Daddy-Daughter Date at the Grand Canyon

There are few things in life that I enjoy more than playing show-and-tell with my kids.
 
Thirty-five years ago, my grandfather took two sprightly boys to the bottom of the Grand Canyon where we spent the night at the Phantom Ranch before trekking out the next morning. Little did he know that he had planted a seed that would germinate and continue to produce life three decades later.
 
I have now taken all my kids—whether in body or spirit—into the depths of the Grand Canyon. My latest adventure involved my two youngest daughters, Jenna and Savanah. I was able to show. Now, they will do the telling . . .
 
[My first question is asked from the rim of the canyon, before having hiked down.]
 
Dad: Tell me your overall first impressions of the Grand Canyon.
 
Savanah: It's pretty. It's super steep, too.
 
Jenna: It is big. Cameras don't do it justice. It is pretty. There is a lot of variety, too. You could see different kinds of river bends, like rapids. Different rock colors, rock shapes, rock textures. Even on the way up we could see a big change in environment from forest to straight-on desert.
 

Near South Kaibab Trailhead, looking down.

Steps built into the trail.

Looking over Cedar Ridge and O'Neill Butte.

[We are now at Cedar Ridge, just 1.5 miles into the hike.]
 
Dad: Tell me about the hike down so far.
 
Savanah: It's kind of steep. And it's really clumpy and rocky. The view's really nice though. It's cool to see the different layers in the rocks and how big the Grand Canyon is.
 
Dad: Jenna, describe our travels of today.
 
Jenna: We woke up around 4:30, Arizona time. The sun's not out. It is very dark, very cold. We quickly packed up camp and moved it in our car. Then we tried to hurry as fast as we could to the shuttle, but by then it was already 5:30, so we had to wait in line for another ten minutes for the shuttle to come. We came over here. We had to rush to the bathrooms so we weren't stuck in line and then we started our journey. Now we are hiking it. There are a lot of people. But it's nice being here in the morning. It brings out a lot of colors and gives you a chance to cool down. The trail is a pretty good path. There are a lot of steps and everything is lined in stones on the outside, so that's helpful.
 

Skeleton Point.

Arch on the skyline.

[Now we have hiked 4.6 miles and are resting at a spot called The Tipoff. We have passed Skeleton Point, which gave us our first view of the Colorado River.]
 
Dad: How far does it feel like we've hiked?
 
Savanah: Like ten miles!
 
Jenna: Three.
 
Dad: Describe to me how your body feels.
 
Savanah: I don't know why my leg keeps shaking. Other than that I feel good. My feet kind of hurt.
 
Jenna: I feel amazing, like I could hike another ten miles. I have no problems other than a rock in my shoe, but I should be able to get that out.
 
Dad: What is the one thing that has stood out to you the most on the hike down?
 
Savanah: Three things—first of all the view, because the view is super good and you are able to see the Colorado River from certain spots. And second, it's kind of cool how there's a random arch in the middle of the Grand Canyon. And then the ethnicity of the people around us and how they come from all over the world.
 
Jenna: When you walk with the edge on one side of you and you just look straight, it feels like you are walking on the sky.
 

Howdy, partner!

Crazy Mexican lady loved to get selfies right next to the edge.

Good view of Colorado River and Black Suspension Bridge.

About to cross the bridge.

Indian ruins at the bottom of the canyon.

[We have crossed the Kaibab (or Black) Suspension Bridge and are momentarily resting on a sandy beach on the Colorado River.]
 
Dad: What are your impressions of the river?
 
Savanah: It's really pretty. It's really big, too. I thought it would be more blue, but it is greenish.
 
Jenna: It's pretty green. I'm surprised by the sand. And it's hot down here. Ninety-two degrees is the high today.
 
Dad: We just saw some Indian ruins. What do you think about Indians living way down here at the bottom of the Grand Canyon?
 
Jenna: They don't have any problems if no one else can come down here. So coming down to the bottom is a problem, but once they're down, they're safe.
 
Dad: Do you think it was tough to get down?
 
Savanah: Yeah. They were smart to do it, though, because they could plant their crops around the river and live around here and stuff. And the ruins are super close to the river.
 

Silver Bridge.

At the confluence of Colorado River and Pipe Creek.

[We take a lunch break at the confluence of the river and Pipe Creek. Just before we got here the clouds became dark and ominous and it felt as if a storm was about to hit us.]
 
Dad: Tell me about the recent weather we've been having.
 
Savanah: It was really cloudy, but now it's really bright and sunny, now that it's noon. It was pretty windy on our way here [hiking along the river], but now it's sunny.
 
Jenna: It's been really cloudy. About five minutes ago there were a lot of clouds and wind, but it's starting to go away, which makes me sad.
 
Dad: Tell me what you've done these last 45 minutes on this lunch break,where we are at and what you did.
 
Savanah: We're by the Colorado River. We're like two feet away from it. And we are sitting on these rocks and we had a protein bar, a sandwich and a homemade gatorade that Dad made out of this pile of stuff that he made. Super cool! And we did like a little photo shoot. It was really fun.
 
