The Grand Canyon

Ok, so I'm abit behind again. *grin*

We've been in San Francisco a day now and I've yet to post about the Grand Canyon.

Sorry about that. Finding time AND decent speed connectivity has been more of a challenge than I expected. But then again, the fact that in almost every town I've stopped, there was some sort of place I could get connectivity via WiFi (not always fast of course) is pretty cool.

To get to the Grand Canyon, I used the GPS again for directions to the "Grand Canyon Railway". The problem is that the location it directed us to was the main administrative offices for the company, not the train depot.

Once we figured that part out, we headed to Williams Arizona and bought 3 round trip tickets to the canyon. Since the temperatures were down due it being the rainy season, I picked the cheap seats on a restored 1930's Pullman car for us. It came complete with reversible seats, windows which could be opened, and complimentary beverages.


If you ever go to the Grand Canyon, this the ONLY way to do it. I've driven to the canyon and have taken the train. By car, you have to sit in traffic for quite some time to just get into the park. Then you have to deal with parking, etc. By taking the train, all you have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride.

The train company provides entertainment and the price of the tickets includes the park entrance fee. Overall, not a bad deal.


Since we are "car camping", we've been living out of the trunk of the car. And believe me when I say it is full. Anyways, this meant that before getting on the train, we had to figure out what we needed to carry with us for a couple of days at the park. Since each of us brought backpacking gear, we only had to load up the packs. We did drag the cooler with us though. I had bought a watermellon and cantelope from a roadside stand on the way up and had them on ice. Nothing like an ice cold watermellon for dessert and fresh cantelope for breakfast. It was worth the hassel dragging the cooler onto the train.

Oh, did you know that the cantelope originated in Pecos Texas? One of the interesting tidbits we learned in Pecos during our visit to the Pecos museum... It is also where the first rodeo was held. See mom? I did learn something on this trip *wink*.

I told the boys they could go tour the various information centers, museums, and overlooks via the shuttle bus while I setup the tents. I gave them a couple of hours to be back at camp. While they were gone I spent all of...err some of my time putting up the tents and the rest I enjoyed by taking a nice relaxing nap.

The next day we hiked down to the first rest stop on the Bright Angel Trail which is 1.5 miles into the canyon. This first stop is just over 1,100 feet down below the rim and the trail is not for the faint of heart. It is only a few feet wide and has a nice long drop off the side.



Actually getting down into the canyon is not too bad. Getting back out was a whole 'nother thing. Those hiking down into the canyon were always smiling and talking away about the beautiful views, etc. Those we passed that we coming back up always had a similar expression, red in the face, breathing heavy and sweating profusely. This should have been a clue *chuckle*.

During the hike, I was constantly amazed by the various people we saw going down into the canyon on our way back out. There were SEVERAL I wanted to tell, "go back, you aren't ready for this." One fellow we passed had to be 55 years old and 295 lbs or so. No water bottle and no hiking partner. And that is just an example of one person... Oh well.

Have you ever heard the comment, "It's a small world"? I'm betting you have. Zachary and Ethan have first hand exeperience in this fact. About 1/2 mile into the decent into the Grand Canyon, we met two of their high school teachers. Now what are the odds of finding two people from Dawsonville Georgia 2,000 miles away and 1/2 mile down into the Grand Canyon on the same day we were there? Go figure.

Remember the incident with the tarantula I mentioned? I guess I'm just not the environmentalist I should be. Why you ask? Well...

All over the park you will find squirrels. And the park rangers tell you every chance they get "Don't approach the squirrels. Don't feed the squirrels". Yet everyone does, and this has made them somewhat agressive around people in search of handouts, etc.

During our hike into the canyon, I found myself with several of them on the trail in front of me. As I was walking, I took a step with the intent of stepping over these little furry rats with bushy tails. As I took the step, one of them decided to dart across the trail. Quite by accident (really it was, I promise), I caught the squirrel between the sole of my sandal and the trail. I'd estimate I rolled the squirrel between the ground and my foot a good 12 inches or so before I realized the problem...

Now everyone has seen cartoons, etc. Picture the most comical scene you can from something like Ren and Stimpy where one them gets electrocuted or something and they are lying on the ground twitching uncontrollably. That is what I saw when I looked back at the carnage I had wrecked. The people just behind me on the trail were standing there, looking down at this poor little squirrel and back up at me. I could just hear their thoughts... "You big meanie, look what you've done!" and "Murderer!". But at this point, what could I do? I wasn't about to give the little critter mouth to mouth and the rangers did say "Don't bother the squirrels" didn't they? So, in my most nonchalant manner, I turned to the guy nearest me and said "Ooops".

