RIM TO FREAKING RIM!!!!!!!!!!

Are you ready for this????

Now, something I failed to mention earlier was that I FINALLY got work off to hike the GRAND CANYON!!!  That in and of it self was a miracle!!!!  But what comes next is a miracle as well so I hope you enjoy.

Beware, this will be VERY long and will have TONS of pictures, I'm going to try and place the pictures when they were taken, so don't mind the break in the story!!!

So I've HIKED THE GRAND CANYON!!!!!!!!!!!
Last Saturday was one of the most AWESOME/tiring/depressing/AMAZING day of my life.  The hardest thing I've EVER DONE!!!!!  I don't think I could have done anything to prepare myself for how mentally, emotionally and physically taxing that hike is.  So let's start from the beginning.

I barely got the Saturday we planned to hike off.  Talk about stressful!  So asking for the Friday before was asking too much, I even asked and was told that, so there was no way I could have it off.  David wasn't able to get it off either so that made me feel a little better.  Still, we couldn't go with Bro. Hinton (who I'm going to call Gary from now on to save typing time) early morning.  I was kind of sad because I've never been to the Grand Canyon and I wanted to see it in the day light.  So our plan was to leave at 8:30 pm, get there around 4:30 am, hopefully getting some sleep on the way.  The Jackson's let us use their Suburban to drive up and we had Dad (driver), Me, Jamie, David, Braden, Porter, and my friend Katherine, oh and Elle Dog got invited to keep Dad company.  We had a full car but should have been pretty comfy. 

So the day of came and I had work super early and I didn't have time to get anything together.  Then my Dad kept calling me at work, because there was a hitch in the plans.  Gary's brother-in-law was taking a bus to get to Mesa, from the LA area and the bus had broken down.  Well the rest of the group, including Gary, didn't want to wait the 4-5 hours it was going to take for him to get here, so the phone calls were to see what my thoughts were on adding one more person in the car.  I didn't know how badly this would suck.  I got off work, packed my pack then ate a TON of spaghetti.  Not only was I hungry but it tasted so good and I needed a lot of carbs for energy the next day.  We got everything packed into the car and about 8:30-45 and we were on the road.  Introducing Bro. Bob...  he was quite the character.  I really didn't get to meet before we got in the car, but we placed him in the front seat... that way no one had to sit with him and the guest could be comfortable.  So the rest of the seating arrangements went a little like this, in the middle bench we had Jamie, David, Braden, & Porter, then it was Me, Katherine, & Ellie in the back seat.  I thought having Ellie in the back with us was a good idea because she's small and would probably sleep the whole time.  Well she slept most of the way but all over me and Katherine.  It was sooooo uncomfortable!  In Flagstaff we stopped and got gas and to go the bathroom.  As we were getting back in the car, we all looked at the Wendy's next door and thought hmmmm that sounds delicious.  It was midnight and we went through the drive thru and we all got some food.  You would have thought Bro. Bob hadn't eaten in weeks with how much food he ordered.  I mean it was midnight...  David offered to pay for dinner for the fam to help with gas money.  Bro. Bob thought that was the nicest  gesture and wanted to think him.  So Bro Bob said that the next time Jamie and David are in LA they are supposed to call him and he can get them into this exclusive AWEOSME Castle thing.  At first it seemed kinda cool but as he continued talking we realized this guy is CRAZY! It's like a magicians clubhouse.  Pretty dumb if you ask me... haha

So we left Wendy's ate our food... and were pretty tired.  Then.. David was thinking my Dad would fall asleep so he TALKED THE WHOLE TIME!!!!!!!  I thought I might have been able to sleep a little bit if he would have stopped talking for just a little bit.  Braden had moved to the back where our packs were and made himself a nice little bed.  I decided to invite myself to his bed and slept for maybe 45 min until we got to the North Rim at about 3:30.  That's when I got some sleep!  We put the middle seat down and had a little more room to lay down.  My Dad woke me up at about 4:30 and we started getting ready and ate breakfast.  Through most of preparing for the Grand Canyon, it gave me a better idea on Gary and thinking he's more normal than I've thought before.  But before your mind starts getting the wrong idea, man is he still so funny.  He was getting frustrated that one of Jay Smith's daughters had moved the table in their cabin and it was really funny, she was like well where did you expect me to sleep?  Haha

The whole gang!  From Left to right, Katherine, Braden, Jamie, David, Jerold, Porter, Ruthetta's 3 kids, Ruthetta, her Husband, Denise, ME, and the Bro Bob!!!!!

