Grand Canyon
Tuesday, August 11, 1998
The vacation started when we all met up at the Saint Louis airport for the second leg our journey to Phoenix. Our flight arrived in Phoenix at 10:30 am.
The first stop was Advantage Car Rental where Peggy had reserved a sub-compact car. The guy behind the counter took one look at us and said, “do you want to upgrade to a mini-van”. Brenda told him “No, we’ll be fine”. But we must have looked desperate because he gave us a free upgrade to a mini-van anyway. Before we left the place a woman with NO personality had to check the car for damage. Poor Brenda had to look at every door dink with her before we could leave.
Peggy’s friend Molly came to the rental car place to lead us to her house. There we met her foster son Chris, her niece Helen and their dog Reno. Lisa and Brenda took the van on to Lisa’s Grandma’s house in Sun City. They were on their own trying to find the place because when Lisa called her Grandma for directions she told her that she didn’t know how to get to her place.
Molly had a meeting so Peggy, Lori and I entertained ourselves by watching the movie “Austin Powers”. Yaaa Baaaby! Molly came back before the movie was over so we didn’t see the end, but we had seen enough Baby.
Molly took us downtown for lunch/dinner where we ate at Leinenkuegel’s across from the ball diamond. After lunch Molly had to work at the game and we went over to watch. The Arizona Diamond Backs played the Philadelphia Phillies. Arizona won 7-3.
After the game they were giving away tortillas and we picked up about 100 of them before going back to Molly’s to crash
Wednesday, August 12, 1998
We got up at 7:30 and were ready when Leti arrived at 8:45. A whole 15 minutes early! We left shortly after that to pick up Lisa and Brenda at Lisa’s Grandma. There we packed up the van and headed north arriving in Flagstaff around noon.
We stopped at Flagstaff to buy food for the hike. Lisa’s Grandma had packed us a wonderful lunch of ham and roast beef sandwiches made on homemade rolls and homemade cookies. We ate in the car as we continued to drive to the North Rim.
We were almost there when we had to stop for road construction. The road was being re-tarred and a ‘follow-me truck’ was taking one lane of traffic through at a time. At one point several cars including us went into the other lane to get out of the fresh tar. The ‘follow-me truck’ driver stopped and got out to yell at us. He was about as friendly as the woman at the rental car place was.
We arrived at the North Rim at 5:30 and checked into cabins 57 and 62. It was two rooms in one cabin that opened up to one big room. After we got settled we walked to Bright Angel Point to watch the sunset. This was my first real view of the Canyon and it was fantastic – words can’t describe it.
After watching the sunset we stopped in for a beer at the saloon. When we got back to the cabin, Leti surprised Peggy with a birthday Flaun. I couldn’t wait to give Peggy the birthday card that I made for her with her 8th grade track picture on it – so I gave it to her then. She told me I was evil. And I thought I was being so nice!
During the night there was a critter running around in the room. At first we thought it was a mouse, but later learned that it was a ground squirrel. The little critter took a bite out of Peggy’s snicker bar!
Thursday, August 13, 1998
We got up at 4am so that we could be on the trail by first light. Lori told us first thing that she had decided she was not going with us. She decided to stay up on top and explore the Canyon from there. The rest of us packed up our gear and Lori drove us to the trailhead.
We hiked to the house and took our first group shot in front of the mansion. Then we talked to Bob about the grounds and how best to see everything. We tried to get him to give us a private tour but he said no.
We started hiking down the North Kaibab Trail at 5:25am. It was a cool morning and we were cold when we first started, but it didn’t take long to warm up. We stopped for a group picture at a look out just a little way down the trail. The next stop was a water spot about an hour down the trail.
Peggy grew a panniculi. She put her fanny pack on in front of her and had it hanging low. She called it her panniculi. My first lesson on the trail – a new word. Panniculi (not to be confused with platypus) means an apron of fat.
We met our first hiker on his way up shortly after that stop. He was out of breath and just waved instead of saying ‘hi’. Leti and Peggy started to tell us about some of the people we would meet on the trail. Peggy had just said, “ you can’t believe some of the things that people wear down here”. When a man in boat shoes and no socks walked up behind us and passed us like we were standing still. He was carrying a bottle of water and plastic sack (which we later found out contained hiking boots).
