We survived our big Grand Canyon hike this past weekend. It was an adventure, that's for sure. It wasn't easy, but I am so happy that I did it -- it was truly a great experience. We have tons of pictures so I tried to pick out some of my favorites from throughout the three days.
On Thursday night, we all drove up to Seligman, AZ where we stayed in a motel for the night.
On Friday morning, we loaded up with a warm breakfast in Seligman and then headed to the trailhead, about an hour and a half from Seligman. We started the hike down at about 10AM. With some stops along the way and an hour stop in the Supai village, it took us about 6-7 hours to get down to camp. We set up camp, took a refreshing dip in Havasupai Falls, and ate our first meal at the camp. Jumping into the (cold) water and swimming around was definitely a highlight. We were all pretty beat from the hike in so we called it an early night. Our tents were right next to a creek which provided relaxing background noise while sleeping.
On Saturday, we hiked to Mooney Falls and Beaver Falls. The roundtrip was about 6 miles and consisted of all types of terrain from creeks, planks of wood over large ditches, caves, open fields, and cliffs! If we weren't hurting from Friday, we were certainly hurting by Saturday evening!
And finally, on Sunday, we left camp at 5AM and began our 10 mile journey back. By the end, George and I were moving pretty darn slow, but we all stayed together (thanks, guys!) and made it back in one piece. It was truly an amazing sense of accomplishment to make it to the top.
Last night, we enjoyed rinsing off, warm water, our comfortable bed, and being home with our little girl! What a great weekend!
**Photo Credit to Emily and Kyle**
This is our "before" group picture (from left to right: Emily, George, Brian, Heather, Brent, Hannah, Kyle, Jeremiah, Terrisa, Patty, Dad)
George and I -- this is the best we looked all weekend!
Patty, Hannah, and Jeremiah. Patty is Hannah's good friend from ASU
A bunch of pictures from the hike down...
Horses bringing mail to the village. We saw all sorts of things being brought down on horses, from boxes of Lay's potato chips to an HP printer! There's also a couple of helicopters that go to/from the village with deliveries. At one point, we saw a vehicle hanging from a helicopter!
Our home for the weekend!
Our first evening when everyone jumped into the water. Shortly after this picture, everyone convinced Terrisa, Emily, and me to jump in!
Pictures from our day hike on Saturday...
And finally, a couple of pictures from our last day. We were all focused on getting out so there weren't as many pictures from Sunday!
We made it!!
Thanks to Brian who organized the hike and encouraged us all to go!