The Grand Canyon

One of the highlights from this past summer was getting to hike the Grand Canyon with some of our Vegas friends. I had been to the Grand Canyon when I was young for a family reunion, but never hiked down into it. It was such a fun experience to be able to go on a big camping/hiking trip without our kids, push ourselves physically and mentally, and spend some quality time with each other and with great friends. One thing I didn't know about the grand canyon is that from the top ridge where you start to the bottom of the canyon where you end, there is a 50 degree temperature difference. We woke up really early in the morning to start our hike and had sweatshirts on because it was chilly. By the time we had hiked down the 7 miles it was the middle of the day and 100+ degrees. Fortunately the Colorado River is at the bottom and we were able to sit and soak our legs in it for a good long while. It was much needed. We carried all our gear on our backs and because Kev and I don't own very fancy, compact camping gear, Kevins pack was at least double the size and weight of all our friends packs. Poor guy. He's strong though and handled it like a champ. That evening we ate dinner at a little lodge down in the canyon. After a long day of hiking that beef stew couldn't have tasted any more delicious. We pitched our tents and got ready for bed. We had a long hike out of the canyon the next morning so we needed good sleep. Unfortunately nobody slept well that night because the whole night it never cooled off and stayed 100+ degrees. We all lied in our tents in our own sweat. We got up at 5:00 to start the hike out and try to beat the heat. Kev and I enjoyed the hours and hours of getting to chat, just the two of us, as we made our way to the top. 9 miles out. Those last few miles Kevin's ginormous pack started to feel really heavy, he kept plunking along though. We made it out in about 5 hours. It was so much fun! Definitely something I'd love to do again.