Thursday, August 19, 2010

Day Two: Grand Canyon, North Rim, Thunder River Trail

Day TWO, we drop through a break in the Red Wall cliffs into Surprise Valley. It's hot hot hot. Surprise! It's August, in the Grand Canyon, but the heat is still shocking. Our destination is Thunder River Falls, and it's absolutely incredible. This river, one of the shortest and steepest in the world, spits right out from the side of the canyon wall. We eat lunch in the spray of the falls, taking turns drenching ourselves. The fellas try to climb up to the cave, but the rocks are too hot to touch. Jody manages to curl up into a ball and take a nap - her hair and makeup are perfect. I'm not bitter. My brother resembles Indiana Jones.

Wait...maybe he IS Indiana Jones. Only more dangerous. We continue along Tapeats Creek, making several stream crossings. At one point I have a panic attack because we are hiking a very narrow section of trail very high above the ground and my brain does not like it. Tom comes back to save me like a good big brother. This is a repeating pattern in my life. We push through. I don't die and take this as encouragement to keep going. At the bottom, I lay my whole body fully clothed in the creek; it feels like a York Peppermint Patty commercial. Todd calls the next section "the death march" and after rock climbing for what was not 'just a mile' we eventually reach camp at a sandy beach near Mile 135 Rapids along the Colorado River. The river is blood red and carrying a lot of silt. Boy, we are tired.


5 comments:

Mindi said...

my goodness--those waterfall pics are BREATHTAKING.

i commend you--grand canyon in august? you guys are HARDCORE.

confession: i have lived less than 2 hours away from the grand canyon my whole life and i've NEVER BEEN.

i suck.

Natlee Lloyd said...

Oh man that looks lots harder than the hike up to lone pine at camp mia shalom:)

Anonymous said...

beautiful pictures gina! you guys are awesome!!

C*K*J said...

You guys are without a doubt the coolest people I know. That waterfall is AMAZING. I'm so glad you survived and rocked the GC!

trail trekker said...

Gin, I loved reading about and seeing all the photos of your trip. Huge accomplishment & you should be super proud of yourself for pushing your limits & breaking down some big barriers. Thanks for taking us along in spirit. Next time I'll be with you or else!!