Disclosure Statement: I like camping. I enjoy it quite a bit. From a car, where I can pack extra sleeping bags to sleep on and pillows and toiletries so I can feel human. And we can bring pots and pans to cook REAL food in. Also, I like fire. I’m not a high-maintenance girl (drama, yes but maintenance, no) I don’t spend time primping, each day working on each eyelash and each flyaway. I embrace the rough-ness of camping. Backcountry camping is minimalist. It’s not cushy or plush, and fire is a no-no. I was not prepared for this. I theoretically understood the difference but failed to realize how uncomfortable I would be in reality.
You should understand this before reading about my Canyon experience because 1. I’m not a Hotel-only kind of girl and 2. I’m prone to artistic exaggeration.
After arriving at the Grand Canyon late at night and camping at our camp site we headed over to the South Rim Lodge area where there are several restaurants and gift shops and hotels and cabins. We took a look at the Canyon before ducking into a restaurant for breakfast.
Marriage-Saving Tips:
* Get a hotel or a cabin. At least for the first night. Traveling is hard, and sleeping on the ground with paltry padding to sleep on is not good, not good at all. Or rent a camper, that would be okay too.
* Eat at the restaurants. It costs a lot, but it’s totally worth it.
first-ish light
first signs of blue sky
morning rays of sun
ardha chandra chapasana in hiking boots
I was informed that there was to be no yoga at the edge of the Canyon unless there was a waist-height wall or railing. Fine.
Marriage-Saving Tip:
*Do yoga. Whenever possible, and in my case with the agreed-upon safety measures in place. My balance is awesome, btw. My husband is a nervous-nancy.
tree stripes
the romance before the hike...
There was no romance on the hike. There’s nothing less romantic than thinking your husband might be trying to kill you. (Turns out he wasn’t actually trying to kill me, but I had my concerns.)
Also I need to talk about altitude sickness for a minute. At this point in the day (noon-ish) I was experiencing some crazy vertigo and some wildly uncomfortable headaches. Turns out multiple sources (including the very knowledgable park rangers) confirmed that these symptoms were the result of altitude sickness. How to avoid it: eat salty foods and drink electrolyte-rich drinks. You can eat chips and drink Gatorade, but I won’t even go into how Gatorade is about 1/3 as good for you as it claims to be. The quickest and easiest way to solve the altitude sickness problem is with “High Altitude” Electrolyte Tabs. They drop into your water bottle, after some fizzing there you have it! A drink that cures what ails you.
mid-day colors
the sun was setting into the west
darkness fell
We went back to the tent and crashed. Because the next day we would be hiking. 9 miles and 4,000 feet down to Phantom Ranch. More on that later…