Are My Legs Still Attached?

I spent the weekend in my home away from home: the Grand Canyon. Though I am a city girl at heart, the canyon has owned a piece of my soul since I first hiked it in August of 1992 with my family. Back then at the unfortunate age of 15, I was more concerned with what the heat was doing to my hair than with the beauty of the trail. After getting in a few more hikes, and some perspective on my hair, I fell in love with the most famous hole in the ground. I'll hike it three times in a good year, and my parents--well into their 50s--can still hold their own against it.

My friend Jenn has become my canyon companion. She, an Arizona native, hiked it for the first time with me 4 years ago. She doesn't know it, but she revolutionized the canyon experience for me. Pre-Jenn, my approach to the hike was to get from point A to point B. With headphones on, the goal was simply to make short work of getting out of the beast. Jenn opened my eyes to the hidden fun in taking your time on the trail. In our years of hiking it together, we've developed a few traditions:

1. Never Too Many Pictures: A self-timer is a canyon hiker's best friend. I can't tell you how many hours we've spent at various resting stops, propping the camera precariously on a backpack to capture ourselves with cream cheese smeared on our faces.
2. Trivial Pursuit Champs: The canteen at Phantom Ranch (the campground and lodging oasis at the bottom of the canyon) opens up after dinner. Depending on how sore the legs are, everyone walks, hobbles, or crawls back in the evening to play cards, drink Tecate, and swap stories. Tattered board games, probably donations from canyon regulars, sit on a shelf in the corner...below an old guitar that is always out of tune, but always a delight to hear. Jenn and I are always up for a good game of Trivial Pursuit. Our favorite adversaries were a father and son from France. Even with one too many Tecates in them, they still knew more American history than we did!
3. Breakfast on Bright Angel Bridge: This suspension bridge crosses the Colorado river and connects the Bright Angel trail to Phantom Ranch. Crossing the bridge at 4 a.m., we stop and sit over the roaring Colorado--passing time eating granola bars, staring at the moonlit canyon walls. And, of course, posing for pictures.
4. Canyon Questions: Very few places can make you feel so small as the inner gorge. And the 9- mile hike out gives you plenty of time to contemplate life and your place in it. Almost every trip, we come up with a few good canyon questions--those gut check questions that force you to articulate your five year plan, your favorite childhood memory, one thing you want to change about yourself...or the person you're hiking with. Most importantly, canyon questions help take your mind off the fact that your quads--and every other leg muscle you have--are going up in flames.
5. Calories Out, Calories In: The canyon is no place to go on a diet. While trail food consists mostly of grains, nuts, and other twig-like snacks...dinner at Phantom Ranch is some well-deserved beef stew, mixed salad, and chocolate cake--all served family style. On the way back to Phoenix, we always stop in Flagstaff for Arbys. (I know, you're thinking "Why not at least treat yourselves to Buster's or Strombolis, for crying out loud?" Don't ask. We're simple girls and suckers for curly fries.)

This latest hike featured all of the above traditions, minus the canyon questions. Unless you count, "Who would you rather not be: one of the Olsen twins, or Lindsay Lohan?" I'd post a few pictures for you, but our hair looked just awful. (Some things never change.)

A look down at Indian Gardens (the long thin trail in the center). It's the half-way point.