A little past the first water stop the trail opened up and you could see the canyon for miles. We could see this bridge for a long time and when we finally got there we stopped for a picture.
We arrived at Cottonwood Campground at 11:30. This was the halfway point. We found a spot in the shade under some trees behind the ranger’s house and we stopped for lunch. We had to share the spot with a million ants. Peggy and I were the only ones brave enough to eat a Power Bar. I learned my second important lesson of the trail. Power Bars only give you Power IF you can get them down!
Before we left, we filled up the water bottles and got our shirts wet again. The trail flattened out here, but Lisa and I had both injured our knees on the way down. And now we had to deal with pain as well as the heat. I had gone to the Doctor before I left and he told me that my knee should be fine, but he had no idea was I was going to do to it. I called him a bastard the rest of the day just to make my knee feel better. It was at this point that Lisa and I learned that Aspercream was our very best friend!
About another hour down the trail we came to the Ribbon Falls turnoff. We decided to take it and see the falls. It was beautiful. The falls came down on a moss-covered rock. We climbed to the top and then soaked our shirts again at the bottom.
After we crossed the river, we heard thunder and dark clouds started to roll in. It cooled off a little and we felt pretty lucky about that. After about a half-hour the clouds were gone and we were back in the heat.
The trail was very hot. Peggy had a thermometer on her backpack that went to 120 degrees and it maxed out. We stopped every chance we could to soak our shirts in the river. At one point I found a flat black rock and decided to sit down for awhile. Man was that rock hot, but I was tired and decided to stay put. After a couple of minutes I thought I smelled ham cooking and decided to get up. That was my third important lesson of the trip – Don’t sit on black rocks in the sun!
We were starting to get close – and very tired. Every time we came to a bend in the trail we thought the Ranch had to be just around the corner, but we kept being disappointed. Brenda counted them on the way back and there were 21 switchbacks.
We knew we were getting close when Leti told us she could smell the cottonwood trees. I don’t know how she smelled them over us! She has the most impressive olfactory lobe of anyone I’ve ever met.
We reached the ranch 10 hours after we started at 3:35pm. Leti and Peggy went to check in while Brenda, Lisa and I sat down at the picnic tables by the dorms.
Our dorm was number 14. Once we got in, we each picked a bunk and unpacked. When I took off my boots I had 3 purple toes – I promised Peggy that she could have the nails when they fell off! The room consisted of 10 bunk beds, a sink, shower and toilet. Nothing fancy, but it was Heaven to us.
We all got showered and were ready for dinner by 5pm. We had the vegetarian dinner: baked potato, salad, corn, mixed vegetables, corn bread and chocolate cake.
After dinner we took a short walk to the Colorado River. We walked half way across one of the suspension bridges and then headed back. We had read that you should raise your feet above your head for 7-9 minutes for each hour you walk. Since we hadn’t done it on the way down we laid down in our bunks and did it when we got back to the dorm.
We all ended up falling asleep until around 9:15 except Peggy who was busy reading her smutty book. We got up to go the canteen for beer before it closed at 10pm. We were in bed and asleep by 10:30.
Friday, August 14, 1998
We were wakened by a ranch employee at 4:30 telling us that early breakfast would be served in a half-hour. Funny thing though, no one in our dorm had early breakfast. We got up at 6am to get ready to eat late breakfast at 6:30. They served: scrambled eggs, pancakes, bacon, peaches, orange juice and coffee or tea.
After breakfast we decided to take a short day hike to keep our muscles limber. Lisa’s knee was really hurting and she decided to rest it rather than make the hike.
Our plan was to hike to Indian Gardens campground, which Leti told us was just 3 miles up Bright Angel Trail. She told us to take 4 bottles of water and some food, but Peggy was in the bathroom at the time and didn’t hear her.
The trail crossed the Colorado River over a suspension bridge. Then it started to climb quickly. We had gone less than a mile when we were on a ledge above a beach. There was a man on the beach getting ready to go for a swim. We were right above him when he took off all his clothes to go skinning dipping. Peggy told Brenda to get the binoculars out, but Brenda already had them out and was leaning over the edge to get a better view. I only wished I had my telephoto lens to better document the event.
