Today I arrived at the Grand Canyon. I am getting pretty mixed up with the changing of time zones, so I actually got there at 6:30 in the morning. I was actually fine with that because I was able to see the sunrise over the canyon. That was absolutely amazing. I stared at the canyon for about an hour before I decided that I must hike it. This was going to be the longest hike of my life. Usually my hikes are about 2-3 hours. Well the ranger informed me that this one was going to be an overnight hike that could take up to 20 hours. I was a little nervous, but totally excited to take the adventure. I had some time to kill before I left for the hike, so I did some more sight seeing. I needed to leave from the top of the Kaibab trail by 2:00 to make it to where I could camp before sundown. Well that totally did not work. I did not have the right gear to make to hike, so I tried to daisy chain two backpacks together to make one large enough to carry all of my gear. I was on the bus to the trail when it dawned on me that if I actually used this rig, I would possibly die. Hiking the Grand Canyon is pretty dangerous. The Kaibab trail is extremely steep and has no water. You have to carry all of the water you will need on your back. I decided to check out the local general store to see if they sell any hiking rigs. They only had a crappy selection and none that were large enough. They did however rent them. So I checked one out and made it to the trail at 3:30. This was way too late to start my decent, but I was determined to do it anyway. I had to run down the trail to make up for lost time. I did not have any light source so I had to move fast. I was going so fast that I blew out my knee on the way down. This was quite a predicament because you have to hike out and I was unable to take the shorter way up because there was no water. I had to go the extra twelve hours up the other side so that I could get water. So I lost the light and lost the trail as well. I had to set up the tent wherever I could find a spot that was flat. I set up shop for the night and went to bed. Tomorrow was going to be pretty intense.
The next day, I had twelve grueling hours ahead of me. I woke up before sunrise to get an early start. After my tuna fish breakfast, I started my way back to the actual trail. The made my way to the Bright Angel Trail that started at the bottom of the canyon. There was water there, so I was in good shape. I had to take a ton of ibuproferine to be able to walk, but I was getting around pretty well. Along my journey, I met many nice people, and had some pretty interesting conversations about traveling. Everyone is pretty interested in my journey and has some good advice about places for me to visit. I made it to the top around 5:00. This has to me one of my biggest accomplishments next to the 160 mile bike ride I also completed this year. After the hike, I started on my way to Zion National Park. Once again, I slept in a Walmart parking lot. They are pretty RV friendly out here, so I haven’t been kicked out yet.
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