I mostly love this picture for Jamie and Katherine's faces :)

Me and Katherine were in the back an we stayed back with Bro. Smith's daughter Ruthetta, and we stayed with her too long, she was going pretty slow so we left her and sped up.  

I was hoping to catch up with Jamie and the boys but we caught up with Ruthetta's family (her husband, brother (Jerold), and 2 daughters) at first they were going really slow too and so after a while we passed them and were on our own (me and Katherine).  

 Look how pretty!!!!
We were just plugging along when we came to a fork in the road.  One way went up and the other went down towards a bridge.  Neither looked too appealing, but all that was going on in my mind was how Gary said ALWAYS "Choose the Right" but I wasn't getting a good feeling about going towards the bridge.  But we decided the right it was.  When we got to the bridge, it looked way crappy (not to mention creepy) like the worst of what we had been on thus far.

We were second guessing our decision when a girl appeared on the other side of the bridge and was coming our way.  She had gone ahead of her group and was by herself but didn’t think she was on the right trail.  And we weren’t sure either.  She asked if we had a phone (her’s wasn’t working) but mine miraculously was.  She tried calling her friend but no one answered.  So the three of us decided to go back to the fork and wait for someone to come along.  Just as we were coming up there was a group heading our way. 

So we met this group coming down towards the bridge and we thought oh maybe we were on the right path so we asked them if this led to Phantom Ranch and he laughed (like that was such a dumb question) and he was like no this trail goes down to the Rainbow Waterfalls, it’s about 2 miles to get there if you want to come… we were like add 4 miles to the already 24 we are already hiking… no thank you!  It made me sad though that I didn’t trust the spirit when we started going to wrong way, but turned out ok in the end.  So we got back on the right trail, it was definitely harder than the one we were just on and that also goes to show the route that seems easier may be easy at first but it might make your journey much longer than needed.  At this time we tried just going at a steady pace and we hadn’t been with any group for quite some time and I thought for sure that Jay Smith’s family had passed us on our little detour but all of a sudden they came out of nowhere and they are HAULING!  It took a lot more effort to stay up with them but we decided that we needed to pick it up anyways so we stayed with them for quite awhile and then Jerold he is Jay Smith’s son and Ruthetta’s brother.  He was the second in line of our pack and all of a sudden he fell.  It didn’t look too bad, like he had slipped on loose rocks, but when we got up to him to see the damage his finger was cut badly!  Like the tip of the finger almost cut off.  It looked so painful and I felt sooo bad.  So their group stopped to clean up the finger and to bandage it up.  Me and Katherine felt a little awkward standing there, we didn’t know them that well… so we left.  Yes I know we are horrible people but we thought we needed to keep going to keep our energy going.  That little canyon took FOREVER to get through.  It looked like if you got around the corner you would come to an opening or the river, but nope just followed along the stream and kept plugging along.  It was sooo beautiful though.  

The canyon’s with the different colors of rock and then the all green shrubbery, all I could do was to keep taking pictures, hoping they would capture even the slightest bit of the greatness of it.  

After what seemed like FOREVER we finally came to this semi-clearing that had a map.  We stopped to look at the map to see how close we were to Phantom Ranch and guess what… we had made it!  We didn’t think we’d make it there that fast.  It was about 11:30 and that’s when we met up with Jamie, actually the only time we met up with Jamie, and we chatted with them for a little bit and ate lunch and just relaxed.  It was sooo nice to take my shoes and socks off and let some air get to my skin.  I had two little blisters so Jamie hooked me up with some moleskin and they didn’t bother me at all for the rest of the hike.  Jamie, David, Porter, Braden, Denise (Jay’s other daughter) and one of Ruthetta’s daughters left while we were finishing up our lunch and after they left was when Bro. Hinton and Bro Bob made it into Phantom Ranch.

I bought me a Phantom Ranch t-shirt (the only place you can buy one in the WORLD!), got our shoes back on, filled our backpacks with water, and packed up our trash to start the ascent.  There was this group of older people hiking that put us to shame but they were at Phantom Ranch and this lady had bought a bag of ice for their packs and had extra.  So she asked if we had wanted the extra.  That was quite the treat, especially when the hard ascents came!!! 

We had left with Jerold, Ruthetta and her husband and her other 2 kids.  Her husband was worried we were going to take the wrong turn off, but we hadn’t come to the sign yet so I wasn’t too worried.  We found the sign and walked the trail that takes you to the Colorado River. 

