Grand Canyon Day 1
We dropped our car off at the South Rim and rode with my family up to the North Rim where my mom dropped us off at the North Kaibab trail. All along the way to the North Rim we were seeing massive thunder clouds right over the canyon and the family was trying to convince us not to go... after all who wants to get rained on...
However we still went, but not without taking a picture in front of the national park sign which is a must at all national parks... of course :]
The girls and my mom walked us down a few 100 feet to see us off... the rain clouds didn't look promising!
above: incredible view of the North Rim! Rainy or not, the sights still took our breath away!
Left: here we are near the beginning.. looking across at what we would be facing!
The first tunnel we came across! Nice landmarks to let us know how far we had come and how much further we had!
Above: The Grand view! You can see our trail we would be following down on the right!
We walked along the side of the cliffs in our descent for a long time! We only had an hour or so of daylight and then we carried on in the dark... which was a bit spooky and we were sad to be missing the scenery!
The dark was so spooky with thunder and so black but the lightening would illuminate everything when it flashed which was awesome! All 3 of us also came within a foot of stepping on a diamond back rattlesnake as it moved along the path! We were thanking our many blessings none of us did! Would've been a quick end to this adventure!
At our campsite moths attacked me nonstop but these mice were so cute! My dad thought so too apparantly since he gave them a TON of peanut butter but they loved it! When we woke up the next morning all of it was gone!
I don't know if it affected anything but when we were sleeping the mice climbed up on our tents! We heard them a bunch and I saw their silhouettes above my head a couple times! haha
Awesome idea for tents when backpacking! Super light, sewed up 3 sides tarps! We just opened the end and tied up the bottom corners once we were in. Still open to bugs, but most critters wouldn't be able to just crawl in with us!
Unfortunately Ty and I had no sleeping pads.. I started with a pool floatie but it was deflated half way through the night... it was a bit rough!
Right: Spot the toad? they were everywhere!
Last but not least since it was too dark to see our surroundings when we walked into camp, I took some pictures in the morning! Cool views! I've never experienced camping with literally nothing nearby for miles!
So even though it rained on us a little, was dark for 2/3rds of the journey, and we all almost met our doom at the bite of a rattlesnake, I'd still call it a pretty successful first day!
We dropped our car off at the South Rim and rode with my family up to the North Rim where my mom dropped us off at the North Kaibab trail. All along the way to the North Rim we were seeing massive thunder clouds right over the canyon and the family was trying to convince us not to go... after all who wants to get rained on...
Left: here we are near the beginning.. looking across at what we would be facing!
We walked along the side of the cliffs in our descent for a long time! We only had an hour or so of daylight and then we carried on in the dark... which was a bit spooky and we were sad to be missing the scenery!
I don't know if it affected anything but when we were sleeping the mice climbed up on our tents! We heard them a bunch and I saw their silhouettes above my head a couple times! haha
Unfortunately Ty and I had no sleeping pads.. I started with a pool floatie but it was deflated half way through the night... it was a bit rough!
Right: Spot the toad? they were everywhere!
So even though it rained on us a little, was dark for 2/3rds of the journey, and we all almost met our doom at the bite of a rattlesnake, I'd still call it a pretty successful first day!
We covered 7 miles from the North Rim to Cottonwood Camp. Most of the way down, just 1500 feet left till we hit the canyon floor.
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