Day 36 The “Grand Day”

You may have guessed by the title of this post that this was THE day I had been waiting for on this journey.

The Grand Canyon

It was absolutely spectacular.

I am almost 50 years old and have never seen it.

I cried like a baby for the first 15 minutes of beholding it.

Hence the lack of smile on my face in this picture. Just had to process the overwhelm for a few minutes. It was too much. Creation is just a lot to behold in this place.

I pulled it together and we started hiking the Bright Angel Trail. It is incredible.

There were some pretty icy sections that took some careful negotiating to cross. I was so glad Mimi and Becca brought a leash for Nina!

And I’m glad we brought trekking poles!

Here comes a mule train up behind us. Here they are approaching an icy patch that took us 20 minutes to traverse. They do it in a bout 15 seconds.

They were too fast. We had to step aside and let them pass.

Incredible animals.

They navigated that icy terrain like they were wearing chains! Which, by the way, I am wearing next time we hike into the Grand Canyon in winter!

On the Bright Angel Trail, there are several shady spots that ice over and don’t thaw even on 40-50 degree days.

I feel so proud of myself for actually helping a man with a serious fear of heights, like myself, make it across one of the ice patches. Sometimes you just need someone who made it down successfully to brace themselves and hold your hand. That felt pretty dang good.