 Talk about an amazing RIVER!!! 
It was sooo cool to see up close and those mountains are sooo beautiful. 

 Me and Katherine took some pictures on the bridge, which was kind of sketchy.  It was all metal, but sooo shaky.  The wind shook the whole thing but then it also moved when you walked on it.  And you’re so high about the river it’s quite the feeling.  That was probably my favorite part, walking across that bridge.  

 We turned towards the right (CTR) to start the Bright Angel Trail.  
It started off uphill and then after a while we reached sand, uphill sand, and it was dumb.  That’s the only word I can think of, walking in the dang sand trying to go up, just killed my legs and knees, but we just kept going.  The trail kept fluctuating going uphill for a while, then downhill, and before this all the trials were pretty shaded but once we turned this corner after the C River it was very much in the sun.  It was just draining.  Then we got to these SUPER steep switch backs.  

 I was thinking that this HAD to be the worst part of the whole hike, little did I know what was to come.  This is where our group split off, I just couldn’t keep up with them.  Katherine was helping me to keep going but it was sooo hard!!!!  This is the part in the hike that started to get really pretty though.

When we got to the top of those first stairs/switchbacks, I thought I’d never make it!  Me and Katherine decided to take a short break, eating snacks and taking pictures.  We also decided if we needed some music to pump us up!  So we put our headphones in one ear so we could still hear the other person and we continued on!  It was soooooo pretty walking through the next section before Indian Gardens.  I took quite a few pictures.  

Then we finally got to Indian Gardens and had a short break and I sent picture messages to a couple of people :).  We met these two Mormon guys down there and they were so nice and funny.  They were older and married but they were fun to talk to during our break.  We caught up to Ruthetta, her husband (who I still don’t know what his name is) and Jerold and were able to chat with them too.  As we were packing up, Gary and Bro Bob strolled up and we chatted with them as well.  

 Then we were off with no idea what lied ahead of us!  (We only had to climb to the top of those cliffs not big deal right?)

Ps... this sign is right outside of Indian Gardens... I guess we aren't too smart :)
We had so much energy coming out of Indian Gardens, but it didn’t last long, especially when those wretched switchbacks started.  I mean, it’s ONLY 4 miles from Indian Gardens to the top and we had already traveled 20 miles, how bad could it really be?  
That was my mind set at least. 

As we kept climbing, we got to the 1 ½ mile marker that had water and a bathroom, and decided not to take a break for fear we would stop and not want to start back up.  So we pressed on.  A little bit after that we ran into these other 2 boys that were really cute that had passed us a while back.  Me, having the big mouth that I have was like, how and when did we pass you guys!  And they were like you girls are just machine’s and are making great time.  It made us laugh because that was far from the truth.  (They had told us that they had started at the North Rim at 5 am so I was feeling pretty good that we were keeping up with them since we started 30 min after them).  Then, they were like we should just hike together so you don’t make us look bad.  So we stayed with them for a little bit.  Found out they were from Salt Lake and were planning on sleeping at the South Rim that night (Sat) and then hiking back to the North Rim the next day.  I can’t even imagine sleeping 1 night and getting up and hiking it again!  I don’t think I’d be able to get myself back in that canyon anytime the next week.  So we hiked and chatted with them for a little while, but they were going way too fast and by this time I was dying!  Ok not dying yet, but my short legs couldn’t keep up.  So we parted ways, I wish we would have gotten a picture with them, but sadly I didn’t.  After those boys left us in the dust is when it got really hard!!!  I seriously didn’t think I was going to make it.  Talk about the worst 3 miles EVER!!!!  

 (This is Jamie's pic but this is how most of the trail looked like up the mountain)
We hadn’t stopped to sit and rest since Indian Gardens and I was NEEDING a little rest.  So we decided we would stop at the last water break (which was 1 mile from the top).  We stopped and sat down, got some food (granola bars and fruit snacks) and chatted with some fellow hikers.  We met so many nice people while hiking.  There was this younger lady maybe around 35ish hiking about our speed and she had said something that made me think she had hiked it before so before we had gotten to the stop I had asked how much further to the next break and she thought maybe half a mile.  I almost cried, it seemed sooo far away!!!  I think she could tell I was having a hard time because after she saw my reaction she was like You CAN DO IT, it’s really not too much longer.  She said other words of encouragement and was so nice.  I had also asked her where we exit the canyon because I couldn’t see where the final end was and she was like you can’t see it from here and that was a little discouraging.  

