Grand Canyon Siblings Trip!

This was such a great trip! Kudos for Allen for planning the whole thing. A sibling trip into the Grand Canyon? Doesn’t everyone else do stuff like this? It was such an experience being at the North Rim again: the memories, the smells, the sheer DEPTH beneath you. It’s been 20 years since I’ve backpacked into the canyon. How much harder could it be now?

On Thursday morning, Monica and Nora shuttled over to hike down the south rim while Vanessa, Allen, and I started from the north rim. We met at the bottom at the Bright Angel Campground for 2 toasty nights, sleeping on TOP of my sleeping bag. We hiked a loop to the south rim, ate plenty of junk food, played cards, and forgot we were in the middle of nowhere. The highlights for me were definitely hiking the South Kaibab trail and the 2 tall glasses of Dr. Pepper at Bright Angel Lodge.

Our hike out on Saturday morning was accompanied by a miracle: light rain. What luck! It was cloudy with a constant sprinkle the ENTIRE way up! We stayed perfectly misted, the trails weren’t too muddy, and my 2 quarts of water lasted the entire time. It’s a good thing too because the water pipeline was broken. Other than things that were out of our control, the trip went pretty smooth. When we were almost out of the canyon, I heard Nora say, “I’m never doing this again.” Oh, Nora, we all say that… until the next time, when we bring MORE siblings with us!

Kings Peak

This has been on my bucket list for years! I know it’s popular for backpackers, but we wanted to try it in one day and cut out having to haul gear. With the newer shortcuts, the mileage is only 24ish, which is completely doable! We dropped the kids off at Nora’s on Friday night and drove to Henry’s Fork to sleep in the car at the trailhead. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I just didn’t dress warm enough. It was below freezing in the morning with frost on everything! Even after we got moving, it took a good 30 minutes for me to feel my feet! Luckily, the rest of the day was gorgeous. The first 5 miles is pretty flat, which is really nice when you’re first starting out. Even the climbing wasn’t too bad. Once we got above the tree line, the views really opened up. You could see endless in all directions! The push to the peak was a tedious scramble and there were a bunch of people at the top (but NOTHING like Timp!) but it was still fun. We hung out, ate food, chatted with other hikers and found out that everybody up there was from either Salt Lake or Davis County with NO second-timers. Huh. We made it down in pretty good time, although I would’ve loved a little more downhill pitch for those last 5 miles. In conclusion, it was a great hike… but no real reason to do it again anytime soon. Cross it off the list!