Grand Canyon–wow!

Finally, a brief report on our emergency family adventure trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. We were gone for 6 days. We spent Saturday night on the rim of the Canyon, descended (2 by mule, 2 by hiking) on Sunday, spent two nights at Phantom Ranch in Bright Angel Canyon at the bottom, and came back up on Tuesday. We spent a luxurious second night on the rim and half of Wednesday in the park before we finally drove off for a brief but fun family visit in Prescott on our way to Phoenix (and our Thursday AM plane home).

It was all really, really fun and a thorough getaway in feel. The canyon is beautiful, of course, and even more astonishingly so when you are IN it rather than just looking into it. We all had fun, and it was interesting to be together and apart in different family configurations throughout the four middle days of the trip.

Because it was a way to get housing at Phantom Ranch, Will (15) and I signed on for the mule trip down and up; Eric and Jesse hiked. Jesse (12) was a great hiker…7.5 miles down on Sunday and 10 miles up on Tuesday. Will and I enjoyed our mules and the feeling of riding on a sure-footed animal on narrow precipitous trails. The mule-train guides were friendly and we saw a lot on the way down and back (but no longhorn sheep).

I think I could have hiked, because my radiation fatigue went away on Saturday! but I suspect the hike out of the canyon would have pretty much worn me out. On Wednesday Eric, Will, and I went down the Bright Angel trail 1.25 miles in search of petroglyphs, and then up again of course…so I got a little vertical hiking in. (I hiked down and up in 1993 too.)

GCWillPhantomCanyon
Will in Phantom Canyon
Will & Ellen on the mule ride up
Will & me on the mule ride up (on BB and Charlotte the mules)
Family photo on the South Rim
Family photo on the South Rim

Jesse (L) hiking up the Bright Angel trail
Jesse (L) hiking up the Bright Angel trail

Jesse & Eric at the top of the Bright Angel Trail (10 miles of up)
Jesse & Eric at the top of the Bright Angel Trail (10 miles of up)
Eric & I on the rim
On the rim
The south rim in the evening
The south rim in the evening

5 thoughts on “Grand Canyon–wow!

  1. Gina Qualliotine

    Wow, it is So dramatic of a landscape. So nice to see the photos! I especially like the one of you and Eric. I’m going to copy it and print one out. So glad you weren’t feeling too tired. Some impressive hiking for Jesse !

  2. David Millians

    Beautiful voyage!

  3. Jill Zoeller

    What a wonderful trip! Thanks so much for sharing these great photos! They remind me of the time the Brady Bunch visited the Grand Canyon and they all rode down on mules, and Bobby and Cindy got lost! I, too, am very impressed that Eric and Jesse hiked it!

  4. Rebecca McBride

    Such beautiful pictures of all of you! The setting’s OK too.

  5. Isa

    You 4 look so sparkly.

    You and Will are color-coordinated with the mules.
    Planned?

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