With a 9.5 mile hike up Bright Angel trail ahead of us, we began the hike out of the canyon before sunrise - at 5 am. Although Flagstaff was a cool place to spend the summer, the bottom of the canyon reaches Pheonix-like temperatures of 105, 110 + in the hot summer months. Eh hem, July. On the way up I was so thankful for my rented hiking poles. Walking with them was like having two extra legs - welcome help on the mostly uphill Bright Angel Trail.
Our first stop on the way up was at Indian Gardens - 5 miles into our journey and 4.5 miles to go. It was nice to enjoy a snack, put our feet up and gather strength for the second half of the hike. Of course, we also had to fight off squirrels again.
When we had gathered our strength, it was onward and upward through amazingly beautiful and thankfully cloud-covered, thus much cooler than usual, Bright Angel Trail. Tom said he had never seen the canyon like that and explained how blessed we were to have cloud cover rather than sunny, 100-degree weather.
Despite heavy and an extremely fast pumping heart, I made it to the top relatively unscathed. No broken bones or anything of the short - not even blisters worth mentioning. But, I could start to feel the Kaibab/Canyon shuffle starting to happen. Of course, we stopped to take some victory shots the top of the trailhead. Normally, its a great view into the canyon, but on July 14 there was only fog to be seen.
By the time we finished taking our photos, the shuffle had set in pretty well. I had trouble walking down a set of small stairs, boarding and unboarding the shuttle bus and getting into the car for the drive back to Flagstaff. Oh yea, and getting into the Wendy's in Tusayan (gateway town outside the park) for a victory frosty. I managed and enjoyed its deliciousness.
When we got back to Flagstaff we stopped in at Walgreens for some first aid treatments including Beaudrex's Butt Paste, that's right diaper rash cream for chaffing (I know, gross! Sorry, its real), bengay and epson salts. With our supplies in hand, Jay commented that Laurel and I were going to "smell like old ladies," to which a woman across the Walgreen's parking lot shouted, "hey, I'm an old lady." It was pretty awesome.
Thankfully, we were back in Flagstaff Saturday afternoon with time to recover that day and all-day Sunday. For my recovery day I managed to only go to church, the farmer's market, community aquaplex for soaking in the hot tub, do some shopping and eat dinner downtown. So much for a rest day, but was great to spend the day in awesome Flag!
Our first stop on the way up was at Indian Gardens - 5 miles into our journey and 4.5 miles to go. It was nice to enjoy a snack, put our feet up and gather strength for the second half of the hike. Of course, we also had to fight off squirrels again.
When we had gathered our strength, it was onward and upward through amazingly beautiful and thankfully cloud-covered, thus much cooler than usual, Bright Angel Trail. Tom said he had never seen the canyon like that and explained how blessed we were to have cloud cover rather than sunny, 100-degree weather.
Despite heavy and an extremely fast pumping heart, I made it to the top relatively unscathed. No broken bones or anything of the short - not even blisters worth mentioning. But, I could start to feel the Kaibab/Canyon shuffle starting to happen. Of course, we stopped to take some victory shots the top of the trailhead. Normally, its a great view into the canyon, but on July 14 there was only fog to be seen.
By the time we finished taking our photos, the shuffle had set in pretty well. I had trouble walking down a set of small stairs, boarding and unboarding the shuttle bus and getting into the car for the drive back to Flagstaff. Oh yea, and getting into the Wendy's in Tusayan (gateway town outside the park) for a victory frosty. I managed and enjoyed its deliciousness.
When we got back to Flagstaff we stopped in at Walgreens for some first aid treatments including Beaudrex's Butt Paste, that's right diaper rash cream for chaffing (I know, gross! Sorry, its real), bengay and epson salts. With our supplies in hand, Jay commented that Laurel and I were going to "smell like old ladies," to which a woman across the Walgreen's parking lot shouted, "hey, I'm an old lady." It was pretty awesome.
Thankfully, we were back in Flagstaff Saturday afternoon with time to recover that day and all-day Sunday. For my recovery day I managed to only go to church, the farmer's market, community aquaplex for soaking in the hot tub, do some shopping and eat dinner downtown. So much for a rest day, but was great to spend the day in awesome Flag!
No comments:
Post a Comment