My friend Kim and I had a whim a couple months ago that turned into reality Monday. We left early Monday morning with our combined 5 kids and drove to the Grand Canyon. I am so glad she looked up the weather because I had foolishly thought it would be similar to here. The high was expected to be 52. Brrr. I dug out some pants from the "Italy piles" of clothes and threw in a few of my long sleeved running shirts just in case. We had a super time, but had crazy weather. When we first arrived around 11, it was quite windy and then started to snow while the kids were eating lunch. Bonus! thought the kids. It had stopped by the time we got to the main lookout spot behind the Visitors Center. It was cloudy and sometimes the northern rim was not visible, but wow, it is truly a natural wonder.
It was funny that there is no visual indication (besides signs) that you are getting close. Jess was expecting a . . . something, to drive towards. We weren't driving to a mountain, but rather to a hole. She didn't get that until she saw it. "Oh," said she. "That's a big hole." What did those first pioneers think when they came across it? Rats. 10 miles across as a bird flies, 200+ to drive around. I have a bunch of pictures, and just might add more when I combine ours with Kim's, but I had a hard time discriminating.
Makenna's first glance.
Megan, Jess and Makenna
I never let them near the edge, but Jess was wiggly and hyper enough in the beginning that I threatened to put her on a leash with some of Isaac's rope.
Jess, Makenna and Isaac
Here it started snowing again. You can see it on Dylan's jacket.
"Look a caterpillar!!" All the kids gathered to look at this wonder, with the Grand Canyon just 5 feet away. Kim and I laughed at what grabbed their focus.
Out came the sun. The 7 year olds were the first to find sticks.
This was the first of 13 squirrels. They kept track and named them.
We walked along the rim trail for a couple of miles.
It doesn't look real. It looks like a back drop.
After we stopped into a geology museum, we decided to hop on a shuttle bus to go the next couple of miles to Bright Angel Trail Head to hike down for awhile. The kids immediately wandered into the "wilderness" to explore while we waited for the shuttle.
The boys begin whittling. This was to become a project to last them hours.
As soon as we got on the shuttle, this started! The kids wanted to get right back off.
Hello, mules. We saw LOTS of evidence you left on the trails.
Megan and Jess had a slightly different pace than the other three. The moms stuck with the little ones.
It was sunny for most of our hike.
This is looking down a switchback below at the boys that got far ahead.
Isaac wore his insanely heavy scouter backpack the whole time. He snuck it into the car and then insisted he carry it, just in case. There were 2 first aid kits, several flashlights, a hatchet, rope, twine, flint and steel, water, a poncho, and more. Dylan carried a football. The boys were tossing it around while we ate and then he just forgot he had it in his hands until we were far away from the locked car. So these are two tough boys with extra baggage.
We must still be headed down when this was taken because we are still cold and bundled. We took off a couple layers on the hike back up.
Squirrel number. . . ? We learned that they love carrots and apples, but won't bother with orange peels. After we got back to the top we saw "please don't feed the animals" signs, but took some comfort that we broke the rule with very small helpings of healthy food.
Just a t-shirt means we are headed back up. We felt like we had gone miles, but didn't even make it to the first rest spot which was only 1 1/2 miles down. It's a 9 mile trek to the bottom and Isaac really wanted to try it. There is no way we could have done it this trip, even discounting the little girls, just because the sun would have gone down before we even reached the bottom. It is a fun goal to have. I hope to do it one day. We crossed paths with many who were on their way back--most with an overnight break at the warm bottom--and they were all well worn out.
Jessica marked the path with her name, but was completely bummed to find that it was promptly trodden upon. Too bad she wrote it in the middle of the narrow dirt path.
Isaac was waiting at the top for us, still a little miffed that we turned around before he thought we should.
But then we saw a deer.
And the kids chased after the deer to try and tempt it with carrots. The deer wasn't interested.
Whittling on the shuttle bus. Eventually, they shaved off the bark and smoothed down this walking stick. With the tools at hand, it was impressive, patient work.
Jess is a deer
The heaviest hail storm. The boys said it hurt when they were hit.
It stopped as suddenly as it started and immediately began melting fast in the sun so they had to play quickly.
This is right before we drove away.
We stayed the night in Flagstaff. The kids all jumped in a heated pool for awhile after dinner. It was dark and the air temp was in the low 40s. Extra brrr. Hot chocolate before bed. Jess and Megan swam again the next morning after breakfast before we took off. The boys did more whittling for that hour. Makenna hung out with the moms. We got back in time for one school lesson each before soccer and football practice.
It was a great trip.
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