Grand Canyon 2008

We hiked about 40 miles in 5 days, 20 miles in and out. At the turnaround, Rob and I took the day off while our friends took a side hike. It was awesome. The desert was in full bloom, blue skies above beautiful hues of red. We saw quite a few river folk but, along the trail we were alone. We hiked down Tanner Trail to Tanner Rapids, according to the trailhead all are named after a "morman" miner. Then at the river we hiked along the Beamer trail, named after another miner. He lived along the Little Colorado River. The confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado was our goal. We were hoping for the crystal clear blue waters of the Little Colorado but, at the time we were there, it was running high and muddy. But, it was still beautiful. We arrived at the confluence late and since the Little was muddy, we wanted to filter the water from the Colorado upstream. This meant crossing the Little in the dark. The men tried for about an hour and decided it wasn't worth risking until morning. We had used a lot of water on that second day and it was the only time where we gathered all of our water together and divided it equally between the 7 of us. It was enough to get us through the night. Hopefully we could cross and filter water in the morning. We decided not to use the water for making dinner but, to just drink it instead and eat some lunch food. Even though it was plenty of water to satisfy my thirst, it did feel different and I found myself nervous about drinking all of it since we didn't have a way to get more, yet. Thankfully in the morning, White Daisy's husband was able to filter some and he shared some at breakfast then, we all went across the Little and filtered a lot. It felt good. The Beamer Trail was very narrow at times and with a heavy pack it had me at a point I have never reached, humming hymns to keep from losing it. I remember staring at the trail thinking about each step, and in my peripheral, I could see movement of all of that lies far below us. Can you guess what I was humming? "How Firm a Foundation"!!!
I beat up my heels, knees and shoulders but, they are recovering and I am relishing in the memories of the desert. I love this place. I came here just before I was expecting Angela and I came again now, full circle. It is a healing place.