(This is where I asked where we came out of the canyon... can you see all the switchbacks up there???  Now you know why I was almost in tears!!!)
We chatted with her on our break and also this crazy guy from LA.  He was an interesting character.  As in CRAZY :)  He was telling us, or at this time this old guy sitting next to him (yes I was eavesdropping, you would have too!) that he had come with a large group, most of them were finishing, there were a couple behind him and then there was one guy that never left Phantom Ranch!  He wasn’t sure if the guy was going to make it out or what he planned on doing.  I was really happy I wasn’t still at Phantom Ranch!  So we talked with him for a little bit and then were on our way.  He left with us, I mean we were looking way too hot at this point and who wouldn’t want to hike with us :) (aside from the rest of our party ;)).  He seemed to be walking WAY better than us but refused to pass us, just stayed right on our tail, which got super annoying real fast.  At one point I sat down and he did too and started yelling profanity through his walkie talkie, which was awkward.  This is where he stayed resting and we continued, but not before he had told me some incorrect information saying that once you get to the tunnel you’re almost there.  I could see the tunnel and WILLED myself to just get up there and I’d be able to make it. 

 (not the final tunnel!)
I was seriously dying, my legs wouldn’t move as fast as I wanted them to or at all and I felt bad making Katherine wait for me, but she wouldn’t leave me and I’m so thankful for that.  She really help me have a more positive attitude, when I really didn’t want to.  What finally motivated us to pick it up, was when we saw Gary a switchback behind us.  We had said from even before all the practice hikes that we DID NOT want to be the last ones out of the Canyon.  So somehow I mustered up some strength to just keep going.  Then, I saw it!  THE TUNNEL and the NORTH RIM LODGE, that everyone we passed kept talking about and then I saw the end.  It’s amazing how before I couldn’t find the strength, then all of a sudden I couldn’t stop! 
These pictures are our ascent out of the canyon... I thought it was cool.

Braden and David came down and David too my pack for me.  It felt SOOO GOOD to get that weight off my back.  I walked up that path to find Jamie and she started crying and so of course I started crying.  I was so happy to be done so they were happy and exhausting tears :).
I will say...  Jamie said she had a ROUGH time too and cried the last 3 miles...  She's not typically a crier, so that demonstrates how freaking hard it really was.

WE MADE IT!!!  And look at that VIEW!!!
Everyone but Gary and Bro Bob were up there welcoming us back.  Sadly Dad and Ellie hadn’t quite made it around yet, so they weren’t there :(.  Ruthetta’s kids were just getting back from the gift shop and they had gotten these cool shirts, and we had loved them.  The whole group decided we’d all get the same shirts.  So they told me and Katherine to go get our shirts while they waited for Gary and Bro Bob.  So we went to go get our t-shirts and sadly they took the ending Group Picture at the top without us.  I was pretty bummed but what can you do.  And I was so tired I didn’t fight to get another.  

 Loving Braden's face in this one :)

Please checkout the picture my dad got from the top!!!  Ya I HIKED out of this!!!!

It was so cold at the top.  Not only was it like 68 degrees outside, my shirt was all sweaty (you can’t think it’s gross because I just hiked 24 miles!) so I was freezing!!!  When we got back to the car I changed my shirt in the parking lot (ya I had no shame :)) and I felt so much warmer already!

          Then, we were on our way home!!!!  The group had decided to stop in Flagstaff for dinner at Taco Bell.  It was such a long drive because I was sooo hungry and so uncomfortable (legs so sore)!   We got there and it was pretty hard to walk inside, we probably looked quite the sight.  I was so hungry I ordered all this food and then my stomach was so little, I was stuffed after just eating my 7-layer burrito.  It was weird, but don’t worry I shoved the rest of the food in my mouth and hoped I wouldn’t through it up.  Then we hit the road for home!!!! 

Funny side story, on the way home I was sooo tired and kind of a little loopy and I kept thinking I was seeing things.  For example, I had fallen asleep for a little bit then woke up as we were passing this Semi and I thought the Semi’s side had a cabinet coming out of the side and it was going to hit us!  My memory still remembers how scared I was, but I also realize that it was shadows that played tricks on my tired brain, but funny nonetheless.  I guess the funny part was that I was yelled to my dad that the semi was going to crush us… yes he thought I was crazy :)

So that’s my Grand Canyon story!!!  I hope you are still awake and you enjoyed it!!!! 
I thought I'd end with this cute pic of Elle-Dog :)