Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

From June 28th through July 3rd, I had the privilege of being on a raft on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. This was part of a family trip “for the guys.” On a trip put together by my father-in-law Allan, his two sons, me (a son in law), my three sons, two other grandsons, one grandson-in-law, and one great grandson spent five days and five nights on the Colorado River. These blog posts are part of the story.

One of the main activities of rafting through the Grand Canyon is hiking. That didn’t make much sense to me, but that is the reality. We usually took two hikes a day inland off the river.

I wasn’t prepared for this. In my mind, I knew that we were to see streams, waterfalls, rivers, caves, and other canyons leading into the Grand Canyon. I, however, thought that these things would be right there. Step off the raft, step into the side canyon, and viola’ you were there.

I was prepared for this. I run half an hour a day some three or four days a week. I can walk horizontally great distances. I climb eight flights of stairs in the office building where I work two times a day. I can move vertically great distances.

I wasn’t prepared for this. I wore sandals so that my feet could be doused by the river and then dry quickly in the hot dry air. My sandals are some 20 years old. They are good sandals, but the tread is worn and the soles are pealing in several places. My step would slip a bit on sandy rock, and there is a lot of sandy rock in the Grand Canyon.

I was prepared for this. I was prepared for anything and everything. This was, after all, a vacation and I was ready to exert and relax and deal with just about anything.

The first hike was touted as “a mile and a quarter.”  I am a pretty good judge of distance in walking as I once walked 1,100 miles from Reston, Virginia to New Orleans, Louisiana (see the Taking a Walk blog). This hike was at least two miles horizontally and several hundred feet vertically. At the end of the trail was a small waterfall. The sun was hot (at least 100 degrees F), the terrain was rough, the trail was tiny in places, and we had people from age 8 to 75 in the group. I have to commend the Tour West crew for their efforts. They did everything they could to ensure that everyone could make the hike.

I didn’t think the hike was worth the destination. Then again, I am the type of person who anticipates the destination. Other people love the hike as the destination. The trip is the destination. What is at the end of the trip is only one step. To each his own. I learned to enjoy the trip more through the week.

Several of the hikes were described as “rock scrambles.” This meant that you were moving vertically much more than horizontally and the trail was solid rock. I liked rock scrambles. I had to concentrate on each step and the next one. Several times I had to put my left foot forward on the first step because if I put my right foot forward first, I wouldn’t be able to make the second step. The scrambles could be that challenging mentally. I hated the rock scrambles. My sandals were not suitable for the task. I turned back on a couple of the scrambles as I was slipping too much.

My favorite hike was at the Little Colorado River. The water was right there and it was beautiful. That hike had a destination – playing in the relatively warm water. Everything was just to my liking.

We did see some impressive waterfalls on the hikes. I am thankful for that. I am thankful for the experiences on the hikes. Those hikes helped me to understand why we were hiking. You see, I have to have a reason for doing something. We were hiking to get off the boat and burn some time. This was to be a five-day and five-night trip. We could have easily covered the river in four days and ruined it. We also hiked to burn some energy. I liked the hikes for the exercise. I like to exercise and, given the fine meals we were eating, I needed the exercise.

And we hiked to see the Grand Canyon. In addition to loving the river, our guides loved  the canyon. While we drifted down the river, Andy would share with Scott how he had hiked to this spot or that spot that we saw along the way. These guys love to leave the water, scramble up what appears to be an impassable canyon wall, and go inside or above or around a place in the wall that shouldn’t be there. These shouldn’t-be-there places are everywhere in the Grand Canyon. These are the nooks that the canyon has smashed between the “normal” features of the terrain. Yes, we hiked to see these shouldn’t-be-there streams, springs, caverns, and passage ways that make the canyon what is it – a wonder to visit.