After viewing the wildlife, we continued to climb to Indian Gardens. It sure seemed like we had to have walked over 3 miles, but Leti insisted that the sign said 3 miles to Indian Gardens. We finally arrived 2 ½ hours later. Peggy spotted a sign that said Phantom Ranch 5 miles. We were only 4 ½ miles from the top of the South Rim at that point. Peggy yelled, “Leticia, come here!”. Leti came over to where we were and Peggy showed her the sign. It said 5 f*&#ing miles or FFM! Our short day hike ended up being 10 miles long! We didn’t let Leti hear the end of that for the rest of the trip.
We sat under a big tree and rested and ate what little food we had brought. Since Peggy didn’t hear that we were bringing food, she didn’t have any. Peggy told us that she had read that one of the rules of the trail is to share extra food with those who don’t have it. The operative word there is ‘extra’. But Brenda, Leti and I each shared half of what we had. Peggy ended up eating more than the rest of us. Funny how that worked. This was the fourth lesson of the trail. When hiking with Peggy take EXTRA food!
After our break, we headed back down the trail. We were only 4 ½ miles from the top and for a moment we thought about just hiking on out, but only for a moment. We didn’t want to miss the hike out tomorrow?!? Plus Lisa was still down there and it just didn’t seem right to leave her.
On the way back we had to cross several streams that went over the trail. I slipped off the rocks at one crossing. I didn’t get my shoes very wet, but I gave Peggy a good laugh. But I was glad to do it for my best friend!
We got back to the ranch a little after 1pm. We ate our sack lunches, showered and did laundry. The sausages were a big hit!
I made the mistake eating on my bed and drinking a bottle of water with lunch. In my weakened condition, I didn’t get the lid on tight. I spilt half a bottle of water on my bed. I had to take the bedding outside to dry and flip the mattress over. It was so hot in the sun that it didn’t take long to dry.
Leti went over to the lodge to re-check in for the day. They had us down for late breakfast in the morning, which was a problem because we needed to have early breakfast so we could start hiking at first light. Before our shorts dried so we could go back over to fight for early breakfast, the ranch employee came over and told us that he was working it out with another group to switch our times.
We rested in the room until around 3:30 and then headed to the lodge for a drink. We got there 15 minutes before they closed to get ready for supper. They made us promise to finish our drinks by 4pm – which didn’t seem to be a problem.
At 4pm, the ranger came in and told us that she would be giving a lecture on the geology of the Canyon. We went over to listen to her. She told us that there are three kinds of rocks and asked if we knew what they were. I was impressed when Lisa rattled off sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous. The Canyon contains all three types. We learned about the formation of the Canyon layers. The Canyon is 50 million years old at the top and a billion years old at the bottom. Each step on the trail represents 20,000 years (that’s 30,000 years in mule steps).
After the lecture it was time for dinner. We had the vegetarian meal again. The server we had was in a very foul mode. Several people (who spoke little English) came in while the meal was being served. The server told them that she was closed and that they would have to go around to a side window for help. She was pretty cold – we felt sorry for them.
After dinner we walked back down to the Colorado River to see the Pueblo Ruins. We also checked out the beach. Peggy waded in, but wouldn’t skinny dip for the hikers looking down at us from the trail.
We got back to the dorm around 7pm and rested, cleaned up and got our stuff together. At 8pm we went back to the lodge to write post cards. There were a lot of people in there and a long line to buy things, so we just went and got post cards and started writing. By the time we were done writing the line was down and we were able to pay for the postcards and buy stamps without waiting.
On the way to the lodge we found out that there was a rattlesnake just outside the door of our dorm and another one by the lodge. The ranger came and moved them out of the area.
Needing to get an early start in the morning, we went to bed shortly after 9pm.
Saturday, August 15, 1998
We got up at 4am. One half hour before the guy came to wake us up. Wrapping feet and packing were the first activities before we went to breakfast. We ate at 5am next to a family that didn’t speak much English. It was a challenge passing food between them and us.
After breakfast we went back to the dorms to get our packs. We stopped for a group shot in front of the dorms before we started walking to the north rim at 5:30.
Our pace was slow and our motto was “start slow and slack off”. We decided to take the trail advice and raise our legs above our heart. We stopped about every hour for about 7-9 minutes to drain the lactic acids from our legs. It really seemed to work. When we stopped our muscles didn’t stiffen up like they had on the way down.
