Going down is optional, but coming up is mandatory.

There are signs posted all over the Grand Canyon to never feed the wildlife. But really, what are the chances I'd ever run into anything but untamed Japanese tourists?




Maybe he was looking for a trail map at the visitor's center.

How huge and deep and huge is this place really?



View from South Rim of Grand Canyon.

 

 

 

A long ways up...

 

These photos can't really capture the vastness and enormity of the Grand Canyon. It's humungo. Its scale (in size and time) almost incomprehensible to my feeble mind. Also not a place for those with a fear of heights, like me. Sheer cliffs and sudden drops everywhere. Wrong step out the backdoor of El Tovar Lodge, and you could be on a one-way trip to the river below.

 

I decided to hike Bright Angel Trail, long used by Native Americans and the most popular one in the park. The Trail descends into the canyon and ultimately ends at the Colorado River. Going down is easy on the legs, but really tough on my nerves. Again, one false step and your the bighorn's dinner. Anyways, I made it to plateau point, a fair ways into the canyon (but not all the way to the river). But I did catch a tiny view of the river (see the non-brown patch, bottom center below).

 

I whipped out the park guide, looking for the next path down, when something caught my eye. The other nugget of advice rangers always give is "going down is optional, but coming up is mandatory". They estimate it takes twice as long to hike up than down.

 

Most importantly, I was running out of water, and cheddar Goldfish. I decided to turn around and head back up to the rim. About an hour and 0.05 miles later, I realized why rangers give this warning. Me, a group of four Indians (not Navajo or Havasupai, but Toronto, Canada Indians) and another group of two couch-surfing English lasses on holiday and their bro-chaperones, were slo-moing our way up the canyon in the scorching midday sun. There was a brief moment when I thought I'd never eat another chicken wing, and cursing why I didn't take a mule down.

 

 

Thankfully, we all made it to the top. Weary, but safe and sound.

 

At one of the rest-houses, met this guy who was doing a "rim to rim to rim" hike, in three days, while playing his didgeridoo. An amazing feat. There seemed to be lots of granola-eating hippie-dippies who did overnight hikes into the canyon. Many stayed at Phantom Ranch down by the river.

Wouldn't it be easier to carry a harmonica on the trail?

The Colorado River carves out a long, twisting path on its way to the Gulf of California. Here is the Horseshoe Bend in the river.

 

There's so much more to explore at the Grand Canyon, but it's onwards to Zion and The Narrows!