Dave and I just got back from one of the most amazing weekends we've ever experienced. It started on Thursday after dropping our cute Ella off at her last day of pre-school. Here she is with teacher gifts in hand.
You get a glimpse into this little spit-fire's personality with this picture ;)
After we got all the kids off to school, we headed to the airport to start our grand adventure!
We flew into SLC. I haven't been there since 2009, so it was so fun to be back! My parents picked us up and took us out to dinner and then back to their house. They have lived in Mapleton, UT for almost three years, but I have never seen their home. I'm the only one of the 5 kids who hasn't seen where they live, so it was so fun to finally see it! It's nice and new and perfect for them! When they decided to move there, I put them in touch with my BYU college roommate, Ashley Jensen to be their realtor. So we called Ashley since she is now good friends with my parents as well and had a nice visit with her!
Friday morning, we toured Mapleton and made our way to the new Payson Temple, which was absolutely beautiful.
And then we made our way to BYU campus. Memories!
And then the Grand Adventure began! After lunch, Dave's BYU roommate and long-time friend, Jeff Hyde picked us up and we made our way through beautiful southern Utah (this picture was taken at Cedar Canyon overlooking Zion National Park in the background) on our way to Kanab.
Why Kanab? Well, because it's the perfect place to spend the night if you're planning to hike the entire Grand Canyon Rim to Rim (North to South). Back in September, Jeff mentioned to Dave that he might be organizing a group to hike the Rim to Rim at the Grand Canyon. I've only been to the GC once, but it was probably 17 years ago and I've never hiked it and Dave has never seen the Grand Canyon, so when Jeff mentioned he might be doing this, I told Dave that if this actually came to fruition, we needed to do it! It's a ton of planning and orchestration of details (hotel reservations months in advance, arranging transportation from one rim to the next - because you end up about 4-5 hours away from your starting point-, etc, etc), so I wasn't sure this is something we would have ever done on our own. And of course things like this are always more fun with friends! Well, lo and behold, Jeff did end up organizing a group to go and invited us, so we jumped at the opportunity!
On our way to Kanab, we drove through Orderville, UT where the LDS church instituted the United Order in 1874. This is the place where they would all bring their excess goods to be distributed to the other community members.
It lasted for 12 years before the Cooperative ended.
After sleeping for just a few hours in Kanab, we woke up at 4am to start our hike! We made our way to the North Rim (a little over an hour) and started hiking from the North Kaibab Trailhead (elevation 8,241 ft) at 5:30am AZ time.
We had to bundle up because it was only 28 degrees at the start of our hike.
Not a bad way to start the day!
America the Beautiful
At 11:00, after 5 1/2 hours of hiking, we finally came to Phantom Ranch.
It was a welcome sight! Because it was the first time we really stopped. Up until this point, we would stop very briefly to quickly refill water or go to the bathroom, but never long enough to rest. And by now, it was HOT! So, we stripped off all our layers, found a shady spot by the creek and refueled with trail mix and PB and J sandwiches!
And then we were back on the trail! Shortly after Phantom Ranch, you come to the Colorado River. It's amazing to see that river rushing through and fun to see the rafting boats going down.
And very fun to hike across the bridge over the river!
However, once you cross the bridge and get to the other side, you have about 9.5 miles of uphill hiking on some pretty intense, steep switchbacks in the blazing hot sun. It is not for the faint of heart!
Jeff and Dave after crossing the bridge.
An iconic view of the mules making their way down the trail.
Quoth the Raven.... Nevermore
We eventually (at 2:20 pm - 9 hours after starting) made our way to Indian Garden which meant, we just had 4.5 miles (all uphill!) to go.
This is the first picture between the 4.5 mile mark and the end because we were purely in survival mode. Just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. The last several hours of the hike were extremely challenging. It was really hot and all the hiking was going up steep uphill switchbacks. But when we caught a glimpse of this doorway carved out in the mountain, we knew the end of the trail was near, and that was a very welcome sight!
The home stretch!
Almost there!
We did it!! An absolutely amazing feeling!
Thank you Jeff for making it possible for us to do this absolutely incredible experience. I'll never forget it! One of the most amazing things I've ever done, I think.
Ice cream never tasted so good and a view never felt more earned!
To get to the other side and think to yourself "I just hiked that ENTIRE thing.... TODAY!" was one of the most amazing feelings I have ever felt. I can't even put it into words. It was absolutely incredible. A lifelong memory for sure.
I'm quite sure I'll never get this many steps again, so I'm documenting it! My Fitbit doesn't track floors, but Dave's does and it recorded 480 flights of stairs.
And to add icing to the cake, we made it back to Mapleton Sunday morning and then headed to my cousin Seth's house where he hosted all the Cardalls in the area for a delicious dinner. It was like a spontaneous mini-reunion and was the perfect way to end a perfect weekend!
