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What does one do when his work schedule gets moved to weekends? 13 hour shifts every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night is not the ideal situation for a young swinging 20-something bachelor (ok maybe not so swinging). Well look at the bright side. Working 3 days a week means 4 days off during the week! Better take advantage of that before my schedule gets shifted again. What a better way to take advantage than to check another box of the livetime list of things to do. Off to Arizona and the Grand Canyon I went.

The trip started with reuniting with an old friend, Mr Ray Newman in Phoenix. He promptly showed me to the craziest party district in Phoenix, well ok for a Monday night, there are not actually too many crazy party spots in Phoenix. But the beer was good and it was good to catch up on some old and new stories.

The next morning it was time to hit the road. The goal “Grand Canyon by Sunset”. Easy enough, its only a short 4 hour drive from Phoenix. If there wasn’t so much darn stuff to see in between! The first stop was Montezuma’s Castle, an indian Pueblo built right into the cliffside whose false name had nothing to do with the Aztec ruler (but hey I guess it works to attract the tourists). Driving through the desert on a cool day with the AC cranked, it was nice to take a pit stop back in time to ponder how people lived before the conviences of modern technology.

Next stop on the world tour was Sedona Red Rock. What a site to see. I could have spent the whole day hiking and taking pictures of the same dramatic rocks. Who would of thought people get so excited over a couple of giant rocks sitting out of the ground. But they really were something to see. It was also here that I first encountered one of the most feared desert dangers… Cactus! The spine stuck in my thumb never really stung too bad, but it did turn it some interesting colors…

Between the cactus spines and the hours spent with my head tilted backwards, I started seeing images in the rocks. Check out the Eagle!

Before the hallucinating got worse I thought it was good idea to grab a coffee and get back on the road. The sun was going down and it was time to get to the canyon. An hour later I am driving up the plateau, hoping that there is a bridge or at least a stop sign before I reach that famous hole in the ground. I actually felt more like I should be riding a horse rather than a car rental, but seeing that Budget did not have any horses available plus the fact that I have never ridden a horse before, the car worked just fine.

Can we say “Perfect Timing”. Sunset at the grand canyon has to be one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. I used up my entire memory stick taking the same pictures of the same darn rocks again! But it was worth it.

Checking out the rim until the stars came out was nice. Finding my way back to the car in the dark hoping not to fall into the canyon, was also an experience. Thanks to Nokia for the guiding light to help me find the way… Pitching went more successfully than I thought, however trying to sleep in 32 degree F weather was not so nice. I managed to wake up the next morning with all fingers and toes intact so that was good. Today’s plan, get an early start to hike a couple hours into the canyon, then back on the road by noon or so to get back on the road and check out what else Arizona has to offer.

Well once again, I was amazed at how much fun some colored rocks and hiking trails could be. It thought the views from the top were cool, but the deeper into the canyon I hiked the more interesting it got. I assumed I would be sweating my rear end off, dying of thrist through a dead dry desert environment. Quite the contrary, hiking conditions were great, and you would never imaging how full of life the canyon is until you see it up close.

From trees growing out of rocks…

To vultures scoping out for tired hikers…

To deer cutting my off at the trail…

The canyon is really full of life. Not to mention color. The further I went the more I felt like I was hiking in a different technicolor scene from a movie, or even a different era of time completely.

Check out the red zone…

Or the yellow zone…

At about 11:00am I had made it to the plateau and took a break for lunch where a number of trails crossed. This was the decision point, finish the hike down to the river, or hike back out and hit the road. After talking to the other hikers who had also stopped for lunch the decision was clear… If one is came all of this way just to see the grand canyon, why not go all out and hike to the bottom and back in one day.

With a long journey now ahead of me I got back on the trail and descended into the part of the canyon you can barely see from the top. What a great decision this was. I was now entering the prehistoric zone, surrounded by rocks more than 500 million years old.

As I made it to the bottom, now a good 20 degrees warmer than the top, I refreshed myself in the freezing cold colorado river. I suddenly came to a new realization, the “easy” part was now over, it was time to start hiking back out. Per the other hikers recommendation, I took a longer, but supposed not as steep trail out. I might not be a geophysict, but no matter which way you slice it steep or gradual, there are still 4000 feet of gravity to overcome to get out of this darn canyon.

A couple of hikers, who had just departed from a 7 day rafting tour on the colorado joined me on the way back up. One of them could not have put it any better as we got to the halfway point back out and he looked over the canyon saying, “Wow. I am over it.”

Lesson learned. Hiking down is much easier than hiking up. But no regrets it was still a great time nonetheless. And I really felt like I accomplished something (17 miles/ 4000 feet in 9 hours). Despite barely being able to walk to the bus stop after making it out, it was worth it.

All in all it was another amazing life experience. There is still a lot more to see in the great state of Arizona, but I guess I will just have to save that one for the next trip…