Grand Canyon

Anilee planned this awesome trip to the Grand Canyon to hike the Thunder River Trail and she invited me along! We went on June 11th and 12th. It ended up being, Anilee, Deon, Lance, and I. We were planning on it taking 3 days, but we did it in 2 days! I don't think I knew what I was getting myself into, but Anilee believed I could do it! It was in a way my mini marathon. It was down 10 miles in one day from the rim to the bottom and then back out 10 miles (5, 000 vertical feet from top to bottom). It was such an amazing experience. The Grand Canyon has a beauty I simply can't put into words and pictures don't even begin to capture. It was truly an experience of a lifetime. I learned a lot about myself. It was probably the hardest thing I have ever done (physically). I am so proud of myself and feel quite accomplished. I had great company and the weather was great! If we hadn't had the cloud cover that we did, I don't think we could have done it as fast as we did. Thunder River is an underground river that flows out into an amazing waterfall and then flows into a creek. It is one of the only rivers that flows into something smaller than it. A friend told me that it is one of the top 10 hikes in North America, you have to have a permit to even hike it. I am so grateful I got to experience it!

We started early- This is the sunrise from the top of the rim.

This is from the rim down, our first decent. Then we hit the slick rock before we got to the next set of switch backs.

A cool spiders web.

Looking down our next decent.. switch backs here we come!

These are the types of trail the whole way! It is pretty much like a country trail, nothing too smooth.
The first sight of Thunder River!

The water was so so nice! It was the most refreshing thing ever! (We had to stick our heads in). We ate lunch here the first day.

I love waterfalls!

This picture is on the way back out! Right before we hit the waterfall.

At our campground, we had this little rock cave that helped us out greatly when it rained! That night I heard the loudest thunder I have ever heard in my life-- it was awesome!

The toilet by the campground gave a lot of privacy... not! (A three-sided box)

Lance's Makeshift tent to keep dry!

On the way out this was while hiking through one of the big switch backs. Right when we got to the top it started to down pour. We found these two little trees and thanks to Anilee and her preparedness threw up her tarp and we hung out and ate lunch and luckily stayed pretty much dry ( I wish I would have got a picture of the set up). The weather and temperature change can be pretty fast and drastic. We used many layers of clothing.

After the storm these were the flat rocks that were completely dry before, it was cool to see all the water on them. This is a Century plant ( I really liked them- we saw lots). When the bottom part of the plant is 100 years old it shoots up the center part and then it dies.

Sunsets are my favorite!

We all survived! And it was right before sundown! :) We made it!