Never will I ever find the words to truly explain my experience at the Grand Canyon. This picture is beautiful but does not do justice to what makes this canyon the "grandest" of all. Never in a million years would I have thought this is what lies in the deepest depths of this National Park.
Starting 4 hours prior to this image we set out over the rim walking down the steep incline of the first mile in the icy snow followed by another 2 miles of burnt orange sludge from where the snow had begun to melt and mixed in with the rocks to give the mess such a vibrant color. At the 4.4 mile mark on the South Kaibab Trail we were following to the bottom, I was at the deepest point I could spot from the top. Considering the trail was to be 7.1 miles long I wondered how we could ever make it any further down if I was at the deepest point. Little did I know once we began to venture out to finish our hike I would find another ledge like that of the rim at the top that would plummet down even further and it made me think to myself, "oh my goodness, there is another canyon inside of this canyon."
But after a few minutes we soon found sight of water, this had to be the bottom. A few miles passed and finally we came upon a tunnel that would lead us to a massive walking bridge to transport us across the Colorado River. The first thing I noticed was how warm I was, there was a breeze coming off of the water as we traveled over the bridge but the weather was under no conditions for snow. We later learned that the bottom of the Grand Canyon is consistently 20-30 degrees warmer at its deepest point of 5,000 feet (1 mile)below sea level in comparison to the climate at the rim. The next sight that intrigued me most was a beach on the other side of this emerald green river. At this point having traveled almost 7 miles running on to that beach and basking in that Arizona sun felt like such a reward, It felt like paradise.
Kelly
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