Day 14: Grand Canyon National Park

This morning was a quick one- we woke up, showered, and had breakfast before heading out to some viewpoints in the area. We drove to horseshoe bend which was suuuuuper cool. The Colorado river looked really still because there was so much algae growing on the water so it had a cool green finish to it. After getting some cool pictures, we started on our 2 and a half hour drive to the Grand Canyon.

Everyone said that the Grand Canyon would surpass any expectations we had and it totally did. It was so vast it was difficult to fathom the size. We had to drive 30 miles from the entrance to even get to the visitors center. We got our hikes and information in order before heading to our campsite to set up. The sky was pretty grey but they lady at check in said not to worry about rain- then it rained. The sky DUMPED on us. We had to eat lunch in the car and pray that the sky would close up and give us a chance to hike. Luckily the rain cooled the temperature down for us before our hike. We hopped on the shuttle and headed to the bright angel trail.

This trail was… interesting. It was cool because it starts downhill, descending into the canyon, and the view was beautiful! The tricky part, for me especially, was heading back up. We hiked down to the 3 mile point, which came equipped with bathrooms and water refills, and found a sign that said “going down is optional, going up is mandatory” and I should’ve known then that I’d grossly underestimated how steep the hike down was.

I have a tough time keeping up with people while I hike so I got burned out reaaaaaal quick not going my own, slow pace. After I finally decided to tell Haley to go ahead, I enjoyed the hike. I took the stops I needed, I enjoyed the views, I explored, and kept my heartbeat down. It was hard but this trip has really taught me my limits and I’m glad I can exercise them!

After the hike we made dinner and all crashed so hard.

Stay curious and happy travels!