So, we began by crossing back over the Colorado River on the scary bridge and took a left. We worked our way up the first layer of rock wall on some long switchbacks. We decided we were going to take lots of breaks and take our time since we got such an early start and had no where to be.
As we went up it began to warm up pretty nicely. During one of our stops we took off a layer and realized that we had inadvertently matched...
We crept our way up the switchbacks with amazing panoramic views up and down the Colorado for about 3 miles. That translates into about 3 hours of hiking. As we got higher up the view kept getting better and better. New, higher, levels of the canyon above began to appear. Soon we could see the snow capped layer that would be the end of our trek. It looked really really far away.
On this trail there are only 2 official rest stops, one 2 miles up and one 1.5 miles from the top. Sounds pretty simple. Except I think the laws of time and distance are skewed in the canyon. It felt like days between the two stops.
Luckily there were plenty of amazing vista points to stop an enjoy and rock ledges to sit on and eat trail mix and our packs were tons lighter, so we were pretty happy. Of course, every time we felt so proud of ourselves that we finished a tough set of switchbacks we looked up and saw another, harder set looming above us. Our spirits slowly faded.
The lower our spirits got, the thicker the mud seemed to get. There were about three miles of ankle thick red mud to trudge up. Every time we passes hikers headed down the trail we always shared a mud report "about 2 more miles of mud below" "yep, you have a long way to go in this mess, too". We were all united through mud.
Then the glorious moment came that we passed the 1.5 mile rest house and could actually see the top of the canyon. The people coming down the trail were all clean and chipper and clearly only doing the short day hike, so we knew we were near the top. The end was near. Our pace began to quicken. I kept looking up at the final layer of sheer rock and wondered where the parking lot was. Maybe the trail cut through into an inner canyon around a switchback I couldn't see. Where was it?
Then Paddy saw how we got up. See those people, up ON that cliff, on those switchbacks? That is the last leg. I could literally see the wind go out of his sails. It was a sheer wall with narrow switchabcks cut into it. At the end of that torture laid the promise land. We could see families with small children up there posing for pictures and old people gazing out into the canyon. And here we were, about to die. By the way, at this point I put my camera away. It was getting way too heavy and annoying around my neck. So, here is a photo I found of the switchbacks online:
So we took a break, got some water and stared up at the beast and psyched outselves up. Once we got the nerve, we started up. One foot in front of the other we picked our way up the wall. Before we knew it, we were all the top. We stumbled past the dad wearing mom jeans taking pictures of a pile of snow and flopped on to the first bench we saw and just sat. I think we hugged, maybe gave a weak high five to our accomplishment, I don't really remember. We finished it, that is all that matters.
We took the shuttle bus back to the hotel, checked in to the El Tovar, took the best and longest showers ever, got in pjs and ordered some amazing room service. It was the best was to end the day.
Dont worry, before we left I bought us some t-shirts that say something like "I climbed to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and all I got was this lousy t-shirt". Oh, and there are no pictures of the final wall because I had long since put the camera in the pack since I was sick of caring it. Sorry. Trust me, it was brutal.
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