October 15, 2011 Hiking Rim to Rim

Janet had hiked the Grand Canyon from Rim to Rim a couple times and a group from her work was ready to do it again. We decided we wanted to do it, and that it would be like a training walk for our upcoming 3 Day. We started out on the North Rim at 6am Saturday morning. We had 21 miles to cover. Throughout the day I took some pictures of us, the trails, the rocks, anything that caught my eye. I had alot of time, cause this "little" 21 mile hike took us 16 hours to complete. We did not make it to the top of the South Rim until 10pm. What a day, what an experience. I can say I did it, which I think is awesome. But I will also say, I don't want to do it again. LOL






























































This picture is of us standing on the bridge that you saw in the previous picture once you follow the winding trail.

































































We stopped at Phantom Ranch which was at about 14 miles, and ate some lunch and got a cool glass of lemonaide. Once we left there we crossed the Colorado River and headed up the South Rim. We now had 7 miles to go.





































Kind of funny....our last picture smiling. Little did we know at this point we were still going to be hiking for 6 more hours!!!













This is the last picture I took on our way up because the sun had just gone down and then it got dark.













And when I say it got dark.....it was pitch black dark. We both had head lamps which we needed and used and made our way slowly up the trail one step at a time. It felt like we were never going to get there. But we did and Jan's friend Karen was waiting for us with a car to take us home. What an exhausting day, but one we'll always remember.