My Grand Canyon Adventure

March 11, 2005

7:20 A.M. My brother Charles and I, as we begin the 4,860 foot descent to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

7:48 A.M. The views were absolutely spectacular. Words cannot describe the beauty of the canyon.

7:54 A.M. Although we started the day with temps in the high 30's and dangerous ice on the trail, the canyon would quickly get very hot. I decided to change into shorts and Charles thought this would make a funny photo. What was he thinking???

8:26 A.M. Yup! That's me. I look down right mean, like I'm ready to draw my revolver and shoot someone. Charles was losing patience with me and mentioned that my camera and I should be careful, he would hate to see us "slip." I wasn't quite sure what he meant.

It's only 8:48 A.M. and I'm already seeing signs like "Skeleton Point." I was beginning to wonder what my brother talked me into.

Charles led the pace the entire day.

9:55 A.M. First sight of the Colorado River. Are we done yet?

The suspension bridge that crosses the Colorado River. It leads to Bright Angel Camp.

Maybe we should take the bridge instead of wading across the river.

10:48 A.M. We crossed the Colorado River. We quickly turned around and came back up the south side of the canyon. We really just wanted to say that we had crossed the Colorado River.

11:23 A.M. We are at the halfway point, the bottom, or the low point of our journey, depending on your perspective.

1:18 P.M. I never would have guessed that there was this much green in the canyon. Even more surprising was how much the terrain and landscape changed throughout the journey.

We encountered this warning sign at 1:23 P.M. about 2/3 of the way thru the adventure. The sign read "DO NOT attempt to hike from canyon rim to the river bottom and back in one day. Each year hikers suffer serious injury or DEATH from exhaustion." Unfortunately, it wasn't until now that I realized how much of an unexperienced, out of shape hiker I was, completely unprepared for an expedition of this magnitude. Charles found it amusing but he was the only one laughing.

5:16 P.M. At this point it the sun was setting, it was getting cold again and I had no energy left. I was literally ready to quit. I had to stop about every 100 yards to rest my body. The last few miles were painful. I didn't think I could make it out of the canyon. But Charles would not let me give up. He pushed me to keep going. Little did I know how close we were to finishing.

5:21 P.M. Triumph! After 10:01 hours and 15.8 miles we have made it out of the canyon alive thanks to my brother. This was the most physically demanding thing I have ever done. I could hardly move the next morning and was sore for weeks but it was all worth it. Charles and I can't wait to do it again. Next time he's going to run the trip. Insane! As for me, I think my camera and I will camp out at the bottom and enjoy the scenery a little more.