After the first stop we came across several deer grazing near the trail. They were very thin and their ribs just stuck out. We told them to follow us to Iowa where they could eat corn, but they must like it down there because they didn’t follow us.
At the second or third stop, we were all laying down when Lisa said, “That’s a really big snake up there in the rocks.” The snake was heading away, so we decided to stay put and keep our feet up. Lisa kept her eye on it, and it wasn’t long before she saw it turning around and heading towards us. We decided that it could have the place and got up and left.
Just before we got to Cottonwood we hiked the portion of the trail that we had missed on the way down because we cross the creek. Once we saw how steep it was, we all told Peggy that she had made the right decision about crossing the creek. She’s so smart! And she’s also our best friend!
We reached Cottonwood at 11am and stopped there for lunch at the same place that we had lunch on the way down. The ants were still there and so were the apple cores we had left. Peggy took our apple juice down the creek to cool off while we ate and rested. The juice was cold when we drank it later. After lunch Leti started pulling things out of Lisa’s bag to lighten her load. Leti, Peggy and Brenda each carried some of her gear the rest of the way.
The thermometer at Cottonwood said 98 degrees and we started to notice the heat. The next stop was the pump house about an hour later. We took another break, put our feet up and got our shirts wet. There were a couple of guys there and we talked with them for a while. We told them if they got up before us, to tell Lori that we were on our way. As it ended up, we got up before they did. What women we are!
This is where the trail started to climb. Going up actually felt better on the knees so that was one good thing. The sky was dark in the north and we thought we might get caught in rain. But the next hour was pretty hot. The thermometer on Peggy’s backpack read 115 degrees. Luckily the clouds provided some shade and it wasn’t as hot as it could have been.
It was about this time that we started to get delirious. We expended a lot of energy laughing. Our stops started getting longer and funnier. One of our stops was in a dry creek bed. There were still dark clouds in the sky and we discussed the possibility of a flash flood rushing down and washing us back down the canyon. Brenda made the comment ‘that would be a real bitch if we had to start walking up all over’. I about lost it I laughed so hard.
On another stop, I tried to be everyone’s best friend by cooling them off with the Misty Mate. The one I had didn’t have the mist nossle and the water came out in a stream. I could have spelled my name with it, if you get my drift. I started hosing Peggy off and she started laughing and said ‘stop, I’ve peed my pants’. I thought she was just kidding, but she stood up and she really had. The fifth important lesson of the trip – Don’t sit down hill from Peggy when she’s laughing!
We were right next to a bridge and since Peggy wanted to dry her shorts, we took a break to put our feet up. Leti, Brenda and Peggy all laid on the bridge with their feet on the railing. Lisa and I decided to stay on solid ground and stayed where we were. My head was just inches from where Peggy had relieved her bladder but that wasn’t as bad as where Brenda had put her head. She had laid down next to a pile of mule manure.
The next big break was the last water stop. We got there at 4:30. It had taken us an hour to get there on the way down. So we planned on another hour and a half to get up. We were getting higher and it was getting cooler. No need to get our shirts wet. We ate the last of the food. Lisa even had a Power Bar!
I had laid on a rock that was coated with red dust and got really dirty at this stop. Not that I was clean to begin with. When we got up to starting walking again, Brenda called me a ‘pig’. The nerve. If she wasn’t my best friend, I think I might have even been offended!
The last mile was long. It seemed as long at the 3 miles (that was really 5 miles) to Indian Gardens had yesterday. We took a lot of short breaks to catch our breath. You could tell we were close to the top because the air was getting thin.
We stopped at the look out where we had taken our first group picture on the trail. It was just a few steps off the trail and we went over for another picture. Lisa said she only had so many steps left and they were all going up, so she is in the picture in spirit only.
It started to rain on us, and the temperature dropped to 78 degrees. It was hard to believe that just a few short hours ago we were walking in 120 degree heat.
As we were walking, we heard Lisa say ‘Uh Oh, I think I just broke a blister’. But she said she was okay and kept walking. It wasn’t more than a dozen steps later that she had to stop. When she took off her boot the heel of her sock was all bloody. A huge blood blister on her heel had popped. Leti and Peggy got out the moleskin and performed a medical miracle right there. Lisa was not only able to get the boot back on, she started walking again. The sixth important lesson of the trail – Always hike with miracle workers – Peggy and Leti!