Dad: Jenna, can you tell me about your fall?
 
Jenna: I tripped. I can't remember how, but I went face-first. I didn't hit my face, but I scraped both of my legs. One leg is deep-cut and the other leg has tiny-spread little cuts. My hands are a little puffy and it temporarily stained my legs with red-rock sand.
 
Dad: Do your legs hurt now?
 
Jenna: No. They stopped hurting five seconds after I fell.
 
Dad: Did you have a hard time washing off the sand?
 
Jenna: Yes, it is a challenge to get the sand off.
 

Devil's Corkscrew.

Shaded alcove along the trail.

Photogenic lizard.

[The big shade trees at Indian Gardens have been cut down. We find shelter from the sun at a picnic table away from the crowd. I estimate we have hiked 11.8 miles to this point.]
 
Dad: Tell me about the heat on our hike up to Indian Gardens.
 
Savanah: The sun was out almost the entire time. There were barely any clouds. It was really hot. When we went in the cave it was a lot nicer. In the cave it was cooled off. Nobody could see us. Everyone was walking past on the trail and they couldn't see us or hear us or anything. But when we got out again it was still super hot and when we got to Indian Gardens it started to cool down a bit.
 
Dad: Describe the trail from our lunch spot on the river to Indian Gardens.
 
Jenna: It almost seemed like you were in the same place the entire time because it kind of looked the same throughout. We passed through the Devil's Corkscrew. That is where you have a lot of switchbacks, and after all the switchbacks and you look back, it looks like a corkscrew, and they named it Devil's Corkscrew. The trail doesn't have a lot of drop-offs near it. We came close to little creeks the entire time, passing over the creeks several times. During one time after the Devil's Corkscrew we had a look-off point. We passed some sort of watery something. It was like a trickling slide and it was wider and we had to go through that.
 
Dad: Describe Indian Gardens in as much detail as you can.
 
Savanah: Apparently there used to be two really big trees, but they cut them down where the water was. Where we were resting a bit, that was up the path a little bit from that and to the right, was like a little pergola and it had trees surrounding it and was really green and vibrant. There was a big rock where we ate that had a lizard on it. It [the lizard] was blue and looked like it did pushups.
 

Bright Angel Trail above Indian Gardens.

Endless switchbacks climbing out of the canyon.

Hair-pin turn on the Bright Angel Trail.

[From somewhere off the trail, in the midst of never-ending switchbacks.]
 
Dad: Give me a report on the trail since Indian Gardens:
 
Savanah: The trail after Indian Gardens was dry; it wasn't as green as Indian Gardens. Once we got to the switchbacks it was super windy. They've been going on [the switchbacks] for about an hour. I feel really tired. The only thing that actually hurts is my ankles.
 
Jenna: For a while there weren't any switchbacks. It was just a long trail with quite a few turns. After we hit the switchbacks they lasted for a good four miles, and we're still on them. An up-side is that we were in the shade for almost the entire time because we were along the wall and it was the first to get the shade along the canyon. My body feels good. I feel really tired, but I'm not exhausted, just sleepy tired. My feet hurt a bit. Also, we saw a helicopter fly in and out of Indian Gardens, from a bird's perspective.
 

At the top!

[Mission accomplished! Total distance: 16.7 miles. Total time: 11 hours 45 minutes. Elevation drop: 4,780 feet. Elevation gain: 4,380 feet. I am extremely proud of the girls. They did much better than I expected.]
 
Dad: How does it feel to be to the top?
 
Savanah: So nice! You feel so much more relaxed after an eighteen-mile hike that's super steep and rocky and goes back and forth a lot with all the switchbacks. So it feels super nice to be up at the top and relax. My feet still hurt.
 
Jenna: Amazing, but my feet hurt really bad.
 
Dad: What was the most memorable part of the entire hike?
 
Savanah: Probably going over the bridges and eating lunch.
 
Jenna: The hike! Also, looking down and knowing where you've gone.
 
Dad: Last question. Would you do it again?
 
Savanah: Maybe.
 
Jenna: Yes.
 

California Condor perched in a tree.

[After we think we we're done, we have one last experience while one the rim.]
 
Jenna: I looked over at a look-off point and I saw a pretty large bird flying around and I looked closer and looked at the bottom of its wings and saw white triangles, which means it was a California Condor. I saw its bald head too, so that helped. It had a little bit of white on the top of its wings, but that was a little hard to see. So I yelled, “Dad, it's a California Condor! Dad, it's a California Condor!” Then we watched it for a bit, but we weren't able to get too many good pictures until it got perched on a tree and covered in branches. We could see it, but we couldn't see it fly, which was sad.
 
Still Jenna: California Condors interest me because (1), it is my life goal to see one because they are an endangered species and there are like only 400 of them. And (2), they are only in this area and our area, which is the Bryce Canyon area. And (3), because they are the second largest bird in the world. ♠

Post-hike pizza party at Tusayan.