We stopped at the Navajo Bridge—one of the two bridges that crosses the Colorado River. It was crazy high, and almost made me feel sick looking down. It was no small fete of construction either!
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| Really??? Cause I was tempted...NOT! |
Our first stop once at the Grand Canyon national Park was the historic Watchtower.
We were able to climb up inside the watchtower and see an incredible panoramic view. I had seen hundreds of photos of the Grand Canyon, but nothing prepared me for what I actually saw. It was spectacular!
We continued on into the park, checked out the visitor's center, and took a leisurely stroll along the path along the south rim.
We took the requisite "falling" pictures, though none really look as though we're falling!
After a while, we headed out of the park and to our hotel. We got checked in, and the kids were eager to jump in the pool. It was not warm outside, and we were at an elevation of about 7,000 feet. The pool was barely warmer than the air, but the kids jumped in nonetheless!
After dinner, we hopped back in the car to see the sun set over the canyon. Apparently, we weren't the only ones with this grand idea, and we missed the sunset. But we still managed to snap a few pictures.
We had decided that we'd hike the Kaibab Trail on Tuesday. It was rated as a medium difficulty hike, roughly 3 miles round trip, with a 1,500 elevation change from top to bottom. When we got out of the car on Tuesday morning, it was FREEZING cold. The wind was howling, and clouds were rolling by at a very brisk speed. Steve and I looked at each other and thought "this might not be good". But we decided to at least attempt it...if we got too cold and miserable, we could always turn around!
We rode the shuttle to the top of the trailhead, and set off. It started off with pretty steep switchbacks, going back and forth across the mountainside.
We plugged along at a decent pace, and before we knew it, had reached the first main turnaround spot, appropriately named "Ooh Aah Point".
Many people were turning around at this point, and heading back up. We felt like we had just barely started, so decided to keep going. The trail turned from dirt to red clay, and there were points with steep drop offs on both sides of the trail.
About 50 minutes after we started our descent, we reached our goal of Cedar Ridge.
After we'd rested for a while, Steve and I looked at each other, then looked at the climb that awaited us, and were both filled with a sense of apprehension. Sure, the kids had made it down in no time, with no complaints. But going back UP was another story altogether, and we both feared the worst. We both put on a smile, and said "Well, shall we head back up?" like it was no big deal at all.
We had packed an assortment of snacks and drinks, and had assured the kids that we could stop and rest as often as they wanted.
It was a tough climb. We had fully expected it to take at least twice as long to get back to the top as it did for us to get to the bottom. But we made it back up in just over an hour and 15 minutes...without a single complaint! I don't know that I've ever been prouder of my kids than I was at that moment. They had done something REALLY HARD, and had done it with a smile and a good attitude. It was amazing!
I was so happy that Steve and I hadn't given up on the hike that morning when the wind was howling and the clouds were blowing by. We would have missed out on something so spectacular, that may well be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us.
We piled back into the car—all feeling pretty exhausted. This is how the kids spent the rest of the day.
We arrived that evening in Kayenta, AZ. We were running low on clothes by this point, and I did a couple of loads of laundry in the hotel washing machine. The dryer only half-dried the clothes, so our room looked like a hurricane for the night as we air-dried our clothes.
No one fought going to bed that night, and I'm pretty sure we were all asleep within about 30 seconds of turning out the light!
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