Once again I find myself with
time to update the blog while I’m waiting on laundry to dry. This time though it is because the
Laundromat is the only place with outlets so that I can use the computer.
An update on our car
troubles: Praise God that the reason the
RV wasn’t running right was because of a fuel filter that was clogged. We took the RV to a shop and had the guys there
check it out to be sure nothing else was wrong.
They changed the filter, tested the fuel pump and a few other things and
we were on our way to the Grand Canyon.
We have been at the South Rim of
the Grand Canyon since Monday and today
(Friday) it is raining with a bit of thunder and lightning as well… a perfect
opportunity to do laundry J.
The Grand Canyon is so
beautiful. There are really no words to
describe it. It just makes me think of
how amazing our God is to have created something so enormous, beautiful, awesome,
and amazing.
The canyon also has steep cliffs
and many edges that you can overlook… it has a tendency to make a mom
nervous! And, I’m not the only mother I
heard saying, “Please be careful” and “that’s too close!” I have now heard these words in several
different accents and languagesJ.
While we have been here we have
hiked along the rim in several locations.
One of the hikes we started out too late (we were waiting to catch the
sunset) and finished our hike in the dark.
Fortunately, the trail was paved and was fairly easy to maneuver with
only one head lamp. Erik has been able
to ride his bike along the rim… today he went on a 50 mile loop.
Since the Grand Canyon is such a
touristy place there is a large grocery store and many souvenir shops. There are shuttle busses that take you all
over the canyon (which is great since we don’t really want to drive the RV all
over once we get our camp set up). The
shuttle busses also take you to a nearby town where the desperate can get
Wendy’s and McDonald’s! So, we’re really
roughing it!
Our most exciting hike was on Wednesday
evening when we hiked 5 miles down into the Canyon (the green patch in the middle of the picture above is where we hiked to). We went down 2,000 feet in elevation. We got permits so that we could camp at one
of the back country camp grounds. Since
it was just one night of camping we decided to go super light. It would be too hot for sleeping bags so we
packed a sheet for each of us, two fleece blankets and sweat pants for sleeping
if we were cold (which we weren’t). We
also packed the food we would need as well as some water but since there were
three places to get water on the way down we didn’t need to be loaded down with
lots of water. To save space and weight
we also decided to forgo a tent and sleep under the stars. Everyone’s packs were so empty that we
actually were able to fit in our regular pillows (a necessity if you will be
sleeping on the ground in my opinion!).
Every mile and a half there was water and the
nicest outhouse bathrooms I have ever seen.
There were also rest houses (little huts) for us to take breaks in with
emergency telephones. Our hike started
out really nice but there were storm clouds in the distance and sure enough 3
miles down we were met with rain. The
rain felt nice because we were so hot but we also hung out in one of the rest
houses while the worst of the storm passed.
The hike down was so amazing. We
saw squirrels, deer and were disappointed to have missed a big horned ram that
another hiker showed us a picture of on his camera. The trail was super dusty but was amazing as
we hiked down through the different layers of rock/dust/dirt. The colors ranged from almost white to tan to
red and back again. And, our legs, shoes
and socks showed it!
After three hours of hiking we
made it to a back country campground called Indian Garden Campground. Again, a really nice campground with amazing
outhouses, running water and a ranger station stocked with card games for the
campers. Each campsite had a picnic
table, two metal boxes for food (so critters don’t get into your packs) and a
roof over each table.
We arrived at the campground at
7:30 and Erik cooked up one of our favorite meals… spicy rice and beans with
sausage mixed in. After cleaning up
dinner, cleaning our dusty selves up and playing a quick game of Yahtzee we
started to get ready for bed. Quiet
hours at the campsite were 8:00pm to 6:00 am and by 9:00 we were exhausted and
ready for bed.
Just as I was about to lay down
on my sleeping pad next to Erik my headlamp caught two glowing eyes in the
dark. And then, a mouse ran across the
campsite. And then, another one did
too. I can handle most things… snakes
and spiders don’t bother me in the least.
But, rodents give me the creeps.
I could barely even watch the movie “Ratatouille”. So, I just stood there not sure what to do
but seriously doubting that I could lay down on the ground and sleep. At this point Sadie says, “I call the picnic
table” and runs over to the table. I
decided to join her and the two of us, with our heads at opposite ends of the
table, holding on to each other’s ankles so we didn’t fall off, made the 2 ½
foot wide picnic table our bed for the night.
Our "bed"
All night long we could hear rustling and chomping in the bushes. Throughout the night I would fall asleep for
about an hour (because picnic tables aren’t that comfy and Sadie moves A LOT)
and then lay awake for 45 minutes before drifting off again. At some time around 11:00 Curtis had yet to
go to sleep and moved to a picnic table at the campsite next to ours because he
kept hearing small animal noises in the bushes.
That left just Erik sleeping on the ground. Needless to say, it was a long night for
all.
Looking up from our camp ground. Yikes! That's a long ways to hike!
The sun came up and we were all awake by 4:45 am, as were most of the campers in the campground. Everyone wanted to get an early start heading
up the canyon before the temp got too hot.
Amazingly, our five mile hike up was only ½ hour longer than the hike
down. Curtis beat us to the top by about
45 minutes though.
This was our rest stop on the way up while we watched a group of people riding mules down. No Fair!
After we got back to the RV, we
took showers ($2 per shower was extremely worth it!), Erik made us a breakfast
of bacon and eggs (because Cliff bars and granola bars and trail mix while
hiking might give us the calories we need but just aren’t all that tasty). Then we all took naps. Sadie’s lasted 4 hours! The rest of the day was pretty uneventful as
we rested and relaxed.
A very wiped out Sadie
The rest of the week we are
taking pretty easy. Lots of reading and
relaxing. Tomorrow we will pull out and
drive to Bryce Canyon. We’ve been to
Zion Canyon about five years ago and loved it and are anticipating the same for
Bryce.
