Grand Canyon Rim to Rim, Part 4 - the climb out (Bright Angel Trail)

the GRCA GRLS after crossing the Colorado River - Sunday, September 16th, 2018

Sunday morning, the alarm went off... and it was a simultaneous chorus of HOLY MONKEYS MY LEGS AND FEET ARE KILLING ME!! I honestly am not sure how we actually got out of the beds... all of the body was screaming. All of it. Shannon had us all supplied with Motrin, thank goodness, so we rucked up and headed out. NATURALLY! What else would West Point Women do?! First stop was the canteen, where a full, hot and delicious breakfast was ready for us to sit down family style. A little throw back to our cadet days, eating with strangers and shoveling in the food as fast as we could!

coffee for energy!

Thank goodness Melissa kept pushing us to get going early both days to avoid the heat as much as possible - in fact, we had to use our headlamps on Sunday morning for the first 15-20 minutes or so.

Our headlamps had the side benefit of illuminating not just our path but the wildlife, too.... including the bats that were everywhere as we trekked through the Bright Angel campground that stood between Phantom Ranch and the Colorado River crossing! When Shannon realized they were not, in fact, birds but bats that were swooping toward the light on her hat, she yelped loudly enough to wake up the dozing campers... and then promptly tried to capture them on film. What a hilarious moment to start our day, helping us forget just how tired our legs were as we began our climb out of the Canyon!

Not far into the hike, we reached the Colorado River... oh my word, so amazing. Absolutely incredible to see the power of the river that cut the Canyon. And then to walk across it on the Silver suspension bridge... amazing!!!

my feet over the Colorado

on the South side of the Colorado River

Lots of picture taking going on, super motivated and enthusiastic... but the uphill climbing really was tough. The distance on Sunday was much shorter than Saturday, but with the incredibly difficult and taxing hike down, it was a whole different animal starting out on Sunday. We still had a ton of enthusiasm, but at some point, I do think it pivoted to wanting to just get to the top. I gloried in the moments, though, for sure - after Saturday, I was pretty certain I would never do R2R again, and I just wanted to take it all in, freeze so many of the sights and feelings in my mind and heart. It was hard, though - you're just so tired and you know there are still so many miles ahead of you. I was so incredibly grateful to have my girlfriends there with me; at one point I had thought I would do it solo, if needed, but now I know what a difference it makes to be with true friends on such an endeavor.

The Bright Angel trail going up was SO different than North Kaibab coming down. First of all, there were more people; it gave us this really excellent sense of community you don't get on the other side. We found a couple of groups that we basically leap frogged with the whole way up, and I'm pretty sure we're now lifelong friends! Ha! My personal favorite was Cathy and her family - she and her daughter had been our bunkmates at Phantom Ranch, and she was a spitfire. They were doing R2R to celebrate her SEVENTIETH BIRTHDAY!!! I want to be Cathy when I grow up!! Such super nice people, though - really cool to have companions like that along the way. Also, they took our group photos for us. LOL (As an aside, Leslie has mad selfie skills... half of the really excellent pictures from the trip are due to her perfecting that.)

Shannon, Melissa, Amanda, our new friend Cathy and Leslie

So we climb, and climb, and climb... Saturday, we managed 5,571ft of elevation loss, and on Sunday, we had 4,209ft of elevation gain. That is crazy!! It was a great hike, the Bright Angel Trail being the best maintained and most traveled of any trail in the Park. We had a few water crossings, too, which I confidently navigated in my waterproof Merrill boots!

We definitely took our time - honestly, about 2/3 of the way through, I was having to use both of my poles to lean on with the steps up the trail. There are  far fewer pictures on Day Two, too - we were just so, so tired. But you can obviously see where you are in the Canyon, looking up at the walls and trying to gauge how much farther you have to go. That's really hard to do, given how many switchbacks you cover to get up the ascent. There were more rest stops along the way, including Indian Garden where we spent quite a while with our packs off our backs, drinking water and refilling our bottles, and talking to other hikers who'd stop for a break. In a recurring theme, we met someone with a connection to West Point - a Class of '78 grad who was a great sport when we insisted on taking a group picture and yelling "BEAT NAVY" to the delight of many of the other hikers stopped for a break!

switchback after switchback as we hiked up the steep Bright Angel trail

There are more pictures than I can responsibly share in a blog, but as I look through the album of our shared images, I am once again stunned at the exquisite and majestic beauty of this one part of God's earth. To share it with sisters of my heart... it's a feeling I can't quite capture in words, but will never lose in my soul.

As we continued our ascent, Melissa and I were logging milestones. I watched my Garmin, and she checked the terrain. She had been up Bright Angel before and kept up a steady commentary of encouragement as we saw the rocks change from red to white. We could eventually see the Rim, though it was still many switchbacks away; there was the first and then the second arch to pass through that indicated we had almost reached our goal.

Ultimately, of course, we made it to the top - and I cannot even describe the feeling I got when we all linked arms and took that last step over the threshold of the trailhead together. That feeling is exactly why we do the hard things.

the last step was all together - just as we want to travel every tough path in life

At that point, it was definitely celebration time - Leslie took my ruck so that I could go get the van with all of our luggage in it, and the three of them walked over to check into our hotel for the night. Once I dropped off the luggage, found a parking spot and then made it to the room, though, Leslie shared some devastating news about our classmate Rebecca's 15 year old son, who had been killed in a car accident on his way to homecoming that Friday night. We had been almost totally disconnected for three days so we had no idea. It was so hard going from a highest high to such a heartbreaking low. We shed a lot of tears together, and talked about the fact that we do things like this in part because we aren't promised another day, and we don't know what could happen at any point.

So we had heavy hearts but also knew we would still celebrate, because that's what we do - we grip hands, we persevere, and we live life to the fullest, everyday. We did some souvenir shopping and then had a really lovely dinner at the El Tovar restaurant. I'm pretty sure we all would've slept like the absolute dead other than the fact that our muscles, legs, feet, and toenails were in absolute revolt... Leslie and I both, our toenails hurt so badly, every time the sheet touched them, it shot bolts of lightning through our feet and woke us up!! A least four, possibly five toenails will be casualties of the hike, but what a minor price to pay. SOOOOO worth it!!

With the return to reality looming on Monday, we got up that morning with enough time to pack our bags and catch the sunrise over the Canyon. I knew it would be beautiful, but the majesty of the sunrise was rivaled by the fullness of my heart in being with my sisters, my friends, my companions.

the GRCA GRLS at sunrise - Monday, September 17th, 2018

here comes the sun...

We didn't talk much about the hike itself on our drive back to Phoenix; it would take several days for me to process the time together, the physical challenge, the events of the weekend. We agreed that we need to begin planning the next adventure together; a little walk together can be so much bigger than the steps from start to finish.

Our joy at accomplishing such a hard thing, having persevered through the heat and the dust while taking in the beauty of the Grand Canyon and of our friendship was boundless and shone on our faces in our last picture together - the GRCA GRLS, caught up in the moment and in the shared emotions.