I have a healthy respect for heights and hiking. Put the two together and you may find yourself in a rather gnarly situation. The North Kaibab trail into the Grand Canyon is considered one of the harder canyon trails. There are tons of switchbacks and narrow spots where someone with poor balance and or limited hiking skills could get in trouble. I spent the day with four other guys between 36 and 53 trying to navigate all the twists and turns of what turned out to be a breathtaking (in every possible use of the word) hike into the canyon.
The Grand Canyon is a marvel of nature. It is a beautiful example of how hard life works to survive. I never quite understood that until I saw the brush and the pine trees cling to the side of sheer cliffs and thriving. Life does indeed find a way.
Our original goal was to hike down to the waterfalls and the pumping station and, as guys tend to do, dive in the water. I fell one mile short of that goal. Three out of the five made it down only to discover they couldn’t get to the water, but the taxing journey took its toll on me right before that last downhill. Like I said earlier: healthy respect. When my head started to get a little fuzzy and I felt like my depth perception was going a bit, I decided that living was a lot more important than ‘manning up’ and covering that last mile.
After around five miles each way it felt like there wasn’t much more my body had left to give, and us two stragglers fought to get back under the pain of cramped muscles and fatigue. My head cleared and I pushed through and made it back feeling wonderful. Despite not going all the way, I feel really fulfilled. I’ve never really hiked more than a mile or two in non-sidewalk terrain, so this experience tested me in a way I’ve never been tested before.
I’d say I won this rather impromptu battle of man vs. nature. I will also say that whatever I feel now is probably nothing compared to what I will feel in the morning. However, the good thing about guy trips is after such an experience we usually wind up ‘in the cups’ as it were. Vodka heals all.