Since we happened to be near the very end of the section we had planned to hike, I continued a few yards up the trail to the bathroom park services had built for the rest stop. When I finished my business and headed back toward where I had left the boys, they had found the squirrel lying in the middle of the trail (yep, still twitching). They immediately yelled, "Hey dad, come look at this squirrel."

Now I had a decision to make. Do I admit to my second fatal encounter with the local wildlife or do I act as if I know nothing of the events which have led to this poor creatures untimely demise? Plunging forward, in good ol' bubba fashion, I told them, "Umm, I may have had something to do with that." Zachary and Ethan looked at the squirrel, then each other, and back to me. "You didn't!... Did you?" It didn't take them but a second to come up with "YOU STEPPED ON HIM??!! How could you!".

Luckily for me... and the squirrel of course, it had stopped twitching and sat up. In my defense, I hastily pointed this out to the boys. "I didn't kill him, see, he's going to be just fine" as I nudged him with my foot.

"He's got blood coming out of both ears dad. You've probably killed him! How could you?". Again with the how could you statement. It wasn't as if I intentionally decided to squish the little bugger...

As I continued to profess my innocence, the squirrel began to show more signs of life by first dragging itself in a circle and then shortly running around in a circle. "Aww, he'll be ok. He just got his bell rung is all boys." You can imagine my relief when he finally reached the edge of the trail during one of his loops and disappeared into the brush.

Of course at this point we had an audience. Did I mention that this trail is loaded down with other crazy people who think hiking down into the canyon is a fun way to spend a couple of hours? Now the boys are telling those closest about how this isn't my first deadly encounter with nature on this trip. Thanks guys *smile*.

You know, when I started this trip, I didn't set out to kill. It really wasn't on my list of things to do. Visit New Orleans, go into Carlsbad Caverns, hike the Grand Canyon, go to San Francisco, kill poor little critters... Nope not on the list. Oh well, what can a feller do?

All I can say is that anyone who might live on my route back home should probably be sure to keep their pets indoors as we drive by...

After we determined that the squirrel had apparently made a full recovery and had run off to join his friends (much to my relief), we headed back up the trail. About a half mile into the climb out, I hear someone yell "hey watch out!" from down below. I stop and turned around to see what the racket was about. Coming up behind me in a dead run are three mules with their packs and no rider. One of them even had a portion of his pack dragging on the trail behind him as it ran up the side of the canyon. And down below some 1/4 mile or so away someone yells "Stop those Mules!". Luckily for him, stop they did. Somehow or another he had lost control of them somewhere down the trail and they had decided to head back to the house. He was one of the park rangers who was involved in the mule rides down through the canyon. It was then that the boys started pointing out my wheezing behind them while hike up the trail sounded a lot like the mules they had just witnessed careening up the trail.



Between breaths I think I threatened to toss both of them off the cliff once I caught up to them. There may have been a few four letter words uttered on my part. I'm not sure. *shrug*

But of course they both laughed and danced up the trail out of my reach. Well maybe danced is a stretch. Ethan did jog a few feet down the trail while laughing. They basically continued up the hill while I tried (valiantly I must say) to continue my way up the hill. At times 50 and 60 plus year old people, small kids, and two people with walkers, passed by me on the trail, making sure to give me ample room due to odd noises I was making as I inched forward. Did I mention how steep this thing was? Geez! Whose bright idea was it to do this hike anyways! Ummm, ok, maybe I had something to do with that.

Much to my amazement, I did make it back up the trail to the top of the canyon. I was even breathing somewhat normally by the top. The grade lessend quite a bit the last few hundred feet, which allowed me to recover some of my dignity before leaving the trail. I was bound and determined not to top the hill sounding like an 80 year old emphasima patient. Plus I didn't want to give anyone else a warning as to what was to come. No one warned me, why should I warn them? *grin*

And as I stated before, I really did enjoy the hike. Really I did. But you probably won't get me back down in there again. Been there, done that, almost killed a squirrel. *smile*.


By the time we got out of the canyon it was about lunch time. I had reserved two nights for the campsite, but we had done everything we had planned on doing at the canyon. So, we packed up our campsite, changed our train tickets and headed back to the car on the 3:00 p.m. train back to Williams.


People always talk about spending time with the kids and making memories. I doubt the hike into the canyon is something we will ever forget.

I know that squirrel won't.

Until next time!