We were getting really close now and we were on the outlook for the aspens. We knew when we saw them we would be close. We all had our noses on alert trying to smell the aspen! That led to lots of jokes, as you can imagine.
Once we did see the aspens, it didn’t take long to see the horizon. We started to yell for Lori. The last 50 yards we formed a human train and pulled ourselves out into the clearing just before the parking lot. There was Lori – the best site ever!
When we got the van, everyone made me change my shirt. It was coated in red dust and the seats in the van were a light gray. My shorts were also a mess so I took them off, turned them inside out and put them back on.
Lori took us back to the lodge and checked in while we sat in the van. It felt so good to just sit down on something other than a rock!
We got to our cabins number 34 and 40. The first order was showers. Man did we stink. I don’t think I have ever smelled that bad. After we got cleaned up, Lori brought out the wine and we toasted our accomplishment!
Then we went to the cafeteria for dinner - a big slab of pizza and a soda. The gift shop was still open so we went over to do a little shopping.
We were back in the cabin and in bed by 10pm. The critters were stirring all night. We had a lot of food and food wrappers and the little critters were having a hay day. They didn’t touch the Power Bars though.
Sunday, August 16, 1998
This was our last day at the canyon. We got up at 5:15am to see the sun rise. Peggy announced that it was her birthday. And you know, she really did look older!
We took the short walk to Bright Angel Point again, this time to see the sun come up. It wasn’t quite as vibrant and the sunset, but it was definitely worth getting up to watch.
Leti thought I needed a picture of my purple toes against the canyon horizon. I tried to put my foot up on a sign, but my legs were too short. Brenda (being the best friend that she is) held me up while Leti took the pictures. What great new friends I have!
We stopped in the Espresso Bar (Saloon by night) and got hot chocolate and coffee for the road. We were in the van and on the road by a little after 6am. We stopped for a potty break at a gift shop about an hour from Flagstaff. We were at Flagstaff at 10:30 and decided to eat lunch. We went to an organic café that didn’t start serving lunch until 11am (it was 10:45 when we sat down). They took our lunch order anyway, but as long as it took, they must have waited until 11am to start making it.
We took the scenic route out of town (not by choice) and got to Lisa’s Grandma’s house in Sun City at 2:30. We picked up Leti’s Honda Passport, said good-bye to Lisa’s Grandma and headed for the Embassy Suite. We took the scenic route to the hotel (again not by choice)!
Peggy had plans to go to her cousin Lori’s for a birthday dinner. The rest of us were loads and decided to stay at the hotel and hit happy hour. Before Molly came to pick Peggy up we gave her a T-shirt from Phantom Ranch for her birthday. Leti ‘the Saint’ had carried it up.
After Peggy left, the rest of us went over to the bar for happy hour. We toasted the trip and started to reminisce about the hike up. Leti only stayed for a short while before heading home to Tucson.
Peggy got back to the hotel around 10pm. Lori and Lisa went to bed. Brenda, Peggy and I stayed up for another hour and talked in the courtyard before we finally crashed.
I had set my watch alarm for 5am. A ‘safety net’ alarm just in case the room alarm didn’t work. The dumb thing went off at 3am (5am Iowa time). I had forgotten to set the alarm clock to Phoenix time. Important lesson number seven - you have to be smarter than the gadget!
Monday, August 17, 1998
We got up at 5am. There were no critters in the room last night. Other than us, that is. We planned to catch the 6am shuttle to the airport. The Embassy Suite shuttle driver never did show up so the hotel called a private shuttle service to take us to the airport.
We checked our bags at the skycap and I made the very bad mistake of dropping my bag on my big (purple) toe. That was my eighth and final lesson of the trip!
We arrived in St. Louis at 12:30. Peggy, Brenda, Lisa and Lori had an hour lay over and Julie had a two hour layover. We went over to Burger King for lunch where Peggy ran into her brother Stuart and her nephew Ben. After lunch we walked to our gates and said our good-byes.
We all had so much fun, we knew that we would need to travel again to another National Park.