys return to the warm rangers' cabin. They were so obedient., but I know that Brad must have been close to getting hypothermia since his coat was wet when he stopped, and there was still about 4 inches of snow where we left them. As Kyle and I started heading down the trail, the walk was less tiring, but I was getting a bit scared as it got dark. The snow had quit falling, but the visibility was poor due to some cloud covering. I thought, "What if someone dies up here?" We would be hiking down a 4-foot wide trail with shear drop-offs on the sides! I might as well die as tell one of the moms what we were doing up that canyon in a snow storm in the dark!
Soon we met Sylver on the trail just as we lost all of our light. Luckily Sloan had a headlamp, but Sylver's flashlight did not have any battery power. I didn't want to use my light since I needed both hands to steady my two hiking poles over the steep grade in the snow. I got the two boys together and we said a heartfelt prayer. We prayed that our legs would be strong, and that we wouldn't step on any rocks in the dark that would cause us to fall or twist an ankle. We prayed that the clouds would part and provide enough light to see the trail so that we could make it back to camp. Soon after I prayed, the clouds parted and the full moon shown as a lamplight over our heads. We could see the trail and were guided down the canyon in safely.
We made it back to camp by 10 pm. It had been raining in the canyon. We were tired and cold. After a quick dinner, I told the boys that they could sleep in a long as they liked. We had hiked over 21 miles that day with an elevation change of about 10,000 feet (5,000 up and 5,000 down). Only 8 of the miles were with backpacks. What an adventure.
The next day, we had to dry all of our gear out. We also had a good nights' rest after the grueling Thursday ascent and descent from the North Rim! We broke camp around 1 or 2 pm. I told the Mosses to go ahead and that I would bring up the rear. Brad also went with the Mosses. Since it was just me, Kyle, and Sylver, I decided to take the boys back to Ribbon Falls and show Kyle the awesome waterfall. When we got to the falls, we found a family from Illinois eating lunch--a Dad, Mom, 18-year old daughter (Lauren), 10-year old daughter, and son. Sylver thought Lauren was "ho,"t but he was too shy to talk to her.
We (me, Kyle, and Sylver) left the falls and started hiking along Bright Angel Creek so that Kyle could do a little fishing. Since he had purchased a fishing license earlier, I thought he needed to at least try some fishing on this trip. As we were waiting for Kyle to catch a fish, Lauren's family came by and we helped them cross the creek so they could get to the main trail. The family was real impressed with our good deed!
As we were hiking back to Bright Angel Campground, we kept running into Lauren's family. We got to know Lauren a bit and Sylver really had a bad crush on the girl. She was 4 years older than him and 1.5 feet taller! We hiked ahead, and Sylver wrote "Hy Lauin" with a big heart after her name in the dirt on the trail. I talked to her later and she got a big kick out of the whole thing!
That evening (Friday) Brad and Kyle went fishing in the Colorado River. We ate dinner, had a fireside, and visited the Phantom Ranch Cantina. We went to bed so that we could get up early the next morning.
We got out of bed at about 4am but didn't leave until about 6am. I heard that Lauren's family had left at about 8am. As we started our hike out of the canyon, it was pitch dark--darker than when we had descended from the North Rim. I know that we had guardian angles watching over us as we walked down from the North Rim. God lives and loves us!
We (Tom Moss and I) made it out of the canyon by 4pm. The other boys made it out at 12pm and 2pm. Lauren's family made it to the top at about the same time that Tom and I came out. I think we were slow since we carried all the weight--I carried two tents! As you can tell, we had a great time in the Grand Canyon and wish you could have been there with us.PICTURES: Information Center
Top of Kaibab trail head:
First sight of the canyon:
Burros:
Hiking down to the river:
Cactus flowers at the bottom:
Cabin at Phantom Ranch:
Sylver hiking to Ribbon Falls:
On the way to Ribbon Falls:
Look at all the Moss!:
Sunlight through the back of the waterfall:
The following photos were taken as 4 of us decided to ascend the North Rim. This is Roaring Springs. The water comes out of the rocky canyon wall!:
This canyon wall was pretty and had the most awesome echoes I have ever heard:
Here was the beginning of our snowfall. Notice how Brad's coat was already wet from the rain that started at lower elevations. We weren't cold yet since we had been doing a lot of strenuous hiking.
The snow kept falling:
The North Rim was gorgeous:
As we started to head down the rim, we had a little bit of light still:
Then soon only the moonlight:
The following day we headed for Bright Angel Campground:
We stopped at our favorite waterfall--Ribbon Falls. Remember, we were in 6 feet of snow the previous day!:
Daylight, night shadows, and the moon in the bottom of the canyon:
Spring weather conditions were a perfect way to hike out of the canyon. The flowers and animals were abundant:
The far canyon in back of me is Bright Angel Canyon. It's the canyon with Ribbon Falls and Roaring Springs:
Here are Sylver and Loren:
These are the six brave men who hiked the Grand Canyon. Our next adventure--a 60-mile rafting trip!:
